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tv   Washington Journal  CSPAN  October 29, 2011 7:00am-10:00am EDT

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book," defeating dictator's." "washington journal is next.
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again, measures announced this week as part of the tp's efforts to get an economic agenda out there that avoids congressional approval. here's the story that we talked about this morning.
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there's more. it quotes mark pen who ran the successful 1996 kwlinten
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campaign h also in the story, the obama white house goes on to say we're looking at the economic strategy this week and asking you is the appointee, is it reminiscent of 1996 and the tactics employed by president clinton. to get your taught -- thoughts, if you want to give us a call,
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the numbers are on the bottom of your screen. to give you some context about the president's' initiative this week, let's show you a bit of tape first. first up, we're going to show you -- this is president obama and here's a bit about the message that he is sending and the message theapts to send particularly as he faces congress. >> on monday we announce a new policy to help families whose home values have fallen to refinance their mortgages and to save up to thousands of dollars a year. all these steps aren't going to take the place of the needed action that congress has to get going on. they're still going to have to
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pass this jobs bill. they have to create jobs, they've got to grow the economy. but these executive actions we're taking can make a difference. and i've told my administration that we are going to look every single day to figure out what can we do without congress? steps that can save you money and make government more efficient and responsive and help heal this economy. so beer going to be announcing these steps on a regular basis. >> so there's president obama. that took place in october of this month -- this month. to give you a little context. in a form that took place here in washington, d.c. spoke about economic measures, especially done in this administration to give you a sense and hopefully to get you to talk about if there's some policies working in the obama white house. here's.clinton what he had to say. >> i'm encouraged by the fact
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that fannie mae and freddie mac have apparently let some people refinance their mortgages down to the 4% level, a million or so. but there are 20 million americans who have not defaulted who have relatively small amounts of mortgage money out, $150,000, at an average interest rate of 5.6%, the mortgages are owned by the government. if they let them all refinance at 4%, it would put a 40 billion a year back into the american economy and stimulate with no deficit spending and no tax increase. remember, we got our job growth as they all said by accelerating information technology and trying to spread it into every other aspect of american life as quickly as possible. here, the president's outlined a strategy of doing that with
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green tech which no matter what you read among the skeptics, green tech jobs have grown at twice the rate of overall employment and account for $54 billion in trade for us. in bringing back manufacturing jobs which we can now do as long as they're high epped jobs. in doubling exports and in infrastructure. so i support this plan. >> one more bit of information to show you before we go to the calls. ron in a piece that he wrote, here's the headline, obama borrows page from clinton.
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>> so asking you if you agree or not and give your thoughts on that. the lines will be on your screen. you can give us a sweet, or an e-mail. north carolina is up first. tina on our democrat's line. thank you very much for waiting. caller: yes. i do believe that the use of executive order is clinton esk as well as an affect of desperation forced upon president obama by a do nothing house of representatives. intent on making him a first term president and as a homeowner trying to be a homeowner being under water and having defaulted making all of my payments, i seek relief and appreciate a new way of doing something good to help the american people at this very critical time. host: so you agree with the
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strategy as you see it? caller: the strategy is absolutely fantastic. should have been used earlier. host: new york, on our republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm praying that president obama will see what he is doing is like putting a band aid on a hemorrhage. host: what do you mean by that? caller: well, i just believe that he doesn't want to face congress because he is out campaigning when he should be dealing with this economy and what he is truly doing is trying to avoid what he doesn't want to face by going out and campaigning and trying to play to his base. host: so one of the things we're talking about this morning is if there's paralevels between what he is doing and what clinton did in
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1996, if they think it's going to be effective. caller: i don't believe what he is doing is effective at all. host: san antonio, texas. caller: good morning. you know, it's odd to me that so many people call in that don't even know the issues. i think it's a great idea that he is going over congress' head since they have been absent most of the time anyway. i just don't understand how it is that most of the americans are willing to cut their own throat for rhetoric. host: off of twitter. william, go ahead. caller: thank you for letting me call in this morning.
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i really think that what we're looking at is possibly a political angle but also you've got to realize that congress in the last three years has done absolutely nothing to encourage job growth or spending cuts that are reasonable and so sometimes the president has to take actions that may or may not seem appropriate. i think he should go for it and i would like to add one more comment, if i could. when you get to the part about student loans i hope somebody will bring up the fact that the other night on one of the national news programs a girl who graduated from college with a bamplet to become a school teacher has $140,000 worth of school loans. the college that signed those papers, the people who signed those papers to allow her to borrow $140,000 for an educational degree, they should go to jail. end of story.
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thank you very much. host: is the the president's current strategy like clinton's? that's what we want to get from you this morning. michigan, good morning. caller: good morning. obama is a constitutional law professor and he in his book likes to hang around with mamplist professor. right now he is going against the constitution. this man is trying to basically destroy. what better way to destroy the constitution? host: what do you think about the comparison to.clinton when it comes to the strategy?
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guest: anything as far as the democrats they go they keep troying to destroy the country. we're trying to add more government and that's what they're trying to do. we're saying take away the government and we can actually build and let the people do what they do best. we can build it instead of having this guy trying to destroy it. when is this guy going to be tried for treason or something? because this guy is going against the constitution. host: another tweet said this.
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>> a similar story on the inside pages of the "washington post" this morning. this is carol lening, the headline says
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again, your thoughts on the strategy that the president unveiled this week, several strategies, small economic initiatives when it comes to housing and student loans and the like. papers, a couple sources there making comparisons to strategies used in 1996 by bill clinton. i want to get your thoughts on that. maryland, independent line. caller: yes. i think the president is on the right track. congress obstructs him at all turns so he is not going to be able -- am i on? host: yes, you are. caller: he's not going to be able to turn the economy around to help the american people unless he goes by them.
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it's disheartening to hear so many republicans have the idea that the rich should get richer, the poor should get poorer and you should be out there all by yourself like the guy who said about the school teacher. like the guy who said about the teacher when she might be teaching the great innovator who might expand our economy. it's just ashame that they feel that somehow that the president is doing some tripe of treasonist activity by trying to focus on doing everything he can to get this economy turned around. host: nume, chris on our republican line. caller: good morning. i think he's much like clinton in a lot of ways that under clinton's administration he in
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98, 99 and 2020 borrowed a lot of money from the extra governmental debt area borrowing money from itself, from the trust funds in order to pay public debt showing that he had an actual surplus but in fact did not. he's operating under united states corporations which is why he was able to get elected not being able to show in fact that he was born in the united states under the constitution and operating under a united states corporation he can then initiate the borrowing of money and operate under a different venue. host: so what do you think about the plans that he has unveiled this week?
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caller: well, he is trying to move those of us in effect to showing that he is -- that he cares about us but i think a lot of the methods and modes that he comes about displaying is operating under the guise of deseat, which he's operating under the united states corporation and not as he should. host: california, david on our independent line. caller: yes. i'm running on the independent party for president. my suggestion is that they declare bankrupt sifment it's very simple. bankruptcy is not evil, it's good. it's like taking your dirty clothes to the laundry and get them cleaned. host:ber you go too far let's stick to the point as far as the economic strategy unveiled by this president and is it
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clinton esk in nature? guest: you go bankruptcy. that's the only way. and then it will hit the republicans right in the gut where it hurts. host: mississippi, democrats line. caller: good morning. my comment is on the clinton, it doesn't really matter who comes up with a great idea as long as it's a great idea that will work. host: do you think this will work and why? caller: i think it will work because it's been proven to work in the past when former president clinton was in office he was criticized for everything he did as well and now that he is out of office ok then that was a great thing that he did. but now that president obama is in office he's being criticized for everything he does except for when he sent that $250 back to the medicare recipients that were in the gap then all of saweden he's the best president ever. but he's trying.
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and he came in under a bunch of mess that he has to clean up and it takes more than four years to clean up a mess. host: so this current strategy essentially doesn't end run around congress. what do you think of that as a strategy? caller: well, i don't think that it's anything, a ploy but he has the american people at heart and he's trying his best to see what can work. some thing he is may have tried may not have worked but what bill clinton did, did put a step forward. so he's actually trying. host: twitter gives you 140 characters. e-mail a little bit more. here's larry.
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texas. good morning robert republican line. caller: we'll move on to new york. the.is trying to divide the country. host: would you like that more? caller: to divide the country. [inaudible] host: we'll leave it there. and as a note to those of you waiting on line. when you hear your cell phone television then there's pauses which leads to kind of things coming to a little bit of a halt here. so as you're waiting go ahead and turn down your television wfment when you hear us talk to you. go ahead and respond. sacramento, california. caller: good morning. i do appreciate that last
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republican's response, he was snoring. well, that's the problem. the republicans have been asleep for about ten years now. but as to whether or not the president's policies have been like clinton, they are obama and that's a good thing. what should have happened is when he came into office he should have instructed his treasury secretary to put together the paper work to nationalize bank of america and take it over, fire all of those executives and then create a situation where in the principals that were out there, principle reduction should have been across the board towards today's numbers and keep people in their homes, keep our cities and towns solvent, and maintain the tax base so that we would
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not be in this disaster that we're in now. host: a little bit of historical context from ron this morning who writes about the comparison he sees between this president and president clinton.
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tulsa, oklahoma. we're asking if the current economic strategy by president obama is clinton-esque. caller: i just feel like he is taking some of his previous things he did because that's a smart thing to do. take things from previous -- you know, whatever president that did good things to move us forward. it wouldn't have to be the same even i feel like it doesn't even have to be in your party always. because your party doesn't make
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everything perfect. i mean, i'm republican but do i think they're perfect? no, i don't. so i think clinton made some good choices back then. i actually -- i voted for clinton the first time because i liked him and he was actually to me was very brilliant. his sad mistake was his personal life. but obama is trying i think very hard to -- and i didn't vote for him but i'm compressed with a lot of things he does. host: do you like what he is doing with these initiatives? kiveraget why go back to the that congress and butt heads? and so to me, even though he's doing this also politically to help himself, we all do that. don't we? don't we want to win? if we're playing a ball game, are you going to do things that
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-- you're going to do things to win. so to me he's doing the right thing because it is promoting his campaign but it's showing the american people, hey, i've got ideas here that can do the right thing. now, i agree with clinton it should be across the board for every single person here. i have a son who is a coach and teacher, high school teacher and a coach. and they don't -- and his wife is an english teacher. they chose that profession knowing they would not make any money. you understand that? my kids. my daughter -- they've been married 24 years and they have three kids. they chose that profession because they wanted to help children learn. and they want to see kids go to college. my daughter in-law teaches in the area where kids are being prepped for college. but my son teaches in an area
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here in tulsa which didn't used to be this way because i was born and raised. i'm an oakie and i'm proud of it. i only have a high school education. i raised my two boys halfway through by myself. host: so to finish your thought, what would be your final thought on this topic? guest: caller: that i think he does use some of those. but to say he wants to copy it? no. host: how are you doing? guest: i kind of agree with the real estate guild but i disagree that he is clinton. he is acting more hugo chavez. he is trying to take over the country and run it like a king or dictator rather than our republic system of governing. and all it's going to do is cause more chaos. the first two years, why didn't he have all these good ideas then? all he did was suppress the
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economy, suppress the working man, and cause them to be in the same mess that we were in when we took over the office. even worse. the different with him and clinton, clinton's economy was robust and unemployment was about 6% maybe. but he's acting more like a dictator than a president of the united states. and all these ideas he should have come out two years ago when he took over. and we might not be in this mess we're in right now. host: bank of america in the news this morning saying that debit card fees appear to be making a quick exit.
