after her death, it was discovered that she provided financial help to hundreds of americans in need and never cashed the checks of those who paid her back. watch our program on first lady lou hoover. live monday night, our series continues. >> what i have here are the original drafts that i would like to share. first mighty colin. comingsalking about the and goings in the white house. they're getting back the regular schedule after the holiday season. clipping from november 6, 1940. she talked about how at midnight a larger craft in usual came in with the wonderful placards. on electionadition night.

the folks would march down and the president might come out and greet them. >> eleanor roosevelt, monday at 9:00 p.m. eastern. also on c-span -- c-span radio and c-span.org are. >> we bring public events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house as a public service of private industry. we are c-span and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. now you can watch is in hd. a discussion with three award-winning cartoonist about the future of editorial cartoons. this is one hour and 15 minutes.

>> good evening. i am tom watkins, treasurer of the atlanta press club. thank you for coming to drawing the news. the atlanta press club is one of the largest and most active press clubs in the world. we encourage you to join. we have some great programs coming out. we will host a newsmaker luncheon on september 17. join us on october 8 for the hall of fame dinner. for more information, visit our website at www. atlantapressclub.org. we are pleased to have three cartoonists in an ever shrinking universe of cartoonists joining

us tonight. kevin, award winning cartoonist for the economist magazine of london. his career spans more than 35 years and created more than 8000 cartoons and 140 magazine covers. his resume includes six collections of published work. mike, pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist for the atlanta journal-constitution. he began his cartooning career in 1984 in new orleans and joined the constitution in 1989. his work appears in "time" and "the new york times." rick has been the editorial cartoonist for the augusta chronicle, he started at the atlanta journal-constitution years before.

his cartoons are syndicated to more than 400 newspapers across america. he has won numerous awards, including first place for editorial cartooning in the georgia press association's better newspaper contest. we will ask a bunch of questions , i will start off with a couple, formulate your own. we will pick the brains of people who look at world events and distill them to simple pictures and make us laugh or have an epiphany or think deep thoughts. >> i want to know -- rick did not get a microphone. i think he deserves one. >> i guess he gets one. there is an extra. >> first off, you are talking to the press club, which has endured a bitter feud years.

i am wondering if you could -- a bitter few years. i am wondering if you could comment on the state of editorial cartooning. is it the same as newspapers, or has it been spared? >> i think the cartoonists have been hit harder than the newspaper industry. in a large part because, the beancounters and businessmen are making hiring and firing decisions as newspapers. they look at a cartoonist and say what does this guy really bring.

the journalists know the value that a cartoonist can bring. we see it in the work of rick and mike that the powerful attachment that a local community gets to the cartoonist, and the power that it can do to affect both public discourse and also get the full attention of the public -- of the politicians. that is part of the job of the free press. cartoonists have been laid off at a rapid rate. there is -- maybe the numbers are kind of loose. maybe 25 years ago, we were hovering in the 200 range. now we are in the 70's or lower. when a newspaper loses a cartoonist, it is likely that

they will never rehire one. i am an example of that. i was a 17-year cartoonist for "the baltimore sun." i was offered a buyout and i took it because i saw the writing on the wall. they invited me to come back. we want a cartoonist, please. do you want to add? >> newspapers have contracted. i think it is a case-by-case situation. i think there are some cartoonists in better shape than others. the ajc is lean, is doing well. a few years ago, things were great. 2004, 2005, newspapers were doing fabulous. now, they have to be leaner. as i said, i think if you are -- if your publisher and your editor and the people who in your papal valley -- people who own your paper value that cartoon, cartoonists are in a

good position. >> i don't have much to add except to say that there are a few people who have been hired in the last couple of months. it is encouraging. i know my paper has beefed up coverage, added an opinion section. i'm hoping it has stabilized maybe, maybe we can turn it around. >> ok. has the internet helped or hurt the business of cartooning and the artistry of cartooning? >> should i take this one? i think that the internet has

initially hurt newspapers, like all media. people thought they could get everything for free. that is stabilizing. it has been a good thing in that our work has a much wider viewership than it used to. it used to be your hometown and if you are syndicated and other newspapers, people in those towns. now, everyone has the ability to look at your cartoons. my stuff is on facebook and twitter, i do not know that much about all that stuff, i know that my cartoons go on there and people are seeing them. i think that is a good thing. >> it is hard to say. there are a lot more internet type cartoonists who are not necessarily professional, they are not paid staffers. with the advent of photoshop, anyone can go out there and whip something out. there is a lot more political

opinion -- not many people are making money on it. >> there is another interesting byproduct of the web in the way it is helped cartoonists. this is mostly internationally. you see three guys up here. whenever you get cartoonists appear and ask them how they got into this business, everyone has a different story. there is no conventional way to become a cartoonist. there are no schools or graduate degrees. we in the u.s. have a rich tradition of satire that goes back several countries -- several centuries. in emerging democracies, they don't have that same background. when they are looking to emulate

what we do, what happens is, cartoonists are watching the cartoonists here. in the facebook scene, you're seeing a quick and rapid development of cartooning in countries like india, brazil, countries where the press is growing. there are more newspapers, they are growing. in many places in the west, they are shrinking. cartoonists are learning at a faster pace than we could have done. it is accelerating the growth of cartoonists in other parts of the world. >> i hope you guys have some questions. one more. >> at its best, what should cartooning do?

what do you hope to a, which as a cartoonist? -- to accomplish as a cartoonist? >> give me the hard one. i should make the reader sank -- they should make the readers think. and a lot of cartoons use humor. if i have challenged my readers to think about an issue differently, maybe one that they may not agree with, then i have accomplished my mission. mike? >> i am a very idealistic about cartooning. i feel like -- i feel like we are perfecting our union. i am trying to make people think, like rick says. i am trying to show what i believe is not right out there. there is a lot that is not right out there right now. they say that bad news is good for cartoonists because it gives us fodder. i would rather work harder and have less bad news and know we were going in the right

direction. i think we are not going in the right direction right now. i feel very -- like it is a real calling for me to get my opinions out there. >> all of those things are absolutely right. one of the things that is interesting about how cartoonists contrast to any other member of the journalism school, it has the ability to penetrate a society, each cartoon is a sentence. they are pretty simple, straightforward, we try to get a point across in assisting -- in assisting way.

over a week, a paragraph, over a month, a chapter. you are basically having a long- term conversation with your readers. we used humor, pictures, we have an interesting way to reside in a special part of the brain. people approach it open-minded because they think they are on to laugh. we engage in a very personal relationship with people. over time, the ability to reside in somebody's brain and go to what rick mentioned, to make them think about subjects that sometimes they may have fixed ideas about. maybe rethink them. sometimes awaken them to stories they need to know about. in some ways, i'm going to semi- miss america, we want to make the world a better place -- i am going to sound like miss america, we want to make the world a better place. we are doing that with our unique medium. >> questions? >> not at a paper, would you run down hot you determine which -- how you determine which articles have a cartoon attached to them or which are standalone? >> what is interesting about that question, that is the same type of question that i would like to ask all of the other cartoonists. everyone has a different feel.

