party is measured. we will then talk about federal poverty-related programs, what they are, how much they cost, and their efficacy in reducing poverty. later, we'll hear about one of the"washington journal" is next. ♪ host: as congress returns from a break this week, the work continues for the deficit reduction committee, also known as the super committee. in the kit you washington post," and erskine bowles and that theyon rwrite should be bold and be smart.

we want to get your ideas about what the super committee should do to put its product for. here are the phone numbers. here is the op-ed piece in the "washington post" from erskine bowles and alan simpson. they put their own report out many months ago.

they going to ride -- -- they go on to write -- we are asking you to respond.

the big, be bold, be smart, put forward by alan simpson and erskine bowles. here are the telephone numbers again. one more passage from this piece by alan simpson and erskine bowles. there is a lot more to read here. it is an op-ed piece by alan simpson and erskine bowles. be big, be bold, and be strong.

a democratic caller, good morning. caller: i believe that the super committee should look at recapturing welfare benefits from future tax refunds, anyone that receives welfare, and the action may be being a 10-year window it that they give them to recapture that money. i do not think that we should give this money away. one of the ways the super committee can save money is looking at welfare reform and recapturing some of those benefits in future tax refunds of recipients. host: michael, thank you for weighing in. the caller mentioned welfare. in the rest of the program, we will be featuring poverty in america. we will look at all sorts of ankles following the september

report on the poverty figures. he also mentioned a program for needy families. tomorrow morning we will have a segment at 9:15 a.m. on that particular program on w. joe -- "washington journal." a caller from west virginia. caller: it's funny to take stabs at welfare and things like that which cost very little money. then you have the big ticket items that have a lot of lobbyists and a lot of people looking out for them. no one is really looking out for the little guy. yes, we can trim back here, trim back there, preschool or after care -- after-school care, they do not cost a lot of money but being "smart," asking the

questions that are required. it is seems to be the conversation -- it just seems to be that no one having this conversation is trying to have a couple of dollars for the people that really need it. not any really big cuts that we're talking about. host: alan sent it -- allyson sen is a former senator and erskine bowles was a counselor to president clinton. they write in the "post," there were rallying to take on their special cows. -- they were willing to take on their sacred cows. the spirit of shared sacrifice

had broad bipartisan support from democratic senator durbin to republican senator coburn. the solvency of social security, health care, spending in the tax code, all at once. we hear from maryland, of republican, what are your priorities if you had any for the status a committee? caller: the president appointed this committee that was supposed to bring forward recommendations to correct the economy. they worked hard and they brought these recommendations. but the image sure president that we had just dismiss them out of hand. -- be immature president that we have just dismissed them out of hand. now they have appointed another committee that will come forth with recommendations, but they

are all political attacks on this super committee. john kerry, patti amar'e -- they are all political hacks. they are not going to come forth with anything that is worthwhile. host: the committee was not so much appointed by the president as put in place by congress. there is a deadline for this vote, seven weeks away, and dayton, ohio, philip, you are on the line. caller: happy sunday. i was wondering on the super committee, how far could they go militarily, dealing with the military, when we have so much poverty among the kids.

why could we not instituted draft where kids could get some discipline and training at the age of 18 to 21? also they would be getting paid. that would stimulate the economy as far as buying stuff out here. as far as the volunteer draft, that is not working. we need a draft to get our kids and to control and more discipline. host: that last caller asked how far the committee gingko on defense. chris van hollen is on the committee in his ranking member on the house budget committee, and will be our "newsmakers" guests at 10:00 this morning, reid airing at 6:00. this is what he had to say about

the cuts that the super committee is considering. >> the minimum mount the super committee can cut is $1.2 jury in. summer saying that we should go big with $4 trillion. what is your number? >> i think we should go big. we should tackle some of the really big issues. that means going big and dollars, -- $4 trillion is the number people put on a big package. it is another way of saying, i think we should tackle some of the really big issues. host: "newsmakers" with chris van hollen. it is at 10:00 today with every year at 6:00 p.m.

next call, dayton, ohio on the independent line. caller: i cut billions out in a hurry. if they girl gets pregnant, before she gets one thin dime, she identifies the father of that child. you put him into a job to support that child or you put him in jail. simple as that. there is section 8 housing at the end of my street. they have and never had a job, and they never will have a job, they are on adc, they are ron

wic, they walk around with cellphones, and basically, the children are a cash cow to them. if they could identify the father of that job, and he could pay for that child or put him in jail, you could get a whole lot. host: going on to pennsylvania. what do you think? caller: the id federal government is so huge. we have so many different entities. cut 5% of each of them and you couldn't make up at least $1 trillion there. host: they talk about priority cuts instead of across the board. since and bowles says to do priority. caller: that is a crock. we are paying some many of these agencies. schools,ng the

everything. it just needs to be cut at least 5% from a tuesday. there are hundreds of federal of agencies. it is ridiculous and insane. i am not saying cut in half. but think about that, 5% from a to z. cut waste, fraud, and everything else. you would get your $4 trillion really quick. i do not understand why it is so hard for these people. it is either for our country or is getting old and our president is not leading on it. i do not know what else to say. host: thank you for calling. more of your calls and a few minutes. twitter is another way to get your message across to us on the "washington journal." we welcome your comments there as well. here is one on the work of this super committee.

this story on reuters, they call it an exclusive. as they do their work, democrats want tax hikes to be the first item negotiated. they are afraid that taxes will

not be talked about at all. dallas, texas, crystal, independent, good morning. caller: this is one of the biggest discussions that you could ever really solve. however you put it, everyone has their own suggestion. the gentle man who made the remark as to section 8 and how they walk around with cellphones and stuff like that. honestly, as a single mother, i know someone who -- as someone who gets the help, he can kiss my bottom. he has no idea what it is to struggle and do the best for your kids. they're people that work their butts off every single day and they work and then they make minimum wage, which barely pays

for their gas, let alone their electric bills, $300 a month. unfortunately, he honestly has never had to deal with that. as for the attorney general's office, women can go to court has many times as they are told to go to court. and the problem is, unfortunately, these men run. they do not want to take care of their responsibilities. the women are trying to go to court and get their child support and do better for themselves. the attorney general does not want to get out there and look for them. when they do find them, they let them go to court and sit there and give up all kinds of excuses as to why they cannot pay and they let them go parade. -- go free. the first time you go to court, it takes forever just to get your paper work and everything done. there's usually one court

hearing, 300 people waiting to see the judge in one day. host: thank you for sharing your situation. silver spring, maryland is on the line. mike, a democrat. go big right mr. simpson and mr. ball's. bridging -- writes mr. simpson and mr. bowles. caller: this is over a 10-year term, right? host: yes. caller: i think that the confined in the corporate welfare and the defense department, a big chunk of this. and also to one of the callers about welfare, there is roughly

256 million white folks in america. if you take the percentages that are given on welfare, you know, if there's 9% of whites on welfare, that is almost 25 million. and then black america, it is only 40 million. so if it is 16%, you know that 40 million is 10% of 40, so -- it would be roughly about 6 million black folks in the welfare situation. so be careful, republicans. you are really only hurting your own when you try to label welfare and put the stigma of black people, it is really more whites that will be affected on medicare, section 8, because of a larger percentage of white folks, and like i said, it is 250 million white folks in america. when you play with the percentages, rather than real numbers, it sounds like back --

black people of the problem. but relief white folks of the problem. they will be hurt the most on social security. when you look at the real numbers, and even the president, he should focus on real numbers. to with all of these percentages. it just models up -- muddles up the argument if you do not hear that it is really more white folks on welfare, on section night, more white folk receiving unemployment, more white folk in number -- in number, just in sheer numbers. host: we appreciate your comments, mike. a lot of folks calling in on what should be the priority of the deficit reduction committee. a couple of callers mentioning

-- no more defense cuts.

but there is good reason to wonder whether this is right. you can read more at the weekly standard. savannah, ga., what should be the priorities of the super committee? caller: first of all, i do not think they should cut anything from defense. anybody that knows -- one of the man knows that the other man can beat him, he stops fighting. that is the same thing with countries. we're getting into a position now where china -- that are a lot of countries that could take the united states over. one thing that i have never heard mentioned on television, they talk about cutting social security, medicare, medicaid,

everything. there is never been one person mentioned cutting the government postretirement. have you ever heard anyone say that? it is my understanding -- i have heard a lot of people say that when they retire, they leave the white house with their full pay. is that true? host: why do you think they should be a priority? caller: we have people like my husband out here, he made a good salary all of his life. we're not drawing our social security. we think that we could live on in. it is a good salary. we could take a little cut but we're not doing -- we're not drawing what they draw. my understanding, they draw

their full salary, where we draw like one eighth of what my has been made. -- my husband made. any young lady that has four illegitimate children or four children that does not know where their fathers are, she needs to be in a -- i do not know. i would not say an insane asylum, but she certainly needs to be somewhere. host: caller, i think we get your point. we want to hear some other viewpoints. we want to hear from the president as well. this is saturday address. get the jobs bill done, urges obama.

here is a little bit of what he had to say. >> it is all men -- it has been almost three weeks since i sent the bill to congress, three weeks since i sent them a bill that would put people back to work and put money into people's pockets. this jobs bill is fully paid for, containing the kinds of proposals the democrats and republicans have supported in the past. now what that bag. it is time for congress to get its act together and pass this jobs bill so that i can sign it into law. host: simpson and bowls of --write we are disappointed that the president did not address the long-term solvency of social security. nonetheless, it represents a

step forward. more from the "washington post" there. an independent, how about the priorities for this deficit committee? caller: i think of $4 trillion figure is a good mix. a mixture of taxes and cuts, it seems reasonable and sensible and us toward the middle. but in our political environment, i think it stands no chance. you can see the discussion in your own segment. you'll never find a middle ground. i think defense is a fair game, and i also think social security is. but there too many special interest pushing from each direction. it is doomed to fail. as a side note, with a contentious argument about calling in about welfare an unidentified fathers, i find it a little humorous.

