they remind people who are trying to exploit their services that not only is there a legacy of technical innovations that have been created, but these companies take seriously the fact that people are trying to exploit them.they are trying to come up with creative solutions for those that would like to exploit them. that has been a critical partner as well. finally i have to say at the end of the day, what is the most effective way to walk somebody off that ledge? you can share information with law enforcement, you can share strategy with the tech industry. the when you have your own peers identifying a problem but having the courage to step up. that is part of this narrative as well educational programs were we going to schools to train them not to be innocent bystanders, that they have a

voice starting at the age of eight and nine. you see somebody getting bullied, you see some of the getting treated or stereotyped in a negative way. even at that age we are training them that they can do something about it. that value of having a voice using positive speech to combat negative speech, that is what we are talking about in this arena of countering violent extremism. thank you very much for your time. >> please join me in thanking the rest of our panelists for their comments today. please use the opportunity at lunch today to find out more about their programs. [applause] >> and we are back live at the national governors association winter meeting in washington dc. the next session will focus on

jobs and the economy. maria bart tomorrow -- bar to romo -- maria bartiromo will be moderating. you can leave a comment anytime time at facebook.com/suite spam -- facebook.com/c spaspan. we will bring you an event hosted by politico that included some of the governors attending this meeting. >> thank you, susan. i am the executive editor of politico. thank you all for joining us today. i am thrilled to be joined by

the governor of rhode island. thank you for joining us for this session. let's get started. you are one of a dwindling number of democratic governors. you are in your first term as a democratic governor. but you ran on a reform platform that alienated some traditional democratic constituencies. is that a recipe that more democrats should be following at the state level to get the number of democratic governors up? >> the theme of my campaign is that i was relentlessly focused on economic development and job creation. i think every advertisement my campaign did was focused on that. that was a better that we made.

the work that i had done around pension reform certainly did alienate some of the public-sector labor unions. it was difficult in the primary. let's get things done. i think i was able to convince people i would take that same courage that i would get through the pension to fixing an ailing economy. >> there is an increasing tension within the democratic party. there is a large number of democrats that are reform democrats that feel as though teacher tenure and charter schools and other educational innovations are really necessary. there is another group that tends to support the union position. is that something democrats are going to have to make a choice about going forward? not just the teachers unions but some with a very powerful public-sector unions.

the kind you took on when you were a treasurer. >> they just need to be willing to be honest about the reality. if we have schools that aren't working and aren't educating our kids well and results are and what they need to be, we need to face the facts and fix them. that may mean making some changes that teachers are uncomfortable with. unfortunately all of this stuff quickly gets into an us versus them, which i don't find to be productive. i think we ought to treat teachers like professionals. give them the support they need and then hold them accountable. i have two kids in public school, every teacher i know wants to be held accountable. as a mom i sure want my kids to be well-educated. >> i reviewed a powerpoint presentation you presented to a large number of rhode island

leaders about the daunting task ahead for the next four years growing budget gap protection combined with a stagnating economy, 47th in unemployment among the 50 states, lack of investment in job creation. the conclusion is you have to invest more in job creation. how are you going to do that with a punch -- with a budget gap? >> i tell people i really have to thread the needle on this. i am facing a huge budget deficit. to give you a sense of what we are dealing with, rhode island has one of the weakest economies in the nation. it might be a surprise to you because we are nestled between new york and boston. we ought to be a thriving economy, but we are not. we were crushed when the manufacturing sector left and we didn't position ourselves for a high-growth industry.

i am in the position where we are facing a $200 million shortfall. the instinct would be to cut. except you can't just cut. you can't cut your way to prosperity or job creation. we have to cut in the areas where we spend too much or aren't job creating. and then reallocate that money to job training, skill development, economic incentive for businesses. that is the task before me. rhode island spends second highest in the country per enrollee on medicaid. not a great job necessarily. spending a lot of money doing it. you have to invest in building

roads and bridges and schools development, to fundamentally get people back to work. >> we are going to be joined by governor nixon and talking to some of his staff. a their plan for the future is the return of american manufacturing. they are convince missouri is going to be a big beneficiary of that. could rhode island benefit from a rebirth of american manufacturing? or is it smarter to go in a knowledge economy direction? >> a good question. i think you have to do both. we have to figure out what we can be really good at. manufacturing is a piece of that. manufacturing today is the knowledge economy. once upon a time rhode island