we are as different as comedians. there is woody allen, chris rock. all cartoonists are different in our personality, our approach to the news, our style. i cannot wait to hear what these guys have to say. [laughter] >> was the question? no, my cartoons standalone from the articles. i have a great situation. although my editor says i have to start getting in earlier. i now get in at noon. [laughter] the first thing i do is i have lunch. after lunch, to the untrained eye, it does not look like i am doing anything. i am just sitting there on either -- on ebay or on itunes. i am looking at topics, too. around 3:00, i start to get nervous because i have been procrastinating all day. i start to get nervous. that is when i start coming up with ideas.

usually my first couple of ideas suck. i will show them to somebody and they will be happy to tell them -- tell me that they suck. i appreciate the honesty, that gets my journaling going. i want to come up with something to show this person that i am not a failure. i keep doing that, it gets later and later. my day starts out with procrastination and ends in pani c. right at my deadline at 5:30, i have to draw a really quick. i do not pencil in, i just ink. i have whiteout on my hands, i just got done with a cartoon. i am going as fast as i can, that is how my day goes. [laughter] >> wow.

my cartoons are stamped alone as well -- standalone as well. i am in the office with the other editorial writers. i am doing a cartoon on syria, they have an editorial coming up on syria, we might run those two together. you might get the idea that we pare them, but it just happened. -- that we paired them, but it just happened. i come in at 930, but i also looked like i am not doing anything. i hope to have my sketch to my lunchtime. that has got to go through the approval process. i do a different way of inking. i have a light box that i put my sketch underneath. then i ink on top of the paper. i have the sketch to guide me. then i scan it in, hopefully i have inking done by 3:30, i start to color.

you asked how the web affected it, we have a color position online. by 5:30 or 6:00, i have the color position done. >> do you assign yourselves or do they say might, we want a cartoon on syria? >> for me, no. my editor likes to suggest ideas. sometimes i listen to him, most of the time i do not. i do whatever i want to draw. >> i did not even go to meetings. it is the most incredible thing. i sit in my office, i do not see my editor. no one bugs me until i come out of there and show my rough. they do not tell me what to do. i have got such a great situation.

>> largely, the freedom that each of these fellows have is in large part because they have built up a reputation that they will deliver. one of the things about our business, we work on tight deadlines. we are creating art and satire on a deadline. it requires a lot of different skill sets. a requires the skill set of being a journalist, keeping up with the news, then put on the habit of being a columnist. i think that is how people should regard us. we approach the news, come up with our own perspective on the subject we are going to cover. then we have to be a satirist and apply humor. the last thing, we are an artist, using pictures to deliver our satiric commentary. it is interesting how everyone does them in different ways and each party has a different energy.

-- h cartoon has a different energy. i have to wear two hats, i work for and international publication, "the economist." as well as "the baltimore sun." i use a very old-fashioned english style pen nibs. it takes me three hours to apply the ink. three hours of scratch, scratch. if the deadline is 7:00, that takes you back to 4:00. i have pencil sketches before that, that takes two hours to three hours. and then you have coming up with the idea. everyone finds a way of getting two ideas in a different fashion. sometimes, they do come quickly. other times, you go through a lot of processes. my day is pretty much and eight

our 210 hour day -- an eight to ten hour day. about the freedom we are given, with all freedom comes responsibility. what i admire about my peers who do this really well on a daily basis is how managing to the cartoons that are both apt and right on the news, not sexist, not racist. powerful one day, funny the next day. all of these things that have to go into the mix. >> next question, go to the microphone, please. i forgot with caroline. >> i was on the editorial board, i can vouch for mike's work ethic. [laughter] what i wanted to ask all of you, mike particularly, i would now and then write a column, i could not believe the reaction.

it was totally not what i meant. i wonder if there has been any one particular cartoons you have ever drawn that you were flabbergasted at the response. you thought it was really misinterpreted. it would be fun to know a specific example. >> first of all, often when there are cartoon controversies, one reason is that the symbolism over takes the idea that you are trying to get across. and people do not understand what you are trying to say. i did one a few years ago when we were in iraq. america was starting to understand that we were torturing people. i thought that that is what our enemies do. i thought about it, i realized after i did the cartoon and it

ran, the symbolism was too strong. i drew two hooded figures, one was in america holding -- an american holding a w -- a whip. another was an al qaeda member with a serrated knife. the american was holding a book called "torture etiquette." the al qaeda guy was telling him to go to page, paragraph, line. it was not a particularly great cartoon. people think everything in a newspaper is a big controversy or a big sinister thing, a conspiracy. my cartoon ran, but on the same -- on the opinion page, there was a black-and-white photo of

two american servicemen who have been beheaded by al qaeda. the combination -- people went nuts. this was at a point where people had not process that we were torturing, people were still denying. people started complaining, it became a big fan. -- big thing. we had security, i was getting death threats. and then, they wanted me to be on fox news. fox news -- the bill o'reilly show. i baked my editor to go on -- i begged my editor to go on and explain this. she thought it would be misinterpreted or i would do something stupid. she did not let me go on. they did the most nasty, one- sided thing on their. -- on there.

it all started dying down, but then rbm, the big car dealership in atlanta, they took out a full-page ad with the letter from the president of rbm saying that we have the freedom to do what we want and say what we want, but this cartoon was beyond. it just generated all the crap again. i was so glad when that was over. i do not know if you guys -- if it has been the same thing with the symbolizing overriding the idea. >> i run into that as well. also, we do so many cartoons that are considered fine -- fun ny. it is when you have to switch gears and do something serious. you want to be respectful and pay tribute. everyone is expecting you to crack a joke.

mine was a local cartoon about a local school. it was misunderstood it was nothing compared to that, though. i have not gotten any death threats. i am still holding out for some. [laughter] >> i had a situation that was along the lines of what happened with mike. this was in the mid-2000's when the israeli government under ariel sharon had a policy of bulldozing the homes of palestinian terrorists' family members. both the bush administration and many allies thought that this was an ill-advised policy. controversial within israel and outside.

