itself, allowing for freedom of speech, and encouraging that year-round. >> tomorrow, the president's u.n. ambassador nominee, samantha power live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. and since bentonite, a conversation on business in america. topics include financial regulation, tax policy, and immigration. we will take your calls and tweets coming up next. we look at the to same-sex marriage cases that the u.s. supreme court ruled on last week. california's proposition 8 and the defense of marriage act. a panel of journalists who cover the court talked-about those in other cases the court decided this term. keeps me up at night --

i worry about the sustainability of the economy. i mean, europe continues to be a problem. i think it is being dealt with on balance in a pretty way but it is a long-term problem. i think the export oriented economies given europe's problems and our slow-growth are slowing down. still continuing to perform roquet but certainly not as though they have been in the past. we have our own unique problems at this point with the government increasingly their use the word dysfunctional. me but i am sure i will be. the issues people are wrestling with the need to get resolved hopefully sooner rather than later. i am no expert but i am not terribly confident that a big

bank solution will be found here. all that keeps me up. we have exposure in the various countries so we watch very carefully. another issue that keeps me up is cyber-security. describes this as a threat to the united states. we have been targeted, all the big banks have been targeted. -- cyber-security is not just about hackers. it is an instrument of the state. in the case of many economies there has been lots of press , iran, israel. it is a reality.

these are very sophisticated people. and so building fire walls against this activity is difficult. we have a very strong team but this is a threat and this one that should keep us all of that night. it is a tough one. >> the chairman of citigroup talking about what keeps him up at night. that is one of a number of speeches by corporate executives that c-span has covered over the past couple of months. tonight we will do something a little bit different. one of the reasons we're here is to cover discussions of public policy. we're going to show you portions of speeches by many of those executives and give you a chance to talk back and ask about corporate america and the message you have for business leaders. we will cover a number of topics, everything from health care to tax policy to immigration to unemployment.

we would like to hear from you. the number of ways you can participate in the discussion tonight, by phone. we will open up our phone lines now. is au are democrat, there number to use. line.ndents if you're a business owner, small business, large business, we have set up a line for you. let us know the type of business you own or run when you call-in. we're also on twitter. we're keeping on -- our eye on #cspan.tag danny says -- justices think about this.

jeremiah of with a simple get control of your greed. that is on facebook. we mentioned we covered a number of speeches recently. among the folks you will hear from, tim cook, the ceo of apple. also the head of xerox. fred smith, the founder and head arne sorenson. the numbers are on your screen. go ahead and start dialing and participate by twitter and facebook as well. he talks here briefly about the economic recovery and consumer confidence. here is what he had to say. >> what i would say are a few key things. i think the consumer has demonstrated an incredible

resilience in a very challenging economic environment. the question is how long will that last? but the consumer is held up relatively well. you also see that in spending, you see that in the credit performance. for the industry overall, they are at close to historical lows. we're performing 50 percent better than the major bank card issuers. i think that that demonstrates some view that the consumer health is pretty decent. consumer confidence has held up pretty well. view noten of the surprisingly that the economic recovery as i look at it in the broad scale is going to be relatively slow. i do not have a great deal of confidence that there is going

to be any turnaround in the near term. what we have to hope for is it will stay stable. >> the head of american express, one of the recent speeches we have covered from across the country on c-span, looking at issues of public policy. for the next 50 minutes we're getting your reaction. what message do you have for corporate america at? we covered speeches on a wide range of issues that have a number of different functions and congressional hearings. if you own a business or run a company. what are the largest corporations and america according to fortune magazine, let's take a look at that. wal-mart is number one with a revenue of $469 billion and a

profit of $17 billion. chevron after that, phillips '66, and number five is berkshire hathaway. investment company. apple is sixth on the list with 100 jetty $7 billion in revenue. $42 billion in profit. general motors at $152,000,000,000.50 dollars billion in profit. general electric after that. valero energy. and the ford motor co. rounds out the top 10 according to fortune magazine in terms of corporate revenue and profit. let's go to our phones. greg is on the line. what is your message for corporate america s? it seems to be a disparity

between the salaries they are earning and the workers pay. where do think that will end up in the next decade? >> what you think is behind this corporate salaries going up like that? >> when the competition causes them to pay more -- they have to pay to get the best talent. -$39ccording to that report million in overall compensation. , the head of disney. and at no. 6 is the head of the ebay, john donohoe. howard schultz of starbucks with $29 million in compensation. out the top 10.