2000 years ago, i like to know how he would process the virgin mary's welfare application. i think you should really consider what he is saying first and have some empathy when you indict people. host: moving on to rosalynn, a democrat. what are the priorities of this committee mean to you? caller: my comment was about the face of homelessness in america and the section 8 program. i think i heard a call or make some comments that disturbs me about it. i am currently on section eight. i am on the advantage program for veterans. i have two children, and my

husband and i are divorced and i've lost everything that i had, livelihood, and i'm very thankful for this program. it has given me a chance to regroup. i am currently of school during retraining. sometimes people think that everyone on section 8 are sponging. there might be some people manipulating the system and will always be. but i am currently going to school. i am a disabled veteran living on $900 a month. i paid $400 a month under my section 8 program. host: some people say that that program continues, something else might need to be cut. what would you advocate? caller: i am willing to give up a requiring people to pay a little bit more, because it goes on a percentage of your income. i would be willing to pay more

in rent. i am willing to help america out. i have been in the military and i have always worked. i used have a decent lifestyle. i have a daughter in college and i am trying to do the best i can buy her. she is on grants and loans of the program -- at the moment. but we have talked about it, me and my children, i have a daughter with a degree in education that has not found a teaching job. she has gotten a $12 an hour job. we have been helping my daughter in college as much as we can, even down to computers being tough to get for her but we have managed to do that. host: colorado springs, good morning. caller: i have been an accountant for 10 years now and i have never -- i guess you could call me a moderate republican. i am not a tea party kind of

person, but i think we need to cooperate with this president and get something done. host: what specifically? caller: we need to get the wealthy to pay their fair share. i have never met anyone that i've worked with ever paid their actual tax rate. we have two wars going on. contractors and not pay taxes on the first $100,000 that they may spirit we have a lot of churches in colorado springs they do not pay taxes. also like to comment that i am also a single mother. i could not take my ex-husband to court every month to get my top of support. i took a lot of abuse and i held my head up high and i went to school and got to working. i'm also offended about the way people talk about single mothers.

everytime i see newt gingrich, i kind of cringe. host: we will put a republican voice out there. this is the republican from virginia. this is his take from saturday's address. >> republicans listening to the house job creators. they're aimed at cutting red tape and stopping the excessive regulations that hamper job creation buried next week, we'll take a bipartisan bills that address the concerns employers have about both the cement and boiler rules. the bill i sponsored, hr 2250, recognizes the need for regular boiler regulations that does not try to cancel these rules. instead, we are saying the government should go back to the drawing board and come up with a more reasonable approach that protects the public without imposing unnecessary costs on employers and workers.

these bills would save thousands of american jobs and they are bipartisan member. party supportt these ideas. president obama says he is willing to stop excessive regulation should call on the democrat-led senate to follow the house in passing these jobs bills. host: a little bit more from alan simpson and erskine bowles -- that is from "the washington post." here is a twitter message --

from san diego, calif., independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. host: where are the priorities on the deficit committee? caller: it sounds like they're only talking about cuts. i think the focus should be on job creation. after job creation, we can move on to cuts. if we cut, the economy is slowly progressing. if we cut, i think the country will go right back into recession. one caller said we think in 2012 will go right back into recession. let's focus on the job creation.

secondly, and a republican or any person who would sign a pledge saying there should be no increase in taxes should be disqualified for running for office. there is no way that they would be able to cover the deficit. that would mean every program in the united states will have to go away. thank you very much. host: let's hear from colorado city, colorado, democrats line, good morning. caller: i think we have a good president, a smart president, and intelligent and everybody but doesn't follow him is said. i believe welfare is 50 years old and i have not been able to do anything with it yet. hello? host: are listening. caller: i think they need to

rethink that. they need to stop trying to cut our military. i think all the people on the hill in need to be turned end. they are not considering our country. host: coming up in 10 minutes, we will begin what will be the rest of the show about poverty in the u.s. we will follow up on the census report from september. here is a "new york times" blind. headline.

the nypd said those who took over the brooklyn-bound or roadway were arrested. many protesters say they believe the police had tried to them and allowed the month of a bridge only to trap them in our and nothing after hundred seven entered. cops watched and did nothing and seemed to guide us on to the roadway. things came to a head shortly after 4:00 p.m. as about 1500 marchers reached the foot of the brooklyn-bound lane near the foot near city hall. one of the stories today says the protests are moving to los angeles. florida, republican, good morning. what about the praise for this so-called super committee? caller: i think we have already done the go big and go bald and either one of them worked. host: are you referring to?

caller: all the stimulus we have already tried seems to get kind of pest in the wind. it disappears and it turns into a bunch of fraud. obama campaigned on unifying americans and us working together. he spent the first two years of his presidency with a bunch of rhetoric that caused class warfare. now that he feels kind of desperate about the reelection, he is trying to stir a bunch of rhetoric dividing the races. i think that is not only have a critical but it is a shame. as americans, we have to work together. host: 1 other twitter message --

the national journal writes about this -- mr. simpson and mr. ball's are saying to go bigger and go bolder. december 2 is the deadline for the committee to submit a report for the president. and congress.

the committee continues to hold open sessions and we will continue to cover them. here is a little bit more from one of the committee members, chris van hollen, on the pressure that members are facing to come to an agreement. >> we've got until november 23 which is not alone. time. a long period of time. i think the intentions of all 12 members are good in everybody tends -- intends to meet the target of $1.20 trillion and deficit reduction. i hope we would combine that with a jobs component and a jobs package. again, whether we get to that number, some other number, or whether we don't reach agreement, only time will tell. the members on that committee feel a lot of pressure to try to

get something done especially given the fact that people are looking at congress and have seen the inability to get some things done. i think s to the desire of members of the committee to try and come to an agreement. host: the full interview with chris van hollen is on "newsmakers"today at 10:00 a.m. eastern and there will be a replay at 6:00. he is a member of the so-called super committee. independent, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: i would sincerely hope that when congress which is suppose to represent people like you and i, we have made sacrifices in as much as maybe you have not but many of your viewers have. they have changed their lifestyle and done without some things. i would hope that whenever they want to go big and to a unilateral cut across all programs and that would open the door. i am not saying anything

radical. just 5% would do it. i would hope they would look at where those dollars have gone and that would give them the foundation to start instead of arbitrarily picking little numbers for each one of the programs and subsidies they give out. why can't both parties agree on a flat tax? simplify the tax code and make it elementary. that way the warren buffetts of the world -- he seems to be retracting some of his comments. he feels the uber-rich should pay more as opposed to baseball players. what about the 53% that do pay income tax in this country, reduce our rate that will give us more money to stimulate the economy by paying our bills. somebody has to some gasoline. nobody wants to embrace a flat tax. jeffrey immelt, head of general electric and one of obama's

advises, is corporation paid no income tax because of their profits overseas were against their losses and america. somebody needs to address that and they will have a foundation that will open up an intelligent conversation. i think this committee will only target $1.20 trillion. onto let's move charlotte, n.c., republicans, lots of ideas out there for the deficit reduction committee, what makes the most sense to you? caller: first of all, thank you. all of the tax cuts will expire. most people will be willing to pay more as long as they know if their safety net is there and there will not be any deep cuts. many things need to be fixed.

social security and medicare needs to be fixed. if you raise or lower taxes, it will not do anything to help hire. that is only about the man. i wish people would stop lying and talking about it saving money and allow them to hire. it will not and i know that, everybody in charge. it is only the man. thank you for letting me on. host: a couple of minutes left in this segment and wanted to get another listen to the president. here is one headline from cbs news --

here is the president -- >> don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's ok for a stage full political leaders, one of home could end up being the president of united states, being silent when an american soldier is booed. we don't believe in that. we don't believe in standing silent when that happens. we don't believe in them being silent -- you want to be commander in chief, you can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states even when it is not politically convenient. [applause] host: from the speech last night at the human rights campaign 15th annual dinner. we had the full speech on late

last night. you can watch it on our website, c-span.org. champaign, ill., roberts, republican, good morning. caller: about servicemen -- when i was in the service back in the 1950's at camp roberts, calif., i got $72 per month. booing thenot goin army, they were booing homosexuals. we did not have to worry about that because you took care of that yourselves. host: any final thoughts on the deficit committee? caller: if they quit giving percentage raises on social

security and everything, they give us a percentage rates and 2% of nothing is nothing. if you get 2% of $1,500, you get a good race and social security. i get $400 or more a month and 2% of that is nothing. host: look for more news from this deficit reduction committee and the coming weeks. congress is back starting tomorrow for -- from a week-long break. and this last segment, people mentioned welfare programs and we will spend the rest of the "washington journal" focused on poverty in the u.s., following up on the census bureau support -- report in september. we will look at the effectiveness of some federal programs available to those living in poverty. the numbers are higher in this country. we will look at the specific numbers in parts of the country according to the census bureau.

we have an initial guest on this segment, sarah muri of the "wall street journal. in the meantime, the news from cspan radio. >> kerri discussion of much of the day's news beginning at noon, eastern when cspan radio rears five network tv talk shows for the topics today include presidential politics, the killing of anwar al-awlaki and the economy. we begin with meet the press. deval patrick will be the guest and governor bob mcdonnell and democratic congressman of the airbus era. at 1:00 p.m., is abc's "this week." their guest will be herman cain. but 2:00 p.m., fox news sunday and they will have fred smith, the ceo of federal express and bet founder robert johnson. at 3:00 p.m., state of union and

they will have michael payton and former democratic congressman and jane harman, director of the woodrow wilson center. also former vice president dick cheney on his new memoir. at 4:00 p.m., it is face the nation from cbs. they will talk with senator john mccain and maryland democratic governor martin o'malley who is chairman of the democratic governors association. also mississippi governor haley barbour. reairs of the five tv talk shows begin at noon eastern. listen to them all on cspan radio, 90.1 f m in the washington, d.c. area and nationwide on ex-im satellite radio, channel 119 or online at cspanradio.org.

