>> the first of two commemoration covering this veterans day. this afternoon the service of the world war ii memorial. at 1:00 eastern, remarks from charles schwab at the national press club talking about retirement issues. live coverage at 1:00 eastern here on c-span. congress is not in session today in recognition of the veteran state holiday. both chambers will return tomorrow at 2:00 eastern with the house will consider a series of suspension bills. in the senate, time set aside for general speeches in the senate will debate a judicial domination followed by a procedural vote. it is also possible the senate could hold a procedural vote on a bill to broaden the fda's

coverage. >> mrs. kennedy is very well known as a style icon. she put an awful lot of brought into -- into her wardrobe when she was representing the country, both of the white house and traveling abroad. she would think about what colors would mean something to the country i'm about to visit. for her visits to canada she chose this red suit as a gesture of theect for the read canadian maple leaf. i really admire the thought she put into horror borg -- her wardrobe. style or colora that would make her stand out and a crowd. >> first lady, jacqueline kennedy tonight on c-span and c- span three, and also c-span radio and www.c-span.org.

i have spent a lot of time dealing with the sec in my life, the agencymportant make decisions and make them in a timely fashion. there is nothing worse for investment, innovation, job creation, all the things that flow from investment than businesses not knowing what the rules are. >> chairman wheeler is absolutely right. with a slow moving agency like this, but deliberates for months and years on end, it really does creates uncertainty. as we all know, uncertainty is the enemy of business. to bess needs certainty able to invest. if there is one thing we need in neednited states, we

investment with dispatch. guston on the challenges ahead for the new sec chair tonight on the communicators at one of -- 8:00 eastern. more veterans day program. a discussion on the availability of jobs for returning war vets from today's washington journal. the veterans day weekend, the bureau of labor statistics released the october jobs report showed that the unemployment rate among veterans had jumped to six .9% from 6.5% in september. joining us now to discuss veteran employees -- veterans employment is ward carol. veteranser's employment number in perspective for us. it is lower than the general

population, correct? >> well within the general population and trending at a slight uptick. haul, it isg trending downward depending on what demographic you are carving out, it has been as high as 14- 15% overall. or some groups in the mid-20s. so it is trending in the right direction. i think some of the private and public initiatives happening are on the right track and our other things i am sure we will talk about that veterans can do and employers could do to improve the numbers beyond where they are right now. host: talk about women veteran employment. eight percent according to the

latest number. 2012.rom october of still of -- still relatively high compared to the general population. >> if you make a subset out of 24% younger demographic, 20- is alarmingly high. are a number of factors you can bring to bear there. it is the warfare special they chose. how they are looking in terms of what they chose, and what are the personal circumstances. all of these things can create an environment that is veterans, and in this case, female veterans to find jobs. military.com.

guest: it is a website for the full range of options for those that served in the military. why monster acquired them back in 2004. monster is very active in the public and private initiatives to find veterans jobs. we provide news, information. we have newsletters we push this -- every morning and periodically to the members. we have members that are free youis a way for us to get the information in a tailored fashion. those pieces recently from last week about female veterans. the study --

talk a little bit more about that study. talentwe do of veteran index periodically. it is a survey to see where they are in terms of each other's needs, the skills, and the things that either party brings to bear when it comes time to someoneob or to bring into the workforce. so in this case, the most recent hisnt index uncovered female veterans are feeling ill prepared and perhaps a little bit misunderstood to potential

employers about what was it they did in uniform and what are the attributes that could translate into them being qualified for any given job. host: we are talking to ward carroll of military.com. happy to hear your thoughts and questions. the phone lines -- democrats, 202-585-3880. republicans, 202-585-3881. independents, 202-585-3882. phone lines are open. one other segment i want to talk about is younger veterans. the unemployment rate for gulf war veterans, 10% for men, 9.6% for women. how is this trending for young veterans? guest: it was trending downwards. we are never satisfied we are out of the woods.

the overall is in the 10% range. it is twice as high for 20 to 24-year-olds. there is some sense that employers are not understand what is these folks did when they were in uniform. these people are not effectively articulating what it was that they did and therefore there is a disconnect which is not allowing them to get the jobs. we have some things to help. you can take your occupational specialty and translated to sell it makes sense to an employer that does not exactly do what you did when you were in uniform. >> is it mostly a training transitioning issue? guest: there is a burden on both sides. there is a burden on the job

seeker to package themselves in a way that resonates with a potential employer. employers on not necessarily going to do it for them. let's say i was a truck driver in afghanistan. i did these high risk convoys. now i am ready to get out but i want to be a sales rep for a company or want to get into marketing. how you make yourself attract to a potential employer is on you but also on the employer to understand the attributes you could bring even though my company does not drive trucks. that is some of what we are seeing. host: a few more numbers from the labor department. 246,000 veterans from the post 9/11 era.

we are talking about this with ward carroll. first up is eric underline for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. where are the jobs? the regular population unemployment for african- americans is 13%. for whites is around 6%. i would imagine the military is higher than that. is there any kind of project to bring the unemployment rate down for african americans? such as giving them grants to start jobs. if the unemployment rate was this high among whites, we might have riots. where are the jobs? host: any specific programs that you know of? guest: i am not aware of any programs that are dedicated to

african-americans. hiring our heroes. the first lady has been active in veteran?s transition and veteran jobs. i am not aware of one that is specifically aimed at african- americans. i cannot speak to that element. i am aware of jobs for all veterans and all veterans that are transitioning. host: we are talking with ward carroll. there are about 246,000 unemployment veterans. we have a special line for 202- 585-3880 and afghanistan war vets. they can call in on 202-585- 3883, along with our other lines. we will keep rolling those numbers for you. anthony is next, a veteran. thank you for calling in.

caller: good morning. good morning, america. one of the most important things about being a vet is understanding that we are -- when you have the best athletes, they get drafted. if we have less than 1% that served, then we are the best prospects for our nation's defense. when we have the individuals who have served, and i was medevaced out of theater and i have top level security clearances, and when i came back and i went through the next some program, because veterans spoke up and i

received my results and i knew i was 1% away from being 100% totally disabled. i was able to come back to my civil service position. my civil service employer -- "i think i need to retire," and i was denied that. i had to return back to my civil service job and it was for the army. i wasn't active duty soldier, a civil servant soldier. i left theodore directing an army regional computing registry response team. that is cyber warfare. i came back to my job and i entered an environment that was so harsh that my health got worse.

what i am saying is i do not let that destroy me. i go to the local police department, fire department. i take and bake goods. i will donate my entire 100% v.a. disability check back to the community because i did not come into the military for pay but to take the skills that i had learned in the civilian community and make our nation stronger. host: thank you for calling in. anthony talk about the transition issue. we have this on twitter. guest: i think that is a little bit of a clich?. thank you for your service, anthony. just like in the military,

sometimes you get with a unit that has a good atmosphere. all results will not be the same with the transition. we are describing what is challenging about the transition. sometimes it works out where you're in the job for years and years and sometimes it is a toxic environment were the people are not your kind of people and you either move on or you endure. his status off him to get employment. we are talking about people that do not have jobs. anthony had a job. it was not one that he enjoyed. in terms of the d programming, this is part of what we fight on a daily basis. an oliver stone narrative. you go to war, you are traumatized, you come back, and you are a burden on society. this is not charity. we want job seekers and employers to understand.