was the mecca of jewelry manufacturing. that's what we did, we made beautiful jewelry and watches. my dad worked forever at the watch factory. the jobs went away. that manufacturing is gone forever. effect is high school, high-tech. it is coming back to america and rhode island is poised to get its fair share of that manufacturing in areas of excellence, like a marine technology. i believe rhode island ought to be the boatbuilding capital of the world. we are going to go where we can be great and build upon our strength and build advanced manufacturing. >> one of your critiques in the powerpoint presentation is there wasn't enough flexibility in the

tax code to attract businesses. there are a lot of people who you give away the store for some factory that is going to be in massachusetts 20 miles away is and move it to warwick. that is some gain that is hurting all of those neighboring states. do you think that could work? >> it is a balance. this is a core difference between me and my republican opponents. often the republican playbook is cut taxes as low as possible and good things will happen. you have to have low enough taxis so businesses want to be there. you need to streamline regulations, transparent government, and taxes.

you have to have high skilled workers. i would like us to raise the minimum wage. i would like to have an excellent training program. here's the thing, we cannot compete on price anymore. if a country wants a lower-cost labor, they are going with china. i want to compete on quality. we have to be competitive, including with taxes, and provide an incentive. the end of the day we have to compete on quality, which is skill and know-how. that takes some investment. >> mainly education you are thinking of? >> mainly education, innovation, research and development. if you look at the economies that are humming the number of patent per capita is through the

roof. they are centers of innovation and research and development. i need position rhode island in there. >> what is your theory about what went wrong? the traditional idea is massachusetts benefits because they have all these universities there. it has a high quality of life and people generally like to present you they emphasize the historical -- there is an attractiveness to that lifestyle. it is the same attractiveness that providence and newport has. you have a large number of colleges and universities. how did rhode island not benefit? >> i will tell you my theory. massachusetts has been a great job of partnering and collaborating.

government cannot make any economy work. has to be collaboration and bottoms up. great things happen at the intersection of universities working with this list. they have mailed back. rhode island just hasn't brought together, yes we have brown university. we haven't married them with industry. we haven't been able to turn those great ideas into commerce. as a state we were just too reliant for too long on manufacturing. rude island was hurt more than any state in the country, more than michigan. and we were very dependent on manufacturing 10 years ago.

so we waited too long to reposition ourselves. my dad always had a simple way of describing inks. he said i could see it when i was working in the jewelry shop. in massachusetts they got into computers. that was his way of saying they got into i.t.. they tap those and put them into businesses. it is my job to shake it up and move. >> is the difference something about the political culture their? is there a more cohesive portrait in other states? >> i think culture has a lot to do with it. rhode island has been parochial inward sinking and inward looking. we need to be more outward facing and embracing of new ideas and innovation.

we need to be more innovative and collaborative. and we need to move faster. it drives me crazy when i hear from people it took me a year and a half to get a permit whereas it took me three months to get a permit in massachusetts. 45 minutes waiting on hold to get my insurance. that is not ok. i have to fix that. the basics of government needs to work. >> there has been a lot of attention to congressional inaction on a range of issues, including transportation. a lot of things that help the states have slowed down and become subject of dispute here in washington. what you want out of the federal government to help rhode island? >> i want them to show up and get things done. sometimes it feels like the federal government has left the building.

figure out a way to fund infrastructure. when i fix tensions, i say don't talk to me about management versus labor. we have a problem, let's be practical and fix the problem. we have the money as a nation to fix it. there is no question lack of infrastructure investment is holding us back. just travel to europe and asia. they are ahead of us and they have the money to do it. get to work, fix your problems. >> have you talk to folks in washington about that? >> i am pretty aggressive and vocal. i need everyone to do everything -- i need to get everyone to do everything i can. right now we are in the minority but they are working hard. and i would encourage them to speak up area don't be afraid

don't care about your next election, do what is right. >> we have some microphones in the crowd. some people might have some questions. questions? right over there. >> somebody has to break the ice. how can we address the increased cost of medicaid without decreasing eligibility or decreasing benefits? >> governor barbour, if you would like to sit with the governors, i'm sure you would be

welcome. let's get this session started. thanks for all of you making the time to be here, joining us for this discussion of where is this economy heading. i don't know a single governor that doesn't have jobs in the economy at the very top of their priority list. we talked about states operating more effectively and efficiently , but also looking at the culture of hospitality as danny meyer talks about it. and looking how we make our states more successful. i think part of that is better partners with business. delivering results is a large part about economic innovation, how we can effectively apply