>> the head of the american association of university professors says that tenure and academic freedom are in jeopardy and need to be protected. >> tenure creates an atmosphere on campus where people can speak freely, not just in their teachings, but also in terms of university governor as great if you don't like the proposal that the board of trustees for the president makes, you have to be able to speak freely about it. with administrators should be able to do that as well. becerra governments speech was part of what academic freedom attacks. you don't have the expertise of the faculty available without that. >> cary nelson tonight on " q7a." >> this is a dangerous time for britain and a dangerous time for britain's economy. the government's austerity plan is failing. you can sense the fear people have as we watch the economic

crisis that stocked our country in 2008 threatened to return. >> with the british house of commons in recess, annual party conference is are continuing in the uk. what's the keynote at 9:00 tonight on c-span and next sunday, british prime minister david cameron. >> we should start with the assumption that when a politician or a ceo is saying something, they're not telling you the truth. they may be telling you the truth but the burden should be on them to prove it. >> he is an eagle scout and was an editor as market -- of mother jones magazine and produced three of the top 10 grossing documentaries of all time and he now has a memoir. later today, your chance to call in and talk to michael more. >> "washington journal"

continues. host: poverty in america is our subject. thank you for joining us. we're following up on the census bureau report from september. what did it say about poverty in america? guest: not a very uplifting report. it is up about 15% three the rate of poverty is at its highest point since the early 1990's. it is death and i not the direction we want to move in. it is not the highest of all time. host: 46 million people as we can see on the screen. 46% of the country. what is the federal definition of poverty? guest: 4 a family of four, if you make $22,300, you are in poverty and they don't just based and where you live. that is all over the country. it is only looking at your cache

in come. that is not any kind of government benefits. host: who is being hit the hardest? guest: we have seen the children have been hard hit during this recession. in terms of democratic as, we see african-americans and hispanics getting harder than white people. host: why, what is going on out there? guest: in terms of the hispanic population, part of that has to do with the construction industry. when you have some of these people who are working in more manual jobs like construction and manufacturing, those are the jobs that got hit hard. that has been difficult for that demographic. if you have a lower education level, you tend to be harder hit. host: white, non-hispanic people, 20 million people in poverty in this country and their african americans $11

million and asians 2 million. sarah murray will be with us for about 40 more minutes. we will do a regional splits throughout the country. we want to hear what you have to say about poverty and the census report and the cause is and what can be done about it. the phone numbers are on your screen. sarah murray is an economics and policy reporter for "how the wall street journal." you can go to our website to link to the september 13 census report or go to the census bureau website. let's take a look at these numbers. poverty by age is one of the breakdowns. in 2010, they say under 18, 16 million people are in poverty,

16-64, 26 million. guest: if you are on the older end of this population, things have held up better partly because you probably rely on social security for your income. that has been pretty consistent. if you are on the other end, if you're 18 and under, this is a troubling number. it is disturbing to have that many children living in poverty. there is so little they can do to get themselves out of it. they rely on their parents. that is troubling host: there is a geographic breakdown by region moving on, 38 million folks inside metro areas are

considered to be in poverty according to the census and 8 million outside metro areas. the south was hit the hardest? guest: yes, that is partly a function of many areas down there who have historically had lower incomes and higher poverty. part of it is a historical trend but if you look at places in the south and west, they had a big housing boom and a really big housing bust. they were extremely hard hit in this recession. it makes sense that people working construction in florida or california or in nevada got hit really early on the recession and maybe they have been unemployed for years by now. that is unsustainable and you would fall below the poverty level host: at some: step back and look at the bigger picture. what does this mean? guest: this is the best gauge we used to measure prosperity in our country. we are a country that wants to move for it.

we have seen three consecutive years of poverty increase. the general house said -- household income has fallen host: our first call is from massachusetts, good morning. caller: good morning. i have some reform-type topics i want to highlight. in our court system, at least in massachusetts, and maybe other states, the restraining orders are a huge impact especially for fathers. it happens for females but mainly in massachusetts the fathers are targeted. i'm a candidate myself. the court systems give them out like ended.

-- like candy. they are guilty until proven innocent. they are definitely not in fear of are more intimate danger hicks and they just give them out. if there is children involved, it costs the taxpayers money into millions of dollars. my court cases are well over $1 million in the last host: three: any insight? guest: part of what we refer to is a split family issue. in terms of taxpayer dollars, we are looking to cut costs everywhere so he could weed out waste, fraud, and abuse, that is what you're looking at. when you have a situation like this, it correlates with

poverty. part of what we saw in the power to report was that when you have a single mother living on her own with children, she is at a high poverty rate. host: we are reading that 1/3 of families are run by single women. guest: that is a much higher rate than households headed by men. host: austin, texas, good morning. caller: our you this morning? i feel the reason there is so much poverty in our country is because of the social-economic issues that are going on, the college education, kids are graduating from college who cannot get a good job. i was a single parent with four children and managed to get all four of my educated but that was because i was determined that my children would not live in poverty even though they all have education. it does not mean that they will

get a job. "there is no equality as far as pay and jobs and as far as poverty. we are the richest country in the world. to say we have 46 million people in poverty would be blaspheming against a country that holds their god guest: so: i think she is absolutely right. we are having -- where at a point where a college degree does not guarantee a job. if you look at people 18-24, it goes along with poverty. not all of those people did go to college. many of the ones who did are graduating from college and have accumulated debt and they leave and there is no job or the job they get is a high school-level

job. host: what about those who need to move in with family?" guest: that has huge implications. if you are not forming your own household, you are not adding to our economy. housing is a huge part of that. about 6 million folks between the ages of 25-34 cavender about moving in with their parents. that is up from 4.7 million before the recession. that is a good sign that young people out of college or high school graduates are struggling but also young families. if you look at the poverty rates for related children age 6 and under which is a good indication of young families, more than 1/4 of those are in poverty. you're not just talking about the college graduate moved in with their parents. you're talking that a college graduate and his wife and their two young children living with mom and dad.

host: we have already put out a lot of figures. this is from twitter -- hooper guest: this poverty report looks at all sorts of income receipts. they are a lot of complaints about how it ties into it. some things do not reflect your way of life and they have developed a supplemental measures to deal with that. host: you think the numbers are not as complete as they could be? guest: i rarely talk to someone who thinks it is poverty measure is great. in some ways it overstates poverty, not taking into account non tax benefits, like

food stamps, earned income tax credits, it is not counting that. host: of washington heights, steve, good morning. caller: i have been living in washington heights for 13 years. two comments i would like to make. and i've been in washington heights, and i find that they are great people, number two, i feel sympathy for them when couples are appear living with their mom. with their child. that is one, and i wanted to make. when i wake up early in the morning, i always see mostly women heading toward the subway. i like know the statistics between men and women, the

poverty level there. women are out there working. cut the men are on the streets, constantly, 24/7. i wanted another break down there. host: of gender breakdown? guest: women's employment has held up more. even though the women might be a little better off and not losing a job, they are still living -- they are earning 77 cents to the dollar for man. host: a twitter question. guest: honestly, poverty is increasing essentially everywhere. it is increasing among men and women, across the country, across demographic groups. it is a matter of magnitude.

hispanics have increased the most since the recession. the host: taking a look at hispanic poverty, is mark lopez, can you hear is ok? guest: yes. host: thank you for joining us by phone. what do you see from your perspective? guest: there are now more latino living in poverty than any other group. according to the census bureau, there were 6.1 million hispanic children living in poverty in 2010. it has actually been since the start of the great recession did you see white children and party and white children in poverty growing. host: what is the impact to the

hispanic community? guest: many things are playing a role but the recession is the big part of the story. when you see how it impacts latinos, they are more likely to lose household wealth than any other group. secondly, at the beginning of the recession, a lot of latinos in the construction industry lost jobs first. that impacts hispanics more than other groups of as bad experience of the recession had a big impact. the other story is that the latino population is growing. another part of the stories that there has been growth in the hispanic population, so of course there will be more children in poverty. but there is been a rapid increase in the number of latino children in poverty since the great recession. host: conditions can be tough for those folks. how about a long-term and the growing hispanic community, mr. lopez?

guest: when you look at the hispanic, collection of rock, more than one-third is under the age of 18. the median age is 27. how they mature and enter the labor market and whether or not they could to college, the implications for the nation as a whole -- in a recent survey of young latinos, we found that despite some of these challenges, many remain optimistic about the future. 75% expected to earn more money than their parents in the future. more than half were optimistic about their lives and where they are today. in some sense, there are many challenges but there is of an expression of optimism among the hispanic community as well. host: sara murray, d you have something to say? guest: that is a high level of

optimism, but is there any source of that optimism? will they be more educated than their parents? any sense of where that help comes from? hope comes from? guest: in measuring the sense of satisfaction and the optimism about the future, it is difficult. there are some difficulties and there may be acquiescence by s. but nonetheless, latinos and also african americans to a large extent are more optimistic about where they are today and their future, compared to non- hispanic whites, for example. at least in the polling we have been doing. host: we will talk later in the program about two programs that are out there, and the specific

impact on the hispanic community. are they working? guest: that is something that this report did not go into. i cannot say anything about the impact of a particular program. but the interim measures used to generate tell level of poverty for a specific family do take into account cash assistance. for some hispanic families, if we look more deeply, they may not be taking advantage of programs, but this report did not go deeply into that. host: anything you wanted to add about this issue? guest: when we talk about the demographics of latino children in poverty, there are two interesting things. when it comes to the types of families that these children are in, about half live in married couple families. that is similar in non-hispanic whites. but in contrast with non- hispanics blacks, 75% of those

children live in households with a single mother. so the composition for latino children is somewhat different. when you take a look at the teen the children in poverty, those who have parents with college degrees, the poverty rate is very low. however, it is very high for the parents have just a high school diploma or less. that reflects a lot of the labor market challenges with those that have education in this downturn. host: mark lopez, and you can check out their website. we continue here at the table with sara murray of the "wall street journal." any thing that struck you in that interview? guest: if you are foreign-born, you're poverty rate tends to be higher. they are doing much better than immigrants coming to this

country. card that can be tied to education. if you are a low-skilled worker decameters -- came here to work and construction, you got slammed during the recession. that means your family got hit, too. host: plugged this poverty issue into the broader economic issues that we're facing, and of the politics of the presidential campaign. guest: in terms of the overall economy, you're probably spending all of your money. but you do not have that much money. if you are on food stamps, you're pumping that money into the economy. so we have seen a leftist groups pushing this because it goes right back into the economy. if you are living with here kids when they should be and household, that is holding back economic growth.