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grand fork, north dakota. asking if the current economic zriege used by the president is clinton esk. caller: yes. i believe it is primarily because obama support it is free trade strategy that began under president clinton and continued under bush. and of course the premise of free trade is that we should no longer protect our economy with trade policy, which is absurd and in my opinion on its face
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treason because just a little bit of context, prior to free trade in the 80's we were concerned about japan taking us over competitively and there was changes in the corporate structures. we had corporate downsizing. unions made big concessions. we had welfare to work. we got people off of welfare. at the end of clinton's administration we had a balanced budget. we didn't have a debt crisis because we were protecting our economy via trade policy which we had done for 20220 years and we were the dominant economy in the world. when free trade was being debated under clinton and under bush nafta, cafta, et cetera, the leadership told us that as a result of free trade we will be transitioning to a low-wage service economy. well, if we were the leading manufacturing and exporting country in the world, and we're
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going to be transitioning to a low-wage service economy, that by definition is a radical decline in our economy and that's what we're experiencing right now. so how would they know that we were transitioning to a low wage service economy? they knew that because free trade is literally a restructuring of our economy. . .
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>> tell congress to stop playing politics and take action on jobs. it went to rebuild the economy where an american has a chance to get ahead, we will need every american to get involved. host: president obama's radio address. caller: good morning. i think president obama is right by using the executive order. when he came in office, i got tired of hearing republicans talk about treason and things
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like that. [inaudible] president obama should be applauded for what he is trying to do for the american people. mitt romney wants to come back with the same strategy the bush used. our country is in a total mess. host: new york, independent line, hello? caller: bill clinton led this country into recession. it was the end of the cold war and a still lead the country into recession. he raised taxes. the only way he balanced the budget [inaudible] and you never hear this talk about. clinton did not balance the budget.
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becomedn't gore president? because of what clinton did for our economy? bush cut the deficit in half until the democrats took over congress. i need to see this on television more. every talks about how great clinton was and how bad bush was. obama is trying to buy votes. when he proposes a plan that he knows the republicans will vote against and he tries to make them look like the bad guys -- host: you can go to our website at c-span.org and if you go to our video library section, you can type in a keyword like president clinton and the economy. it will show you all the video and things we have taken in over the years from the clinton administration and even before
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that to the current de what comes to issues on the economy. you can see it for yourself and get that information. i invite all of you to do that if you want to go to c-span.org and r cspan video library. another opinion on the clinton administration -- president obama will speak tonight at the national italian- american foundation gala and you can see that at 8:20 this evening. go to c-span.org for more information and you continue to cspan radey of for that event. michigan, democrats line, go ahead caller: i would like to say on obama's strategy vs. wenton's - why shouldn't take a page from president
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clinton? he is the only former president who left our country with a surplus. it was not until the republicans got in that we started seeing things go downhill. i would also like to say that why not start somewhere with congress say no to everything, we have to start somewhere so i think obama is right in starting somewhere. it is better than starting nowhere. host: staten island, new york, republican line, hello. caller: blessings to everyone, pedro. is he being clintonesque. yes, but only from the standpoint who is blessed from
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the wise man who becomes wires but following the road before him. i'm sure clinton was influenced by some who were excellent and help him form his plan. as far as president obama is concerned, he will go down in history eventually and the term will be obamaesque. some of his procedures will reflect what clinton has done. look at we can commentators in the past and you're doing an excellent job and we can see that maybe you were somewhat influenced by them. you are pedroesque for those who will come after you. thank you for giving me the time and go obama. host: buffalo, maryland is here
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to talk about the current president's economic strategy. we are asking the question, hello? caller: i think president obama is a very good president. he is doing an excellent job. if he uses some of clinton's strategy is that as a good idea because clinton did a good job, too. he was criticized as well. there are now praising him as they should have done in the past. some of the obama thinking is okay because i would vote for clinton again and i will vote for president obama again. host: the $16 muffin that wasn't. it is a headline in the papers this morning.
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host: toms river, new jersey, good morning republican lie.
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caller: i don't know what the big deal is about clinton. he was the first gentleman president that turned around and free tradeis yea\here baloney and left this country not as number one. he balance the budget but he sold out the country. that was not good enough. he disgraced the white house and that did not help either. now they have made a hero out of him because they say he balanced the budget because everybody was working. evidently, that is poor groundwork for the next president to take over. host: we have three local content of vehicles that troubled country. part of the things they do is to talk to people and interview
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them and do video documentaries. in locations around the united states. knoxville, tennessee is a recent destination. this weekend on book-tv and american history tv channel, national will be -- not so will be highlighted in a special series of interviews and other content you can see this weekend. he confined out more at c- span.org/local content. one of the people they talked to was a forensic scientist. he is the author of a book inside the forensic laboratory where they talk about a piece of land located at the university of tennessee medical center called the body farm. there is a little bit of what you will see. >> until 2003, the most bodies we got to enter the medical examiner system.
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in 2003, the most bodies we got cantor the donated collection which is what we have surrounding us here. from then on, those donations steadily increase. last year, we did 144 burials. it was one every two days. the great majority of them are individuals who donated their bodies for research. and for the skeleton to end up in this modern tell exit we have. host: i invite you to stay close to book-tv and american history to be this weekend, cspan 2 and 3 respectively. go to c-span.org/local content and want to thank comcast for helping with this project.
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independent line, go ahead caller: thank you for taking my call. do i believe it is clintonesque? i think president obama has finally realized after growing into the office somewhat that his initial health-care program was really too soon and too much. i think now he is sidestepping the republican-dominated house and senate just as they have started -- sidestep the american people and the american economy. the worse it gets, the better they think it gets for them. i think president clinton, who was thought was an excellent president, which flourished under his administration, inherited a peace dividend. i hope the withdrawal from iraq and eventually from afghanistan
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will benefit a peace dividend for the american economy. i would like to ed or more comment -- two comments. greenspan was the one that for so much water on the economy by raising interest rates. that is what caused the 2000 recession. lastly, i look at romney and i see what is indicative of what the republicans have been doing. all the time we have been hurting, that man has flourished and forced big time. -- and florist big tub. i think president obama has finally grown into the office and he needs to keep sidestepping the congress and the senate and house and do things that help main street and not the republican-dominated
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house. host: this is from "the new york times" --
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this is from twitter -- the next call is marin county, calif., democrats line. caller: 84 cspan. you are fair and balanced and it is marin county. i think clintonesque is fine. i think clinton was a terrific president and a remember something called a signing statement that bush used hundreds of times after laws were passed by congress to get said laws and put in whatever he wanted. as far as this being treasonous, it doesn't pass my smell test. thank you for cspan. host: one more call from south carolina. caller: i don't see anything
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wrong with obama doing what he needs to get done. i only want to say that nobody is mad with the devil. host: a little bit, we will talk about one of the visions that obama unveiled a bus to the blogs per the conversation will start at 8:30. next, you will meet annabel parks, the founder and president of coffee party usa and talk about why they are gathering in washington, d.c., their politics and other issues when we return. ♪ ♪ >> i don't want every story to be 1800 words. >> >> last month, jill abramson
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became the first woman to hold the post of executive order -- the executive editor of " the new york times." >> there is a certain lack of discipline. sometimes something is repeated too many times in a story or there are three quotations making the same point where one would do and i would like to see a variety of stories. >> she will discuss her career, her new book, and the future of the time sunday night time q &a. this weekend on book-tv on c- span 2, general william westmoreland led forces in vietnam from 1954-1968. his tactics and decisions were the reasons we lost, according to lewis sorley. then the unraveling of the u.s. auto industry is detailed and m
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s m b c corresponded interviewed over 100 african americans. in an examination of race, identity, politics and being black in america today. also it is not to go weekend and we will feature authors and literary sites from around the city. -- it is minoxidil, tenn. weekend. every weekend on american history weekend, the people and events that document the american story. this weekend, picketing, protests, and arrests. it is the national woman's party and a woman's right to vote, a panel discussion on the propaganda use against women's suffrage. also, a look at the young harry truman and the 12 years he spent working on the family farm. look for the complete weekend schedule at c-span.org/history. "washington journal" continues
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-- host: on your screen is annabel park. why is your party called a coffee party usa? guest: we are a response to the tea party and i love coffee. we are an alternative form of political engagement we focus on civil dialogue that helps people to get information about the issues and approach issues as fellow americans, as neighbors, as friends instead of representatives of parties, democratic or republican or independent. we try to get people to come to the table to learn the issues and make decisions together. we want to put civic engagement at the heart of organizing. right now, organizing is based on your affinity with issues and ideology. we want to see if we can advance that. it is more about pure democracy where we are collaborating on
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decisions together. host: give examples of how your organization does that. guest: we often meeting coffeehouses. we use a civic space where we can approach things and get ready to work and have the energy to focus on these issues that are very complex. they are often distorted bipartisan prisms. we want to say these are the facts about unemployment and health care or campaign finance laws. can we problem solve these things together? there is some of gridlock as we all know in washington, it is not to meant to be like that. it is meant to be a balance of power but not this gridlock where we are treating politics like it is a wrestling match. we don't want that. we have to get past that. we want to create a new model from the bottom of where we say we are sick of that rhetoric or fighting. let's just problems altogether. host: how do you make that
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happen? guest: some of this is institutional and legislated. we have to change some laws so we incentivize people to actually cooperate instead of structure. the campaign finance laws have a lot of impact, way too much impact on policy making. they are incentivize to fight one another. they are not necessarily rewarded according to the outcome. we have to change campaign finance laws. we have to set the norms. the norm is is -- it is ok for people to yell at each other and work together and we have to say that that is not good enough. we need you guys to work together. host: you started on facebook? guest: yes, i was frustrated
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with the obstructionism around health care and the rhetoric and ugliness that came out at that time. we need an alternative to this. we cannot go on like this. we cannot solve anything like this. it just became a viral fan page that turned into a real organization of dozens of chapters across the country and with 500,000 people in the network. host: our meeting in washington, d.c. today? guest: yes, we have a big rally. we will be right in front of the capital where the inauguration took place. despite the bad weather, we will be out there, hundreds of us, speaking out almost like a filibuster from across the country supported by people. -- by many people.