management tools from the private sector state government and get dramatically improved benefits. i think we will continue to speak about economic innovation in the session. i'm sure one way or another we will be coming back to it throughout the weekend. it is my pleasure to introduce maria barton aroma -- maria bartiromo. she is an award-winning journalist. she is an author, news anchor certainly has been on a number of different networks with a couple of different perspectives. she is one of the leading journalists today in this country. we are honored he would take the time. those of you who weren't here last year, maria is going to --

she was the face of cnbc, that is fair to say. she launched the program squawk box. she the closing bell. last year she joined as a global markets editor. she hosts sunday morning futures on fox news channel. she has received many awards, two emmys and a gracie award. she was the first female journalist inducted into the cable hall of fame class of 2011 and was the first journalist to report live daily from the floor of the new york stock exchange, as of all of that is not enough. she is author of a seven -- of

several books including the weekend that changed wall street. please give maria a warm welcome. >> thank you so much. it is wonderful to be with all of you today. thank you for joining us. i am thrilled to be here at this particular time for the economy and to get perspective from all of you in terms of what you're seeing as far as moving the needle on the economy. if you slightly have emerged from the great recession of 2007. he now face a new set of challenges, things like a 50% selloff in the price of oil which one would expect to be a positive. we have only seen negative so far come out of this drop-off in oil. as well as the strong dollar as well as a brush stroke attitude

when it comes to a number of initiatives you all are working on. let's talk about where is the growth in the economy and what has worked so far. i hope you all would be interactive with your colleagues to get this conversation going. given that you have seen a big drop-off in unemployment in your state, can you give us a sense of what you have seen in terms of what has worked in that regard? >> we are honored to have you here with us. the primary focus was to turn the economy around. my number one goal was to get out of the great recession. when i came and it was an 8.7% unemployment rate. we have had a dramatic turnaround. we tried to create an

environment that is conducive to the entrepreneur and private sector and risk takers. we have cut our taxes and regulation reform. we have our great educated labor force and we have efficiency in government that doesn't get in the way of the entrepreneur. we set a goal to be the best performing economy in america. we also wanted to improve our opportunities internationally and be a premier destination place for international trade and commerce. the results have been pretty remarkable. many publications have named as one of the best places in america to do business. >> were there other things done in particular to get the business section hiring and creating jobs? >> the motivation for most businesses is to make a profit and increase market share.

creating an environment of competitive tax rates was part of it. we also did a significant review of our regulations. as i get around my state, around the country the most common complaint is the regulations that get in the way of their being productive in business efforts. we did a reform where recounted our business regulations. and getting input from the public and others out there, we found three have succeeded of those 2000 had no public purpose. they were simply a drag on the economy. we did what any sensible person would do, aluminate or modify those. and we want you to be successful. we are going to eliminate those barriers.

we are known as a business friendly state because of that. >> and yet the themes are real in terms of persistent unemployment elsewhere and income disparity we are seeing across the country. you also have to very focused on trying to move the needle on this. what challenges are getting in the way? >> i think there are a number of challenges. many of them reside in washington. the reality of the great recession was it did relapse lasting systemic damage to our economy. i think in some senses has changed how we lived. the fact it has been the most prolonged and slowest recovery of any post-world war ii recession is not lost on anyone. clearly there are states that have benefited during that

period of time, in many cases because of the production or the harvesting of natural gas or oil. what we needed to do in connecticut was change how we do business as well. we eliminated 1000 pages of regulation. he needed to change how we do business. we created a series of tools not the least of which was the small business express program. grants, matching grants and loans designed for small businesses. that was a literally a lifeline to get through what was the remainder of the great recession in our state because it went 16 months longer in connecticut than it did in a national basis. those small firms are driving

job creation in connecticut. if we had failed to support them in their darkest moments the jobs that are being re-created in our state would not be there. we have concentrated on things like kind to match our educational system, particularly education to the needs of the state. we have been retiring engineers asked her that our state and public universities have been graduating them. we recently decided to increase the engineering school at the university of connecticut by 70%. the first two classes are 50% larger than predecessor classes. it is the sort of thing you need to do in higher education. a lot of governors around the table try to match the needs of the business community tighter

to the courses and certification that are available, same time as we try to improve our pre-k through educational system. i love spending time with other governors and stealing their ideas and telling people they were mine. >> it is important to be able to hear what colleagues are doing to be able to match the success there. you mentioned many of the challenges are because of washington. does everybody on the panel agree with that? is that the inability to come together? >> i think there are a series of issues that washington fails to make substantial progress on. the governors have been talking about our transportation needs and how do we project transportation spending when