in terms of politics, these are not good numbers for president obama. when you face over 9% unemployment and over 50% poverty, you have a lot of unhappy people. and you do not have a great way to fix it. instead of targeting people out of work, that is a small part of the solution. host: gary, you are on the line. caller: i wanted to make a statement about bloomberg news, their investigation of the freedom of information act in 2008 and the financial crisis, on how much we actually gave before the bailout, the troubled asset relief program, it was

actually $1.2 four yen. a lot of that when the european banks. -- went to european banks. they released thousands of pages of transactions and actually banks by the european banks, the world -- royal bank a scholar and, -- the royal bank of scotland got billions. $21 million per employee. host: any particular question for our guests? caller: that money going to international banks could have saved this country and went to so many of these programs that would help people to might give them a little bit of a purpose.

host: more about spending priorities. caller: with this feeble recovery, the amount of money that we spend in other countries, part of the idea and of the bank bailout was to stabilize the financial system. what we learned is that the financial system was linked with each other. the banks do not exist in a vacuum. i understand the complaint about sending money abroad, but if you look at what is going on in europe, you have to shore up the banking system so that the financial system does not crumble. it is not popular but how catastrophic would it be if we did not do this? host: of cover page year, and they still count on us? amid famine, soaring prices, and

food riots, lawmakers say their aid budget as an increasing target for cuts. look back home here for a second and give us an idea of what programs are out there. is everyone considered in poverty on a government program summer? guest: it is likely that they are eligible for a lot of programs, but a lot of programs we doubt illegal immigration, so they could be part of the reason you do not see everyone. with the food stamp program, 45 million people receive them. 46 million people are in poverty. that covers a wide range of people. you have a broad range of programs from housing assistance to energy assistance to food stamps to welfare program. host: was them as called snap, formerly the food stamp program.

and 2010, according to the usda, total cost for $68 billion. participation in that 40 million range or more. tell us more about the scope of that program and how much bigger it has gotten. guest: it is grown astronomically in terms of the program be easy to access. people tappet early on because people to hold off and wait until they are desperate before they tappan the food stamps. a lot of states -- if you have a certain amount of assets, you would not qualify this. during the recession, they made it easier for people to access the madison and the numbers have gone up. host: what is congress say about that particular program? guest: a lot more concern about

the cost of that. we're just not seeing it flowed out and the program keeps growing. i definitely think you could see that as a potential target, to keep cutting spending. reinstating asset tests, this is certainly the discussion in congress. host: steve has been hanging on. good morning. caller: early on your guess mentioned that in the south, she said it was that traditionally higher poverty, and i was thinking that is also traditionally hire agriculture and lower union. i wanted to ask her hypothetically, what percentage of people would be in greater poverty if unions were done away

with? i know there is a certain political movement to give a black guy to the union and say that they are not necessary anymore. i was wondering what percentage of the jobs our industrial base, and that they were taken away, or lowered to the non- union wage, and more -- how many more people would be on poverty? guest: we do not have the numbers on that. but with union membership, it does support wages. i do not know how big a factor that has been in terms of what is going on. but you are seeing union membership declined. this has been a long-term trend. you'd to certain protections when it comes to that.

obviously, different sides of the issue will say whether that is good or bad. the huge boeing fight going on about whether they can relocate, it is ground zero for that argument. host: erie, pa., good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i hope everyone stays on topic. i find a lot of people go off topic. my point today is that, s ara, do you take into account the cost of living? that party figure cuts off at $21,000 -- you cannot live on $21,000 in the washington, d.c. area, even though that is the national cut off. does your research take that into account? if not, it is disingenuous to it just look at one figure across the board and say that that is poverty level everywhere.

you certainly cannot live on that in major metropolitan areas. host: let's put the numbers back on the screen and talk about them. since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6%, from 12.5% to 15%. that official poverty level, which is one figure for the whole country, how could it be that that figure gets applied everywhere? guest: that was a good question. the main poverty measured decides who gets what program. it does not adjust for the fact that living in milwaukee, wisconsin is a different ball game than living in washington, d.c. that is why they developed a supplemental poverty level. it takes into account differences of cost of living. $21,000 for a family of four

will not get you are in major metropolitan areas as of may in the midwest. but currently that is what we use, the same number for everyone. host: let's go to cook till, tennessee. gux. caller george bush encourage people to ship jobs overseas. that will lead. there were a million and a quarter that supported that, and why did he do it? why did he incurs them, give them tax breaks, the republican house and congress and senate, they went along with it. why did they do it? and i have not heard the answer yet. why did he come into office saying that he would be igniter like it was in texas, and yet

became a complete divider? host: link this to the common topic of poverty. guest: there has been a lot of outsourcing, and there are incentives for companies to work globally because we are dealing with a global economy now. if you look at where the country is today, part of the reason we are not worse off is because of global trade. the idea that we just need to be looking here and now working with the rest of the world, that will not help the economy. but it is frustrating if your high-school degree in you have always been able to get a manufacturing job, and that jobs goes overseas. all these limited program that helps you when that leaves, that is in the fight in congress this year, too. it is an issue that will continue.

host: another big program is women, infant, and children. according to usda, the total number of women, infants, and children receiving wic benefits reached about 9 million. guest: visa the programs that we need to pay attention when you are cutting. republicans have taken a look at this and try to make some trends here and there. it is difficult because it is not a massive program. some people find it massively important that your child to do and nutrition is really important to development. that said, we have a magic -- a massive budget deficit and this is one of the programs that has been on the radar. host: talk about the shelters that have been growing around the country, and how they have

been funded. guest: if you go to a local community in the u.s., in a high poverty areas, the shelters are maxed out and they're taking in people they have never had to before. a family that just lost their home, they are ending up in shelters. if you are an adult male with kid, there's really no where for you to go. the shelters do not cover you in most areas. there is very limited help for those kind of people. that is troubling when you think about high -- how high unemployment has been among men. host: define this term -- the working poor. guest: ticket for example on made or a gardener, someone like that. these people that were full time and may be multiple jobs, but they are still not making enough money to cross the poverty threshold, or they do, they are just barely above that.

these programs are designed to tailor toward them and give them incentive to keep working but support their families. host: we talked a lot about federal programs so far. how about the states? guest: there's some general assistance programs and the generosity and the availability depends on where they are. the biggest programs that people tap into our heavenly the federal programs. states offering mishmashes depending. they cut the federal program and then they turn to their local community, churches are food banks are things like that. host: what percentage is a legal hispanics? any way to know that? guest: i cannot give a definitive number, " we are looking at some specifics like the people who receive food stamps, if you look at americans

versus people who were born-born and came into the united states, 94% of people who get food stamps were actually born in the united states. so it is a small share of people tapping in the government assistance or foreign-born. host: another person saying that the numbers are wrong. guest: these numbers do not give the most accurate picture of poverty in america. we have an expansive safety net programs, like the entire project earned income tax credit, which is a tax benefit to working families. we do not take that into account. if you did, there would be 3 million fewer children in poverty than the number shows. we're not really taking in all of these programs to keep children out of poverty.

host: ray is on the line from san bernardino, california. caller: i want to know why the government is cutting back on senior citizens with social security. a lot of the benefits have been cut. their checks are being cut. they are not giving any raises to meet up with a high cost of living. the big gas prices, the food prices, everything is going up and that checks are not being cut. -- how did they expect us to survive on the way they are cutting back? host: what is your perspective? caller: my medication used to cost me $55 a month and now it is over $160 for the same, identical medication.

the government just does not help in any way, shape, or form. they still want to cut more. host: going back to the broader debate on how everything is paid for. guest: on the one hand, if your honor so security check, that is not going away. but you're not getting a cost of living increase and it does not take into account the increasing out-of-pocket paying for medical assistance. yes, when you talk about spending in this country right now and how we do not have that money to pay our bills, you're hearing people talk about programs like social security that historically have not been touched. these are sacred programs and now we're talking about raising the retirement age, any way to make some movement on the edges of paying benefits, and so far

no change. but the fact that the discussion is happening is a good discussion. host: for myers, florida, good morning. caller: good morning. my ideas about how the united states built itself into the preeminent country on the planet was good ideas and good taxes. production on shore, of course. the thought i had this morning, changing gears, if you're going to control or reduce poverty in this country, you have to bring out new ideas. the patent office might be a good start for a government search. to get areas in energy, transportation, communication, where we have patents on good alternative ideas to the

smokestack industry, bring it on shore, just a longer term or middle term. but the short-term control is certainly plenty of questions going around, but the longer middle term would be bringing new ideas. that we get very deeply into creating new jobs. justice and the site, a friend of mine was in charge of -- just as an aside come a friend of mine was in charge of development of windows for many years. he was working with bill gates. but the new ideas create new jobs and a whole lot of prosperity. guest: one of the big concerns about budget cutting right now is what if you do cut the areas that foster innovation. we have created a lot of great products and spurned entire new energies -- spawned entire new

industries. you could be cutting your nose off to spite your face. that is the concern, but the one place that people looking to increase prosperity and deal with poverty is the idea is that a college degree is not a tax for everyone. you can get community college programs or skilled worker programs. this is done necessarily a program that requires a of college degree and you can do it in the medium-term and bring people of to a higher-paying job, with a medium amount of education. host: for one last call for this segment, sarah, good morning. caller: i wanted to talk about social security. living of arly 30's

$600 a month. said, the cost of medication just tripled. everything has gone up. i find it very difficult to make ends meet. i am having to choose whether i want food versus medication. and looking out in the future, to you see any changes as far as benefits for people like us? guest: in terms of the disability programs, people expect when you're on disability you get to access the medicare program. the medicare program is hugely expensive. it is a massive driver of our projected deficits of the next few decades. i think they will be part of the conversation. we're not as decided it was to kick the elderly folks on the

street and leave them there. that is not how our society is built. but you're hearing more conversation about our medicare spending is not sustainable and in need to think about what we can do to cut the costs -- and what we need to do to cut the costs without compromising our citizens. sara murray sara is with the "wall street journal." we will continue our look at poverty and america by focusing more deeply on programs that are out there. we will have a couple of guests coming up after a break. in the meantime, a look of some political cartoons this weekend. ♪