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we all want to come together. we want to put aside differences we may have had and we have to focus on core issues in our country. host: one issue is tax reform particularly when it comes to the tax code. what needs to change? guest: if all government is broken, it is in part because our tax code is broken. it is just not fair and it is very complicated it is getting to the point where it is true that there is a revenue problem here unless we can get past the fact that there are people who are categorically don't want to raise taxes or close loopholes, we have to get past that. there are publicly subsidized public welfare going on. two oil companies to the tune of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars, that we
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can save a close that loophole. host: you're supporting a transaction tax? guest: it is on wall street transactions. even if we levy a small amount, not even 1%, we would produce billions of dollars. it would help with the income and inequality we are seeing. we have a terrible inequity right now and how can we solve that? that is the kind of thing that leads to the unrest you are seeing right now on the streets. host: you would also end tax breaks to oil and gas companies -- >> and capital gains. the reason why warren buffett pays less than his secretary in terms of percentage in texas is because of capital gains. we have to close that loophole.
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it is not just tax reform. it is also wall street reform. that is such a critical part of how to create a more favorable economy. the fact that we have too big to fail and the public is subsidizing the gambling that is going on on wall street with high risks. we cover their losses. of course they will say it is ok to take enormous risks because the public will cover us. it is guaranteeing gambling debts. they will want that. there is so much to gain from those risks. that is something we have got to say no to. if nothing happened spontaneously from wall street or in washington -- host: it sounds like you're taking some the rhetoric from the 1% to the 99%. guest: there are some white people in the 1% that no this is
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unfair. anybody who cares about fairness or cares about the stability of our economy and getting us past the grid lock would care about wall street reform, campaign finance laws and tax code reforms. why can't we focus on fairness? what can we focus on sustainability and stability instead of saying it is about us having our various interests and we have to fight it out like a wrestling match? that is not host: democracy annabel park is the founder of the coffee party. you can ask her questions at the numbers on your screen. tell people about your website. guest: we have a website for the rally called citizens intervention.com. we will confront washington with
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these problems. we think it is a sickness. it is like a family suffering from addiction. we have to be able to confront it and say we need help very we need to step in and stop this because it will not happen spontaneously within washington. we're also asking people to really step up and take on leadership as citizens. we don't want them to sit back and the spectators. we want them to commit to being part of the democratic process. that is the only way you can be part of the solution. just watching and disengaging is not enough. host: we have calls lined up for you pretty first call is from massachusetts, democrats caller: good morning. we need more citizens to act as a patriot. s.
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the repeal of glass stiegel in 1999 was crucial and need to reinstate that. they screamed about last year when it was on the table with john mccain and maria cantwell. they screamed and they get marching orders to obama and nancy pelosi squashed the repeal. or any chance of getting on the floor to reinstate. there is the house a bill 1489 that has close to 50 congressional sponsors or co- sponsors. it will reinstate a glass- steagal.
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the system is bankrupt. guest: absolutely. we need to be able to investment-banking from commercial banking. part of ending to big to fail -- it is not complete but the idea is that if we have the public subsidizing investment banking, we are going to be in trouble because there will be bad investments and we have to do bailouts and we cannot commit to more bailouts. it is not fair. it is not sustainable. it could happen tomorrow that we have to pour billions or trillions into another bailout. we already did $700 billion. on top of that, $9 trillion more in loans to big banks and wall street firms. how is that going to continue? i don't understand. this is something that will require legislative solutions but it takes the public to
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demonstrate the political will that we are not going to tolerate this any more. we have to be involved. i am sorry. it is not enough to have leaders in washington talking about this. american people, i am calling on you to be involved. host: anyone specific at capitol hill? guest: what we are trying to do is approach this in as much of a non-partisan way as possible. starting on monday, we have lobby day where we have appointments made with people across the country, coming here, not only to speak out today, but meeting with representatives in washington to begin the relationship. we are not just here to denounce washington and say you are all just awful but to really say we have to collaborate. can we work on this together? my life is hanging by a thread. and for these other people, can we do something together?
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do we have to continue like this? we can't afford it. host: republican mind. mark, georgia. caller: good morning. i certainly like some of the things annabel is saying and i think she has a fresh perspective. one thing she said a couple of times is sustainability. if you think that we can support people long term that do not work -- and i live in a poor part of georgia where probably we have 20% unemployment if you take a hard look at it and they are used to not working. their children are used to getting nothing and they are work -- used to getting worker'' compensation, social security disability, they learn how to gain the system. they've got food stamps going on two generations now and we it as a government have effectively
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disabled them by giving them something and not holding them accountable. that is not sustainable. there are too many people being born into that and not enough people to produce, in order to support those people not supporting themselves. it has to be a part of what are talking about. guest: thank you for that. basically we need a big reset on the entire system. it is systemic failure. it is political and financial. yes, there are people who are basically doing what they can within the system, or the federer rules will have, doing what they think is best for themselves and their family. not just people who are unemployed but also people making billions of dollars off the current system that it is. i guess i am more concerned about people on wall street gaming the system, running it
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like a mist -- casino, are people on k street, pouring millions of dollars into campaigns. a 300 -- $300 billion was spent into the -- $300 million was spent in to the 2010 elections, and compare it to the $60 million for the 2006 elections. a huge jump and it has to do a lot with citizens united and a lot of the anonymous money pouring into the campaign. half of $300 million, $150 million, was spent without anybody knowing where the money actually came from, undisclosed, unrestricted donations. how is that not gaming the system? and how is it not leading to policies on things like jobs? on the stimulus? whether or not main street is ever going to get help. if main street is ever going to get a bailout.
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that is the kind of thing that concerns me more than people who don't have jobs, who have lost homes, trying to do what they can to have enough money to put food on the table. i guess that is where my priority is. but i hear you. but i guess the solution to that is we have to give -- do a reset of what we are looking at, what is going to work, what is fair, and whether or not we can basically have a government that responds to the people as opposed to the donors. host: joe off of twitter -- guest: it is not necessarily that i want more taxes. it is more like, we actually have to look at the entirety of the tax code. why do we have some of the tax codes we have? why do we have these big subsidies for enormous companies like exxon and mobil and bp? it does not make sense.
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there is no rationale for it. pharmaceutical companies. ethanol. you could just go on. the sugar industry. why is that? we have to ask ourselves about the moral, political, and rational basis for the tax code. so it is not just more money. big government versus small government, i think that kind of thinking is simplistic and it does not help but ask questions about what it is we want to do. what do we want to change people stuck on i want big government or small government. it is not going to help us. it is not just try to shrink it to the smallest possible size. it does not make sense. smallget past the government debate and look at what is smart and fair. and what it is about raising
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taxes or not, i want to look at how we are spending the money. what are our priorities? why are we spending so much money on the pentagon and the military? why do we need hundreds of bases around the world? questions about why we are doing things we are doing that all of us need to look at in a holistic way instead of taking positions -- i am pro maryland -- pro- military, keep it the way it is. host: what are -- viewer to do about entitlements? guest: corporate entitlement? host: medicare and medicaid. guest: the fact that we have subsidies for big oil, aren't incorporations getting entitlements, privileges and rights? things that they get that ordinary people do not have. and social programs that help us to stay alive is considered
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somehow not necessary. why isn't feeding people and keeping them healthy, why is that not important? why is it more important to give money to oil companies? we have to look at priorities. i think if the policies -- host: new port richey, florida. annabel park of the coffee party. ron, go ahead. caller: i am running for president of the united states, www.mybetteramericaplan.com is a plan to get america out of the economic mess it is in. on the web page is a way to reorganize our government so that it has a balanced budget, although something for nothing programs we have, make them into something for something.
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we will take about whole united states government and make it so that you do not get benefits, you work for benefits. host: what is your question for our guests? caller: how come the united states government does not reorganize itself so that it does not give out stuff for free, and instead, gives people the opportunity to work for stuff that they need from the government? host: we will leave it at that? guest: in part i agree with you. actually did not fully understand your campaign, but i believe we need to actively invest in our future and infrastructure so there is better education and opportunity and more encouragement -- encouragement incentivizing innovation. these are things we can work on together as a nation but we have to commit to this, to show we
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are denied it as a country thinking about the future. not just the next two years. right now on washington they are stuck on what is going to happen in the next two years and whether or not they will get reelected. it is not the best way to make decisions about the future. there is definitely a cognitive problem, i think, in terms of approaching the issues. again, i think it goes back to campaign finance laws. the fact people are not so dependent on the enormous amounts of money to run for office. a $6 million average for a senate campaign. an incredible amount of money to raise. and they have to spend the majority amount of time in office raising money and not working on the issues. it is crippling the government. at host: running for president when it comes to fundraising. rick perry reported raising $7.2
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million and the three-month period. mitt romney raising $14.2 million in the third quarter. the story this morning about herman cain raising $3 million. would you change how presidential politics is done in terms of campaign finance? guest: imagine -- host: and just to mention, president obama about raise them all by a lot. guest: you know you have to raise money. the game we are playing, we have accepted this game. imagine if we play the game and there is no money involved. you run on your ideas and integrity and the quality of character. host: you have to travel, advertisers of, put money out.
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guest: the majority of the money they raise goes into advertising. it is very expensive to run advertising. and most of the ads are misleading, it is not false, as we know. imagine people just did not watch those ads. if we just thought watching the ads -- if it had no bearing on how we voted and we when somebody -- somewhere else to get information. imagine. that is the kind of culture change we can make, so the money they raise on ads have no impact on the outcome. that would be an incredible kind of resistance and protest. host: will the of the party endorsed a candidate? guest: note, we did not want to endorse candidates -- no, we do not want to endorse candidates because we want them to run on issues. we want to make these issues, definitive 2012 election issues. we want to ask every candidate, where do you stand on things
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like to big to fail, and citizens united ruling, on things like disclose act. do you want people to know who is giving money? i want every candidate to answer that. how they feel about these billions of dollars of subsidies to oil companies. i love that, and of the subsidies. why? these are the questions that have to be asked to every candidate. i want people to vote on the answers and not whether or not they have a a or r >> the their names. host: what do you think about a third party? guest: i did not see how a third-party fits into this unless we restructure our politics so our primaries are run differently. gerrymandering is stopped. there are so many things in the way of creating a viable third party that i feel right now the best aleutian is for the american people to get in there and reform these corrupted
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parties. it has been corrupted by money. host: new jersey. republican line. fred is next for annabel park. caller: good morning, an adult. part of your -- i am glad to hear you say tax reform. is part of the tax reform -- the 47% of americans that pay nothing, and not only did i pay nothing, i have a neighbor who paid a $2,000 last year in taxes. i ask, what did he get back from the government? he got $4,200 back. is that going to be part of your cultural change? i think every american should at least pay something, even if it is a dollar. is that going to be part of the change was among guest: absolutely. but the one thing i do want to clarify is we all pay taxes. every single day we pay sales tax, we pay property tax. it is not just income tax. there are taxes on so much of what we already do.