that is part of the narrative we are trying to dispel. certainly people are doing some things that are unique to the military experience. being a rifleman in a squad is not something you're probably going to do stateside. having embedded with those guys, the most professional, they get it. i would want every one of them to work at military.com if we

had jobs for them. host: ward carroll served in four different squadrons around the world. we are talking about military employment rates. the unemployment rates from the bureau of labor statistics are broken down by states. arizona is here just over 9%. the state with the lowest veteran?s unemployment rate is north dakota. the state with the highest is new jersey, 10%. we are talking military veterans? unemployment rate. james is next on a line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been retired for a while. i retired in 2005. i come from a small town in louisiana. there is nothing around this area. it is just tough these days for veterans like myself. there is not too many jobs around this area. i do what i can. i have to go to enjoy veterans day today. there is not much in this area.

jobs are hard to find. they are just not coming anymore. host: thank you for your service host: thank you for your service guest: thank you for your service. i served on a number of aircraft carriers. do live in northern or southern louisiana? caller: about 20 minutes from lake charles. there is not much in this area unless you go out of state are further down south like new orleans, but i am not going to move. guest: there are constraints in your ability to translate your military skills.

you were comfortable at sea. i could see working for a company servicing oil rigs or other shipping. and then beyond that, you have to bring to bear what you learned in the navy. shop early, stay late, how to be a leader. every boatswain's mate i met was good in terms of creating the right tone morale-wise. i'm not saying it easy. it could be very challenging. if you were willing to move, i think you would be able to find employment that you would like user than if you stayed near lake charles. host: holly on twitter -- guest: that is still going on. they get a tax credit. there are other initiatives that the administration did to create

this awareness among firms that might not otherwise consider veterans. dr. biden and the first lady are doing other programs. i believe these are slowly starting to work. the public has a short memory. a lot of us think the war ended with the bin laden take down. a tight budgetary environment. everybody feels the pinch of the government shutdown. i am afraid people's focused on veterans employment might weigh on that and that would be a disservice to those who gave their all. host: robert from missouri honor line for republicans. good morning. you are on with ward carroll. caller: good morning. i would like to speak on behalf of the veterans coming home.

i was a veteran. i was retired in 1971 from the navy. i would like to speak up for the veterans. the media gives the veterans a bad rap. they talk about the veterans coming back, hooked on drugs, hooked on dope. i blame the doctors in the v.a. i think -- i blame the doctors for not giving the right medication to these veterans. these veterans are going in and

these doctors are just filling them full of drugs. they run out of that and the poor veteran, some are living on veterans. these veterans are going in and these doctors are just filling them full of drugs. they run out of that and the poor veteran, some are living on the street. they are turning to alcohol. well, the media puts out the veterans. they write bad about the veterans. what is an employer supposed to do? guest: i do not think that is a new demon. ptsd is a label that has existed since man first daughter going to war -- first started going to war. it is an acute problem for the veterans. thank you for your service. he talked about two things at once. he talked about doctors perhaps overprescribing meds. we have seen that. i can say objectively the v.a. has done a lot to solve all of

their issues since these wars started. higher visibility on the amount that meds are prescribed and that is what they are trying to solve. understanding ptsd is a work in progress. 1600 more psychological or medical health professionals

have been hired to try to tackle this problem. the other part of the question is about the public perception issue. yes, i see it. it frustrates me. people with no military experience tend to have a warped perception of what the military experience is all about as a function of some of the high visibility stuff they say. i am not going to dismiss the sometimes people do not have challenges as a result of fighting a war. these things are no minor issue when it comes time to just live your life as a civilian. the military experience by and large is one that is very positive for most individuals and orients them to be very reductive in society. he feels like he is a leader among his peers and his neighborhoods and i think that is what is true. this is why employers should take advantage of those with

military experience. what they bring in terms of morale. host: you brought up disabled veterans. some stats on that, courtesy of "slate." america paid disabled veterans $14.8 billion in 2000. the number rose in 2011 to $39.4 billion. matthew is up next as we talk to ward carroll. good morning. caller: is there data on the employment rates of veterans as they go back to a public university first, private university, trade school, or they go directly into the workforce. whether military.com has reports on the fly-by-night for profit universities picking up veterans to get that money -- there has been stories about them not finding jobs. host: ward carroll? guest: i cannot speak to the first issue. i have my own opinion about what pedigree does in terms of your ability to find a job. if you can get into harvard or a private school, that probably situates you for an advantage when it comes time to find a job. those transitioning are no different than high schoolers that are looking to have an

advantage once they start looking for a job. in terms of the for profit school issues, military.com has been sussing out the bad actors. the new g.i. bill puts a lot of dollars in the pool to be used by veterans to pursue a traditional education at an i have my own opinion about what pedigree does in terms of your ability to find a job. if you can get into harvard or a private school, that probably situates you for an advantage when it comes time to find a job. those transitioning are no different than high schoolers that are looking to have an advantage once they start looking for a job.

in terms of the for profit school issues, military.com has been sussing out the bad actors. the new g.i. bill puts a lot of dollars in the pool to be used by veterans to pursue a traditional education at an institution, and you will go to college, or perhaps to an online for-profit school. what we have seen more and more is there were some for-profit schools that were headed toward predatory. no service after the sale and the dropout rate was huge. if they did manage to get their

degree and went to find a job, there was no appreciation by the employee or about the degree. that was not a good thing for the vet. there were some congressional committees that went to try to figure out what went on. we sat down and said what we knew. we share matthew's concern that there are some institutions not doing a service for the veterans. you only have so many g.i. bill dollars. host: darius is up from maryland, a veteran.

thank you for calling in. caller: good morning. i am and afghanistan veteran. i was deployed in 2011. i was still classified as a crew chief. i believe my skills are very talented. i have a stake clearance. i am mechanically inclined. i still cannot get a job. i could not find any real form of work, other than working at a mcdonald's or some small place that did not pay much. i felt there was unfair to come home and have all this experience, all this knowledge, and not to capitalize on. in world war ii, these veterans came home -- these guys built the country. they put these people to work because they were good men and women. that is what these veterans are today. not traumatized and brain-dead. we are hard workers and we want to work.

host: the white house put out a chart after that employment report came out last week showing post-september 11 2001 veterans unemployment rate. all other service veterans, much lower there. ward carroll -- guest: thanks to your service. huge respect for crew chiefs. i guess i would ask, where do you live and have you tried to find employment with the airlines? is he off the line? i do not know the exact circumstance of his situation. a crew chief has certain skills that would be very germane to the airline industry. i know the airlines have hiring

a initiatives to bring veterans aboard. ceo's of airlines are military aviation veterans. i think it is a matter of leaving your comfort zone in terms of where you live, in some cases. i am not saying that is something people need to get

over. with his profile, i would have to believe that there is employment out there that is right. i am not trying to dismiss his frustration. i know it is a challenge. i think there is a job for him that he doesn't know about. host: joseph from new york. you are on with ward carroll of military.com. caller: good morning and happy veterans day. thank you very much. i have a question. i retired in 1994. i served in vietnam, gulf war, and bosnia. about this job situation. every caller that called is right. when i cap out the first time, i was very confused. i tried to get a job and they hated us. i was a crew chief also. and when i got out, i couldn't find a job. i went back into the military. i worked in oklahoma for six years. the thing is, i have other experience and linguistic skills. i speak five different languages. when i got out, retired a third

time, i tried to get a job in a postal office. they would not hire me. i had an 80% disability. he said, "we do not care if you're disabled or if you are a vet. you want everything handed to you." no, we did not. i just wanted a job. i had to go through a federal court. i won my course. i got everything. i am retired and i collect my pension. it is unfair for the people to look at the veteran as bad guys. that is how they look at us. bad guys, crazy, nuts. i get treated now for ptsd. i got skin cancer that i received in the gulf war. they think it is agent orange.