both our state transportation dollars and federal dollars are closely tied to a tax that is disappearing, which is a gas tax. what is the clear course to take to replace a reliance? tesla is building the world's largest battery factoring in nevada and probably one of the number one brand names in the universe apple is apparently toying with the idea of getting into the car business. i assume they are not going to be making cars that are run by gasoline and yet we are going to be overly independent. there is an inability to respond to our needs in washington. even the progress that they do sometimes -- that they are sometimes able to make takes too long to produce as a product. >> this is an important point

because the truth is what happens on immigration may very well be seen differently in arizona. it really isn't a brushstroke attitude or way to move the needle on these issues. the geographies are so different. who raised their hands when i said the challenges in washington -- governor mcauliffe? >> it is a challenge and opportunity for virginia. virginia is the number one recipient of the department of defense dollars. we have the largest naval base in the world. when you have government dysfunction around sequestration, that impacts a place like virginia and the whole washington area is dramatically impacted.

we've got to bring in new businesses from around the globe, which is what we really focused on. it has given us the opportunity to build the new virginia economy. we have had the lowest unemployment in seven years. i did it by traveling the globe. we brought the largest chinese company we are trying to do it on a global basis. it has presented us with an opportunity. you have to become wrestled less reliant on the federal government. that is the future. it's also a great opportunity. we do all wished the federal government would get their act together. the issues on sequestration of october 1.

congress now has to vote to stop it. it will have an impact on many economies and states around the country. the biggest hit will be virginia and maryland. i'm just hoping they can figure this out. it is really devastating to a family to lose that family paycheck. >> you make a great point particularly about attracting foreign capital. we all know that today the u.s. is the best game in town. you have real struggles elsewhere. the ecb trying to help. it is much more than monetary policy. china having come down from the highs in terms of economic growth. an enormous amount of money is coming to the u.s., which is creating another issue for the strong dollar and multinationals in terms of manufacturing, because that is one of the places for jobs. what else can be done in terms of communicating and moving the needle on the federal

government, understanding to get congress and the president to understand that these issues affect real people. >> that obviously fills up a weekend and beyond. fog mire is reflective of the clock higher we are in in this country. we talk about recovery that is slower than before. it is a situation as usual where the united states once again rules the world economically. i'm from minnesota. the economic confidence index was published last week. minnesota ranks highest incompetence of any state in the nation.

they believe it will be no better than before. every other state is a minus. the citizens are less confident about their future and the future of this country economically than they were a year ago. conditions have improved. washington doesn't know the answer. what is the answer? cut spending. the economy is growing. the deficit is less than it used to be. but we are not making the capital investment. we are not investing in transportation or infrastructure, the things we know need to be done. so we are caught in this trap where he cannot say ok, let's name this quagmire we are stuck in. people are telling us they don't have confidence for the future. >> do you feel you have the space and time to actually have

these conversations? do you think you can communicate this better to congress and the president? are you not getting the availability? this seems so obvious that the states should have more access as well as ownership of their economic policies. >> i can't not respond to that. absolutely we should. 52% of our land is controlled by the federal government in alaska. oil and gas development, they have taken on another 20 million acres off. they are turning this into one great big park and we are having a tough time with an economy that we are not allowed to develop. plenty of resources but they are making it more difficult every single year. our revenue sharing percentage is zero.

other states get 37.5%. not a good time to talk about the role of the federal government in our state. i'm here to carry the message that they are literally putting us out of business. >> i think it is easy for us to blame washington. in the one hand we live in a world with 3 billion people looking for jobs and there are 1.2 billion jobs available. we are clearly in this unbelievable global war for jobs, which means we are in a global war for talent, because the jobs are going to go where the talent is. there are millions of jobs in this country that are open because employers can't find people with relevant skills. i like to focus on the things i can actually control. we have a couple of financial services employers in delaware.

between them may have about 1000 vacancies, primarily in the technology area. what we have been focused on and picking up on something governor malloy has talked about is making sure that our institutions of higher education and our k-12 system is at the table with our employers, understanding at a pretty get your -- pretty granular level the kind of skills they are looking for. whether it is the launching of pathways to prosperity program where we are focused on making sure that kids in school are developing the necessary skills or listening to our employers in the i.t. industry who keep telling us their recruitment strategy is to hire employees away from each other, which is a lousy recruitment strategy. it is so much better for everybody, employers and those looking for better employment we are working with them to accelerate the pace at which we can train people in computer programming and other i.t.