i was doing a cartoon that was basically -- also, bush was trying to tell sharon don't do this. sharon was doing whatever he wanted. we had arafat as a cat being chased by a big bulldog, sharon. he was pulling through the air, george bush, he was saying the boy, -- good boy, sit, stay. i thought it was a good cartoon. sometime between the time i finished the cartoon and the next morning's paper, a terrorist bomb attack in tel aviv killed about 80 people. two buses. the next morning, all the images were this carnage. then people turn to the editorial pages and see a cartoon of me blaming sharon. i became the hot button on all the talk shows and all the

fallout. it was also revealed that two weeks later i was slated to give a talk in baltimore right in the heart of the jewish community. that was going to be a focal point of a lot of protests. the library contacted me and said that they were getting threats. and whether we should go on with this. i said do whatever you like. in the u.s., if we cannot have a civil discussion in a library, where else can we do it? we got a lot of security, went down there, it was mayhem, chaos. people wanted to shut it down. it was a misunderstanding. it touched a raw nerve. the room is about the size, packed with folks. i give my presentation. i told everyone that we are

definitely going to be addressing the issue that everyone wanted to hear. i go through the slides of cartoons of controversy that have been done over the years. then i bring up that cartoon. it was like a bad movie, people started, "oh my god." it was something else. everyone who has something to say in this room was going to have an opportunity to say it. i was going to stay here till next week if required. it is a wonderful thing, both to let the air out of the bag and the air out of the room. it also served something that is very special in our society, we can vent and say these things. hopefully, we can say them in a civilized fashion. it turned out to be a great exercise in democracy. >> have you found yourself being more careful about cartoons related to israel? >> no. you could see where there was a misunderstanding with that.

we are all aware of what happened with the danish cartoonist. for guys like us who have been in the game, we know that there are landmines. you have to be careful about how you manage these things. issues to do with abortion in the u.s., guns, race, arab- israeli relations. in other countries, they have their own red lines to be aware of. what a cartoonist can get away with an san francisco may be different than in alabama. you have to understand your audience. i think mike made a really good point. it is often not what you say, it is how you say it that gets you in trouble. if you can actually -- i don't think there is any subject that is off-balance, it is a matter of finding the best way to do an effective cartoon. "washington journal --

>> i think cartoonists that get in the most trouble are the guys who rush out and try to be first rather than giving it thought. a little bit of time in between an event and the cartoon goes a long way towards avoiding some of that controversy. >> each of our guests are now going to share some of their favorite cartoons. why don't we start with you -- >> do i get a clicker? >> can i stand up and walk around? great, thank you very much. this is huge fun. this is my first cartoon, a very important cartoon. [laughter]

i thought it was important to show this. this is important because this has got abraham lincoln, the gettysburg address. this cartoon inspired a feature- length motion pitcher starring starring dino day-lewis -- motion picture starring daniel day-lewis. i do this at age six. everyone is drawing at age six. most people drop off. the idea of trying to capture reality with lines. as cartoonists, we stay six- year-olds for the rest of our lives. it is the notion of how brains work to capture things. as we mentioned, over the years, i have done 140 covers for different magazines. each of these have interesting stories behind them.

here is a curious story about this. back in 1998, we were economically booming. now, we are coming out of deficits. this was the lead up to the state of the union address. "the economist does quit was doing a cover story about bill clinton, who wanted to -- the economist was doing a cover story about the clinton who wanted to spend a lot of money. he was like a kid in a candy shop, what could he spend it on? i did this cartoon, obvious -- all these gals with sweets. we go to press on a wednesday. wednesday at noon, the monica lewinsky story breaks. [laughter] they scrap the lead editorial, they look at my cartoon and say

we are going to use that cartoon. i thought that was great. the next two cartoons, stories about what it is like for a cartoonist before and after the internet. this cartoon, way back when mikael gorbachev came onto the scene and the soviet union, he was a new kind of russian leader. young and hip. i was working in the u.k., i have -- i have lived there for 11 years. i said, i have a great idea. let's turn mikael gorbachev into a new character -- miami vice. the problem was, before the internet, how do i get pictures of miami vice? how could i drop a miami vice -- draw a miami vice picture?

my wife and i went shopping in brighton, we did our best to get clothes based on miami vice. i modeled for that drawing. that was not my car, but that was my out of it. the most expensive cover i have ever had to make. we had to do a wardrobe to go with it next. i will show you black and white ones here featuring uncle sam. and this is one of my favorite ones. what foreign enemies and americans looking for, world control. what americans are really looking for, we remote control. when i came back from abroad i realized this is very accurate. i had just come back from cuba.

people of cuba next. why stick with that big castro? >> missing one. so anyway, to thing about this is everybody can be good cartoon fodder am a whether you are a democrat or dictator to me you are good fodder for cartoonists. this is a cartoon i did back in 1989. it is being reproduced around the world.

a guy says i have a stock here that could really excel. sell, sell, sell. it carries on. a guy says this is madness, i cannot take anymore. i, buy, buy. at the end he says i have a stock here that could really excel. here is the story. cartoon appears in the baltimore sun that gets picked up new york times. third it being reprinted around the world. then i started getting phone calls, stock brokers. south america, all over the place. ernst they say they want a copy of the cartoon. second they say that is exactly how it is. seriously.

i get requests almost every month. a stockbroker in hong kong wanted the size you see their to be put on the wall in their lobby. we had to send them one. this is an interesting story behind it because we were talking earlier about the value cartoon spring. this is a local cartoon and baltimore. when we are doing our cap -- cartoons, we have to do local cartoons. we have to do national cartoons and international cartoons. probably the only person in the newspaper that has the full responsibility. it is the local cartoons that get people's real attention. we are it when it comes to this. they watch us like hawks. the cartoons can have real power. here is a case in point. 20 years ago this took lace.

this is about an area of baltimore called the block. a red light district causing trouble for the mayor. he wanted to do severe zoning laws and said he could close the whole thing down. i and others thought it would be ill advised. if you just close down there it will spread and other places. so i did this cartoon that make sense. you have the block and explodes. then little blocks all over the place. well, the mayor wrote an essay in the baltimore sun to say that this cartoon changed his mind

about policy. it was a cartoon he was going in one direction. put the proposed legislation into the city council. he withdrew it after he saw the cartoon. he was brave enough because he was no longer in politics but now in the private sector to be able to say a cartoon changed his mind about angst. there are probably times cartoons affect politicians in ways we will never hear because no politicians -- politician who is worth his salt will ever admit up cartoon changed his mind but probably happens more often than we know. i will show you this because i finished it last night at 4:30 in the morning. here we go. afghanistan. he is chased out. now uncle sam a little more sober approach is

iraq. he gets traced back by an even larger set of these. look at the beehive with syria. uncle sam thinking more carefully about what we are doing. my deadline with the economist is thursday morning at 4:00 in the morning. 4:30 a.m. this arrived in london. this takes place in heaven, as you can see. michael the ark angel speaking. john paul ii on the line.