the report there was mentioned in a number of publications including the new york times recently. rounding out the top 10. you are a retail shoe store owner. tell us about that. >> basically a family run business. the government is trying to stop small and medium-sized businesses by taxing the crud out of us. >> what is the challenge that family-run businesses use a faces? you say faces? >> the new health care bill is a monster. for company my size.

just in that regulation is going on right now. >> how many locations do you have there been clearwater? >> 5 locations. mentioned the health care law that was passed in 2010. the news this afternoon about that and the implementation of the health care. here's a tweet from mark ller.e mark knoller. the obama administration delaying until 2015 after the 2014 midterm elections for a limitation. -- we wanted to

hear next from another leader. we have one more call in here before we hear from our next ceo. go ahead. working 15 years in corporate america and starting my small business. i would like to see which statesmaybe it is california. do we see the next growth cycle as far as what part of the country would be really interesting? >> how is the business environment in new jersey? >> it is competitive but overall, i think there is an overall population moving out of state. just because the complex law structure, the cost of doing business in the state. that theenefit is population is quite high.

the proximity to new york city. there is all this benefit on that side of it. >> what kind of business would you start? you mentioned starting a business. >> we're in the fast-food restaurant business. >> thanks for calling and. the head of bp's spoke about the difficulty that some businesses are finding investing in the current economic climate. let's listen in. >> balance sheets are extremely cold. much of that cash is offshore because of the differential tax rate. we do feel that it is more important at this point to do something rather than nothing. there is the time perhaps and an economy that is moving along well where the stalemate is fine in washington. right now there is too much uncertainty and leadership in the government and private sector is critical. our message is very much that it is time to get together, work up something where everyone

compromises how we do and business. ann craig some path to the future so businesses can invest and we can move forward. there's a lot of latent capacity in the u.s. economy and the u.s. economy is healthy. it is being h back right now. >> you carry a lot of stuff. i will not ask you how much. presumably the amount of stuff you're carrying is increasing all the time. why do not continue to invest and if you are, how much really are you being held back by the uncertainty in washington? >> ups is fortunate. we have been around for over 100 years and continually innovative. ourarry 6% of u.s. gdp in network. from the largest corporations to the small mom-and-pop business. we see the hesitation for investment very noticeable in small and mid-sized perhaps do e

pockets and not have international markets to address. we have seen the larger businesses go global to find new growth outputs. that is harder to do for small and customers all the we think it is critical to u.s. competitiveness. the impact it has on ups is right now, the u.s. economy is chugging along may be added to percent rate or so. nowhere near what you'd expect any economic recovery. we're growing less and not able to expand as rapidly because demand is not there. but because of a long-term perspective, we do make investments that may not pay back in the next couple of years. we're still making investments that are prudent but it takes-it slows the rate of growth. from corporateg executives and some other comments on public policy issues, issues that affect them.

we're hearing from you, your message for corporate america. we are keeping our eye on twitter. goodar from kevin, evening. shalit -- salaries do not differ much from professional athletes, actors, musicians make. is pretty much 0 outrage toward them. i would like to apologize to the corporations of america for our government being so ignorant and making it easy for them to do business in china, taking jobs away from the americans such as myself. i am unemployed. >> what kind of job did you have? >> i worked in a manufacturing facility. i have worked in construction. impossible to find jobs in this field right now. >> thanks for checking in with this.

cranbury township is next. i kind of agree with the last caller. i think there is this culture of corporate greed that kind of exists. the salaries are greatest. begrudges in a free marketplace earnings. you talk about the disparaging environment that exists between the ceo, and a mid-level to lower-level management or even a lower level worker. it is absolutely said. - sad. there needs to be more sensitivity to a little less profit. the work force that could be inspired that has a chance to make more than what they're making. profits are of.

on with the examples. we're headed in the wrong direction. the way is to be was a lot better. corporate america is trying to fool the public at large. >> it in the discrepancy between the top -- what the top makes and with the average worker makes? >> it is not just the number. the reason why the top made less is not because they made less, there was a concern to mid-level workers that deserved it more than had more perks and more things.