skills. it is not all about a four year degree or a two-year degree. there are plenty of people that we can train in intensive shorter training programs that will develop the skills they need to get a good job. when we think about the role we can play in regulatory reef -- in reform efforts, making sure we have affordable cost of doing business, the quality of our schools, the quality of our infrastructure it has to do with axes to his skill force role. >> i think it is a great point and i want to talk about it a lot more. we hit on regulation a bit. when i speak with ceos and managers of business i keep hearing about this revolution going on in terms of a marriage of technology and health care and this revolution in life sciences, and this and need for engineering skills and this need for science know-how.

you have seen this in terms of emerging entrepreneurs. are we keeping up from an education standpoint to ensure that our children are actually armed with the best resources they can have to get the jobs that are available? >> colorado is an example of how it is working. i think this recruitment strategy we see all the time -- we are the number one destination for millennial's. young people 18 to 34-year-olds have been flocking into colorado. a rich talented environment. within our own education system we are not delivering the kids that are sufficiently educated. it doesn't need to be a certificate. just as the governor said, we have any number of technology

jobs, especially these life science jobs. these companies are connected to health care. they are exploding and we are having to import a lot of the talent going to these company -- these companies. if we don't find a way to transform how we are preparing kids to go from -- it shouldn't be just from universities. how do we make sure kids coming out of college don't have them but -- have a bunch of debt and are ready for their jobs? our strategy will be just stealing from each other rather than generating our own. >> is that a private sector job or a government job? the idea that we need to train our children that are? >> when i talk to most of the ceos of our larger employers, we have a number of large companies that have headquarters there. they look at it as a

collaborative problem. they don't buy in that we are just going to turn over to government and let them do it. most of our funding scholarships and programs have actually helped create community college programs that deliver specifically the type of skills and training where you can guarantee a kid you finished this nine months worth of work and you will have a job. at the same time they cannot do it by themselves. the hard part is to make sure we are connecting business and all of our different facilities of education in real time. what happens to often is we plan out a curriculum. by the time the eyes get dotted and he's get crossed, a group comes out 12 months later and the job has already changed. we have to get much faster.

grandma i think the effort is right on target. only one out of 10 high schools in america offer computer science. in china it is technology education. we have a joint responsibility to prepare the students for those skills and workplace. the private sector comes in and supplements that. that is the opportunity bringing technology and jobs to your state. in arkansas we will pass -- it requires computer science or computer coding to because in every high school in arkansas. that is an opportunity to change the dynamics of the economy provide technology education job opportunities to young people, and to bring those jobs back to america.

>> one of the hottest classes right now is coding and learning coding. and skills around engineering. >> in montana we are creating jobs among the fastest pace in our history, about 12,000 created last year. growth in every single sector and at the same time the highest graduation rates we have seen. double the number of students taking college classes in the high schools to get that jump. >> why the you think that is? why such vibrancy? >> in part it is post recession and places like ours weren't hit as hard. i inc. it is the opportunity that we are creating the right climate and there are opportunities in all kinds of different sectors. i spoke to elon musk and said if you were governor, what would you do?

he said i would go out and encourage all of your people to have more babies. his point was you have over one million people, you are going to have some challenges. i think it is a collaborative effort. you go to your private sector, other companies coming in and saying i need to be able to provide you a pipeline of trained and talented workers. you work with state government in your two and four year colleges and universities. sometimes it is a credential to actually scale folks up. i think it has to be a deliberative effort with the private sector in combination with the public sector and our educational system to make sure we are meeting the workforces and the employer's needs and all of our states. >> which underlines the idea that this needs to be collaborative. this needs to be a partnership between business and policy

makers and ensuring we have to training around that government -- around that. >> it is about collaboration between the private sector and the public sector. public sector doesn't create jobs, private sector creates jobs. most families feel like they have to work harder and harder every day to be able to achieve financial independence. we also have the situation in oklahoma where you have a really low unemployment rate. you have employers who cannot find the workers they need. and then you have a really low unemployment rate. the real challenge is making sure you have the right level of attainment in your states. even regional and localized within the local communities the local regions of your individual state.