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and so, i think it is very misleading to say there are people will pay no taxes at all. but it is true that we want to focus on giving people jobs so that they are paying income tax as well. so, absolutely. but again, it is going to require us investing money into creating those opportunities and improving our education so that people are more equipped to be part of this economy. there is a huge gap between people's skill sets right now and our economy, and it is true that we have been very much affected because manufacturing is being reduced in this country and that jobs are going overseas. what are we going to do about that? that is a huge problem? it is a macro problem that cannot be dealt with by one person. as much as i want to create jobs for people, there is nothing i can do right now about enormous
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company shipping jobs to other countries. can we talk about that instead of selling my neighbor is not paying the fair share of taxes? but let us think about the bigger issue, which is that jobs are going overseas. host: reno, nevada. democrats' line. caller: the reason i am calling from the west coast, it is 5:00 in the morning, is because i was up on not -- all night worrying about my bills. i work in the state of nevada that has the highest unemployment rate in the country and the lowest household income per capita in the country. my question to you is, not only with the statewide government and this corruption but federalist government and the way that it is -- like, for example, congress, with clashing houses and chambers, what
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exactly does the coffee party bring to the table to reform that as far as statewide and country-wide issues? guest: you know, i am really sorry to hear about your situation. and i really for you -- feeling for you. really hanging on the balance with government basically saying, you know what, there is nothing we can do about it. i am not going to do anything about it. i and just going to try to do what i can to get myself reelected -- i am just going to try to do what i can to get myself for elected -- elected. what i want to do is change the incentives and change the contentions that people bring to these discussions. i don't really know what is going on with the super committee. they are supposed to be there trying to answer these big questions about what our budget is going to be and how we are
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going to deal with our deficit and help people such as yourself. i don't know what is going on there. it is a very elite group of people with very little transparency making these decisions and the consensus right now is very little is going to get done. they are not incentivize to get anything done because all of them on capitol hill are in a state of permanent campaigning because that is what they are focused on and not trying to figure out how they can work together to help you. we need to confront -- confront them with the truth and say, enough. we need you guys to focus on -- don't worry about your elections -- but focus on how you can help the american people. just this -- this is the way to be pro-life, help people and their families so they are actually paying their bills so they can eat and have a house and have a shelter and they have gas in their cars. they are not close to saying that is our focus.
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they say it, but that is not what they are seeing in their actions. so, we have to confront them with this troupe. as the american people. not as the left or the right or independent but the american people coming together and saying, and now. you are stuck in your -- saying, enough. u.s. but in your little bubbles. we don't know how to vote for you. 9% approval rating. don't you thing you should do something? don't you think you should care that we are hurting? host: greg, independent line from sarasota. caller: straight to the point. what we have to do is start something pretty simple. you have to do something so you are not a -- just a grease spot by midnight. we have to do something in our voting that when it comes to
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congress, we have to say my vote, my vote given with no confidence in the the parties. it is not like kissing your sister. it is like sticking everything in front of them and saying who are these people. what have they done to draw lines in our cities? they exist. it is a form. you cannot double flushing them because of the constitution. but when it comes to congress, my vote given with a no- confidence in the parties. guest: no-confidence is the perfect phrase to use. there is no confidence in our government. there is no confidence in our economy. and so, without that confidence and without the trust, the wheels cannot turn. this is why we are stuck. stuck in washington, stuck on wall street, stock economically
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because we do not trust the system. you cannot even say we have a game to play if we don't trust of the rules. we see it is fundamentally rigged and unfair. the majority of americans feel that way. there is a lack of trust. we have a trust deficit. basically saying put the brakes on it and say we are going to stand up to this, we will demonstrate. it is already happening. of the occupy wall street movement is really showing the country that there are many people that are so fed up, and willing to go to great lengths to show that this system, the entire thing is dysfunctional. host: would you say the same thing about the tea party? guest: the tea party comes from the same place of discontent. there is something very wrong with the system. that it is basically sick and dying. so we need to basically revitalize it. it is the question of how. the solutions that we hear from
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the tea party movement are not solutions that i did not feel i can just get behind because i feel like there is a lot of this stuff that is not spelled out in detail. if it is not spelled out in detail -- sometimes it is kind of frightening the things that are calling for. cutting social programs, cutting social security. these are the things the majority people do not want it you look upholstered the majority of people would prefer us to see raising taxes on the rich, but for some reason, the majority of people, they are silent. it is not that they are silent, they are ignored and silenced by washington and the media. poll after poll shows that we once -- we want governments to help ordinary people and not multinational corporations. host: indiana. bob, republican line. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. just a few things here. can you tell me where in the
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constitution it says anything about fairness? and the reason why we have so many lobbyists is because the government gets into businesses where they do not belong. it is easy for me to see that you are just another left-wing organization. you know, this is a dribble. guest: like you, i do not want to see lobbyists governing the country, because that is what we have. we did not consent to a government run by lobbyists or corporate persons or billionaires'. we signed up for a democratic, a representative democracy, a republic. that is not what we have right now. and it is not going to get any better if we get stuck on calling each other names. and you calling me -- what i am saying, dribble, it will not help the country. we need to see each other as
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human beings and say we are all unhappy with our current system. can't we talk about how we are going to make it better instead of hitting each other? what is the point of you calling me names? what is the point of view hating me because you do not agree with some of the things i say? my intention is to make things better. can we talk? that is where we need to be. we did not have to come to the table in agreement but we have to agree we will -- together because we are the united states of america, when people. the laws that are being made of that all of us and you and i need to talk to one another so that we can show washington that we are not in such disagreement that we can't be part of one country. we have to be part of one country. we have to agree sometimes that we are not always going to get our way but we have to have a system that is fundamentally representative, that cares about what we think. so, i wanted government that cares about what you think in a way they care about what i
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think. that is not what we have. we have a government that is interested in getting itself more power and more money. so, this is where you and i can say, ok, at least we say the democratic process so our voices and be heard. host: of tea party usa will hold a rally on the west lawn -- the coffee party usa will hold a rally on the west lawn of the capital today. using it more information of their philosophy at their website. how are you funded? guest: by our members. we have no corporate sponsors or major donors. we have basically thousands of people giving us about $20 at a time. host: no foundation or outside money? guest: no. not yet. we are not against them. we would love to have money from foundations or george soros or koch brothers if they are
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willing to support what we are doing so they had only -- not come knocking. host: how much have you raised? guest: about $200,000. host: will the rally take place given the weather? guest: rain, snow, and shine, we will be there because we will show our determination. this is a test -- washington or god -- but we will show we are absolutely determined that nothing will deter us and we would -- and we will not go away. host: massachusetts. loretta, democrats' line. caller: good morning. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: hello, and a bell. i have not heard about the coffee party more than maybe two or three times, and i have to commend you for your sensibility and focusing on what is right for the country. like you, saying republican,
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democrat, but i can't see where republicans are focusing on any of it. there is no sense ability and what they are talking about. it sounds like they are talking about taxes. there is no plan for the future. i don't see any sensibility in what they are talking about. guest: yes. absolutely. again, this is why we focus so much anyway about things like incentives and intentions. getn't know exactly how to all of washington to get past their gridlock and their narrow self-interest, to basically say the you care that we have actually about 10 million homes that would go into default.
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10 million homes. out of 55 million with mortgages. this is a crazy situation. and it is not being dealt with because people are so stock -- stuck on basically whether they will get reelected. that is not governing. that is just a state of permanent campaigning. and i think the solution, part of that has to be is like people like you, people like me and pedro and other callers, that we have departed at whether not we are volunteering, running for office, or getting out there talking to our neighbors. let's go door knocking, talk to our neighbors and convince them we need a massive surge in participation did we need people to step up and say i've got to save this country, i've got to save our future.
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i have to tell all of you out there, the will to save this country and make it better for us, it is just not happening in washington. i am sorry. it is not. this is why we need that intervention as the people to say that. it is not the 1% -- again. i commend the inclusiveness of the message. it is less than 1%, it is a very small percentage of people with power right now in this country and we've got to change that. host: one more call from colorado. tommy on the independent line. caller: thank you, c-span, and annabel. i have been a c-span viewer for 30 years and political junkie for 40 and i joined the coffee party a few years ago and i am amazed the media blackout. even ej dionne in an article the
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other day asked if there was an alternative to the tea party. when the tea party have a guess they have a separate line for tea party members, but there is no separate line for coffee party members. the difference between the tea party and the coffee party members seems to be interpretation of who exactly we the people are. you hear the tea party members and other conservatives and even the president is not one of us and the poor people are not one of us, it is all about if you agree with them you are an american. host: almost out of time. what is your question or comments? caller: just comments about how the media is suppressing all the voices -- including c-span. herman cain the other day. host: yes -- yet, we have given 45 minutes to discuss.
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guest: this is how grass-roots movements look like. it starts out with an idea and a handful of people. the tea party movement, a lot of it i think was successful because there was a lot of money that went into building infrastructure and they got support from people inside washington and fox news. we did not have that because we really are real volunteers and it is very, very grass roots. it is often what happens. there is a huge difference in terms of resources and infrastructure. it is not just the media decided there is something wrong with the coffee party, but in order for us to have real power as an organization we need to build the infrastructure and resources. but it is true that the media likes conflict. and what we wanted was peace and resolution and cooperation, right? it is not something that is considered sexy right now and the current media. they liked people to fight. they like to see real conflict -- conflict being played out
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because it makes for a good story. while the real drama going on is whether or not people in america survive this recession and whether or not there will be another recession. there is some much drama in that. that is what the media really need to cover, what is actually happening on main street in america and not what is happening in washington and not what is happening with herman cain and rick perry, but it is about you and me and all of us just rocklin to make it. host: at the end of the day, how do you know if your organization has been effective? guest: if everybody is talking about campaign finance reform in this coming election, about how long and devastating the citizens united will win is for our country. whether or not we have a democracy at all. if the election is about that and whether or not we will end these subsidies and close loopholes, if that is what the election is about this coming year, we have done our job.