made butre being they're being taken at the top. it feels uncomfortable. generally speaking even in a free marketplace it makes me feel terribly uncomfortable and i think we're headed in the wrong direction. it says here you have a small business. you are currently running a business? >> i am. from myself and situation hard to find work in construction. i got my own business, i am a veteran and i am speaking of work. i put god first and work second. i am blessed to be american, thankfully to live in america. people back on history, how i got here. come here.le we established churches and we worked hard. bring back to

basics of the people who was here in this country. will love each other, love of god. of therely on the people government to apply our needs. dirt.k and sweat and we have to get god first and will see how i can change it. >> he and another caller -- those working in the construction field. there's another issue on the corporate side. microsoft talked about the issue of finding skilled immigrant later -- on immigrant labor. >> microsoft and across the john g. sector, where and physically -- we are increasingly

grappling with this issue. the number of -- and time when unemployment hovers below 8%. the unemployment rate is falling down to 2.2%. bemis the categories in has fallen 2%. the situation is likely to get worse rather than better. the bureau of labor statistics says asserted that this year economy is right to free of economy will generate new jobs. we estimate that all of the colleges and universities in the country put together and produce this year only foreigners semaphore of this agreement that -- it we are how

addresses the green card shortage. it creates a new green card category for a balanced stender raise. all things that are needed. the oliveuite likely -- companies that with changes to ensure that american workers are protected car raises aids law. employees can switch employers. it addresses a number of other issues and even though we have lingering questions about potential language and potential of unintended consequences, we recognize the

compromises needed all around arab to be able to work with this committee and staff as you go through the details. there is the third thing this bill does. of lectionary importance. prius and national stem allocation fund. -- we have systematically under invested as a country in the education of our own children. consider this. there are over 42,000 has schools of america. this year, the number sinified --cheesy attachment player [indiscernible] creates the model for

national stem education fund and this bill follows much of that model but i hope you might improve even further. s, on somefees on visa green cards and invest that money in the american people so we can provide our own children with the educational opportunities there will need to develop skills to compete in an increasingly competitive world. spendsmpany, microsoft .ore research and development we spend 85 percent of that money in one country, this country, the united states. our industry has come to washington because we want to keep jobs in america. we want to fill jobs in america and we want to help create more jobs in america.

in the short run, we will need to bring more people back from other countries to america. we hope and the long run some of us -- some of them will follow in the footsteps of albert great technologists and scientists and entrepreneurs. what to do more than that. we think the country should seize the moment to invest in our own children as well. if we're going to do all that, if we're right to do any of that we need your help. thank you. before the senate judiciary committee. that was on the immigration bill that passed in the senate before they went on the july 4 recess. all the speeches and testimony google where are showing you is available on our video library. do have for

corporate tricare? a couple of points. flore the compretta rate of low- skilled americans. and the reason illegals are coming up here, they want a better life in a better job but it wanted to appear for a job. e-verify. the second point is your college loans. colleges are loading kids up with debt. thethe college loans and various programs to the degree they're pursuing so you'll get more money to get a storm debris, to get a degree in science and technology. you will earn more when you get out of college. that will put pressure on the

colleges to lower their costs. as opposed to keeping all the raise equal. we will give you all the college look you want. we have a trillion dollars a in student debt. >> old college loan is an issue congress will face. the rate above went up for new new loans to 6.8%. happen go ahead with your comments. i have a question. last month there were five caught -- you're

getting a little confused. new your television and go ahead with your comments. [indiscernible] about that?hing >> i do not. going to let you go. thanks for calling in this evening. larry on the line. go ahead. but i think that we need to scale back on automation so much. that has put a lot of people out of work. what we canot know -- with thehorses horse out of the barn.