>> it's the first time that the justices talk about a case together. so when justice scalia court justice ginsberg asks a question, i can figure out what a ballroom of them about a case and where they are leaning. >> if by law, the new supreme court term begins the first monday in october. each year, they hear almost 70 cases toward cases already include gps tracking without a warrant, profanity on television, and copyright protection. watch recent appearances online at the c-span video library, all archived and searchable. it is washington your way. >> the head of the american association of university professors says that tenure and academic freedom are in jeopardy. and need to be protected. >> tenure creates an atmosphere

on campus where people can speak freely, not just in your teaching, but also in terms of university governance. if you do not like a proposal that the board of trustees of the president maze, you can speak freely about it. administrators need to be able to do that as well. that shared governance is part of what academic freedom protect spirit without that, if you do not have the expertise of the faculty available to you. >> carry nelson tonight on c- span. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we continue our look at poverty in america, specifically programs that are out there and their effectiveness. we are joined to the table by peter edelman, a law professor at georgetown university here in washington, d.c. thank you for joining us. we also say good morning to douglas besharov, who us professor of family policy at

the maryland school of public policy. we appreciate your time this morning. as we get started on the poverty programs, and the broad sense, beginning with you, douglas besharov, what are the effectiveness of the programs out there? guest: they are under great stress because we are under the highest levels of poverty we obscene, some of the highest metrics we of seen since we started measuring. they are helping tens of millions of people subsist, eat, but they are unable to help them escape from poverty and re- entered the american economy, partly because of the weakness of the program and partly because of the great weakness in the economy right now. host: peter edelman, your thoughts of the effectiveness of the poverty programs? guest: we of the a lot of the last 30 years.

there would be something like 40 million more people in poverty now if we did not have all whole group of programs that help with income, social security, about 20 million people out of poverty. now we are in the middle of a terrible recession and if we did not have the things that have been done, the recovery act that president obama got through congress brought nearly 5 million people out of poverty. so these programs that are about -- that are adding to the income of workers are very important and very effective. host: what is missing in your view? host: what is missing to me are two things right now. talking about the big stuff, there are lot of things the we ought to be doing for children, to help them learn better and develop better, that we're not doing as well as we should. but the two digg things are,

right now we have 25 million people who have incomes below half of the poverty line. below $9,000 for a family of three. that shocking. that is 43% of all the poor people, 7% of all the american people. we have a huge hole there. people should not be in that deep poverty in this country. and the people who are working as hard as they can, and a lot of workers down at the bottom, you have in comes, but it is still a big gap. we have 103 million people of incomes below twice the poverty line, and so many of them are struggling everyday to make ends meet. douglas besharov douglas, you mentioned that a problem is that they cannot escape poverty. there's not enough to pull them out.

guest: john kennedy said a rising tide raises all boats. we set for 40 years after, some of the boats are stuck at the bottom. but the underlying truth was that the best anti-poverty programs is a strong economy. and we cannot do the things that peter mentioned without a stronger economy. we're depending on these numbers, up 30% poorer as a nation than we were just 10 years ago. unless we get our economy back on track, unless we raise the underlying employment rate, we cannot continue to increase and debt-poverty programs. host: our guest will be less rigid with us for about 40 more minutes. perhaps some personal stories on poverty. we're following up on the big census report from september. we have to tell if it -- telephone numbers on the bottom of the screen. there/time zone.

-- they are/times and. our guests are douglas besharov and peter edelman. digging and to some of the report, when news the world of welfare, is this a single program or generalize concept? guest: that is almost a trick question. well they're really means and then -- welfare means cash assistance to families with children who are typically under the program single moms. that is what has been so controversy over the years. we have a law passed in 1996 that changed it to temporary assistance to needy families. that-trunk up tremendously. it is down from 14 million people when president clinton was starting out to just below

over 5 million right now. that is very controversial and we still have people beating up on that program, even though it now covers less than 2% of the american people. in some states, it has virtually disappeared, like wyoming. there may be 600 people in all state. but now, given that welfare barely exists in so many places in the country, if you will hear people criticizing welfare when they're talking about a whole series of anti-poverty programs that have nothing to do with welfare. they paint with a broad brush and say that it is all welfare and is all bad. host: one program called snap, the food stamp program, $68 billion a year. is it enough money being spent and in this economic trouble,

what is the future of that program? guest: this is food stamps and this is the traditional program to have a backstop to essentially unemployment but also for people who need food. food assistance, the bigger issue is what will happen to the unemployment system. for the first time in our history, we are providing support or 99 weeks, something like 80% of all the unemployed are still receiving benefits. that will taper off. the republican congress does not seem amenable to continuing that. that is the biggest blow than any changes to put food stamps being contemplated. we should watch what happens to the unemployment benefits. host: let's get to phone calls for our guests. but from bloomington is online. caller: when the recession hit, the value of homes dropped and

the government allowed them to drop. but the value of the mortgages held by investors was protected by the federal reserve. what that says to me is that if you are an investor, and your assets will be protected by the federal government, but if you're a homeowner, you're on your own. i know that there are rationalizations to that, but the bottom line is that there is a huge anti-property program that has been developed on behalf of the investors. i think the federal reserve has spent $2 trillion on that. guest: i really think it is an important point. there's so many people around this country that had been hurt so badly through all of this. millions and millions of people, and i think that our federal government's -- and i am in general a supporter of the obama

administration -- has really not done what it could have done to help people avoid foreclosure and help them through this terrible time. they were put there by what amounts to a gigantic scam that to place. we had a lot of books written about it, and i think everyone knows that. we do have this tendency in this country -- paul asked me earlier about welfare. we had corporate welfare that helps all lot of big interests way more than we had assistance to help people who are struggling. guest: i remember when paul volcker was chairman of the fed , one bank went down and ask for help, and when you have a new board of directors and a new chief executive officer, then we can talk. i do not think anyone lost his or her job precisely because of this collapse and i think that is a crime.

caller: thank you for c-span. i tell you a problem with some of these welfare programs and politics. most of the talking heads never walk the streets. they do not have the beat of the street in their body. with -- if you're on the program, the majority people of that kids today, the people that police to support them. the people in the lower middle class can barely afford to have one child. our programs have created more welfare. that is the problem for these programs -- and it is not just welfare. you will find that our prisons are loaded with people from single-family house phones -- households, and it becomes generational. our programs have created more poor people. it is absolutely ashamed and

disgusting to the people who are on the progress. guest: he misses the point that peter made a moment ago. the two parts of our problem today, one as the underlying welfare programs and the other is generated by this kick in the pants from the economy. the more people on unemployment insurance ran out, more people on food stamps, because they have lost their jobs. these are not the old poor people we like to criticize. it is a different group of people and they are making the situation so much worse because they're so many of them. the caller is right about this that if we're not careful, we will create programs that continued the dependency created for newport and said of giving them jobs training an opportunity to escape poverty. we are not doing very much for those people today. they could be with us on benefit

programs for years to come host: let's hear from peter edelman. guest: we are talking about something more complicated than what the caller said. i do not think anybody is out there now, especially, but not even very much in the past, having children in order to get welfare. now when so many states, -- in so many states, welfare does not even exist. the issues really are much more about how we get investment in children so that they get good education, so that they have the same opportunities as everybody else has in the country. also, take a look at our criminal justice system, which is locking up people at a

prodigious rate. it is disproportionately african-american and latino. i think that if you look at it, so many of those children who got lost along the way from terrible schooling and really never having the chance that they should have had, so to pray -- paid with a broad brush and said it comes down to one program, whether welfare something else, encouraging dependency, i think that is an oversimplification. host: john, you are on the line. caller: this whole thing [unintelligible] globalization and greed. those that own the gold makes the rules. how can you sit there and say this and that, when gas prices

go up, everything goes up. your ship all the jobs overseas and the people sitting here, we have to buy that crap. nobody says anything. host: globalization and broader conditions. like 3there's something million jobs available in this country that are not being filled because employers say that there is a skilled mismatch. the people that are not qualified for the jobs that are available, but there people in other parts of the world willing to do their jobs, not because they're willing to work cheaper, but they are willing to work smarter than some of our people. that is why our challenge now in my opinion is to get into this global marketplace, but that means being smart about our labor force, retraining, the

workers they are unemployed now, and we're not doing enough of that. host: peter edelman, what program is missing out there to give people educated to get the party out? guest: i agree with a tremendous challenge that we have not been meeting for some decades. to educate and get the skills to people, to all the young people, so that it is available to everybody so that they can take jobs that would otherwise disappear. that is a challenge we are not meeting well enough. on the other hand, have to agree with that caller. globalization is a serious problem that we need to be looking at, our trade policies, our immigration policies, the way that we run our economy generally. we need to see how we're going to perform better and more successfully for our people and a global economy.

host: peter edelman was a legislative assistant for robert f. kennedy. former law clerk for the supreme court justice and a law professor currently a georgetown university. douglas besharov is a professor of social and family policy at the university of maryland, the first director of u.s. national center on child abuse and neglect back in 1975. we will continue to take calls for our guests. frank in delaware, you are next. caller. i think what is happening with our country is that we created another social castes. whenever we talk about illegals in this country, they're doing jobs that no one will else will do, so that reduces people to another level here. i am taking those jobs. i do drywall and etc.

to justify people being in this country for that reason, when there's 30 million of them, and they end up on social programs, i understand why we have a lot of problems. if the job was there in the old days, we went into the jaws. now we say that we will allow these people in. guest: there are a lot of immigrants in this country. about half legal, about half illegal. the make a major and important -- they make a major and important contribution to this country. many people around silicon valley are immigrants. on the other hand, at the bottom level of our economy, and in its economy there is competition between those who came to this country and those who were born in this country. this is a giant tension that we

face and we have to resolve it in a democratic way and did away the protect the people who are here, all the people who are here. the definition of an american is different from an american citizen. if you live here, you are an american. but we need to fix the problem so that we do not kill the goose that laid the golden egg, which is the american economy. guest: we have an absolutely hypocritical policy about undocumented people. it is illegal for them to be in this country. people who are here illegally should not be here. on the other hand, we get to the point now where we have 20 million people and documented and there is no way to pick up and deport them all. and we have state after state coming up with policies that are so, really, nasty.