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host: annabel park is the founder of coffee party u.s.a., and i have a rally to take place in washington, d.c. what time does it start? guest: 11:30 a.m., it will be fun, with music and hip-hop and great speeches. host: in our last segment, starting at 9:15 a.m., we will take a look at dictatorships in africa. but up next, one of president obama's proposals this week, on the topic of student loans. we will take up the conversation when we return. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]
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>> spend this weekend in knoxville, tennessee, with book tv and american history tv, and look at the history of literary -- literary life of the marble city. book tv on c-span2, the university of tennessee's bought a farm with decomposing human remains. the real-life scsi. and look at "roots" author alex haley. how he fell in love with the city during a 1982 visit. on american history tv on c-span 3, a visit to the sequoya birthplace decision -- how and indian silversmith invented a history of writing for the cherokee language. and a visit to the laboratory's part in the development of the atomic bomb.
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and is not to build a true southern city? i talk about its history and the future. watch throughout the weekend on book tv and american history tv in knoxville, tennessee. >> it is on. this is the first time that i have seen in my long tenure in politics where the heat, the real needs. because if these guys can't come up with something, and then watch it is great chopping going on, they will not want to go on. >> the deficit reduction committee will hear from former senators alan since an anti dementia and also erskine bowles and alice rivlin who all participated and passed deficit reduction talks. you can watch videos on all of these meetings and all but public meetings on line in this he's been video library. >> middle and high school students, it is time to get
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cameras rolling for this year's c-span studentcam video competition. make a five-eight minute video on the same "the constitution and new" and get it to us by january 20 it and you can win the grand prize of $5,000. for complete details, go to studentcam.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: in one of a series of economic initiatives the president talked about, one of the topics addressed was that of student loans. he made this address in denver. >> i asked congress to pass a law that tells 1 million students they would not have to pay more than 10% of their income toward student loans. we won that fight, too. and that law will take effect by the time -- that law is better to take effect by the time freshmen graduate. but we decided, let's see if we could do a little bit more. so today, i am here to announce
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that we are going to speed things up. we are going to make these changes work for students who are in college right now. we are going to put them into effect not three years from now, not two years of not, but we are going to put them in at that next year. because our economy needs it right now, and your future can use a boost right now. so here is what this is going to mean. because of this change, about 1.6 million americans could see their payments go down by hundreds of dollars a month. and that includes some of the students who are here today. host: help fill in the blanks of this initiative -- kelly steel, from the chronicle "-education." she is the chief washington reporter.
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guest: there have been a number of petitions for students demanding forgiveness of debt. one had over 30,000 signatures and the other had 650,000. the president sort of build this as a response to those demands. host: tell us a little bit in detail about what happened this year as far as to the loans are concerned. guest: the president's plan has two parts. he would reduce interest rates for borrowers who consolidate the loans into the government direct loan program. he would also lower monthly payments for some borrowers, some low income borrowers and income contingent payment plans. host: why this strategy? guest: this is aligned with what the protesters in the occupy wall street have been asking for. part of the protest is fuelled by students who have a lot of debt and slammed job prospects. so, this is a way of reducing
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their debt burden if they are not able to obtain employment. host: but when a student -- if a student decides to take a vantage of this, what happens in terms of -- take advantage of this, what will happen in terms of who will fund at the difference? banks, the government, taxpayers? guest: this is supposed to be cost neutral because right now the government is paying subsidies to banks that made guaranteed loans under the program that was done away years ago and new loans are being made by the federal government. so, this incentive goes to students that have both types -- government loans and the bank. now, the government will no longer be paying subsidies on these loans. that is going to pay for these benefits. host: how many of students are under these types of loans? guest: the estimate 5.8 million students would be eligible, in that they have both types of loans. alternately add they are not
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probably going to save all that much money do e ultimately, they are not probably gone to save all that much money, and they only have six months to apply for it. host: what types of requirements would be made of the students once he or she consolidates these loans? guest: you have to have both types of loans. you would be paying the same amount on a monthly payment. there would not be a change, except you would get a slight interest rate reduction. half a percentage of the bank- based loans you consolidated and quarter of a percentage on the direct government loans. host: here to explain more about the initiative, kelley field from the chronicle "higher education." if you want to ask questions -- we set aside a special line for those holding student loan debt
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currently to hear about your experiences, especially if you have taken advantage of government programs -- how many types of government assistance programs are there for student loans? guest: there really is just one, the direct loan program. there different types of loans under that. there are subsidized loans, and subsidized, and also parent loans. visas the three main types. host: talk on the larger issues as far as where the country is on those who hold student loan debt. how much are we talking, how many people had it, and what are the amounts and figures? guest: student loan debt has surpassed total -- credit cards in terms of total debt outstanding. we are coming up on $1 trillion on student loans. that probably includes private
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loans as well. we are expected to reach that milestone by the end of the year. two-thirds of students now borrower to pay for their college education. and the average you can get is about $27,000. host: how many students are keeping up with payments? if guest: there has been a rise in default rates as well with the down economy. we are at the highest default rate in over a decade, 8.8%. host: there is something called pay as you earn proposal that was highlighted in the associated press. a this would give your lower maximum required payment from 15% of discretionary income to 10% for eligible borrowers and would go into effect last -- next year instead of 2014, and the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years instead of after 25 years. guest: this is a program, like you said, that was supposed to take affect in 2014.
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it is taking a fact now. to qualify you would have to take out a loan in 2012 so it really only benefits, and students. as far as long forgiveness, you would have to be any public service field. there are some benefits before borrowers who take advantage in that your monthly payment could be reduced by hundreds of dollars potentially, but unless new art in one of the public service fields where you can have your loans forgiven you will pay more in the long run. host: illinois. our line for those who have stood in debt. you are on with kelley field. caller: good morning. i was calling because i graduated in may of this year. and so that does not apply to me? guest: you know, to get the income-based repayment benefit, you would have had to have taken out loans starting in 2012.
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you could actually qualify for income-based the guard was but you would not get a reduction in payments that obama announced. you cannot pay 10%, which is what the new benefit is. host: maryland. good morning to patti on the republican line. caller: how is everybody this morning? i heard yesterday that there was an independent economic company that did research on this, very quickly, on obama's presentation. and the study said that on the average, students would save approximately $8 a month on this program, not hundreds of dollars. could you comment on that? the second thing i wanted to ask you about is the incredibly high cost of college education. nobody seems to be paying attention to the fact that it has increased over 400% in the last 10 years.
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teachers' wages, retirement. so, everybody is screaming about corporate america and how much money they make, but nobody is talking about the colleges and how much their endowments are, how much money -- and how they keep increasing everything. if you could comment on those two things, i would appreciate it. guest: the estimate, i saw it in "the atlantic." they said it would be 4.50, up to 7.75, in the interest rate savings -- the hundreds of dollars that obama mentioned was the income-based repayment plan. some borrowers could save hundreds of dollars a month on the plan did not clear how many. only 450,000 students -- graduates are now taking advantage of that. but ultimately they would be paying more in interest. as to your other question, the
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cost of tuition has obviously been rising over the years dramatically. the average private college now costs $28,000. in state tuition at a four-year public institution is $8,000. there are some inexpensive options like community colleges. a college endowments, as you mentioned, have taken quite a hit with the economic downturn. they are starting to recover. the ones you care about are really wealthy colleges that have huge endowment, but there are a lot of colleges that have pretty modest endowment as well. and they do spend a lot of that money on student aid. but with the criticism comes in is people feeling the money is going to unnecessary and entities to try to attract more of the best and brightest students -- going to unnecessary amenities going to the best and brightest instead of need-based aid.
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host: your publication did publish the prices for public and private colleges. 82,44 -- 8000 to one of $44 for public colleges, $20,500 for private, four-years colleges. guest: colleges are facing the same pressures in terms of increasing utility costs. for the state colleges, what you hear about the most is the loss in state appropriations. with state budgets being squeezed, a lot of states are cutting their spending on student aid, state-based student aid, and on spending on their in-state colleges as well, so that is driving up costs. host: athens, tennessee. appall on the independent line. caller: did not seem to address the question of 400% over the last 10 years, which i have heard, that is a long time it
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has been going up exponentially compared to everything else. it does not really seem to answer the question. but on obama's plan, to me it would appear that he made it so complex that these college students will think they are getting something for nothing and they are not. a tremendous play on his part. dupe the college students and make them think they are getting something for nothing. then they will have more time to do some occupation party stuff. have a great day. guest: yes, i mean, this plan does come with conneaut which obviously the administration has not drawn attention to, as usual, with these sort of announcement. you only have six months to apply for the interest rate reduction. you have to be a current students really to benefit from
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the reduction in monthly loan payments. there are a lot of conditions on it. and like we were saying, it really will not save students all that much money. it was a pretty politically savvy move in that the students were big supporters of obama in the last election, and there has been a lot of pressure on him to do something about mounting student debt. whether or not it was enough to satisfy the student voters is unclear, but it was pretty politically savvy. host: james who writes on twitter -- is there a concern about the burst -- a burst for those on stood in debt? guest: year comparisons between the mortgage bubble and the student loan potential bubble. some people think part of it is overblown but we have seen rising student loan defaults and increasing number of students struggling to repay their debt.
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so there is some concern that there could be a parallel. host: milwaukee is next. tom on our line for those who have student debt. caller: good morning. i have a question that i currently have a job. i am one of those people who is lucky in the economy. i only make about $50,000 a year, which i am finding it very, very hard to get by on. i have about $50,000 worth of student debt, and all of my students that is comprised of government loans and private loans. the total payment for the student loan companies is somewhere around $800 or $900 a month. my mortgage is $1,200 a month. you add up those two amounts, plus gas and utilities, plus food, plus everything else bearing down on us, what are we going to do? i can't afford it. i cannot afford it. when these took -- we took these student loans, we were lied to
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end a lot of respects. the payments turned out a lot more -- i am already out of college. this announcement, you know, it is for people currently in college right now. at the real problem lies with people out in the economy today, who have gradually before 2012, who are saddled with student loan debt that is causing them to drown. guest: right, and those of the people who are really occupy wall street and other places. that is one criticism of the plan, is those people really would not benefit from this. like i was telling the other caller, you still could potentially be eligible for income-based repayment. it would depend on your income, family size, and your debt level. you could look at that at least for your federal loan. you might be able to get a reduced monthly payment. but the private loan, you have to renegotiate that with your bank, and that is another matter. private loans it typically carry a higher interest rate than
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federal loans. host: lee maples says -- guest: that is another perspective. a lot of people feel that the offer -- to many benefits on federal student loans. but it is just a manner -- a matter of opinion. host: los angeles, california. steve, democrats' line. you're on the line. go ahead. caller, are you there? go ahead. caller: yeah, i have a question. i would like to know if -- host: you are going to have to stop listening to the tv and go ahead and make your question and comment. caller: where a student loan
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could qualify for bankruptcy? guest: stood in lines used to be discharging oil and bankruptcy up until 2005. -- student loans used to be discharge ofable in bankruptcy up to 2005. congress has tried to change it for a few years. it failed three times. but there are a lot of people out there who would like to restore bankruptcy protection to student loans so you could discharge your lawn and bankruptcy. it is one of the few forms of consumer debt where you can't escape through bankruptcy. host: st. martin, california. vince, republican line. caller: i am a business owner, and everyday i live and die by the decision to make financially. maybe you go back in time, and maybe the requirements for handing out student loans were so lax that people -- like the other caller saying he is drowning because he cannot make all of his payments. and he was misled.