it is stress. the nation of this country is letting smart, young people and they are willing to work. yes, they might have some problems. host: i will let you comment on joseph. guest: he is bringing a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. he was talking about vietnam. i lived in washington, d.c., and i saw the riots and half the city on fire. i would have to say the atmosphere -- he was saying he got out in 1994. i think the public is endeavoring to get it.

there are hiring initiatives that could potentially solve a problem like those that joseph faced when he got out in 1994. he talks about his linguistic skills. is joseph willing to live in the greater d.c. metro area instead of where he is living now? i think this is part of what you are seeing. it is what you would call boomer guilt. i think things are better. host: ward carroll from military.com. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: great to be here. for more coverage coming up on c-span in just over 20 minutes

remarks from charles schwab ceo altered bettinger. at the national press club talking about retirement issues. you can see that live at 1:00 eastern. congress not in session on this veterans holiday today. the house will be in tomorrow with a bill increasing veterans disability compensation benefits. reporting requirements for asbestos lawsuits and increasing sanctions for frivolous lawsuits. the was enacted to stay in effect through the end of 2014. in the senate lawmakers will -- will debate the nomination. republicans are asked -- opposed to filling the vacancy, arguing the court lacks the work toward -- workload. you can see the house live on c- span.

>> mrs. kennedy very well known as a style icon. admiration of her fashion sense. she put a lot of hot into her wardrobe when she was representing the country at the white house and while traveling abroad. >> i really admire the fact that mrs. kennedy put into her wardrobe -- the thought she put into her wardrobe and knew the advantage of choosing a color or style that would make her stand out in a crowd. >> first lady jacqueline kennedy live tonight on c-span. and www.c-n radio span.org. i have spent a lot of time

dealing with the sec in my life. but as importantly agency make .ecisions in a timely fashion this misses not knowing what the rules are. >> chairman wheeler absolutely right with the slow moving agency like this, but deliberate for months and months on years on end. if there is one thing we need, we need investment with this batch.

>> sam custis and on the challenges ahead. tonight on the communicators at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. at two, we will go live the national press club former marks on charles schwab ceo walden that -- walter bettinger. that will be live at 1:00 eastern. right now, more veterans day programming with an -- with a look at issues from today's washington struggle. about veterans issues all morning on this veterans day edition of the washington journal. just before the start of the veterans day weekend, eric chin skipped -- and set the city was going down in overtime program aimed at slowing the disability backlog reference waiting to be processed. joining us to talk about this is

tom tarantino, for me army captain and chief policy officer at the rack and afghanistan veterans of america. sign for veterans waiting for benefit claims to be processed? >> it was an expected announcement. we have seen the backlog he reduced by about a third. outstanding news showing there is light at the end of the tunnel. he have about 400,000 claims in the inventory. it will halt mandatory overtime. we hope and expect it to resume after the holiday sometime in february. we have 400,000 claims. if they want to make their goal by 2015, it will require overtime, greater cooperation from the health administration and a lot of the other health

initiatives that have been put into gear the started the trend downward. >> 400,000 claims is down from a little over 600 thousand claims as of march. talk about the impact of the government shutdown in october. how did that affect the processing? it slowed it down. we averted a is potential disaster. the v.a. claims processors were technically detected. while the v.a. could not accept any new claims, they could continue work. what we saw was the reduction went only down to a few thousand during those weeks. solve numbers like 11,000-12,000 per week. this did halt or hindered their ability to do it because it is not just about the v.a.. they get information from dod, all sorts of agencies. had it gone longer than a week

or two, we would have seen them running out of mandatory frontrunning out. they would have had to stop being benefits and for low war workers. had this gone beyond re-four weeks, we would have seen this ground to a halt, which would have been disastrous.

>> what did you find it? impactal health issues beyond those just suffering beyond mental health injuries. this is an alarming number. combat-related mental health injuries go beyond those injured. you are looking at 20% have suffered posttraumatic stress or brain injury. when you add in major depression, you're looking at almost a third. those have ripple effects. these are your friends and family. that affects everybody. well veterans health care administration, separate from benefits administration overall does a very good job of providing health care. they are my primary health care provider. have really struggled in

keeping up with mental health care. they were extremely understaffed. the v.a. announced they have filled the 1500 remaining positions they were supposed to. it depends on whether they were counselor, psychiatrist. there is not a full breasts of providers you need to give what you see is veterans were going to the v.a. and having trouble getting timely care. mental health issues cannot wait. what the v.a. is starting to do is look at building immunity partnerships locally so veterans who may be far away can get care it easier, and the v.a. hospitals were understaffed and struggling to meet the demand can actually send veterans to get the treatment they need. this is a new program and have not seen the impact of this. host: talking with tom tarantino

ofh the iraq veterans america. talking about disability benefits, and health issues that impact veterans coming back from the battlefield. if you want to talk about the subject, phone lines are open. democrats can call. a special line for veterans in this segment. we will get right to the calls. darwin waiting from farmington, minnesota, on the line for men -- democrats. he had a lot of problems with

marriages this and that of the other thing. i had a messed up life to. i had a really aggressive type of person. i am a management consultant. over the years i have covered a lot of employees for companies

to fill supervisory positions and so on and so forth. iowa's new military people, particularly those that work in some kind of purchasing or shipping and receiving, those kinds of jobs. very good at logistics and that kind of thing. host: thank you for the call. darwin brings up. president obama talked about the g.i. bill and jobs for returning vets. one to play a little bit for the viewers now. >> our troops gain unmatched skills while serving in harms way. we are doing everything we can to connect more businesses with highly skilled veterans. and help with job searches tools. more chances to earn licensing and credentials for civilian

jobs and new tax credits that highertax -- that veterans and wounded warriors. and america's businesses have worked with michelle and joe biden joining forces campaign. they have arty hired or trained 290 thousand veterans and military spouses. they are committed to hiring over 400,000 more. we are committed to giving today's veterans the same shot at a great education best other -- this country gave my grandfather when he came home from world war two. we're hoping more earn degrees. we have worked with thousands of schools to set new standards, to protect against dishonest recruiting and predatory landing -- lending practices. community hundreds of colleges and universities to help welcome and encourage veterans across campus. thank you for these efforts. we have made progress getting that back to work, but we have a lot more work to go.