>> again? he is worried about the movement to ordain women as priests. but i have artie told him what i think, tell them i am busy. >> i like all of them but i really liked the afghanistan one. very clever. before we start, let me just think about what i'm going to say here. wait a minute, i know what i am going to do. i just had a brain part. if you read my cartoons, you know i have a strong view sometimes. as politics have gotten crazier, and in my opinion, as the republican party has gone more insane i have become more strident. this first cartoon shows the republican approach to governing. republicans await response. we have your dog. they are are ready planning

another thing with the debt ceiling. that is not how you govern. the gop keeps talking about how they will rebrand themselves, show they are more except to know other all, gays and latinos and african-americans and the middle class. to me, it is just bs. [laughter] here is another thing. bill clinton, i was so pissed at him yesterday. when he was giving his speech he had the best line. it should not be harder to vote that it is to get an assault weapon. i thought what a great line. because of the nra, they have

such a lock on the republican party that we cannot get any kind of sensible gun control. showing ideas the airport. removing shoes. full body scanner. telling someone i am traveling to d.c. to argue against background checks. we had a recent example of a assault weapons with huge magazines and a mental-health issues and this is what resulted. a congressman saying as a member

of congress my goal is to do the nra bidding so i will not lose my job. he talked to the empty classroom. they get posted on facebook. so i get a lot of response. i do not usually respond, unless it is like really nasty or something beyond. i do not like to get into big things with people. it is like having an argument with a relative, nothing is ever resolved. the republicans are losing it

demographically. they are trying to come up with ways to discourage voting you just had the supreme court decision on writing -- voting. this is a crappy drawing. i had done a cartoon on michele bachmann leaving congress. i cannot remember what the punchline was. i have heard in this -- i have her in a straitjacket.

i cannot remember what she is saying. my editor says we should not do this because it is making fun of people with mental health issues. i was getting in my car to pick my daughter up because she was working at an internship. we said we will disrupt another one, a syndicated one. i said i hate doing that. i said let me see if i can come up with an idea. i will drive her home and come back. this is the cartoon and that is my house. a cartoonist lives there. one of the things that has just amazed me is the quickness of equal quality and gay rights. i think it is so amazing.

this is after the supreme court vote. i am sorry i am being so partisan, but it is like the republicans, they do not care about the country. they will ruin the country to get policy goals because they cannot get it through legislation.

i did this cartoon recently. the nsa guy saying we intercepted the chatter of a group plotting to triple -- cripple the u.s. government. he says we do not appreciate you listening to our phone calls. again, this is the past couple of weeks we have had discussion and celebration with martin luther king's 50th anniversary this is the cartoon i did about that. which one is the face? all right. thank you all very much. [applause] >> i think they might have put me on the bill for equal time. i tend to be more conservative. i am the baby of the group. i have been following these guys works for a very long time. i do a lot of local cartoons. for us, this is a local team.

i think any falcons fan could appreciate the cross fingers. i thought about trying to market goes. after the whole miley cyrus thing, going to stay away from the foam anger. this is one that i did back when kim jong-un was causing all the problems. pretty popular on the internet. another local topic for me. this is where it equal time comes in. there was a time where president obama was trying to position

himself as the new reagan. here is the rockwell self- portrait painting to show he is more like the old carter than the new reagan. here is another one. i do not know if there are any reporters here. there was an incident where the department of justice was tapping into the phone records of the a pay -- ap and fox news. one of his favorites is the press listening in on. here is another one. we went through a time where things were happening. president obama would say i heard it on the news just like you did. just in time for labor day,

another cookout. the hope and change poster. during the campaign, a big uproar. mitt romney wanted to kill big bird. i also go after republicans. this is when new mitt romney took him in a landslide. of course anthony weiner, whatever you do, do not let him kiss your baby. this is one for last thanksgiving. the turkey is a metaphor for something.

[no audio] [applause] >> we have a couple more minutes. go to the microphone, please. >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. i have been living and working in this area for the past 43 years. structural engineer and builder. i will be brief with my question addressed to all three gentlemen. since i am originally from iraq

i am proud to be a u.s. and iraqi citizen. i could not help but ask a question to you all, which is the same question i asked a few months ago here at this halt to the former editor of "the wall street journal." the question is very simple, if someone told you all that the media in general almost 100% betray the american will by not telling the truth, why we lost in such a big way in iraq. >> it was a rush to war. we were sold a bill of goods on that. it ticks me off to think in a just world, i think bush and

cheney should be in prison. i think that members of the press did not ask questions and there was topic and the involved. -- propaganda involved. i think it was one of the worst mistakes ever made and we will pay the price for many years. i did a cartoon. when there were 2000 american service members killed during the iraq war i did a cartoon and wrote the word "why" with that? and drew it the size. i wrote the names of all the troop's that had been killed in iraq in the letters.

that generated a lot of controversy and was at a time when people still thought the war was a good thing. >> i think that was responsible for you getting a pulitzer prize that year. i was a very strong opponent of the war from the start. i got a lot of heat for it at the time but felt very strongly about it. i will tell you an interesting story. you might recall the patriot act that was done in secret for several weeks and everyone was wanting to know what was going on behind closed doors. after berating john ashcroft to come forward publicly he eventually did and gave a

presentation and did this in front of the senate committee. he had a written statement at the beginning. said something along the lines that to question my action is to aid the enemy. that you should not question that take what we are going to give you. i remember hearing that and say this is every citizen's job and responsibility to ask questions. we are paid to do it. i came up with a cartoon that i thought was very strident on the day. the country was in a strange mood of the time. i thought this will get lots of e-mails, facts, letters. my phone will ring off the hook tomorrow. tomorrow came and there was no comment. instead, i saw cartoonist around the country echoing the same thing i did.

i heard members of both sides of the aisle coming out in protest. two years later, when the library of congress was doing a special commemoration exhibition , part of the collection to talk about 9/11, they asked for that cartoon. i was very proud of that. >> if the question is, why did the media not tell the truth about how we lost the war, i do not think there is any grand conspiracy. i think the media was probably doing their best to tell what they perceived to be the truth. that is really all i have to add. >> i will shock you. i believe that nobody should

hidden point or criticize without having the facts to support his position. i will give it you documents here. they have the documents. >> we are going to focus on the cartoonists. >> the constitution. they have full knowledge why we lost in iraq. >> go ahead. >> please go to the microphone. >> this may be a figment of my imagination, but it seems the literate editorial writers are more liberal and the oral are more right wing. is that my own illusion or is it real and why?