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of course, he probably was. maybe we should change the rules on handing out these loans. and the other thing about the whole idea of this is, who is going to pay for this? it is a great idea. let's have -- help these people out and give them some money. ultimately, who is going to pay for it? guest: right. there are more disclosures on student loans right now than there appears to be. when you are 18 years old, you may not read all of the disclosures. even if you go through debt counseling -- all students are required to -- they may not go through that through their private loans and they may not be aware of what they are getting into. you don't really think about your future debt burden when you are just part college, in many cases. as far as the cost, i think i mentioned before that it is supposed to be cost neutral, in that the government is no longer paying subsidies to banks for students who consolidate into
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direct lending. in addition, the government actually makes interest on the loans that it does acquire. host: lancaster, california. thanks for waiting. on the line for those who have student debt. caller: how can you reduce or cut in half or reduce your student loans after you have graduated? he graduated with a political science degree and he can't get anything but a minimum wage job at a brewery, and so he makes $20,000 a year and his student loan payments were $150 and it would be nice if he could cut them down to $75 a month because he cannot make rent. guest: he could look into this income-based repayment plan. i do not know if it can reduce the monthly payment and half but it could provide relief.
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there are lots of students entering the economy having a hard time finding jobs at all, particularly jobs in their field of study. so, this is an increasingly common problem you are describing. host: take the reaction to this plan. at an education forum in new york thursday, gop presidential hopeful newt gingrich called the new student loan proposal a ponzi scheme. he called for the privatization of the student loan program, arguing the president's plan would bankrupt the country "by promising to every young person, you will have to pay off your student loan as a student." he says it appeals to it does now but at the time they will have to "pay off the national debt," and affects them when they are older, for obama would be long gone. guest: there used to be a private portion of the government's student loan program, in that loans were made by banks. a portion of the -- some were
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made by the federal government, but the banks had a larger share. that went away two years ago, congress did away with that, because it was costing the taxpayers a lot of money to pay subsidies to the student loan companies. i am not sure i would exactly characterize it exactly as he is describing it. host: oxford, california. will, democrats' line. caller: good morning. i think mr. gingrich -- the ponzi scheme on his credit account. president obama is doing what he can without the support of congress and he is trying to help these students. they are being overcharged in these colleges and universities. it is a big rip-off. they make you buy these books at exorbitant rates and then they changed the curriculum within a year or bring so so you cannot even sell the books back. and housing is ridiculous. and then they let people come from other countries to work in
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this country and they did not even have to have the same curriculum in their schools. they don't pay as much money. obama is doing what he can without the support of congress. if he could get congressional support i am quite sure he could really do something about the higher cost of education and so many other things in this country. what we need is a democratic capitalist society and not this winner-take-all, fraud ring of capitalism that we have and that is what the occupy wall street movement is all about. guest: obviously, there is only so much the president can do without the support of congress. he cannot just unilaterally increase federal student aid. he is trying to do something to benefit students. it is not a ton. it is a pretty modest proposal. but given the current climate and the huge deficit that the government is running, he had to just probably do something that is not going to cost the
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government more money. host: msnbc says the program does nothing about the problem of costly private student loans, many handed out to hard-pressed students at for-profit colleges. guest: that is true. there has been a lot of scrutiny of for-profit colleges in congress. senator harkin has been holding a series of hearings looking at problems in the for-profit sector. host: how they differ? guest: the primary thing is they are for profit, so the incentives are a little different. they cost -- i believe that the average cost of attending a for- profit is comparable to the average cost of attending a non- profit private college. but, you know, the difference is that the company is making money off of it as opposed to a nonprofit institution. host: which is why the president's plan will not extend to those types of colleges question guest: students attending for-profit colleges
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will still benefit if they have a federal loans. the, is addressing private loans and debt, and a lot of students who attend for-profit colleges are taking on private debt. host: al on the independent line. caller: i was calling to say that your last guest has no heart and your current guest should be on together, because this is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. the wealth of the country is supposed to be for all the people. i look at a country like cuba, which is supposed to be such a bad country, but the education they are offering -- how could a country like ours that is supposed to be such a great country have such a huge cost of
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educating citizens? when the corporations take over, everything is controlled by corporates. guest: there is a low-cost option for students. community colleges are only around $3,000. even with the higher prices of public colleges and private colleges, those are sticker prices, and most students do not pay the sticker price peer the fact of the matter is most students do get some sort aid if they qualify. a new requirement that congress put in place recently is that all colleges have to have these net price calculators. you can go online and get an estimate of how much this college would actually cost you with your financial situation. host: data according to the "wall street journal," outstanding student loans total about $829 billion. federal loans, $605 billion.
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private loans, $167 billion. $360 billion in federal student debt incurred over the last few years. >> it has been a dramatic rise, driven by the economy, people having less money. another factor is the large number of people going back to school to try to get new skills because they got laid off, because they found that they could not get a job with their current degree. so that is what is really driving the huge growth in borrowing. some of it is attributable to rising costs as well, but the huge increase we have seen -- i believe it has doubled over the last few years. it is really due to the economic downturn. host: we hear a lot about getting loans on a lot of different fronts. our banks willing to give students loan these days? >> -- guest: they are not making federal loans these days because
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they do not get the subsidies, so it is not economically feasible. they are still making private loans. there has been some consolidation in the industry as a result of the end of the federal bank-based program, but there are still banks that are making profits. host: fort walton beach, florida, robert, republican line. caller: yes, my complaint is -- good morning. my complaint is it is the teachers. when i attended university in alabama, i had only, like, one course, but every semester, four or five african-americans students would show up for the course and the teacher would not teach it. this went on for almost two years. every time you got ready to reapply for another semester, you had to take out another loan. you had to take at least eight hours to be able to get the
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loan. this teacher just kept putting us off and putting us off. after passing over 28 african- american students, then, 13 white women who were under level less than us who eventually caught up with us -- then all of a sudden, she taught the class. by then, most of us were burned out and we transferred. i am was disgusted not so much about paying the loan back but with the teacher, and i think they should do something about that. guest: this sounds sort of like a unique case, but in a way, it is a little more universal because there are issues with the availability of classes. sometimes students cannot get the class is they need to complete their major. this is particularly a growing problem with state budget cuts. classes are not offered as often, it takes longer to finish your degree. host: the "wall street journal"
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highlights some other ways to get a degree. what is called the american opportunity tax credit. there's a lifetime learning credit. student loan interest deductions of $2,500 of interest per year, and 529 plans. could you highlight those? guest: there are various tax credits and benefits that you just described that you can see, but it does not help you up front. you get the money later on, and it could help you recoup some of the money you put out for your student tuition. as for 529 plans, that is an increasingly popular option. you can invest in the planned tax-free and save money for your child's tuition. they have lost money recently as well. typically, if you are not going to be having your child in school for a number of years,
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you want to invest in one of the more aggressive plans. if you are approaching college, you want to be in a more conservative option. host: dayton, ohio, is next. caller: good morning. i went to school in 1995, took out my stood alone, and i paid $8,000 of $12,000. then, i became physically disabled, and i am on an income retain a plan. i was just wondering what obama meant by after 20 years -- he said something about debt forgiveness. guest: yes, that applies to people in public service fields. it has to do with teachers and firefighters. they have a long list of who qualifies, but you will only be eligible for the loan forgiveness and come repayment plan.
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host: can you tell us more about the amount you took -- i think you highlighted that, but what did you get a degree in? caller: i studied computer science and network cabling. i was just wondering, because of the fact that i am disabled and have a hard time keeping up with just the interest, if, you know, any of my options might be to pay off the last $4,000 of my loan. guest: if you have what qualifies as a total and permanent disability, that is medically defined, but you can have your loan forgiven. it is kind of a difficult threshold to make, but that is one option for some people. otherwise, you know, you sound like you are already in the income-based repayment plan. that is about all you can do there. host: our community colleges
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seeing more business these days? >> the community colleges are really overflowing. they are having to turn people away because they are having some capacity issues. host: new york, democrats line. hello. caller: yes, how are you? my question is this -- i was in my last year of school. my degree is supposed to be in math and education and bilingual counseling. i became disabled with severe glaucoma and had to go through surgery's and treatments. my question is -- i am receiving
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social security benefits, but they are deducting almost $200 every month from my social security check, and this has made an incredible amount of trouble, not only to myself, my mental health -- everything is affected by this, has been affected by this because i really would like to work or do something to get a job or something that i can be able to pay my student loans, but not this kind of deduction from my social security. that is my survival, you understand. most of my money goes for rent. sometimes i do not even have money for food, and i do not qualify for anything because with the amount that i am receiving for social security. guest: you did not mention if you had defaulted on your loans, but if you do, the government can garnish your wages, take
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money from social security. the government actually has extraordinary collection powers. that sounds like that may be what is happening to you. host: when you wrote about this, you put a line that i want you to expand on, that another challenge, next july, the interest on student loans will double to 6.8%. guest: when the democrats took back congress, they had six policy proposals, and one of them was having the interest rate on student loans. the reduced the interest rate from six% to 3.4%, and that will be expiring next july and going back up to 6.8%. >> -- host: what types of loans are affected? guest: federal subsidized loans. this could be a couple thousand more dollars. host: thanks for waiting. republican line.
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caller: good morning. you have all the people ticked off about the cost of education, but the cost of education has been going up something like six or 10 times the rate of inflation, and yet, these people are mad at wall street and bankers and stuff like that when our whole education system is really broken right now, and it starts out at the top -- the elementary, junior high, high school levels. when i was going to school, the united states department of education did not exist. it did not come into being until 1979, and our education system has been in a downward spiral ever since because you have a socialist area trying to govern education for an entire country when it should be back at the state level where it belongs so it should have more control at the local level.