we will have to work even harder. because the skills, dedication and courage of our troops is unmatched. when they come home, we all benefit from their efforts to build a stronger america and brighter future for our kids. talking to tom tarantino. your group conducted a survey of over 4000 iraq and afghanistan veterans earlier this year and asked a few questions about the g.i. bill that the president -- present and last caller brought up. what did you find in terms of attitude about the g.i. bill? guest: it is an incredibly popular program, and for good reason. in the past year or so we have seen problems with processing and wait times going down. i think we will see this next time -- next year, winter semester we will see it go more

smoothly. the bottom line, it is a great success. one millionth veteran applied for benefits. thes also going to help generation readjust. reinvestment the and readjustment act. the idea is a gift veterans something structured to do from when they leave transition to civilian life and provides the needed buffer so you are not just walking out of the battlefield and into an office. it will also allow veterans to make up cap. of dollars toons teach you an amazing skill set but does not teach you everything you need for the civilian world. the g.i. bill is a big that affect to get those few things you might need in your civilian career. twitter.stion on we talked earlier in the segment about the v.a. and processing of

disability claims. they ask him they change the decision to speed up decisions or thrown more manpower at it? guest: the answer to that is yes. they have done both. they have a completely new digital process. they are not even excepting paper. you file everything digitally. whereas before, you would have one processor looking through a large envelope and then would go to the next person and put it in a box and would ship it to another building. now it is all digital and you have multiple people looking at the same process. they have increased by several thousands the amount of claims processor. is a comprehensive adjustment and how they process claims entirely. we are hoping as they work the bugs out of the new system, we will start regularly seeing

claims get processed faster. we are hoping that as they work the bugs out of the new system, we will start seeing -- start regularly seeing claims get processed faster and hopefully in a few years -- i'm cautiously optimistic -- the backlogs could be a thing of the past. but we have to make sure that the v.a. has the resources that they need so that they can keep modernizing. this isn't a six-month initiative and they are done. this is going to be a very long- term thing. host: alfred is up next from north carolina, a veteran on our line for democrats. thanks for calling us this morning. alfred, turn your tv down and go ahead with your question or comment. all right, we will try to get back to alfred. lynn is in providence, rhode island, also a veteran and an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i am 100% disabled for ptsd. i was sexually assaulted. and i was, after a lot of work, given the ptsd therapist. i saw her 7 times.

on the seventh visit, she told me she would only see me once every three weeks. instead of once every 2 weeks. i said no. she told me she wouldn't see me anymore. i went to the director of psychiatry in the hospital. he took her side. and now i have no mental health at all. i think the problem -- the v.a. has a lot of problems. and we are not getting proper care. host: lynn, thanks for the call in this morning. tom tarantino from iraq and

afghanistan veterans of america, our women veterans getting the care that they need? guest: not entirely, no. lynn, thank you for your service. this is in a couple of huge problem in our community. sexual assault has been rampant in the department of defense and the military. it has not been rampant in the last 2 years, it has been rampant in the last 40. everyone needs to start being honest about this, especially in the department of defense. their response has largely been treating sexual assault like it is something that occurred in the last two years and they need to get leadership around it and they can fix it. not true. it is a pervasive cultural problem, and there are several things we're trying to fix. for example, modernizing the electric justice system. this is senator gillibrand's bill. the military has been resistant to this because they have this mental inertia when it comes to change. this is something that our allies across the world have done and it has been successful

and it would put better fidelity in the justice system so that victims feel that they will get a fair shake, their day in court, and they will report the crime. in terms of the follow-on mental health care, we are seeing extreme problems with men and women suffering from military sexual trauma not being able to get the care they need out of the v.a. this is largely because it is really hard to prove. until the last few years ago, records of sexual assault were routinely destroyed very quickly. now they have to be kept for, i think, 50 years for this is another bill that we're looking at called the ruth moore act that says that if you are in the military and you have diagnosis from sexual assault, we will assume it comes from your military service. we do this with agent orange exposure, posttraumatic combat stress.

lynn is right. this is a symptom of the v.a. health care not being where we needed to be. we are seeing other problems, such as opiate prescriptions at the va has risen to several hundred percent. this is where the demand for care is so high that hospitals can't keep up trade if you have a veteran who is coming in in pain, you want to do something. this isn't a nefarious thing. they want to help the veteran not be in pain. but there's not enough mental health care providers to treat the need. this is causing huge problems not just for mental health but all over the pa system. host: stats on military sexual assault. this is a headline from the "new york daily news." this is a story from last week. 3553 assault reports in the first three quarters of the last fiscal year, up from 2400 34 in

the previous year, according to the defense department. alessandra from willow springs, north carolina, on our line for republicans. you are on with tom tarantino of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. caller: good morning. i am from north carolina. i live 40 minutes from fort bragg and the air force base, and also, we have camp lejeune in jacksonville for the marines. i see every day on the news quite often these soldiers coming home, they have served their country, and they saw the family, they either kill the family or kill themselves because of ptsd. and the governor pat mcrory has defunded all mental health care. i don't know where these people are supposed to turn to. it is pathetic to me that american people would let their people who served in war do this to them. i have a friend who is 22 years old who watched his body blow his brains out in war in afghanistan.

and that is very sad. 22 years old, he could not take the war and had to commit suicide. they need help and the unemployment rate here is horrible. if they do get a job, is like $8 or $9 an hour. who can support the family on that? host: tom tarantino? guest: your point about suicide is extremely timely. it is an epidemic right now. not only is it a huge problem

within the military, but in the veterans community it is about one suicide every hour or 22 a day. the problem is in the past we look at suicide, especially if you served in the military anytime before the last 2 years, it was always a powerpoint presentation, and suicide prevention was essentially you have to make sure that health care is available, that there are employment opportunities. that all the things that end up failing to the point where the veteran gets to that moment of despair don't fail. and this is in the military this is about training not generals and commanders but the sergeants and lieutenants and those enlisted guys how to look for these signs. how to understand if someone is having a hard time and to get to them before they get to that point. this is a massive change has to happen not just in the military but in civil society also. >> how many of our vets are

landing in the criminal justice system for conduct that is a direct result of their ptsd. >> a lot. we don't -- the closest raw numbers we have are from 2004 but we know this say problem. the justice system has responded incredibly well. there are over 160 veteran's courts which are specialty courts which if you have offenses that are not violent but related to an untreated combat injury, the court is focused on treatment. the va has representation in the court and the veteran has peer mentors there and they are sentenced to treatment. thewhat we have found is ha recidivism rate for these crimes is down to nothing.