>> people who draw are smarter. [laughter] >> in general terms. are you talking about commentators? >> editorial newspapers. it is interesting where both represented. from my perspective liberals outweigh conservatives. when fox news came along, there was not a whole lot of conservative voices on tv. rush limbaugh came along. talk radio seems completely eaten up with talk radio. -- with conservatives. i think your point is right, liberals have a tough time. al gore's tv channel is completely gone now. it may be because there is really one place.

there are fewer conservatives in general. that is reflected among cartoonists as well. >> i think i would agree with that tom a yes. my paper, there are a variety of reporters and editors that are conservative and liberal. my paper, because the internet people can go and get the exact news they want in their own bubble, the paper -- now it runs my cartoon and directly below it, it is called "from the right." they are running both views.

they are trying so hard. i think it is a good idea. if you are conservative and have this paper and is liberal, the editorial page is liberal, you will want to hear some sympathetic voices. you would go to the internet. i think what the paper has done is run a liberal and conservative columnists every day. if you are a conservative, you can read the liberal columnists or cartoonist and you are maybe not going to agree, but you can understand where they are coming from maybe. the same for the liberal conservative. i just forgot what the question was. >> two points about that. i lived and worked in the u.k. for 11 years where it is widely

regarded the media is conservative. it is very amusing to come back here and get this turned on its head. i also note that there is a spectrum of what they think is liberal conservative. where we can all agree is there is probably 20% on either end truly conservative and liberal. every place in the middle is really up for grabs. the spectrum in massachusetts is different than other parts of the country. there is a lot of gray area for how people define what is going on. it is curious about what you're saying about print versus the oral thing. it would be worth investigating. where there is something very interesting is satire. that is usually people taking on the status quo.

this usually comes from someone on the left taking on the orthodoxies. in that case, it may be understandable you more have more liberal or nonconventional people in that realm but not always the case. i thought it was really interesting to see rick's cartoons because he has such an articulate point of view. lots of room for different kinds of voices. should not be from one perspective. >> please go ahead. the young man in front. >> my name is mac. i work at fox communications. i wanted to know as an aspiring

cartoonist, what is one thing you would recommend or something that you would? >> i would say this is a growing -- not a growing newspaper cartooning. if you can find an outlet on your website or suburban paper that you could do drawings for, that is how i got started. i jury for my high school and drew for myrs -- i high school and college papers. i was selling life insurance. i would spend the weekend drawing for suburban papers in and around seattle. most of them were not even paying me. it was just a way to get practice.

eventually something opened up in south carolina so i got that job. it is a tough situation. i think it was probably easier for us starting out because newspapers were healthy and you knew if you could not get a job right away that if you waited long enough something might happen. >> i would echo that. i did the same thing for selling for selling life insurance. school newspaper, college newspaper, local small-town newspaper. my route was to go into the news our department. i worked at the atlantic constitution and the late 1980s. that was my foot in the door. that was until the job in

-- in augusta en came open. it is so tough these days to get the job. so many award-winning cartoonists do not have jobs right now. i will echo some of the things mentioned. i am bullish about the future of the cartoon satire. -- i am bullish about the future of visual satire. i am seeing some really exciting possibilities out there. the prospect of new media and the fact software and animation is getting easier to do, there are new opportunities yet to be realized. i am convinced of it. have been doing some fun stuff and am seeing some exciting possibilities, even in limited

stuff. i would recommend you do become familiar and agile with managing animation and turn it into your own thing. use what has been done before and make it your own. >> elizabeth, go ahead. >> i was curious about the future of newspapers in america. is a bit uncertain. in adered if you ended up situation where your cartoons would only appear online, if they would have a sustained impact on society. >> i do not know. [laughter] >> that is a good question. that they may come, i do not come. right now i am just speaking from what my paper is doing.

we have a free online presence. we have a paid thing with special content for the paid subscribers. you can get it in print or both or a variety of things. the ipad -- i read it every morning on my ipad. flips the pages just like a regular newspaper. i hope we will be able to continue doing a variety of things. >> the local edge maybe you would lose. we have kind of a critical mass. diluted.t be

it will be interesting to see what happens. >> give everyone at least one chance before you have a second one. >> i think it might have more impact online. it gets passed around. that is the thing going on right now. more people are reading newspapers than ever before. they are just reading them for free online. we have to figure this out. >> hearing your answers to earlier questions and seeing your cartoons, especially the ones with the bees and the iraq nest, you guys can say what everyone is thinking and what journalists can never say. we are supposed to just report the facts. sometimes i feel like i can watch the rebroadcast and read the entire paper and have no perspective. you guys are able to put it into a perspective with humor that is

so true. it is a joke but it is true. >> let me put you in touch with my publisher. [laughter] sometimes i watch jon stewart and stephen colbert at night, and i think they got it better than the journalist got it. i was wondering, did you ever post a cartoon that you got a completely unexpected reaction to? positive or negative. >> it is funny, because cartoons for me, a lot of times you draw them and you say this one is going to be great and it lands with a thud. then you do one that you do not expect and will either get some huge positive or negative reaction that comes out of nowhere and cannot predict what is going to be the reaction. you just have to try to do what you think is best for the day and hopefully there will be another one tomorrow.

>> how your editors mix your -- >> how often do your editors your ideas? >> not that often. i am always glad that an editor looks at my cartoon. you do not know if it works or not. there has been times i come up with an idea and will draw out the sketch and show it to an editor and the editor will say you cannot do that. he says look what people will think. i will not have even realized it. there was a guy at the new york post that there was a crazed ape that killed somebody so he drew a cartoon of the eighth being

shot by the cops and one cop is saying to the other, and now the next stimulus, there will not be someone to make up the next stimulus. what it referred was the crazed ape was obama. i do not know if that is what he meant but what i have always thought as he was looking at the saying and thinking there is a crazed ape in the news and i am against the stimulus bill i will try to do a cartoon on that. i do not know that he made the connection. that is where you need an editor to say people will think that is obama, you cannot do that. it became a huge thing. i do not know what was in his heart, but when i saw it, i thought i could see me doing something stupid like that. [laughter] that is why you need an editor.

>> thank you. name is troy alderson. how do you avoid getting burned out? you have to do a cartoon everyday. was one of my favorites growing up and now he is writing books because he cannot do it every day. >> bert had this thing for calvin hobbes. some have taken breaks. the one thing that is similar with them is they were not political cartoonists. if you do a comic strip, you have a few characters and you create a world and reside in the world and will live in the world the rest of your life. for us, we have the best scriptwriters working for us in washington. they are giving us new material,

plus we're doing something because of the conversation we're doing with the audience and are dealing with very serious thing sometimes, we get to vent. i think there is an additional -- a medicinal element for us as well. i think it gives us a lot of juice. mike makes it sound really easy. he talks about the panic side of it, and i completely understand it. all the neurons have to be operating to do this. you can become really exhausted at the end. there is a concern, do i have cartoons in this retire?f mine before i that can often cause a little bit of a panic.

the thing is that for all that it takes out of you to do it, you get it back. tomorrow being read by other people, getting comments from others. also, being with my colleagues and seeing their take on the world. we realized we are in a very special and deeply honored to be able to do what we do. >> i would agree with that and say i am so excited every day to come in. it is not a job. this is what i always wanted to do. those guys had to go seven days a week. they rarely got vacations. we get vacations. we do five days a week. so we do get our days off. we are going in and drawing pictures. someone else's digging a ditch. i am excited to go to work. honored and privileged to have the job.