and the underlying thing that is going on is that for years, essentially, the government has looked the other way while employers have been able to hire undocumented people. and because they are here illegally, they literally step them and breaks down the price producer not jobs that nobody else would do. that is a myth. what happens is that the jobs that somebody would do and it ends up that because there is a flood of people who are willing to work more cheaply, they get the jobs and all the jobs have the wages push down. so we literally have been sitting here on the tip of a very terrible situation and we need to face up to it, and that includes saying that if you're here, we will figure out at just wait for you to have of road to being a citizen.

but will also enforce the law much more effectively so that we have fewer people coming in illegally. host: we have about 25 minutes left, putting more time for your calls. here is an e-mail to our guests. douglas besharov, any thoughts? guest: i think that if you look at countries that tried something other than market solutions, sometimes called capitalism, but it is really called democracy and market solutions, they did very poorly. the people at the bottom did worse than the worst situations

here after we eliminated a lot racial discrimination. yth, bute just the met it you showed up for under one of our slums and said it was a slum, he would say that he would take 10 of them. the reason is because millions of people make individual judgments about market decisions and their own investments. socialism does not do that for you. guest: we have had what i think is the right approach, which is, obviously democracy. and yes, having markets and not

having a dictated system. but the key thing that works and not all we have learned this lesson in the new deal, is to have regulations so that the markets will function in a way that keeps people from going over the side or over the edge. whether it is in terms of a protection of consumers about goods, with the the concern of financial markets of protecting people that way. we have had a steady -- i will call it a war, not a term that a particular delight -- that i particularly like -- of backlash about regulations going on for 40 years, where businesses have been saying get rid of all of it. it is too tough on us. and it has caused the recession that we have now, it did exist

because we dropped regulation even during the clinton administration, they drop glass stiegel, analysts the lack of regulation that made it possible for all the overreaching that took place about housing in our country. what we need is a market-based system, but one that is fair and good regulation. guest: if i commend my colleagues, and, -- colleague's comment, it was not just that the right-wingers had their way. all the agencies were permeated with people with conflicts of interest for incompetency. it went beyond right and left, i think. permeated our whole political system. host: new jersey, welcome to the program. what would you like to say?

caller: of wanted to add on a couple of things briefly. a great deal of blacks and latinos from low-income neighborhoods, lousy housing, and the single-parent family household have a great deal of recidivism. that is something that you should be aware of as a professor. as well as the university i am now very the recidivism rate is high because of the low-income, poor education systems. that would be a great factor in terms of the recidivism. i also worked for the division of welfare. everyone has preconceived ideas about the whole umbrella of welfare you have medicaid, if you have food stamps, yet cash assistance, and then you have the other help. the utility help, the temporary

rental system, and the program that the woman was talking about, well over 90% of people on snap, which is formally food since benefits, or people they were born here. people that are born here are eligible for you after hide their be born here or you have to be a permanent president for five years or longer to be eligible for food stamps. that is wind 90% of the people on food stamps are born here. guest: i am not sure what she means by recidivism. i guess she means persistent poverty. we had some people who do struggle, and doug said earlier in the conversation about the fact that we really need, at

least in the economy where we have jobs, we really need to be making it much more possible for people to get those jobs, to get the training that they need the support that they need. a very big issue is the balance between the structural problems the caller mentioned, bad housing, she mentioned bad schools, and the personal responsibility. but of course weit is everyone'y to take care of themselves, their children, and so on. how do we strike that balance? some people go into poverty and go out every -- very quickly. sometimes they do not get the support to tide them through. we have other people who need

more and we really are not reaching enough to make it possible for people to succeed in our economy. i am not sure of the use of the word recidivism, but we have a continuing challenge to reach people who tended to have laundress bells of poverty. -- blonder spells of poverty. host: speak to this. we have the video of people in the shelter and you can see the multi-generational families tere. -- there. guest: the only reason this has not created more party is because of this is two-earner households. the last time this happened, the men lost their jobs, so women working have softened the blow.

for many of these zero families, there are not two -- most of these families, there are not two earners. we need to make single mother is viable without giving them much more education than the average a single mother has. if we expect recidivism or long- term poverty to disappear, those women have to become able to earn more in our competitive marketplace, and that is not easy. host: john from oregon. go ahead, please. caller: i have an amalgamation of everything going on. i was unemployed for 13 months and i received snap, but i was hurt by this in terms of not being able to take care of anyone anymore.

one of the things at the beginning of the conversation that you were talking about, the unemployed, i am wondering what happened. i am 53 and over the last 30 years, the higher education and with the economics professors and that community spoke about zero some. they have no effect from a social standpoint. there is basically the business community that plays a big part in dealing with poverty. family, community, business, and the government, which is the catholic social teaching. government or private as opposed to looking at the continual. host: jane from saratoga

springs, new york. hello. caller: i just wanted to make a comment about what professor edelman said about women not having children to get more welfare. i see this every day. i hear it from my co-workers. they are having more children but do not want to get married because they will lose any assistance that they are getting. i say the need to hire more fraud investigators, look at the earned income tax credit, and the people receiving tax benefits to get recertified several times per year. many of them probably have the fathers living in the house but they do not want to get married because they will lose their benefits. guest: it is difficult to respond to the caller because i do not know who she is talking to one a daily basis.

speaking nationally, it is just not really the case anymore. maybe in some particular locale, but basically it is very, very hard to get on welfare these days. the benefits are quite low. you cannot get out of poverty even with a combination of welfare and food stamps anywhere. the real issue is not so much that people are staying on benefits. there are a little over 5 million people that are on welfare now, less than 2% of the american people, so i'm not sure why these impressions persist. i think the real problem, which we have talked about today is

low-wage workers, how hard this is for a mother who was by herself and is the only earner to make enough to make ends meet. 56% of the and come coming to people who are in poverty is from mark. they are trying very hard on the whole. there will be a story here and there, and some of them may be true on an individual basis, but what we need to have a is to make it possible to have wages that are high enough, women need to do in terms of public policy so people can get more based on work and then to have a decent safety net, which we really do not have any more. guest: politicians always like to point to the socialists in theurope saying we do not want o be like them.

people receiving benefits and not working, i think it is a very real issue, not as widespread as some people feel, but it is a big issue. in europe, they have said whether it is unemployment, disability, or welfare, that we need to have very strong policies to encourage people to look for a job which is the second half of what peter said. it is not just providing support but having labor activation which is a euphemism for a kick in the but come a time limit to benefits, a reduction in benefits. we will do that. the europeans have been doing that for five years now. host: marshall, texas. robin, go ahead. caller: everybody is talking about people with kids, but what about the people that are 58-60

the fall in the cracks. their husbands have died. my husband died earlier this month and i'm only 58, so there is nothing out there. we're too old to start over and too young for social security. what about people like us to fall through the cracks? you talk about old people, but what about us? guest: -- host: here are some of the age breakdown is as follows. 16 million under the age of 18. the wide range from 18-64, that is 26 million. and 4 million over the age of 65. can you speak to the older population and that woman's situation and she gets older beyond 58? guest: i can resonate so strongly with the caller. in the safety gap

net. people who do not have children or children under the age of 18, although we do not do so well for them, either. what is there for the caller is food stamps. then when the new health care law that president obama champion gets up and going, she will be eligible for medicaid. and does not help her now, but it will in a couple of years. we have never had a federal policy for low-income people who are of working age and were not disabled. it is really tough on a 58-year- old woman, just like she described. the help that exists, other than what i said, is local. many states have had, over the

years, general assistance, home relief, of state programs. those are gone in most states right now. this is a precarious thing. guest: i am leery from what i've got to say because the heaviest pick up everett -- the heaviest. pick up every day is a book. in our global competitive society, 58 is still young. we're looking at an official retirement age of 67, which is true round world. many of the unemployed are in the 50-16 year period. if we do not move them back to employment, we're going to have a class of people who are perpetually behind.

what i would say is different than what peter said. i think we need to activate people over the age of 55 until 65 and older. i hope it will not be unfair or overly onerous. people in their mid 60's are going to have to work, and that is the politics in this town and around the world. it is democratic politics, republican, and there is no bill on the table to lower retirement age. guest: i agree, but the question is where the jobs are going to be for those older people. we have been squeezing ever since the great depression because one of the reasons we're successful in getting social security in the first place was because there was an agreement to get people over 65 out of the

labour market so there would not be as much competition for jobs. one of the reasons why we ended child labor was to have less competition for jobs. we are in a squeeze about whether or not we're right have a net employment going forward. it is a huge dilemma. people should be active. they have something to give. where will the jobs come from? guest: there were five, seven, 10 people supporting of every person on social security. now it is two people supporting everyone person. the politics does not let this be as generous as we have been in the past. we will have to pull up our socks and work harder, i am afraid. guest: the question is still the same question i asked. how will we find the jobs to

keep people working? guest: it is a two-way street. available people create jobs. it is the fact that there are jobs available in this country and some of the reason they're not hiring is because they cannot find qualified people. better pre-k, better schools, access to health. as arne duncan said just a few months ago, whether it is 50%- 75% of the young people 89 and 25 are not employable in time so jobs -- young people 18-25 are not employable in the type of jobs that make us more effective at competing. we have to learn. host: last caller two for our

guests. huntington, calif., you are on the air. caller: i have not heard a lot of workable solutions from the guests. i have not even heard much about the real underlying problem. in order to look at this, you have to realize that overpopulation is a major concern. and should be, but it is not. particularly with latinos, they have a very high birth rate and do low-skilled worker, generally speaking it. this is a ticking time bomb. we have an exponential growth in population but limited jobs due to increased ways of manufacturing things and politicians doing nothing about shipping jobs offshore.

they need to do whatever can be done to limit the population. host: linda from knoxville, tenn. caller: oven like to see you a legislative agenda just like the koch brothers do. this is a state that is very good at keeping their poor people poor. pay day lenders, 900% interest. they let the poor white trash bank at the wal-mart and charge $3 to check their balance. tennessee lets you keep less when you bust out of chapter 7 including 2 of hundred dollars for a car. there is a regressive sales tax on everything including food.