it costs about an eighth less to do this than putting them through the prison system where they would become worse. veterans are coming out transitioning more successfully -- >> we'll leave this segment here to go live to the national press a charles schwab talk on retirement issues. >> founded the hampton company, provider and an fast forward hampton was so successful charles schwab scooped it up and then he became president and c.e.o. of charles man.b and his right-hand

at issue was who would lead the firm managing $2 trillion in client assets after charles schwab remains company chairman. load a work force of 14,000 employees. with branches in 200 u.s. locations as well as london and hong kong charles swrab is one of the largest financial services firms. he took the helm in the midst of he financial crisis and amidst stiff competition. despite all of that charles schwab added brokerage counts to it's base. the company reported a 17% jump in profits and topped wall a eet earnings with $.22

share. etf one source was introduced this year. it has a strategy of building investor trust. he says it's a philosophy the company founder himself art lated years ago. at the same time our speaker as the task of filling the shoes of someone who had remarkable success building and defining a company. we'll try to find out what that's like. it's woringt noting that charles schwab's own vision was to empower the individual investor. as we gather a half decade after the financial crisis questions linger whether the average person stands a chance. maybe the question will never go away. we have an opportunity to devil into a wide range of questions that are fortune us and that is the financial lifes of all of us. please give a welcome to walt

bettinger. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. mark, thank you for that gracious welcome. it's an honor to be with you today. it's very humbling. it's remind me of an experience i had about 15 years ago. i was leading a division of charles schwab and we had sufficiently that we needed to construct a new office building. as the building came near construction probably with a bit too much pride in my heart, i took my three oldest children and loaded them in the backseat of the car and said i'll drive around and show off a little. i took them around the building, the fancy red brick and shiney windows and freshly painted parking lot. as we circled the building and went out of the lot we went by

the beat up trailer with the metal steps that went up it to. and referring to the building i said that's going to be daddy's new office. and my eight-year-old daughter said daddy if you start doing a better job will they let you move from the trailer into the office building? today is a special day for our country. it's veterans day. i hope you will join northeast in thanking the millions of americans who have served in our military over the years. they've protected our privileges like the free press that we all hold so dearly. verbally thanking veterans is just one stage. at charles schwab we hired more veterans in 2013 than any year preceding. they have an attitude of service that aligning perfectly with our culture at charles schwab. on behalf of my wife and my children we would like toe

extend our gratitude to all the veterans who have served our countries. for those of you who are familiar with our founder or a discount broker. this year marks our 40th anniversary in bigs. we everybody is about 11 million -- we serve about 11 million investors and represent $2.2 trillion of assets of hardworking americans. i want to give you a sense of our deep commitment to saving and investing and our belief in the potential that it provides for all individuals to secure a comfortable retirement. it was over 30 years ago that i started in financial services, more specifically as mark mentioned in the pension and retirement plan administration segment. and i've seen the business change a lot over the last three decade. i've been fortunate to play a

small flole some of that change and i've watched the demice of the pension plan and the transition to 401 k plans. interestingingly enough from our research for over half of those americans the 401 k is their primary savings they have outside of social security. when i share a little bit about that context it may surprise you to know that as i stand before ou today to talk about 401 k i'm fairly disappointed and frustrated and it would not be stretching too far to say i'm system. ut the 401 k it serves everybody, the firms, the providers, the firms that manage the funds. i think it works well for everyone except the one group of

people it should be working for and that's the average hardworking american. my hope is that with your help, influencing and shaping opinions across our country that we can ignite a transformation, a fundamental change and fix in the 401 k industry that our 51 million hardworking americans need. now my career with charles schwab began in 1995. they purchased the firm i founded about a dozen years ater and with that ack significance we were a late comer. we did things that were decrumentive in the industry. we are creditted with open architecture. that's the ideas that investments should be chones. as a result i received some undue credit and some accolades

and it was at the event recognizing one of these i hit a personal inflection point. i was recognized by a major industry puply indication with a lifetime achievement award. and that lifetime achievement award a hand some crystal trophy. as i road back to my hotel after the event i looked down at the trophy and read the words it said. it said recognizing contributions to the retirement industry -- i'm sorry recognizing contributions to the retirement security of working americans. a's read that over and over i felt a lump in my throat start to form and that little voice that was inside me, that little voice we all have, it whispered to me, walt, is that really what you've done. i thought about growing up in a

small town in the midwest, one of four children, stay at home mom. father was a professor and i wondered how my parents would have fared if the 401 k had been their form of retirement. i thought about my own experience in the industry and the contrast between the way that corporations used to handle pension plans when they had the responsibility for the out comes of those plans and the situation now and the way employees are largely left on their own to deal with saving and investing for their retirement. this was a sincere inflection point for me in my career and my thinking. the more i thought about it, the angrier i became. i became angry at the service providers, the industry, the consult presidents and the truth is i became very angry with myself. the more i looked at the industry and i recognized that

it was successful, i realized that the 401 k plan was failing the people that it actually needed to be taking care of. i don't think it has tobe that way. i hope you won't get me wrong in my comments. i believe in the 401 k and we can fix it, we can get it right. but it requires fresh thinking. let me go into history about how we got here before talking about how we can fix the 401 k. 30 years ago i was a rookie in the retirement business and most companies offered employees a pension plan. the company made a promise to their employees to provide a specific monthly benefit when they reached retirement. the employer was responsible largely for funding that. they would make cash contributions into a plan and invest that money with a goal of making sure there was enough to fund promises they made. and they took their responsibility very seriously.

they had to because if they fell short in accumulating the money to meet their promises, there was only one option, they wrote a bigger check into that plan reducing their profits and of course reducing returns for their shareholders. employers took that seriously enough they hired liegends of ack wears and advisors consultants, accountants to help them make the right decisions. surely no manufacturing firm or hospital or newspaper company for that matter would see themselves as having all the competency needed to manage this enormous promise that was being made to employees. so what what happened? >> well eventually companies realized that the retirement obligations they had made to their employees were beginning to affect their current operation. they were starting to spend more money on funding the pension plans than current operations in

the company or current employees. pension plans became economically unfeasible for most kms. at the same time a new solution was on the horizon 401 k plans. they were initially designed to be a supplement. but employers understandably and i helped many of them connected the dots. and they realized the 401 k plan could be the future without all the promises and obligations placed on the company. today only 11 million individuals in private companies are participants in a pension plan. i'm not naive, the pension plan of yesterday is not coming back. pension plans have flaws also. but i want to look specifically at the 401 k plan now and see what it has meant to the average hardworking american. remember when companies had the responsibility to save and invest properly to fund those

promises they surrounded themselves with the best advisors that money could buy. what happened with the introduction of the 401 k plan? most of us know because we've experienced it. employees sat in maybe a one-our education meeting. we got a brother sure that explained the plan. we got a list of mutual funds that we could invest in usually actively managed funds. a bunch of us got these sliders. unfortunately i helped design this one. today it might be a website. maybe it's an app on the phone. all those things are silly. every one of them. hospitals, manufacturing firms, newspaper companies hired professional help and advisors when they faced the responsibility but yet we expect the employees of these same companies, nurses, assembly line

workers, writers to figure out how much to save and how to invest their 401 k accounts. is it any surprise that more than half of americans in a 401 k consider their plan more complicated than their healthcare? is it any surprise nearly half of the workers in america have no idea how to invest their 401 k and for a third of them it causes major stress in their life. is it any surprise balances are troubling low. the estimate of the median 401 k balance in the united states is just over $40,000. every one of us should be troubled by this picture. what are we going to do? when are we going to put the interest of the average hardworking american snirs clearly we're not going to be able to roll back the clock. also we should not throw out the basic framework of the 401-k

plan but it has to be fixed. frankly i'm going to share with you today that it isn't that difficult but overcoming the resistance to the necessary fixes is difficult. there are people throughout the industry who are currently employed and compensated by the current approaches from the service providers to the investment managers, the consultants and yes, of course, myself. every one of us needs to take a step toward and think about things differently in a manner that hit me in that cab ride in new york city five years ago. we have to ask ourselves when are we going oh to put the interest of the average hard work rg american first? i think the time is now. there are two relatively simple steps that we need to take that will largely achieve what i'm proposing. the first every single

participant in a 401-k plan, every one of them should be automatically enrolled in customized objective, unbiased advice on how much they should save and how that money should be invested given their personal and unique circumstances. and second we need to dramatically lower the level of fees associated with the management of 401-k accounts. simple? i think yes. even pretty obvious, i'd say yes to that too. easy to do in an industry that employees tens of thousands of people and general rates billions of dollars of operating profit? no. but if we don't address these issues now, i think we'd agree the social challenges facing our country can be overwhelming. how do we do it?