>> i would just say that i agree with that. >> great to have you here. thank you for coming. [applause] >> there is a new book that i will have in case someone wants to buy one. >> information will be outside the door. >> thank you. the congressman from florida. he died yesterday from competitions from a chronic back injury. representative young was the longest serving member of the house of representatives. he served more than 40 years in office. post" writes he was a strong supporter of the military. defense secretary chuck hagel released a statement saying he will be remembered as a passionate advocate for the welfare of american service members and military veterans.

his loss will be felt by many, but his legacy and commitment to a strong national defense will always inspire us. from house speaker john boehner not a day wentw by without a colleague seeking his counsel as he sat on his perch in the corner of the house for. there was a good reason for it. he was a man who had seen it all and accomplished much. looking out for men and women in uniform was his life's work. no one was kinder. congressman bill young was 82 years old. the officer who was awarded the medal of honor this week, retired u.s. army captain william swenson. president obama awarded the medal to him for his actions in afghanistan, for displaying personal acts of dollar above and beyond the call of duty. it is the military's highest honor.

the ceremony was about 20 minutes. ♪ >> let us pray together. god, you have been our helper in times past. please be our help in these days. for more than two centuries, you have blessed our nation with dedicated and selfless soldiers in uniform who stand ready to deploy and defend our nation's freedom. as we honor captain william swenson for his actions during the battle of ganjgal valley, we honor the sacred trust he embodied that day. we thank you for the last full measure of devotion given that day. the medal of honor is draped around captain swenson.

may the healing drapes of hope and peace rest on us. may it kindle a spirit of to upice and self purpose hold the right to oppose the wrong and continue to work -- the work begun so long ago. we ask and pray in your holy name, amen. >> good afternoon, everybody. please have a seat. on behalf of michelle and myself, welcome to the white house. the united states army released a remarkable piece of video. it is from the combat helmet medevac helicopter crew in afghanistan. it is grainy but it takes us to the front lines our troops face every day.

it is useful to remember there are still a lot of our troops in afghanistan in harm's way. that helicopter touches down by a remote village. you see out of a cloud of dust an american soldier. he is without his helmet standing in the open, exposing himself to enemy fire, standing watch over a severely wounded soldier. he hopes kerry that wounded soldier to the helicopter and places them inside. then amidst the whipping wind and deafening roar of the helicopter blades, he does something unexpected. kisses the and wounded soldier on the head. a simple act of compassion and loyalty to a brother in arms. as the door closes and the helicopter takes off, he turns and goes back the way he came, back into the heat of battle. history, we have

presented our highest military decoration, the medal of honor, nearly 3500 times for actions above and beyond the call of duty. but this may be the first time we can actually bear witness to a small fraction of those actions for ourselves. today we honor the american in that video, the soldier who went back in, captain william swenson . not far away that day was r to whom weota mye presented the medal of honor two years ago. today is only the second time in nearly half a century the medal of honor has been awarded to two survivors of the same battle. dakota is not here today, but i wanted to welcome some of the soldiers and marines who fought alongside both of these men and the families of those who gave their lives that day.

i want to welcome all of our distinguished guests, including members of the medal of honor society whose ranks today grow by one more. most of all, i want to welcome will's wonderful parents, julia and carl, and his girlfriend kelsey. i had a chance to visit with them. both carl and julia are former house professors. he grew up in seattle surrounded by educational games instead of g.i. joes. i am told even when he was little, his mother was always a stickler for grammar, always making sure he said "to whom" instead of "to who," so i will be very careful today. i had time to spend -- i had a chance to spend time with him. will is a low-key guy. his idea of a good time is not the ceremony like this.

he would rather be on a trail surrounded by cedar trees instead of cameras. but i think our nation needs the ceremony today. in moments like this, americans like will remind us of what our country can be at its best, a nation of citizens who look out for one another, who meet our obligations to one another, not just when it is easy, but also when it is hard. maybe especially when it is hard. well, you are an example to everyone in the city and to our whole country of the professionalism and patriotism we should strive for whether we where a uniform or not. just on particular occasions, but all the time. with the not familiar story of the battle that led today, i wante to take you back to the september morning four years ago.

a column of afghan soldiers and american advisers are winding their way up the trail to meet with village elders. as the first soldier reaches the outskirts of the village, all hell breaks loose. americanstantly, four at the front of the column are surrounded. will and the soldiers in the center of the column are pinned down. rocket propelled grenades, mortar, machine gun fire -- all of this is pouring in from three sides. as he returns fire, will called for air support. his initial reports are denied. he and his team are too close to the village. then he learned his noncommissioned officer, sergeant first class kenneth k has been shot in the neck. he breaks through open space with bullets flying. winsesses a bandage to his with one hand and calls for a medevac with the other, trying to keep his buddy calm.

by this time, the enemy has gotten closer, just 20 or 30 meters away. over the radio they are demanding the americans to surrender. he stops long enough to lob a grenade. after more than an hour and half of fighting, air support arrives. will directs them to nearby targets. it is time to move. exposing himself again to enemy fire, he carries kenneth the length of more than two football fields down steep terraces to that helicopter. in the moment captured by the cameras, will leans in to say goodbye. but more americans and afghans are still out there. he does something incredible. he jumps behind the wheel of an unarmed pickup truck. they drive the vehicle designed for the highway straight into the battle. twice they pick up injured afghan soldiers, bullets whizzing past them and slamming into the pickup truck.

twice they bring them back. when the truck gives out, they grab a humvee. the marine by his side says he has no idea how they survived, but by that time it did not matter, we were not going to leave any soldiers behind. thelly the helicopter spots four missing americans hours after they were trapped in the open ambush. will gets in another humvee with a crew that includes dakota myer. they drive through enemy fighters exposed once more. when they reach the village, will jumps out dodging even more billets -- bullets, but they reach the americans where they fell. they carry them out one by one. they bring their fallen brothers home. scripture tells us the greatest among you shall be your servant. captain william swenson was a leader on that september morning. but like all great leaders, he was also a servant to the men he commanded, to more than one dozen afghans and americans

whose lives he saved, to the families of those who gave their last full measure of devotion on that faraway field. as one of his fellow soldiers later said, will did things no one else would ever do and he did it for his guys on the ground to get them out. to tell himed will he would be receiving this medal, one of the first things he did was to invite to the ceremony those who fought alongside him. i would like all of those who served with such valor alongside marines, tormy and please stand and be recognized. [applause]

[applause] thank you. reached out to the families of the four americas that gave their lives that day. to them, you wrote, we have never met. we have never spoken, but i would like to believe i know something about each of you through the actions of your loved ones on that day. they were part of the team, and you are now part of that team. i would ask the members of this team, the families of first lieutenant michael johnson, gunnery sergeant edward johnson, gunnery sergeant erin kennefick, james layton, and the family of kenneth westbrook to please stand.