a side of putting people out of work. and unlike the previous caller said, we pick up the phone now a systems problem and we have some money in the philippines or india or summer. those are jobs that people right here used to have and they do not have them anymore. we have recordings on the telephone where they used to be operators. all of that, the people that are out of work and when they're out of work, the cat by the supplies. who are we making this applies for? >> are you currently employed? >> i retired from the military. >> thank you. here is the bloomberg story from today about the sales of gm and ford sales rises. the makers of gm and ford. new vehicles accelerated to the

fastest in 67 months. one company that is involved in bosch.to industry is was internships in germany. >> these are programs with think are vital. if you look at how germany is set up with their dual education system we get to go through the standardized schooling and you have a -- to apply with the company, you get a specialized training for not only the manufacturing but other areas. we see that to be beneficial in germany where the unemployment rate has dropped significantly due to this. bring these types of programs into south and north carolina. >> vester may have a lower unemployment rate among young people, lower than our rate in

the united states? >> yes they do. that due to this dual education approach? >> i believe it is. >> that is something we should analyze in this country moving forward. >> on the issue of training for jobs in the local communities, here is what the head of xerox had to say. >> if there's a problem and education, businesses engaged locally with educational institutions and try to do the best they can. we found is the engage a lot. a lot of money, a lot of time. a lot of human capital engaged in grade school all the way up through universities. one of the things that we're doing is we formed this organization to get companies pointed to more effective ways to use the money they are using. thee is a lot of work at business roundtable. cynicism is not the name of the game. when you go out and try to

operate a business, we do work to try to solve problems. a little help from government would be nice. we figured out a way to do it without having a turbocharge behind us but imagine if you had a turbo charge behind us. in exports we have a lot of work. to try to enable and lay a system that will help small to large companies export more of their goods and services. that is the goal of the export complex. it is an infrastructure that can work. there are private companies that are saying we're not going to wait and see, we will debate the keystone pipeline. we will explore. i do not think we're sitting back. i do not think there is cynicism until we come here and start to

talk about the problems here. only go back to our home bases. we work and we tried to solve the problems. >> back to calls and comments. your message for corporate america. efficient fuel engines. go ahead with your comments. >> i am the chief consulting .ngineer a we are developing a 30% higher thermal efficiency engine using , diesel, natural gas or jet fuel. efficiency. thermal a car will go approximately 30% more miles per gallon under identical conditions. >> said the number one thing the

federal are red can do to to begin this year free to get your product to market. >> first of the can give us a grant of $20 million so we can demonstrate to the world that this and generally does we're preaching which is 30% higher thermal efficiency. and then later on, with this product will do is reduce the fuel consumption by $40 million per day. >> thanks for joining us. this is the lines of four businesses. we're also looking at facebook and asking the same question. what is your message for corporate america? reaction to comments from the general counsel of microsoft.

the evening. what is your message for corporate america? >> there is several things. a liberal.ing from one of the biggest problems larger corporate [indiscernible] we need to overturn larger corporations and get rid of the monopolies, back down, small put business back into the

people's hands. the problem is everything has gone too large. we have got the workers are working part-time to 32 hours. it got a small percentage of the population that can [indiscernible] it cannot have the people to spend back into a consumer based economy. you have too many college degrees that are not even necessary in today's economy. it takes the average job market 30 years ago and -- you take the average job market of 30 years ago. there would get hired within minutes sometimes. nowadays it turns into a two or three week process. you can go online and you sit there for three hours filling

out a job application. it is idiotic. >> it sounds like you had an experience try to fill out an application at walmart. >> i have personally witnessed it. of age or lot -- hr department bloat. it bloats up the hiring process. -- go onmplain unemployment and they sit there and say i am not getting a job. >> let's get another call here from sun city, calif. on the republican line. america is the best work force in the world.

the problem with the corporate america nowadays is when you get into a company and i do work for large retail company that has over a thousand stores in three different countries. they nickel-and-diming want to wise and our-y- wise. of the workersg is a major part of it. it is a big tax [inaudible] to give back to my community because i am getting tax stand. corporate america is nickel-and- diming me. reasons private workers are disgruntled with our unionsent is because the

that they care take as well as government workers. i am sure they do work fine. and hard at what they earn. there's a discrepancy between the private workers and union government workers. >> more of your calls coming up. we are using twitter tonight. here is one from dara. we will hear more about that in a moment. wells fargo and walmart running at the top five. hathaway,berkshire ibm, and microsoft. the apple ceo timothy cook was on capitol hill recently