how do we ensure they get customized advice and pay lower fees at the same time? we start and automatically enroll every participant into advisory management services. these are services that have to be delivered by independent people acting a fiduciary. that means their interest are put behind the interest of the individual employee. these cannot be employees of the firm that services the plan. if charles schwab is services the plan cannot be charles schwab employees, have to be independent. and the service should be as customized for each employee as the employer received back in the day when they had the responsibility. should look at age, the risk tolerance, outside assets, how these moneys are invested, marital status, do they have a job, a pension plan and a host of other factors.

this type of do it for me vice will help employees choose make ents and help them the right decisions. like cashing out or borrowing against our klt or not rebalancing our account on a regular basis. you might ask what about target date funds? they are designed to address these issues aren't they >> they were a good solution and they largely achieve what they were set out to do. but we can do so much better. target date funds take into account one factor, age. imagine this example, an individual 401-k participant walks in to meet with an advisor and tell them about their life,

their risk tolerance, their investment strategies, their marital situation, a host of different factors and at the end of the conversation the investment advisor says how old are you and i say i'm 52. and he says here is your answer. i walk out and someone else demoms with the same story but different facts an entirely different situation. at the end of the conversation the advisor says how old are you and the same answer. we can do so much better than single factor advice. if we get it right, target date funds are going to go the way of this silly slider. they may have been the best way at one time to get advice but they are not the right answer for today. they are better than nothing but not good for employees as customized advice.

does customized advice work in yes. employees working with an independent professional double their savings rates and set up a far support velt allocation. an independent study says that a typical 45-year-old getting independent objective advice would have 70% more money in their account upon retirement than someone trying to go it alone. i think we would probably agree we need to offer customized advice for participants. here is the problem. that's going to cost money. that's an incrementle fee. how does that jive with my second solution which is we have to lower fees charged to the working americans. i think the sans easy. 401-k plans should use low cost index oriented funds or etf's.

let's look at the math. if the cost of the us customized advice is .4 of 1% and the cost is .1 of 1% that means the average participant would spend about a half of a percent total to have their 401-k managed. that level of expension is lower than 90 to 5eu9% of all 401-k plans in the united states without including any form of customized advice. here in washington, d.c. it's already well understood, the government savings plan uses index products for its saving plan, $200 billion worth. how much do fees matter? they matter a lot. if we can get fees down to one half of 1% and nothing else

changed then the average hardworking american swrowled almost $100,000 more in their account upon retirement than today. if awe ply that across the 51 million americans participating 401-k plans today by 2050 that's almost $10 trillion simply by lowering cost to 1/2 of 1%. what is stopping us? what keeps employers from moving into index oriented investment vehicles? two entrenched camps stand in the way of this change. first, the major service providers in the 401 k world are asset manage whores specialize in managing actively managed funds. that means they charge anywhere between three fourths of a

percent to try to beat the market. we all know study after study of only a tiny percentage asset managers can beat the market and only a tinier pert can do it year after year. infompled investors have every right to select top managers to try and beat the market. this does not need to be part of 401-k plans. the goal should not be beating the market. it should be offering a secure retirement with consistent performance. we should leave asset management and it's relatively higher fees to informed and highly sophisticated investors. the second entrenched camp resisting changes are the plan consultants and advisors who are hired by the employers who offer 401-k plans this. is not all consultants but many

of them make their fees by telling employers that they are se enough to select, monitor and suggest replacements among the active managers they somehow know which are the naunds are going to beat the market. why do they hate what i'm talking about today? because no consultant is needed to monitor and manage index funds. they simply perform at the index. it's called self-preservation. is is so pervasive that at charles schwab as we've begun advocating for the ideas that i'm discussing today, we actually have consultants threat than they would do nevering their power to convince employers we serve in the 401-k stroy fire fuss they publicly spoke about the ideas i'm speaking of today. we are asking assembly line

workers and nurses and riders to manage money like they were experts. and second we're saddling these same work wers excessive fees which place a drag on their account growth. and we know the solution. one automatically enrolling these workers in professionally managed unbiased objective managed programs and ensuring their smun vested in low cost mutual funds and etf's. and we know who wants to intain the status quo, the consultants who make millions ensuring they can pick the best of those actively managed fund. the question is do we have what it takes to you push for change? as i mentioned at charles schwab we've begun to implement the approach i've described here.

and we are taking a lot of hits from those people who depend on the status quo, entrenched service providers and consultants. frankly and amazings to me even the industry press. that's okay. i work for a man who made a living out of challenging the status quo. we're just one firm. and i'm just one person. we need everyone to get behind these types of changes. now i'm one of those people whose personality is i'm often accused of being overly optimistic. but i believe there is a chance for change. i would argue that over 50 million americans are counting on us to fix the 401-k. for me it started five years ago in a cab ride in new york city. when it comes to the 4'1"-k industry, my hope is we can all agree it's finally time to put

the interest of the average hardworking american first. thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and thank you to the national press club. [applause] >> thank you. now you get to go get water and come back on the field. have you a lot of ackbishes ideas there and you are standing in the middle of the nation's capitol where much is discussed and seldom implemented. let's talk about the empation. would there be a government olution involved at all? >> i don't think we need a government solution. we need courage of people to stand up and speak with truth and objecttivity about what we need to do differently. i think that's all it takes but

it has to start and my goal is to try and make it start at meetings like this. >> you said 11 million painfully low 401-k participants at the $40,000 average balance. what makes you think those people and others are better prepared to essentially invest more money in the plan because they are not participants now. are you saying it's the information deficit? >> there are a couple of numbers. the 11 million is the number of accounts that charles schwab serves today. the $40,000 is the median balance in 401-k plans today. we found back to our research and client base when employers sign up for what i've described and automatically enroll their employees in professional advice, they on average double their saving rates. they don't know what to do which

is understandable. they are nurses and assembly line workers and writers. and when they have someone who is on their side who recollects is objective, who is helping advise them, they are more comfortable putting money into the plan and when they don't they are more hesitant to put money away and add to this issue causing huge stress in their life. >> so you referenced broadly social and financial challenges. can you talk about those more that if a problem isn't addressed and are we experiencing those already now? >> i think we are and there are many factors contributing to that. today one of the great challenges we face as a country is we demect a 40 year working career to fund a 30 year retirement and the math just doesn't work. so it is part of the over all challenge that is we face. but we first need to do the