there's no progressive income tax, but there is a 10% regressive sales tax. host: peter edelman? guest: i endorse the agenda and the idea that our democrats, and i am one of them, ought to be a lot clearer about where they want to take this country, where we want to take this country. i would certainly start by very much endorsing in getting the wealthiest people here to pay their fair share of running this society. the president is absolutely right in emphasizing that. it is a moral issue. they can afford it. there was a piece this morning in "the washington post" about the widening of the super-rich. -- whining of the rich.

we need these resources to balance the budget and we do need to bring this silly balance. right now, we should have a much bolder program to deal with the continuing recession. i am all in favor of president obama's jobs bill, but we need to be doing a lot more. guest: and which did not think the tax the millionaires was some kind of political detour. if we spend 25% of the time talking about making a more competitive work force as we do on this "tax the millionaires" if they would need a more productive work force, then i would be more comfortable talking about taxing the rich. the problems are so much bigger than just taxing the rich. host: you began the segment by talking about jobless benefits.

what should we know about what congress may or may not be doing about it? guest: we have a state and federal unemployment system a substantial funding from the state supplemented by federal money. in ordinary times, is maybe 40 weeks depending on the measure. we have raised it to 99 weeks which is almost two years. to the first half of this very deep recession, the vast majority of unemployed people were getting benefits which was one of the reasons the poverty rate was not hired because unemployment benefits were a form of income as the census bureau sees it which lowers the poverty rate. those people are beginning to run out of benefits. the republicans in the house have voted to extend the benefits once or twice and it looks to me as if they're going to insist on some reforms or

changes to the system before they extend benefits again. i think what we will seem is a high in the job search, job training requirements attached to any extension, if we even see one. if we do not, we're going to see many formerly middle-class people with middle class lifestyles in the raleigh benefit will be -- only benefit will be snp oap or food stamps. host: peter? guest: i really hope that people around this country, so many of them who are in such a tough place, would speak out. to me, there is a kind of strange feeling in the country and some people who really ought to know better want less government rather than more in

terms of helping the unemployed. i think if people working in low-wage jobs, people who have lost jobs would speak out about the fact that there has to be some way to get help to people that we have a public and civic responsibility, it would be good for our country. host: scottsdale, ariz., you are on the line. caller: thank you for c-span. if we could cut the cost of living in half, what effect would that have across the board? it would be tremendous. where you start in the cost of living is to take all of the energy sources that we have in the united states and get gasoline and below $1 per gallon. that would affect everything across the board. secondly, it you people from

academia have no idea what it takes to run a business. it is a little bit of a shame. the american people spoke up in 2010. and top -- in 2012, you will have a shock. we want to replace everyone in government -- period. they do not know how to control money. they are wasting $500 million in green energy. it is a joke. there is nothing that you're going to do to subsidize grain energy with solar and make it profitable. what you do is you take the call that we have in the ground and make it economically feasible below $1 per gallon. host: both of you are currently in academia, but speaking to the broader issue of energy and

costs of the current economic approach. any thoughts? guest: we have to become energy independent. that has been a fact for one decade. we keep hearing the rhetoric and we just do not do it. the question of the green energy is something that requires a public investment if we're going to move in that direction, but a major, major thing is just to consume less energy. if we were not the sole propagate in the way that we use every source of energy that we have, the cost of energy would go down because it would not have the same demand. part of the general subject of the caller, he goes to a store that sells with a broad brush, and i just do not agree.

guest: i think the caller taps into a much larger problem that we face in our country. we have a lack of responsiveness in the political system. we have gerrymandered congress so that not enough members are challenge for reelection and it becomes a very divisive congress of the national politics. national politics have been stuck with one subsidy after another and it is not just on the right or on the left. people look at this whether they are in that t party-- in the tea party, leftist organization, and they are tired. it would be nice to have a fresh air for 2012. host: orlando, florida, good morning. caller: hello.

mr. besharov, i notice that he is pro-business, but i was just listening to fox business done everything wrong with the policies of the current administration but nothing wrong with the policies of the previous administration. everything they wanted to do, they stuck together even when they were wrong. then they want to blame everyone else and i find it a disingenuous comment on them. by the way, just one thing. get a pay raise then lay people lost. they will lay people off just to keep a certain amount of money coming in to their coffers. that needs to be addressed, as well. corporate welfare is a killer. the best congress that money can buy.

guest: i'm not exactly per- business, but i believe in bottom-up market decisions. i believe that in how we paper energy, so we should not subsidize ethanol. when we tried to get things right, we are a nation of 300 million plus people in these decisions do not work well top- down. i think we need to be bottom-up which includes business being responsible for market decisions that involve individuals as well. when we try to micromanage this large of an economy, it just does not work. this is just observing what happens and i think we need to unleashed the energy whether it is a business, an individual come with it is a professor or a painter.

guest: you finally said a republican thing. i strongly resonate with the caller. the last administration ran this country into the ground. they started two wars, spent money like there was no end. the prescription drug program that did not get paid for, started out with a huge surplus by the clinton administration, dissipated it, give us trillion's more, a recession, and if you follow the media in listening to the discourse, you would think the song never happened. this administration has had some major achievements and i'm a strong supporter of the health- care bill.

i think it will turn out, as we proceed it through this, that it is a great step forward and i support what the obama administration is doing in education, the recovery act, the stimulus legislation that kept us from a cataclysmic crash. i hope we can get the debate right and the discussion right and really talk about what the issues are. guest: i am hoping that it is not either/or. bush 43 presidency and the decisions made there were very bad. some of this administration's decisions have been equally disappointing. i do not want to be here defending what went on there, but there is a bigger problem, and i think most viewers will

understand that we have been living on borrowed time, borrowed money for more than one decade. we have all been complaisance in this. we have lived beyond our means, not invested in our children, not invested in our infrastructure. the advocacy goes beyond left and right. it goes to fixing our political system so that discusses more responsive. i do not see that happening yet, and i think it is important for us to understand that it goes deeper than just republicans or democrats. host: last caller. diana, go ahead. caller: i do not think any of these gentlemen know about welfare. one-third of the people here on food stamps. that is where they get her money. she buys for her neighbors and then they cut the price.

the woman from knox bill, no one is forcing her to live here in tennessee. we are being overrun with the democrats have destroyed the northeast. we have entire towns here named after new jersey. nobody in tennessee says, "i cannot wait until i retire to move to new jersey." host: i did not mean to cut you off, but we are running out of time. final thoughts. guest: again, there is such a disconnects between facts and impressions that people have. jason the ball did some reporting for -- jason depaul did terrific reporting. 6 million people in this country only get income from food stamps. food stamps are a major anti-

recessionary tool for the lowest income people. poods stance only pay one-third of the poverty line. 6 million people, 2% of americans, that is all we have. we ought to just be clear in an overall sense that we have some serious problems in the division of income in the country. we have done some things that are right and have much more to do. guest: the people in the united states are competing against the people in china, india, and western europe. these differences in social welfare systems translate into differences in the competitiveness of the workforce. that does not mean you cut them to 0, but the programs have to

be smart. what we should be focusing on is how to make the programs smart so that the people in new jersey are as competitive as the people in tennessee. host: our guests have been douglas besharov from the university of maryland school of public policy and peter edelman. thank you for your time. we will continue our discussion of poverty in america. we will focus on one campaign, one program out there to reduce poverty in half in 10 years. we will be back with more of your calls, but first more news from c-span radio. >> hear a discussion of today's news at noon when c-span radio repair is the tv talk shows. the topics today include presidential politics, the killing of all a lockheed -- al- awlaki.

republican gov. bob macdonald, chairman of the republican governors association, and javier besara. "this week" with an interview with herman cain. at 2:00, fox's "sunday." johnson.ernder robert former cia director and former congresswoman now director of the woodrow wilson center. former vice president dick cheney on his new memoir. at 4:00 p.m., "face the nation." bob schieffer speaks with the ranking republican member of the armed services committee and gov. martin o'malley, chairman of the democratic governors association.

also on the program, hailey barbour. noon, meet the press, 1:00, this week, to a clock, box's sunday, state of the union, and then 4:00, face the nation. listen to them all on c-span radio, 9.1 in washington, d.c., on your iphone or blackberry, satellite radio 119, or on line on c-spanradio.org. >> of tenure and academic freedom are in jeopardy. thaey need to be protected. >> tenure create an atmosphere where people can speak freely in terms of that university governance. if you do not like a proposal that the board of trustees makes come you have to be able to speak freely about that.

administrators should be able to do that, as well. the shared governance is part of one academic freedom protect. without that, you do not have the expertise of the faculty available to you. >> cary nelson tonight on "q&a." >> this is a dangerous time for britain and a dangerous time for british economy. the government's austerity plan is failing. you can sense the fear people have as we watch the economic crisis that forts our country. it is threatening to return. >> with the british house of commons in recess, annual party conference is continue. watch labor party leader ed miliband tonight on c-span. next sunday, conservative david cameron. >> you should always start with

the assumption that when a politician or ceo is saying something that they are not telling you the truth. they may be telling the truth, but the burden should be on them to prove it. >> directing and produced three of the top 10 grossing documentaries of all time and a best-selling author. the latest, "here comes trouble." your chance to call, email, and tweak michael more to live at noon on the tv -- on "booktv" on c-span2. host: at the table now is melissa boteach. what is half in 10? guest: the national campaign to cut party in half by 10 years. they went to build a political and public will to achieve that

goal. where -- host: where the goal come from? guest: it came from this year's party data. the impetus was a report that for the center of american progress put out in 2007 that shows this is not some pie in the sky goal but within reach. we needed the political will to reach it. it says three things. increasing the minimum wage it to have come enhancing the tax code and making it work better for working families by improving the current tax credit, and making a child care support available. that would cut party by 26% by 10 years. -- cut poverty by 26%. host: the ball numbers are on

the bottom of your screen to call in for our guest. half in 10 has several key issues, creating new jobs is one of them. strengthening families. promoting economic security and of course cover -- cuts in poverty in half. tell us more about how you get there. guest: one of the main things we're focusing on his jobs. unemployment is a big driver of poverty. a lot of what we're getting to the supporting policies in the american jobs plants such as subsidized employment, extending jobless benefits, and infrastructure investment to rebuild america and put people back on the job. those are some things we're focused on right now. we are also focused on that long term deficit reduction protect low-income families and ultimately be able to achieve economic security and be a part