[applause] kenneth was not the soldier that kenneth wased -- the soldier that will delivered to the helicopter. he spent time in the hospital and joins us with his wife today. she still remembers the first time she spoke with will when he called from afghanistan to check on kenneth. soon after the phone call, kenneth succumbed to competitions from his treatment. -- complications from his

treatment. she is it is fair to say grateful for the final days she was able to spend with her husband. even now, a month rarely goes by when he does not check in with charlene. that is the kind of man he is, will.ys about you do not have to asking for help. he just knows t when to be there for you. he was there for the soldiers and their families. we thank god that people like him are there for us all. god bless you and all of the menu fought alongside and for everything you have done for us. god bless all of our men and women in uniform and god bless the united states. citation.d the

of the unitednt states of america authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to , unitedwilliam swenson states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. captain william swenson distinguished themselve -- himself above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an embedded advisor to the afghan national border police task force combined security transition team in support of first battalion, 32nd infantry regiment, third brigade combat team, 10th mountain division, during combat operations against an armed enemy in afghanistan on september 8, 2009. on that morning, more than 60 well armed in me fighters as ited his combat team

moved in for a meeting with village elders. as the enemy unleashed fire, captain swenson immediately returned fire and coordinated and directed the response of the afghan border police while simultaneously calling in artillery fire and support. after the enemy flank coalition forces, he repeatedly called for coverage. surrounded on three sides by enemy forces, captain swenson coordinated air assets, indirect fire support to allow for evacuation of the wounded. enemyn swenson ignored radio transmissions demanding surrender and maneuvered uncovered to render medical aid to a wounded fellow soldier. stopped longon enough to throw a grenade at approaching enemy forces before assisting to move the soldier for evacuation.

with complete disregard for his own safety, he led a team in an unarmored vehicle into the kill zone exposing himself to enemy fire on at least two occasions to recover the wounded and search for four missing comrades. after using aviation support to mark locations of fallen and wounded comrades, it became clear that ground recovery was required due to heavy enemy fire on helicopter landing zones. his team returned to the kill zone another time in a humvee. captain swenson voluntarily exited the vehicle exposing himself to enemy fire to locate and recover three follow marines and one fallen navy corpsman. his exceptional leadership and stout resistance against the enemy ring six hours of continuous fighting rallied his teammates and effectively disrupted the enemy assault. captain william d swenson's heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect credit upon himself, task force phoenix, third

brigade combat team, 10th mountain division, and the united states army. [applause]

>> let us pray. god, we ask your blessing to rest upon us this day. inspired byin peace the actions of courageous and good people. set byfollow the example captain swanson and his team to be people of valor, ready for the cause to which we have given our vow confronts us. give us strength to live through troubled times. phyllis with grace equal to every need.

grant us the will to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly. this we ask and pray in your holy name, amen. again notsay once our to will but to all of men and women in uniform who have served us with such incredible courage and professionalism that america is grateful for you. to the families of those we have lost, we will never forget. are a remarkable role model for all of us. we are very grateful for your service. we are going to have a reception after this. i hear the food is pretty good around here. i hope all of you have a chance .o stay those of you who have a chance to say thank you to will are welcome.

michele and i will be exiting first. enjoy yourselves this afternoon. god bless you. [applause] >> ♪ host >> that ceremony taking place at the white house which the associated press reports will reopen for tourists next month. they were canceled after the first round of sequestration budget cuts. the tours are scheduled to start again on november 5 and continue through generally 15. they will be held on fewer days than before, just three days a week on average down from five. the white house says the gardens

and grounds will be open to the public next weekend. the secret service helps run the tours of the white house. it said it needed to make cuts to avoid having to furlough officers. c-span's student cam competition asks, what is the most important issue congress should consider in 2014? the competition is open to all middle and high school students with the grand prize of $5,000. this year, we have doubled the number of winners and total prizes. entries are due by january 20, 2014. now, a look at the u.s. and energy. the energy security council recently hosted a conference on energy policy and security, including the current state of the natural gas and methanol towardy, the u.s. policy

foreign oil, and the energy policies of other countries like china, india, and venezuela. this is about two hours. >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming today and joining us in what we ideas, is the launch of a policy ideas, -- of policy ideas, that truly can change our pattern for the past 40 years. changes that are easy, that do not cost anything, that do not require government subsidies, and that are feasible. angst to the ramping up of shale gas, we have at hand the means to empower our transportation sector that today is 97% reliant

l, into ael, oi competitive sector in which the free market, no subsidies, allows the competition of available choices, which include electricity, methanol, ethanol, biodiesel, fuel cells. let the best one win. just open the marketplace. we are honored to have several of our members joined in the forthcoming roundtable. , the founder with me two years ago of the council, is joined by a number of distinguished people who have served in public life and in the industry of our country, the energy sector. john hofmeister is with us today, a former president of shell. norm augustine, chairman of

lockheed martin, the largest aerospace company in the world. former undersecretary of the -- gunnarrnor rendell rendell, currently chairman of the commodities exchange. to the council that we welcome today. thank you for coming. colleague of, a the nobel laureates and member of the council george olaf. and truth be cold, a contributor to the op-ed published friday in the "wall street journal" pointing out the feasibility to deploy at the pump methanol made from shale gas that will be between $.75 and one dollar upaper when you and i drive

five-year from now to buy methanol that is high-octane. racecar drivers love it. and available at a competitive price within your lifetimes. toden gray, former counsel the president of the united states and ambassador to the european union. amasian from probably the best research institute in america, patel laboratories. i would also like to knowledge and express our thanks for the attendance today of senator pete domenici, former chairman of the senate energy committee and senate budget committee. lyons, a science -- ace the former commander-in-chief of the u.s. pacific fleet.

china's economic andché, with us today looking forward to cooperation as we try to shape public policy to benefit of china and the united states in the years ahead. herel's economic attaché to identify the four most innovative countries in the world with regard to sensible energy policy. surely you would have to put israel, china, brazil, and the united states at the top. we appreciate all of you joining us today. we would like to turn this to a roundtable to a dress the takeaways we believe we must adopt in our public policies to

move us off the treadmill of the past 40 years where ever more we overseas formore oil, and to remove the vulnerabilities of instability to what is going on in the and enable all of us as consumers to go and buy and sell in a competitive market and come out with a more stable economy, that are national bettery, more jobs -- national security, more jobs, and a cleaner environment. i will turn it over to and karon -- ann carne to carry on the conversation. thanks to everyone for coming. [applause] >> thank you for being here.