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lastly, why are there colleges out there that are sitting on literally billions and billions of dollars in endowment funds that are just part, and yet, they are collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars per semester, sometimes, -- schools like harvard that cause all this money. harvard is sitting on nearly $26 billion in endowment money. guest: you referred to the fact that the department of education has not always been around. there have been proposals over the years to do away with the department. as for the endowments, as i said before, there are some colleges with multimillion-dollar endowment, and those are the ones you always see in the newspapers, but most colleges are not really in that position. host: ohio, lorraine,
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independent line. caller: good morning. i am listening. i am very upset at the way the system is working. did you hear what everyone is talking about in july that the interest rate is going up? i have four students in college. even when they go to school, the teachers are not even good, trying to get out of class is because things are not going right. now, we are talking raising it to 6% in july? do you understand that putting a band-aid on the situation where they are going to take half the payment down or whatever the case may be, but you understand the interest rate -- i think we need to fix the program, and this is not the only program we need to fix. what is going on here? you seem very educated. i am watching you on the tv here, and i do not know your name, but do we not need a bunch of power behind to fix this
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problem, to get in and fix the problem, and let's fix one thing at a time instead of talking about everything? >> as far as the interest rate hike that will come next july if congress does not act, there's a pretty decent chance that congress will do something to lower the bid for july, especially given the timing. they do not want to have a lot of angry students three months before the elections, so i think we may see some action on that front. whether it will stay at 3.4%, that would be pretty expensive, but that particular issue -- that does not address the broader problems with the cost of colleges and everything else we are mentioning, but that one piece might get taken care of. host: for those who have not entered, is college even worth the cost?
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guest: that is the day you hear a lot. for some students, it might not be worth it. and on what they wanted. overall, the earnings of a college graduate are much higher than a non-college graduates over a lifetime, and you more than recoup the amount of money that you put into the program, but, some jobs do not require a college education, but an increasingly large number do, and they are expecting growth in jobs that do require a college education, so that is one of the reasons people continue to encourage people to go to college. host: is there a growth in alternative ways of educating yourself after high school? training for jobs or apprenticeships and things like that? guest: they have a lot of sick to begin programs and apprenticeship programs typically offered by local colleges, so there are a lot of short-term trading options that
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may be a better choice for someone that really wants to go into a particular trade or field and just really wants the practical skills and does not feel the need to do the four- year degree. host: one more call from florida on the line we set aside for student loans. good morning. caller: i have two quick questions -- how and when can you start to apply for these loans that you have mentioned? guest: the interest rate reduction, you can start applying for in january. you only have until the end of june to do it, so you only have a six-month window. host: caller, did you have a follow-up? caller: daughter -- we have gotten several loans for her to go to college. she got in early as 17. we worked at the college.
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they helped us with their programs and so on and told us what we were going to have to pay, and then all of a sudden, a couple months later, we got a bill that said we had all these origination fees. it was $1,000 all of a sighting, and i did not understand where that came from. can you comment on these? guest: you do have to pay zero origination fees with loans. i think it is 1% or 0.5%, but there is an ongoing effort to try to bring more clarity to the student aid process. the consumer financial protection bureau that he may have heard about recently was working with the education department to come up with this model financial aid form to standardize the information families are getting so you can better compare your loan or student aid offers because it can be hard to decipher some of
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these award offers and makes sense of them all, especially when you are comparing them from different schools. this, hopefully, will be a step towards better informing families about what they are being offered. host: the chief washington reporter for "the chronicle of education." in our last segment, will talk of a dictatorship in africa, but first, cnn reporting that at least 13 u.s. service members were killed on saturday when a suicide bomber struck a vehicle in a nato military convoy. nato and military officials said u.s. officials emphasized that details are continuing to unfold. again, conversation about dictatorships in africa. our guest has written a book called "succeeding dictators: fighting tyranny in africa and around the world." we will have that conversation when we come back.
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>> every week and, let the c- span networks be the source of your information for public affairs. c-span2 has the latest nonfiction books and authors. an american history to be showcasing the people and events that shaped our country. all of our events are available any time at the c-span video library. the c-span networks -- it is washington your way. >> the heat is on. this is the first time that i have seen in my long tenure in politics with the heat, the real key -- because if these guys cannot come up with something,
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they will not want to go home. >> tuesday, the deficit reduction committee will hear from former senators and former clinton administration officials. all have participated in past deficit reduction talks. you can watch a video of those meetings, along with the deficit committee pose a public meetings on line at the c-span video library. everything is archived and searchable. watch what you want when you want. >> middle and high school students, it is time to get those cameras rolling. make a five to eight-minute video on this year's theme -- cassette in the constitution and you" -- and get it turned in by january 20, and you could win the grand prize. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome.
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guest: thank you for having me back again. the essence of the book is africa has had more dictated than any other continent, and they have destroyed economies. we have had steep collapse with these dictators. africa is poor because she is not free. unless we get rid of these deeds the -- these dictators, the progress in africa will be limited, and the essence of the book is how we get rid of them. we successfully got rid of a dictator in ghana, and i am told that the experience gained from there can be used to spread the battle to other countries in africa and also elsewhere in the world. host: what does the death of muammar gaddafi mean for libya
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and other dictatorships? guest: it sends a powerful message. if they resist the demand for change or for reform -- gaddafi could have avoided all this. over 30,000 libyans died in the uprising. he could have avoided that. if you look at the video of sirte, it is destroyed. misratah is in ruins. it will have to build all that. he could have avoided that, but he did not. that is the problem. the other dictators -- that is the same problem with the other dictators across the continent. host: if it happened in libya, does that mean it cannot happen in other continents? guest: it can appear there's an
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ongoing experiment where people are simply fed up with these dictators. you look at cameron, for example. they had elections october 9. the long term dictator who had been in power for 29 years -- he won reelection. africans are simply fed up with the status quo. host: tunisian is having elections. tell me about their story and how their approach is similar or different than libya. guest: let's not forget that we saw similar revolutions in africa in the early 1990's after the collapse of the soviet union. winds of change swept across the continent, toppling longstanding dictators. in other words, what is going on, the upheaval in north africa
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bear an uncanny resemblance to what is happening in sub-saharan africa in the 1990's. in 1991, we talked about it, and it continued through zambia and ultimately to south africa, where they had elections in 1994, so we have seen all this before. in a way, we can draw lessons from the revolution. street protests alone do not topple dictator. you have to have a plan. in the case of tunisia, there were protests, but the key was that the protests were joined by trade unions, by lawyers, by teachers. the lesson that we have learned is it is not just going on to the streets and protests.
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it takes a coalition of opposition parties to make that happen. host: our guest is also the founder and president of the free africa foundation. he teaches economics at american university, dictatorships in africa. you want to ask questions, the lines will be on your screen. be you can also reach us off of twitter. when it comes to libya," what happened there have happened without the support of nato and without the support of the u.s.? guest: that would have been difficult. for a revolution to succeed, you need to have the aid of an auxiliary institution, be the security forces, a judiciary, or the civil service or the media. if you look at tunisia and
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egypt, they said they would not fire on the street protesters. it was all about mubarak. this did not happen in libya with security forces were still in bed of the's camp. they had to take -- that is why it had to take an outright external force like nato involvement to make a difference. this is also one of the reasons why it is critical for street protesters at least to have some support, at least to neutralize the security forces. if you look at georgia's revolution in 2003, the street protesters charmed the security forces with roses, and hence the name, rose revolution. in other words, the street protests alone were not enough.
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you have to have some other institution to help. if you get the security forces on the side of the protesters, that is fine. in pakistan, they had the help of the judiciary, which is why it was called the black revolution. in donna, we had the aid of the media. we had a proliferation of fm radio stations, and that helped a lot. host: it does not necessarily mean the involvement of other countries or other bodies. guest: not necessarily. at his best to have the support of a domestic institution. host: houston, texas, you are up first. on our republican line. good morning. go ahead. houston, texas, are you there?
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caller: yes, hello? i want to thank you for bringing africa into the fold so americans will know what african people are going through, you know. we are suffering. being killed by our own leaders. one critical thinking africans look at things, we were better off when europeans colonized africa, as opposed to when our own people are running our country. look at rich nations like cameron, nigeria in particular. the dictator has been in cameron 49 years, and he has reelection. the united nations should come in and help the south african
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people. we are dying. if you compare africa with asian countries, these are areas that do not have any resources. >> i think what the caller is saying is that in a sense, in the vast majority of african countries, all that we did was traded one set of masters for another set. the oppression and exploitation of the african people continued unabated. so there is no difference. what he said was colonialism, this time by black african leaders. for a long time, what set africa
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back was that it was assumed that africa was free when they were ruling themselves, which was totally not true. the world focused exclusively on south africa, but in many cases, conditions were worse after independence. host: virginia, neil, independent line. caller: yes, good morning. i want to thank c-span for bringing africa to the forefront. i am glad you're talking about dictatorship in africa. it is something that has been a problem for quite a while. specifically, with regards to cameroon, it is so unfortunate that you have a president who
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has used the military, the judiciary, and legislature to slam dunk on the people. now, you are talking about the people taking onto the streets and trying to overflow these people. how do we do it when each time the folks tried to organize, you have the military shooting them down with impunity. i will take myself off the air. thank you. guest: it is kind of difficult to pinpoint what exactly starts these street protests. they may start on their own to protest something like a hike in fuel prices or food prices, for example. if you look at geneva, it
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started by an unemployed man who tried to sell some fruit from a fruit cart, and he could not do that because he did not have a license, and when he tried to protest, this that in his face and slapped him. he was so angry that he went to the police station. the protest was over the lack of jobs. then, it took off. it is difficult to say exactly what starts these. quite often, they start off from an economic problem. lack of jobs, higher fuel costs, for example. i knew gonna, for example, protests started because transportation costs were too high.
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it can just happen any time and by any economic means. host: we have this question of footwear for you, or more of a comment. one of guest: the things we need to be extremely careful about is that in the case of libya, the international community could not just stand idly by and watch civilians being slaughtered as they are being slaughtered in syria, for example. the international community had to act, and president obama tried to do so by going to the united nations. it was not a direct intervention in libya.