testified before the permanent investigations subcommittee in the u.s.. theely the issue was about offshore enough corporate profits. here's some of what he had to say. clip] our cash effective tax rate was 35 percent. we paid nearly $6 billion in cash to the u.s. treasury. that is more than $16 million each day. we expect to pay even more this year. i would like to explain to the subcommittee very clearly how we view our responsibility with respect to taxes. apple has real operations in replaces with apple employees selling grill products to real

customers. we pay all the taxes we wrote every single dollar. when not only comply with the laws but we comply with the spirit of the laws. we do not depend on tax gimmicks. we do not move intellectual property offshore and use it to sell our products back to the united states to avoid taxes. we do not stash money on some caribbean island. we do not move our money from -- forces and dearies foreign subsidiaries. they hold 70 percent of the cash because of the rapid growth of our international business. we use these earnings to fund our foreign operations such as spending billions of dollars to acquire equipment to make apple products and to finance construction of apple retail stores around the world. under the current u.s. corporate

tax system, it would be very expensive to bring that cash back to the united states. hasrtunately, the tax code not kept up with the digital age. the tax system handicaps american corporations in relation to our foreign competitors who do not have such constraint on the free movement of capital. callsmore of your phone in a moment. i wanted to show you the back and forth at the senate hearing asking tim cook, the head of apple, whether any profits made in the u.s. offshore. clip] >> i know some of it depends on where the sale occurred. but some of it depends on a decision you are making internally about where your going to allocate what you're getting for your intellectual property. where is that decision being

made and what do you base it on in terms of how much money comes back to the american companies are paying taxes versus how much is attributable to the international companies. >> it is a good question. everything that we sell in the u.s. is taxed in the u.s.. for foreign country, generally speaking, when we sell something in a foreign country, it is taxed in the local market. and then if it is one of the being servedt are from ireland, those units are generally sold by an irish subsidiary. it is taxed to the degree it is going to be in the local jurisdiction. the proceeds moved to an irish sub.

in many cases it is ali. ernings.s apple's .- earnings >> the many thousands of dollars to have gone from a over the years, do any of the proceeds from that actually get part in ireland or in any of the international countries under the aegis of international property? >> i think mr. volek could answer this better than i. >> the answer is no. 100 percent of the profits on any sale to a customer in the united states whether it is through the channels, or our online stores, all of that is taxed in the u.s.. there is no outbound payments going offshore. host: a report ordered by

senator carl levin. here is the headline today. a government watchdog agency found that profit will u.s. companies paid u.s. federal income tax equaling 12.6% of their worldwide income. big businesses are lobbying hard to reduce the official u.s. corporate tax rate. the highest in the developed world that 35 percent. to me said, arizona. chris is on our independent line. my general message is to corporate america act, it is fair, andare playing he you love america, you believe in america at. invest in to us, the people, keep your money here.

if you guys are paying your fair share and are playing fair, if our rent is overspending, then support us. again, the people who purchase all your products. if you guys are trying to play as the big guys and you're on our side than sure yourself as being on our side. it is the government that is boris spending, join us and let's cut out some of the fat in government. thanks for taking my call. i have a quick response to the gentleman from microsoft's comments. i fully respect the rights of my great grandparents came as immigrants and i respect our nation's heritage. mentioned there were

50,000 students in a country -- [indiscernible] i was wondering what the corporations could do to reach our to as before the reset to other countries for help. what kind of work do you do? caller: i am a student. host: what are you studying? computervision. host: thank you for calling. you're on the air, go ahead. nothingi think there is wrong really with corporate america. i do not think there is anything wrong. is your restaurant

franchise or is it a stand- alone? hardees.t is a was news about the delayed implementation of the health care law. what concerns do you have about the implementation of that law? >> nunnelee any concerns. -- not really any concerns. mandate requiring businesses to provide workers with health care will be delayed a year. delaying the requirement until 2015 is an enormous victory for business that had lobbied against the health care law. it means that one of my-one of the requirements will be implemented after 2014 when the

gop is likely to use the affordable care act to attack vulnerable democrats. said the has not cost the company that much. [video clip] obama health care bill affected your business? i think when we look at the first of 14 will see the mandatory coverage. we have we think about 90 percent of our employees are full-time, 30 hours or more. we will be required to provide insurance to them. 60think that this could be

million -- 600 million to $100 billion. there is a bunch of interesting things we will see next year. we do not know how many of the folks who are not covered by our plans are covered by spouse's plans and how many are also the young and invincible basically say i do not want to pay my 25%, i would rather go naked because i do not think anything will happen to me. how many are folks that are too tight with the wallet and cannot afford it. we will see when the dust settles that is the letter to categories that are obligated to have insurance. host: you have a pretty good sense of what the burden on the company is and what it will cost. >> it was a pretty wide range. that suggests there is a lot we do not know.