obvious. let's do the easy things that would add $100,000 on average into people's accounts. that's a first step. then we have other thoings look at to address the 40 year or 30 year issue. that's for the folks in washington to solve, not me. >> that sounds like a player to me. >> i'm accused of doing that frequently also. >> i think we've all been praying these past years and months. specific questions to your speech. someone says what are the challenges facing a pension plan and recipients and who makes up the fees that are the high cost. perhaps the second question and then the pension plan question. >> the majority of fees that are paid by employees in 401-k plans are for the active management of their dollars in an effort to beat the market. by simply eliminating that and

going with index funds which we can construct at 1/10 of 1% you free up money to go back into the pockets of employees. they should be enrolled in that professional managed service but they should be given the right if they are capable and want to to on the out of that in which case their only cost would be the cost of the index funds. our experience is 80% of people automatically enrolled say thank you. someone to do it for me and i'm going to stay right here and have it professionally managed. >> what are challenges facing pension plans? >> the challenges are why we've seen the demise of the pension plan and that is it's a long term promise made in an uncertain world. most pension plan had interest asumses of 8% earning and it's

not realistic to attain or fund those monthly benefits promised to people without taking enormous risk whether the company will have to put a lot more must be in the plan and you've seen the demise of the pension program. >> you've seen a lot of hits on this. would lowering cost necessitate financial advisors losing their jobs? >> no. i'm suggesting that we would need more objective independent professional advisors to provide this stoves all these 51 million 401-k participants. i had no idea i was going to add to the employment good news with my comments. it would 23409 cost jobs, it will create jobs. it will take profits out of those who try to beat the market though. >> where would all the objective financial advisors come from to fill the need?

and another question what kind of quality control best practices management would you have with regard to all of that? >> today's technology enables to us provide very high quality objective investment advice slounges feed into the exuter programs enough detail around the individual circumstances, sort of the opposite of the target date example i used whether wr no matter what data was fed in the answer was the same based on age. there is technology to do that but then you would have individuals who delaver to the employees. that's what we're doing today. i forgot the second part of the question. >> we can move on. another question since our economy is tied to consumption but we know that more americans aren't saving enough for retirement should we consider forcings americans to save more rough a payroll tax increase

even though tax increase is a dirty word. >> the answer to that is above my pay grade. before we get into a debate about forced savings we should first do the obvious things. how can we take the situation of what employers did and turn it over to employees and give them slide rules and web sites and smartphone apps. let's first do the obvious. if it hasn't achieved our objectives then we can look at other alternatives. >> someone notes that a lot of brodgeage firms provide advice to clients already. they are your competitors in a sense but what's wrong with the services they are providing? >> i'm not to bash anyone on the brockage side, any competitor, fine firms that we compete with. but i think that what i'm

describing is something very different here. i'm talking about objective people that are not the employees of the company servicing the 401-k plan who deliver this professional advice and they have to do it at a really low cost. there are very few people that can deliver the advice i'm talking about at that rate it takes scale. if your funds are going to be 1/10 of 1%, the over all cost is no more than 1%. there aren't a lot of competitors that do that at 4/10 f 1% per year. >> does charles schwab support an s.e.c. rule making to have rule making for brork dealers?

>> that's an industry technical question but let me respond this way. years ago at charles schwab we nut place that whenever a sclinet paying us a fee for our investment counsel we do it in a y douche yare manner period. -- fiduciary manner period. where did the line get crossed between fiduciary. if we take take a e fee, we take a fiduciary position period. do you support the s.e.c. rule? >> the s.e.c. rule is not addressed the issue that is we're concerned about. what i'd thite create is a scenario where you're a self-directed investor and your cost go up many times because we have to be a fiduciary even though you're not turning to us

for advice. we have to protect those who want to be self-directed but if you want our counsel we should absolutely by a fiduciary. there is a similar effort under way at the labor department. they say do you support the labor department rule making? >> i think the issue is similar which is if we're being compensated by you to offer you advice your interest have to come first. there should be no debate around that. we can't force self-directed people who don't want our advice to pay more because of a new legislative rule. >> we are in washington so those questions from time to time come up. in fact the labor department you could throw a stone from here if you wanted to. but we wouldn't be for that. >> i don't throw stones. >> getting back to the retirement issue, what can we learn from other countries around the globe and are there

snms place elsewhere in other countries that are getting closer to the kind of system that you are talking about? >> i don't know the answer to that whether they are getting clorse. tibble ideas we are talking about are universally applicable. they are not unique to just our country. i think our hope is people will consider the simplistic con cements we've shared today and consider implementing them. >> would you agree with the assumption that it seems making the argument for saving for retirement is most difficult among young people and do you treat that problem differently at present when you are advising individuals and how can you address the problems more generally as well? >> what our research has shown is one of the major reasons young people hesitate to safe is they feel even less prepared

than someone who may be older to make these decisions we're forcing upon them. when you offer counsel to them they are already mr willing to sign up than if they have to do it on their own. go back to the statistics i shared. for 50% of the people they have no idea what to do. for a third this is causing major stress in their lifmente without the benefit of managing money ever for themselves they would be highways stand putting money into something they are clueless what decisions to make stpwhfment what are the backgrounds of charles schwab employees who talk to potential clients before they refer them to portfolio managers assuming they do. >> they all have to go through rigorous testing and training, some administered by the government and s.e.c. and some

by us. every conversation they have is a reflection of our brand. given that we take very seriously the training that these individuals go through prior to engaging in any direct recommendations with any client. >> there has been a political debate about some immediate needs of the affordable care act and some that are longer term. you are an employer. how does that reflect your out look within the company and what has your experience been to manage the needs f our own employees. >> thraffs a softball hundred? i think we have to wait and see as it unfolds. we are big believers in the concept that is the wealthiest country in the world. we should ensure that every individual has access to healthcare. w do that is complex and the

unintended consequences of policies still being formulated we have concerned around. we provide healthcare to all our employees. we pay the majority of the cost. we would like to continue to do . so we have to see how things shake out during the coming years. >> say congress use that is as an excuse to say plorse are ratcheting down their hiring plans because this law exists, how has it affected the out look at charles sbhab >> you have to decraw a decix between a company like swarls swab and a company of 100 or so like the firm i started. if i was running that company it probably would have a chilling effect on hiring. at charles schwab it's probably different. i can only speak for us. i can't speak for other companies and their business models of what the healthcare

changes could mean. >> there is a growing body of evidence that shows americans are leaving thousands of dollars on the table when they start receiving social security earlier than they might. what is the financial -- how is the financial community adapts to this research and how can the industry educate the public about avoiding that problem? >> that is a great issue and it is the case that for many individuals it is far more advantage youse for them to wait to begin to receive their social security benefits. we've offered training and education training to our professionals who engage with clients to help them explain to individuals the benefits of potentially waiting. but it's difficult. because we also know for most individuals across our country, retirement or what we've refered to as retirement is not a voluntary choice. it is placed upon most people as

opposed to them deciding of their own free will when that date will occur. so the option is often not there for retirees in our country. >> managed stock investments rarely out perform beat funds and shouldn't everybody be put into an index fund because you can't beat the market? >> the answer to that question is yes. if you could put every employee into the index fund option and know that they would never change or drop out that would be beautiful, it's just not realistic. what professional advice does is match up risk tolerances and comfort levels and help employees not bail out when the markets go south for a period of time. if you get everybody to go in there and never move that would be better for them because they