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people are going to say that the difference between libya and africa is simply that libya has oil -- the difference between libya and ivory coast is that libya has oil. i think there is an explanation for that sort of intervention, but you should always remember that the question that we should be asking was where was the african union? it was a continental organization. it is supposed to be resolving a crisis like this. in the case of the arab world, we should be asking -- where is the arab league? we cannot always be looking up to the international community to resolve this domestic crisis. the crisis needs to be resolved either from within or by the original bodies. host: another viewer says --
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i think guest: -- guest: i think, speaking from the african point of view and the point of view of developing countries, every time we drag in the west in terms of resolution of crisis, it sets us back because we are forced to analyze everything in terms of western interests, and it does not help. foremost, we should consider what our own interests are. the vast majority of libyans wanted gaddafi out. he was there for 52 years. oh else has such a long tenure in office? i do not think anyone in the world would tolerate this. they expect us to tolerate leaders who have been in power for 40 years, 30 years, 20 years. look at you gonna, for example.
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given the power in 1986, and when he came to power, he said no african leader should be in power more than 10 years. he has been there for 25 years and counting. people are fed up here not just because the west has been coddled him because he professes himself to be an ally in the war on terrorism. every year, he gets $3 billion in western aid. he himself is the sponsor of state terrorism against the ethiopian people. host: the u.s. kids aged in part for democratic efforts. sure that continue? >> -- guest: the u.s. abandon democracy a long time ago after the september 11 attacks. they are in a cold war.
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no one has really paid much attention to democracy. it was always on the back burner. the u.s. was looking for allies during the cold war period after the collapse of the soviet union, western policies toward west africa were supposed to have been revamped with more emphasis on democracy. it never happened. old habits die hard. old friends continue to be old friends. after september 11, the policy -- democracy simply vanished. it was now war against terrorism. the west was looking for allies in the war against terrorism, and guess what -- every office in africa profess themselves to be fighting against terrorism in their own countries.
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in order to win u.s. sympathy and u.s. aid. in other words, if the u.s. wants to help, i think the best place to start is to review its relationship with these despots who have been in power for more than 10 years. review all that. otherwise, the u.s. will be caught flatfooted and blindsided by the upheavals in north africa. host: georgia is next on our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to respond to some of the propositions. i just wanted to ask -- i am
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trying to ask this guy, what are his solutions. also, you should also look at the policy of the west in the big post colonization. guest: this is why i wrote this book. it is a blueprint of how to get rid of dictators, and to get rid of them without western support and also without firing a shot. we did it in got up, and if we did it in donna, we can do it in other countries, not just in africa, but also elsewhere. it is true, like i said, i have been critical of the west. in the past, they have propped
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up dictators in africa. also, the west have been more of a hindrance. the west really has not been promoting democracy. it has been seeking allies, looking for allies in a war against terrorism, and that is why i suggest that the west needs to again revamped its relationship and look at its relationship with us but to have been in power for more than 10 years. otherwise, okay, it will be caught flatfooted again. host: bogor raton, florida. -- boca raton, florida. caller: good morning, sir.
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i am old enough to remember these things. the same situation since so happened. we get rid of mubarak, and now we are seeing christians being killed. we had syrian war ships coming through the suez canal going to syria. iranian warships going through. and tunisia announces a moderate islamist government, and libya probably will follow suit. it occurs to me that we are forever faced with the fact that there are no democrats. it appeared that islam with its sharia law and the lack of
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identity in all these countries -- we have all of these people, and what is the west to do? if they do not deal with these dictators, who do they deal with? who is going to be the democrats' standing in the wings who turns, as you pointed out -- should not serve for more than 10 years, but he is now 25 years in office, and this seems to be a revolving door. host: caller, thank you. guest: he raises a very important point. i mean, if you look at our post- colonial history, it has been a cycle of one be trail after another, -- one betrayal after another. we struggle to get one dictator
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out of power, and the next radical comes through and does the same thing. the revolving door again and again and again. the reason why this happens, and i have laid this out in the book, is because too often, we get rid of the dictators, but we do not dismantle or dissemble the dictatorships. here is an analogy -- consider a dictatorship to be a driver of a dilapidated vehicle. the vehicle is kaput, okay? quite often, what we do -- what we have done in africa is we simply change the driver. we do not repair the vehicle. if you simply change the driver and not repair the vehicle, another driver is going to have another dictatorship. the second step of fixing the vehicle is quite often neglected or left uncompleted, and this
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has happened in too many countries. host: manassas, virginia, good morning to stephen, independent line. caller: thank you, and thank you for c-span. host: i think he said desertification in africa. guest: i am not entirely sure what he means. desertification of what? host: we will move on. caller: i am from cameroon. i think there was a" once -- i
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do not think we should expect the west to help out that much in the situation, given the fact that he was acting in their interests. in africa, we are going to do things by any means necessary. the chinese did it. the americans did in 1776. we will just have to do anything necessary to get rid of these characters. cameroon has one of the worst dictators in the world. he has won elections by the same tricks others have used. whatever it takes to get them out, we need to get them out. i do not know what your comment would be. guest: definitely. i believe in reform from within. reform that is instigated is uniquely different and far more sustainable than reform instigated from the outside. we need to find a way to do it without destroying our countries. we have had too many countries
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in africa just collapse. look at somalia, for example. you look at a country like chad, sudan. we cannot afford to have more collapses in africa. host: can you talk about what is going on in your gonna when it comes to the recent announcements by the president the u.s. troops are going to assist? them to the resistance army is instead of a terrorist organization, like in the 1980's, it wants to have uganda rule by the 10 commandments. they have been of ducting children, murdering, raping, and it has been a menace.
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the ugandan military has been fighting that organization for a long time without success, which is why they sought u.s. help. i wish we could have solved the problem in africa through the african union, but, of course, we could not. but we cannot allow that menace to remain. the u.s. has sent in about 100 soldiers simply to train the ugandan forces, and, hopefully, it will be a short mission, and they can accomplish their goals. host: what about the head of the lord's resistance army? guest: he has been indicted by the international criminal court, but they have not been able to capture him.
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the u.s. mission is to help ugandan soldiers captured him. host: again, an outside body coming in to assist in these operations. guest: like i said, i wish we could have done this by ourselves, but at the same time, it helps the u.s. image that they are not only going after islamist terrorist groups but also going after other terrorist groups. host: what is the part of the u.s. in being in uganda? guest: they have been -- the civilians have been an ally of the u.s. a long time.
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clinton rejected one of the new leaders, and has received a lot of u.s. support. he has done well economically, but at the same time, not politically because the political system in again that is not very good. i think this is one of the reasons why the u.s. is supporting the new leader. host: rhode island, independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. host: caller, go ahead with your statement and do not listen to the television, please. caller: i am listening to this gentleman, and i am very happy he is dealing with the topic of dictators -- host: caller, you have to stop listening to your television and just go ahead. guest: we lost him.
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host: we will go ahead with minneapolis. caller: i would like to thank this guy for raising some of these issues. he is acting like -- the u.s. government is -- i have a question for this guy. what did the u.s. government need to ask to stop terror rising people in ethiopia? if that money belongs to the government and a dictator, that is money, or otherwise, all other people, the european
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government, and the european countries from all over the year -- this money is never going to the ethiopian people. they are still borrowing money. i do not know what is their measure or what are they doing. guest: i think one way the u.s. or the west can help -- i see the people of ethiopia, eritrea, zimbabwe -- is the focus of the media. a free media is the most powerful, important weapon against all dictatorships. if we can rest of the control --
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wres controlt of the media out of the dictatorships -- look at the villa. when the uprising started, the first thing they did was facebook, twitter, and so on. if we could get devices in the hands of the people so that we can have this free flow of information, for example -- in ethiopia, most of america broke out, and we can find a way to deal with the regime, we can find broadcast of the ethiopian people -- they themselves will be able to understand or know what is going on around them. this is how we can start having the colonel for change.
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host: a couple of instances on the continent, liberia, an election currently going. guest: he won the nobel peace prize, with another liberian buoy -- there are three main candidates. . what i think is going to happen is you are going to have an alliance, and i think she might be able to pull through. host: as democratic society, how is she doing? guest: she has done well in terms of bringing investment to liberia, but let's not forget, it is fraught with debt from the
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civil war. it is understandable that the young people in liberia who are extremely frustrated -- they do not have jobs. if you look at the liberian population, for example, 40% of them are under the age of 25, and they do not have jobs, so they are very frustrated. they might be able to do something better next time around. host: a story about the newest nation in south africa, south sudan wants to join the commonwealth. guest: the commonwealth is made up of former british ex colonies. sudan used to be a former british colony. it is just like liberia. it is suffering decades of civil war. more than 5 million people died. there is a lot of rebuilding to be done there. host: mississippi, good morning.
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caller: i would like to point out that over a couple of centuries, multiple trillions of dollars of what has been transferred from africa to the west, and the west supported gaddafi until it saw an opportunity to get rid of him. we use islamists to get rid of a second world leader, and yet, we are fighting the same islamists in somalia using kenya as a proxy, and now the king in civilian population is enjoying the benefits of having a government supported by the west with terrorist attacks, and, of course, in uganda -- the reason we are there is oil. they found new deposits in uganda. and africans cannot overthrow of these dictators themselves without the help of the west. the obama administration sat by and watched the mubarak government kill its own people. now with the military regime
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still in egypt, the united states is supporting that regime still. host: we will leave it there. guest: i am here trying to identify and promote african interests and not western interests. i have not advocated western intervention in any of the western -- in any of the african countries. i would prefer we do things ourselves because i have always believed in africans solving african problems in africa. the moment we drag in the west, it becomes extremely complicated. people claim that the west is doing this because of oil, doing this because it is looking for an allied against terrorism, but look -- what we should be focused on his african interest. we mean africans want to be free, and africans have for far
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too long been brutalized by their own leaders. the author host: of "defeating dictators: -- host: the author of "defeating dictators: fighting tyranny around the world." the explosion today out of afghanistan. a u.s. official says all 13 nato service officials killed in afghan bombing were american troops. the official confirmed the nationality shortly after a statement was issued. alevin claimed responsibility for the attack, which also killed four afghans, including a policeman. coming up tomorrow, our first 45 minutes will be looking at the papers talking about a variety of topics including the 2012 campaign and occupy wall street. we will take a look at what happened in the eurozone with
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the eu nations coming up with a plan to help with debt. robert harding of "the financial times" will be our guest. that starts tomorrow. we will see you then. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> next, an update on the bp compensation fund with administrator kenneth feinberg. then james amos talks about the future of the marine corps. following that, a house hearing on possible hearings -- changes
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to the military were smart -- retirement system. fund administrator kenneth feinberg testified thursday on the implementation on the bp oil compensation fund. the $20 billion fund was created by pp to provide payment or supplements of claims for cost and damages from the deepwater horizon spill. last week republican senators were not pleased with handling of the fund. one called for an independent audit of the organization. this is one hour and 50 minutes. >> the committee on national resources is meeting today to hear testimony on oversight hearing on gulf coast recovery, how is it working? under committee rules,

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