host: we have 10 more minutes of your calls and comments. your message for corporate america. caller: good evening. a lot of the things that were said, i agree and i have been listening to the lot. thing that sticks with me is too big to fail. we used to have monopoly law. i do not think the monopoly law is working. is now working for you? caller: to many businesses are too big. and i think we did at one time have a monopoly tight laws. i think when a company grows so , the dave grow up -- they

broke up bell. goingthings seem to be the other way to you? they influence our government to much. it will not -- it is overwhelming and we have a union lobbyists. isust feel that everything -- host: we just lost frances. -oody tweets in -0 steve says --

a couple more calls to kill you pull you up. 0 would like to see more businesses and co-op oriented business that i think to get away from the one percenter mentality. i think that is a good idea. host: what kind of manufacturing are you? >> we premarin-week pre manufacture -- we pre manufacture pump applications. underwrite forld small business. america has turned into a country where we speak so strongly of small business and

that is where we get patriotic and will ofrah-rah small business. -- we love small business. imagine if you would underwrite 500 million toward. the pump stations. the government could underwrite with public offerings. the small business administration is governed [indiscernible] the table andto yet i have patents on stations and whether it is a web page or a meeting, we are overshadowed by large corporations. we're challenged daily by large corporations. i would like to see this be the role of the day.

it should be people like me with master's degrees, small business but we are passionate about america. i did not think this will ever be seen in america. approved by the senate before the left. daphne.one from about and this is a conversation that is going on back and forth on line. on the issue of fuels. fred smith talked about the need for higher taxes on fuel, pitcher joey on gasoline because of the issue of the

infrastructure across the country. >> the combination of the leadership of congress and the regulating transportation and the funding mechanism that was put in place to build our transportation infrastructure was very important to the economic prosperity of this country. beginning in the middle part of the 1990's, the primary funding mechanism for the highway system has been allowed to atrophy. is particularly unfortunate because we have had enormous improvements in efficiency in terms of the miles per gallon of both private automobiles and the equipment that will operate. the net effect on the traveling public or the shipping public is not unmanageable. that is the easiest, quickest,

and most effective way to solve the problem is to put and a fuel tax to fund improvements. on the aviation side, there are mechanisms there to do the same thing. you cannot wish these things will happen. they have to have the money to fund them. host: your message for corporate america. we have a couple more minutes. onler: i wanted to comment the high corporate income tax in america and held that makes us competitive internationally. what we really need is to shift that path and that revenue we may receive to a carbon tax and really try to keep the revenue neutral but protect us and our keeping thisersus corporate income tax in place

which is going to be abused and taken advantage of other corporations with the most money. host: jonah said -- and richard onn our democrats' line. corporate america needs to invest in our children. so that they stay motivated. it must start with the use like in critical. you disregard children, you disregard our growth, our citizens, our country, our fabric of life. education has always needed

corporate participation. backing and also on a daily basis and not just on career day. every day is a career day. this is to be presented to our children at schools. corporate america needs to invest in our children and if they invest in our future, the almighty dollar will appear. i just say corporate america needs to expand their view of spirit and then growth will occur. thank you for your call. a quick look at the headline about apple and their new server farms. apple will build a solar farm to power their reno data center. we showed you the comments of tim " talking about corporate of shoring. here's a quick look. >> to look at the big companies

of technology, apple, gould, and all that all started by young people like yourself. these companies, every time they come up with a new product to say, this is a better world. we have something better. when a politician the decision were congress makes a decision anywhere in the world, half the people say it is good, half the people say it is bad. never get a consensus that it is one super good. the most important people in the world are the one who run technology companies. for joining us with your comment. we will let you have the last word. the conversation continues online. all of the speeches you saw this evening are available at our video library at c-span.org. at twong up, a look supreme court cases regarding same-sex marriage.