been talkedce has about by countless politicians, each offering their own solutions and trying to throw ases.to their various b almostend of the day, everybody has been focused on import reduction. the purpose of the report we are presenting today is to demolish the paradigm that energy security equals import reduction. there is nothing wrong with drilling. there's nothing wrong with efficiency. there is a lot of good with reducing our trade deficit. but none of that is going to improve our energy security because it will not serve to reduce the price of oil. we will talk a great deal about that today. before we do, i want to tip the hat to the cofounders of the u.s. energy security council. jim had many roles in

government. you as a former national security adviser and that some director, of the things you have done for this country we will only know many years down the line. i want to say personally that working with them on improving energy security and reducing the dependence on foreign oil, they have both put their heart and soul into this. it is almost your life's driving mission to improve the security of this country by stripping oil of its strategic importance. we all appreciate that very much. [applause] we will get into some facts and figures on the slides to refresh our memory as we go through the discussion. to add a little color in the you have, jim, i know some sharp memories from the oil

embargo. that your you into the issue -- that drew you into the issue of energy and the importance of energy security. what was your sharpest memory? inon an october morning 1973, i was driving into work. i was general counsel for the armed services committee. we were holding a hearing that day. i had about 15 senators waiting for me to show up and get everything organized to hold the hearing when i hear on the radio we have an oil embargo. cut off our oil because we were trying to resupply israel. i was stuck in this gas line for about two and a half hours and was late for the hearing. the longer i sat there, the madder i got at oil. basically, i have held that view now for 40 years and three days.

let me say why. thomas jefferson did not draft the declaration of autarky. patrick henry did not say give tarky or give -- au me death. that is importing as little as possible. that is a very bad decision criterion for u.s. energy policy. it does not do the job. the reason is oil has an nelasticity with 97% of transportation depending on it, you can see how that demand is very high. you can stop imports as much as you want. you can do a lot of things. they will not do any good as long as that monopoly sits there with a cartel, opec, nested

inside it. they will just see you jewel -- andl or reduce imports, they will smile and cut back on production and raise the price. years ago at the beginning of the arab spring, king abdullah was in the hospital in new york for treatment. he heard about it. he checked himself out of the hospital. he flew back to saudi arabia and increased the national budget by something like $140 billion. virtually all of that went to pay young men not to work, because about 95% of the saudi young male workforce does not work. they hang around the streets. they do other things, but they

do not work. he did not want them to riot. he was right to not want them to riot, so he paid them the roughly $130 billion not to riot. if you want to know who paid for that, look in the mirror. look in the rearview mirror so you are looking into your own eyes the next time you pull into a filling station to fill up with oil products. succeed in changing that structure by doing anything other than first breaking the monopoly. then other things can be used and be useful. those three left-wing keynesians, milton, friedman, hayek,ith, and frederick

all say the same thing. there is a marvelous page devoted to them in this book. what they say is it is the number one job of government to have a healthy economy to break monopolies. it is first in order. then you mayirst, be able to succeed with other steps. we will talk a lot about the other steps today. but i wanted to start out by suggesting we not pull any punches. believing you can have a whereable oil market price will matter and competition exists in the presence of 78% of this cartel's they holdre of oil -- 70% of the world's proven reserves of oil, and they are

horse that our transportation requires be 97% oil. of changingchance that and getting king abdullah to charge as something close to the rest of the world to what oil is worth as distinct from paying his young men not to work. there is no chance to succeed without breaking opec. >> thanks, jim. i will note the usual roundtable rules. if you want to break in and speak, turn your card over on its side. those of you not at the table, it if you have an urge to say something, wave your hand or card and i will make every effort to bring you into the conversation. exists in myths that

energy policy making is that we import a great deal of oil from the middle east, from the persian gulf in specific. if you look throughout our history, we have never imported more than 15% of our oil needs from the persian gulf. right now we are at 9%. as we heard earlier, what we are importing from the middle east, from opec countries and collectives, is the price of oil. as energy security paradox we can see oil import levels dropping, the price of oil has steadily gone up. reducing imports has not helped to reduce the global price of oil because it is a global market. it is like a swimming pool. producers pour the oil in and consumers take it out. at the end of the day, everybody

pays the same price. here are the figures of why opec matters. it is striking when you compare 40 years ago to today. you compare the number of people alive on this planet. for bullion then and 7 billion today. four times as many cars on the road today. gdp has drastically increased. global demand has increased. opec is producing more or less the same amount today as it was then. if it was exxon, chevron, bp, sitting on the oil reserves and they accounted for those global production, of you here with a great deal of experience in government know who would come knocking down the door. they would be facing antitrust

action, but you cannot bring antitrust action against sovereign regimes. let's go back here. we are very fortunate to have who was on the, founding board of the venezuelan national oil company. we heard him talk about how the increases in expenditures of the urgent golf's regime -- persian coast arab spring have been phenomenally large. when the output of your budget is growing and the input is oil sales, to balance your budget, you have two choices. you can either sell more oil at a lower price or sell less oil at a higher price. opec decideseeing to do is to sell fewer barrels at a higher price.

to had a front seat venezuela going through the same type of decisions. how does the fiscal breakeven price of oil play out in venezuela? >> thank you. realize all, we must opec is no longer a monolithic block. the strong side of opec, is basically saudi arabia and the four producers in the middle east. they are increasing production. they are producing something like 16 million barrels of oil a day. the world imports about 20% of their oil from these countries.

the middle east is very important. but opec is less important because venezuela has become a minor player in the global sense. declined --on has our production is going to clients who do not pay because of political, ideological reasons, so i would not agree we should be so much concerned with opec as a cartel any longer. i believe now we have a offers inity of energy the world. we have conventional oil on one side. we have the heavy oils from canada and venezuela on the other side. we have the oil and gas shales

in the third-place. then the renewables which are gaining, slowly gaining a foothold. like never before, we have a multiplicity of offerings in the that make the u.s. self they are no longer dependent on imports. venezuela is technically bankrupt, if you can say that about a country, because of the fact they depend on oil loans from china, especially from china, so they do not count. >> what we're seeing in this graph is the breakeven price of oil required to balance the budget for various opec members. venezuela is around $100 a barrel as the price required to balance venezuela's national budget.

when we think of the pricing that isd doves in opec, a function of where you are in terms of her fiscal breakeven your fiscal -- breakeven price of iran has a very high break even price of oil. the more hawk you're going to be wanting to drive prices up. i want to jump to frank. you're really a trail blazer. >> just one sentence before that. the cost of lifting oil in saudi arabia according to the saudi king is $2 a barrel. so these numbers add to the cost your ing oil what reasonable profit may be 60%. $3 a barrel what ts