of the middle class. host: how wide is the scope of this effort? guest: it reaches approximately 60 million people through various coalition partners. our strength comes from our coalition. we have over 200 civil rights organizations and there are over 100 anti-party organizations. host: any region your working with most intensely? guest: colorado, va., and we work across the country. host: is very big connection with the those people working in congress? guest: we tried to mobilize the grass roots and speak directly to the members of congress about what is working and how we can

fight party and create better opportunity. host: first caller from our guest in chicago. go ahead, please. caller: think you for taking my call. i just have a comment. i have been unemployed for two years and i am 49 years old. i just do not understand this notion that you hear a lot of guests saying there is a skill mismatch. americans who lost their jobs did not suddenly go to work one day, lose their job skills, and lose a job. our jobs were taken overseas suppose in by these advanced people with advanced knowledge i keep hearing about like the indians. if they are so advanced, why did they get all of the call center jobs? if we are so under-developed or

under-educated, like they want us to believe, then bring those jobs back where any of these so- called "low wage" jobs back. it is an atrocity that a woman my age cannot get a job and now it is being called because i do not have a skill said. what my going to do? get a construction job? guest: it is definitely the case that there are a lot of people that are long-term unemployed and a lot of these people have been out of work for over six months. i did knowledge appoint. the second thing is we do focus on jobs and skills training. i can speak to some of this working very well. there are not enough customers, so one thing we're trying to focus on is trying to get people

back in the labour market. host: next caller. caller: i am in a similar situation like the previous caller. i have worked in the phone business for a long time and i guess i am what you would call the pink class. i was laid off because my company moved to little rock, ark. they told us the minimum wage was raised in oregon to where they felt they could not make money any more. i have heard they move to call center jobs to prisons as well as overseas. i have been in college trying to get into higher education and can get into a ph.d. program now.

i was wondering what options do you feel that there are for people who have been displaced in this structural unemployment that we are in right now? what would be the effects of raising the minimum wage to a living wage? pop would that be a positive movement? guest: on minimum wage, we have two studies that shows the minimum wage does not have an adverse effect on employment. it shows similar types of businesses and it was one of the first studies that shows that it does not have an adverse effect on unemployment. minimum wage should not affect the ability to get a job. the second question was about what can people do in terms of

skills and jobs training. one local effort i want to highlight is a project called partners healthcare. it does job training. it allows local non-profits to put people in apprenticeships and training programs, it helps with job placement, and helps the growing field. there will be millions of new jobs created in that sector of thomas of those are places where it is working very well. host: stuttgart, germany. caller: could the lady said about outsourcing the customer service jobs -- what's the lady said, sprint outsources 40,000 jobs to the philippines where they pay $2 per hour. but i do not like about outsourcing is that these big corporations make all of their billions of of the americans

that do have jobs yet they do not hire americans to do the work. we should not support companies that do not hire americans. guest: i do think you're right that outsourcing has been a problem in terms of many jobs being shipped overseas. we need to focus on doing jobs at home. some of them are in the green jobs sector, health care sector, but we're going to have to retool our economy for the 21st century so we can create good jobs here at home. host: how about just getting people out of shelters and food pantries? we will see those people during this segment. guest: there are people who have really hit the bottom in this recession who have lost their homes, struggling to put food on the table. one thing we are trying to do with half in 10 is to make sure

we have a strong safety net to support families and help them move on it to reconnect in the labour market. the programs we support include the snap, or through stamps program, soups -- subsidized housing. only one in four families to qualify for affordable housing are actually getting them. one of the original recommendations of the report was to create new housing vouchers to stabilize and be able to ultimately afford a place to live. host: maryland, welcome to the program. caller: thanks, c-span. i have been watching this poverty stuff and it is really good. this is a great way because it shows that there are some solutions. what can ordinary citizens do to support half in 10?

what can people do? do you have a web site or anything like that to help people get smart? my wife and volunteers for a shelter here in the hartford county, maryland. some of the people actually have jobs, go to work, but do not have the money for a security deposit, car insurance, or what have you. some of the people you referred to earlier are working, just not making enough to survive. i would like to learn more about half in 10. guest: www.halfin10.org -- www.halfinten.org. every month, we have an action where you can contacting member of congress. we collect stories of people to talk about the value program, where are they working, how we can improve them. we want to hear directly from people who are experiencing this or economic security

directly. we have a story bank and reconnect them to the white house and the congress to make sure they are hearing on what is going on around america. you can contact us directly at info@halfinten.org to do direct work. thank you for that question because what we want to do is connect with people to build this movement to end property. -- en poverty. you can go to the "donate" button and we welcome donations. host: had you track your worked -- how do you track? guest: we will be releasing a major report on poverty to establish a baseline to cut poverty in half. other people on the show have talked about the poverty line. there are people struggling above the poverty line.

do you can make $22,000 per year, but it does not mean you are struggling -- are not struggling to make things anmee. how easy is it to access health? how can people build assets to weather the storm? how are we doing to create job training? we have 20 indicators we are looking at and tracking in order to see how we are doing in reaching this goal which will be coming up later this month. host: and you are tracking members of congress and how they vote. we can see a little bit of it here. they break it down by congressional district. can you speak more to that? guest: the census releases an american community survey which has poverty, use of public

benefits, lots of useful information. we break it down by congressional district and it has breakdowns by gender, and we will be adding it race and ethnicity. this is a wonderful tool to ask for members of congress questioned did hold them accountable to making progress. host: portland, maine, good morning. caller:i am in awe with this program, the half in ten. can you hear me? guest: yes. caller: the prior two guests that you had, professors besharov and edelman, they spoke about poverty and programs. they missed the boat about two points. recidivism is a pejorative term.

the second is that prof. besharov talks about training. there are many people who have more than two master's degrees that went back to school on their own expense to update their skills. they do not consider them as an asset. host: another call from seattle. good morning. caller: you addressed this a little bit earlier, so i did not hear everything, but the biggest problem i believe, as far as poverty, are the cuts that have been made in section 8. your statistics are a little wrong about one in four people needing doctors not -- and not getting them. they opened up the list for the

first time in seven or eight years in seattle and 29,500 applied. it may take them up to 6-18 months to have their numbers come up. guest: housing is huge. once a family gets a section 8 housing voucher, it can be a life changing experience in security. there is a great resource on our website in the story bank about section 8 housing. they talk about someone on the waiting list and someone who got a voucher, and someone currently on a doctor and how it has helped. you can see how it makes a big difference on an anecdotal level and on the macro level. host: off of twitter.

california, you are up now. good morning. caller: good morning. you are very intelligent and i like the work that you do. one comment i would like to make is something you're working hard towards. the jobs we need in this country are the ones that will be sustainable for generations to come up. self-sufficiency in things that we use every day like natural energy, natural gas. i know there is an opera -- an opposition with corporations saying the big oil companies will make a mess and we do have some history with some really bad oil spills. the environmentalists are really good at what they do, why do not just subsidize them, let them rebuild some of these in ways to make this save. it is a great idea to make this safe and protect the environment so we can rebuild the

infrastructure and put people back to work. a lot of these oil companies want to do stocks cheaply to put money in their pockets. host: let's hear from our guest. guest: there has been a movement to create more clean energy jobs. the community action agencies across the country have put people back to work weatherizing homes. it saves money for the homes that they are weatherizing on their utility bills. we are creating jobs and saving money. host: next caller. what would you like to say? caller: what is your plan for people who do not really want to go to school or want to work? guest: i think that most people really do want to work. what we're focusing on is creating the jobs and work force opportunities for people who are out of work right now or are in

in the low-wage, low quality jobs working full-time or still hovering around the poverty line. we're looking at how to connect them with the good, decent wage jobs. host: new york. good morning. caller: many of us have been severely injured on the job, and it has been shown by "the new york times" that below a certain income level that colleges to expensive. it is not possible to become a schoolteacher in california without a silver spoon in your mouth. the reason i'm calling is as long as businesses can take their cash out of the country, you cannot take your social security to certain countries. you have to report all the money you take as an individual out of the country. these businesses part of their money offshore and take their money out of the country. until that happens, this woman can come on, and talked down to

people like us to people like used to be considered a "skilled." host: oxford, mississippi. caller: hello, c-span and melissa. i just started on disability. to be quite honest, this last job i worked for almost 24 years. i am very skilled in that position. and they let me go because of disability. i cannot prove it, but that is not the point. if i could get my body in better shape, you could put me on the front line down there in texas. i would go to work wherever. i do not want to draw money off of the government. i would rather work. no one will let me work because of my disability. guest:i think he makes a very

important point. people with disabilities have been left off the labor market. there are a number of different programs try to create jobs for people who have been pushed out. one i would highlight is included in the president's jobs bill and is called the subsidized employment program where you can direct a partner with small businesses to create employment opportunities for low-income or long-term disabled workers. they created jobs during the recovery act. that was allowed to expire, but we want to read of that back up so the people who have been a long term unemployed can re- enter the labour market. host: last call. john, good morning. caller: i am a 62-year-old guy has been skirting poverty all my life. i have never been on party even

though i have lived from week to week. you know, i have been a self- employed door-to-door salesman all my life. the best way for young people, in my opinion, if you do not have any children, there is a chance for you to stay off poverty. you cannot have children until you get of age. you have to sell yourself, find a product, go out and market. i talk to about 30 people per day, face to face, eye to eye. i see a lot of poverty. i might sell one or two. host: final thoughts from our guests? guest: most of the callers touch on the key point is that we need good jobs and we need them now.

i would hope that you're interested, please go to halfinten.org and of information's state by state, district by district to get information. host: melissa boteach, half in ten. we want to say thanks to these organizations for letting us stop by. tomorrow when 7:00 a.m. eastern, david savage. a look at the new supreme court term. thomas evans of bankrate looking at bank fees. then ladonna pavetti from the center of budget policy priorities and the temporary assistance for needy families. that will be tomorrow on "washington journal." enjoy the rest of your weekend

and we will see you tomorrow. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> coming up, "newsmakers." after that, our series, "contenders." later, at david axelrod. >> gets regular updates