would save the cost we talked about. it just doesn't work that way. having someone to hold your hand with a hand on the shoulder to help you feel more confident keeps you in the market and capture the up sides that the market has delivered for decades. >> we know that a lot of americans don't trust the investment landscape these days that seems to be dominated by big banks and so forth. i'm wondering what are your thoughts about that? and is at this time possible for the average investor to get a ? ir shake in the market >> i like mark's confidence in me giving me two questions. i can't remember the first one. >> can the average person get a fair shake in the snarkt >> if you are an investor you

can get a fair shake. an investor has a plan and is not trying to guess or time. if you believe you are going to beat the market by timing it, by guessing, by trading on a highly frequent basis, you must be exceptional. and there are some people who are exceptional at that but that is a very tiny%. the vast majority are not trying to beat the high frequency traders v a plan, take a long term view. owners generally are paid better than lenders and stocks out perform bonds over the long term and stick to a plan. i would personally never try to time and beat the market and beat those folks, i'd have no chance. >> can you talk about who you regard as your chief rivals in the marketplace and that will give you the opportunity to talk about how you have a competitive

advantage. >> i think any rival that we have is someone in our business whose business strategy isn't reinvolved around seeing the world through client's eyes. i know it's old fashioned and probably simplistic in many people's eyes. but in financial services maybe more so than any other industry, if you will sitchpli do the right thing by your clients, i think you win. it may take longer but you win. we went through the financial crisis at charles schwab. i like to say that we were the largest publicly traded firm that didn't receive any money under tarp. in the four years after that we brought in $530 billion in new client assets. our four largest publicly traded competitors i won't name collectively brought in 320. i think if you do the right thing you win.

o i view anyone a competitor whose strategy is not based on seeing the world through the eyes of a clinet. >> the crash and regulatory responses to , that perhaps you might want to weigh in on the effectiveness of that. are those sorts of phenomenon something that essentially keep you up at night? i was talking to mark cuban and he said his biggest worry is a hack attack on the financial market that is might take the whole system down. >> we live in an imperfect world because it's a world operated by human beings. as long as that is the case, we will have things that periodically go wrong whether it's technology related or whatever you want to fill in the blank on. we will periodically have issues. that is the world that we live in. with respect to hack attacks, rtainly there is a form of

conflict among us as a country and a society and among those who have belief that is are very different than ours and the battlefield of the future may be very different than the battlefields of the past and one of the places those bat are also already taking place is around our technology instability. fortunately we have extraordinary professionals across our government assisting here. but we should not kid ourselves that is a battle going on every day, every minute and i can assure you it is going on in the servers of charles schwab at this very moment. >> how much of a challenge is it for you to ensure as perfect a system as you can knowing there are a lot of things you can't know. >> a lot of things i know but can't talk about. it is a high priority of course. i want to provide the

transparent reality we will live in an imperfect world and there will be issue that is will be impossible to prevent despite all efforts. what our goal needs to be is to minimize the frequency and sevty of those as opposed to believe i have some way to prevent them entirely. the bad guys are smart too. and the idea we're going to win at every turn is not realistic. >> do you comment on the market out look. you employee people who do but do you talk about the biggest challenges facing the stock market and opportunities say in 014? >> it's an interesting question wall street was a journal tharl said there was flows in the markets from individual investors which is contrary to what our 11 million clients are doing. our clients are quite cautious.

about 2/3 of them expect a market correction sometime within the next nine months and only half of our clients think it's a good time to inveths in stocks. we try to avoid making short term calls. even our strategyist make calls on a long term perspective. i put it this way when someone asks me about the market. if someone tells you they have a solid prediction of the short term of the market run fast. because if they d they ain't sharing it with you. it's too valuable. nobody can predict market in the short term. >> we presume that we have a very important transition here in washington as chairman bernanke steps down at the end of january. any thoughts about that transition and the particular person involved coming in? on don't have any comments

mrs. yell len but our clients are concerned about the policies of the federal reserve. our clients would like to see a process toward a market driven approach to interest rates. and there will be pain associated with that. we've been taking this drug for five years. you can't go cold turkey off a drug or slow it down without some pain. but the fear you is can't stay on the drug forever either. so the sooner we take steps back to a more sustainable environment they would feel a whole lot better. many of the client who anticipated crashes in the market it's because of concern around the ongoing policies of the federal reserve. >> you're not saying ben bernanke is a drug pusher? >> not in the least.

but the policies are like a drug we've been on for five years. it's time to start to wean them off. >> one final question. how tough is it to follow in the shoes of charles schwab yourself? >> i think it's an extraordinary honor. there is one charles schwab and i've never tried to be him. i've tried to be walt bettinger. i have a fabulous relationship with chuck. we meet on a regular basis. how fortune aim to be able to is it down and get counsel from someone like chuck, an icon in the industry whenever i want it? it's the greatest scenario i could ever envision. when we talked about the transition my number one concern was are you going to be around to offer counsel to me whenever i would ask for it and sometimes when i wouldn't i would still benefit from it? we have a great relationship and

it's an honor to serve under chuck. >> we are almost out of tisme before we ask the last question i'd like to remind our audiences about upcoming speakers. on november 18 a feminist activist and founder of ms. magazine will be here. and then the chairman and c.e.o. of general motors will be here on december 16. and those of you who are here in regular attendens know we would like to present our guest with the coffee mug as a way of saying thank you. the final question is what is one decision either regarding your personal finances that you really regret making? >> how much time do we have? i don't know that i can boil it down to one. i guess i would say looking back to the internet bubble i probably held on to a few stocks a little longer than probably

made sense. but there are too many that i can speak to. if i had just had that professional advice and plan i would have been a whole lot better off. >> how about a round of applause for our speaker today. thank you. [applause] >> thank you all for being here today. i'd like to thank the national press club staff for organizing today's event and to donna for brippinging it all together. you can find more information about the press club on our website. and if you'd like to get a caller: of today's program you www dot hat at press.org. thank you and we're adjourned. captioning by the national captioning institute -www.ncicap.org--

>> you can see these remarks anytime online at cspan.org. >> congress not in session today. both chambers will return tomorrow at 2:00 eastern. snt gnat general speeches and then a debate and followed by a vote on the nomination at 5030. we could see a vote on a bill to broaden the over sight on compounding pharmacies. john kerry will brief the senate banking committee in the coming day on talks with iran.

a committee aid said that on sunday night. the committee's chair will not purr see additional penalties to iran until after hearing what kerri has to say and consulting with other senators. >> ms. kennedy is a style icon. she put a lot of thought into her wardrobe both at the white house and while travel ago broad. she would think about what colors would mean something to the country i'm about to visit. so for her visit to canada she chose this red suit as a gesture of respect for the red of the canadian maple leaf. >> i admire the thought that ms. kennedy put into her wardrobe and she knew the advantage of choosing a color or style that would make her stand out in a

crowd. >> first lady jacqueline kennedy and c-span span radio and cspan.org. >> i've spent a lot of time dealing my life. and