one in particular is we have been realigning our k-12 education with our career technology schools and our higher education institutions for associate degrees or bachelor's degrees, and then working with the private sector to say, what do you need? i know down in eastern oklahoma the skill sets they need may be in tourism and manufacturing. it is oil and gas, wind turbines. they have a lot of engineering and aerospace. a lot of financial services. so one of the things we talked about last year was how do you meet the skills gap? get that right type of educational attainment level to be able to take care of the jobs and how people have a career path? we also know that two thirds of the jobs will require more than

a high school degree. you are going to have to have an associates or college degree to be successful and reach the middle class. one of our biggest challenges is how do we make sure we have the skilled educated workforce that is relevant to today's ever-changing modern economy? >> it almost seems like a luxury to be discussing it during a time that there is a whole portion of people in america right now who really have not seen the impact of the recovery. you heard what vice president biden said the other day. even though we see all of the economic data that seems to beginning better every month you have pulled a poll where people say i'm not feeling it. i don't necessarily think things are getting better. why do you think that is? talk about the challenges that you have seen.

>> i have been in this job for about four weeks. i can tell you what i saw from the private sector. the reason i am a democrat is because i recognize we need to have a balance as he talked about. there are three things that i think the state needs to do pennsylvania especially. we need to set the table for economic growth. it is the private sector that does that but it takes a robust privates -- a robust sector to make sure it can function. we need regulations. the private sector cannot set the rules of the game that makes it so the market performs optimally. i think some of the things can be done in the private sector

but a lot of those things have to be done. we need to take advantage of the comparative -- of the competitive advantages where we have a god-given location. we have two great cities be at we have the universities of higher education in the world. we have some of the greatest institutions of higher education in the world. we have a great workforce, so many things to say. >> you can jump in. >> we have some great attributes. we need to take advantage of those things. i think government is uniquely qualified to do that. some of the things we can do to make sure we are having an education system that has relevant skills, we have to have a well funded education system. it has to be accountable and it has to provide the skills that private sector and families need. i think we do have a situation

where families are looking pessimistically at the future, even though unemployment is down 5%. the workforce percentage is not that good. people are flocking away from the workplace, maybe because of a skills mismatch. we have our work cut out for us. when i have to do is make people feel good about what their future holds and what the opportunities are. i think government can do -- can play a big role in unleashing those animal spirits. >> we want to talk about where is the growth, where are the main issues that are getting in the way of those two things? i would like to get a few more of you who are new to your

roles. some of you won the people's vote because you are a business person and because people believe a business person can try to apply business principles to a policy framework. i would put you in that category. tell us what you see so far. >> i did run as a business person. my company was called -- was cold strong -- was cold stone creamery. you get a lot of undeserved popularity selling ice cream. we translated that into a campaign. i think most people understand a small business. i think when you talk about this principles of what makes a small business work are the same principles you can apply to government. a budget that you are accountable to. a plan that you follow area good

communication with your franchisees. the investment in people in terms of what happens inside the store and customer service. i never said that government is a business. i think that is a dangerous way to look at it. i think leadership of setting out a vision, a mission of how you are going to accomplish it to demonstrate through the people that you pick on your senior staff and agency heads, and put metrics out there that if you are driving towards those numbers it will affect their quality of life. an expansion of per capita income. those are the pragmatic way to give common sense numbers that are not partisan. they are things that say that this community is going to be better tomorrow than it is today because we are working on these issues. >> you are talking about accountability.

often times you do see a different performance. grandma i think a lot of jobs of the future are in science engineering, and math. they are also better paying jobs. it involves business education at all levels, and government. the ceo of the mere manufacturing, we have gone from 40,000 kids involved to 80,000 to 117,000. a lot of interest. there are kids who never thought they may have an aptitude in math and science who are now seeing a real opportunity there. another thing we have done is because of the skill shortage that we hear from business and

we know there is a big reduction in the military, we started something called home base iowa, and we are working to recruit people coming out of the military for the careers and jobs we have available right now. in just seven months we have placed a thousand people coming out of the military in good jobs in iowa. those are a couple of things to prepare for the jobs of the future. the home-based iowa be in direct in short term. >> you are all walking a balance of trying to create jobs, trying to figure out where it will come out from. maybe it is manufacturing. at the same time faced with issues around immigration around the cost of health care. let's dig deeper into what can be done.

they actually can move the needle to give business economics some clarity. no comment? once the biggest issue? what is the biggest economic issue you faced right now? >> in terms of the state of whole life, it really is about connecting the dots between the job opportunities and the graduates graduating. we do have jobs that go unfilled .

in terms of getting to the next level, the economy is doing much better than it was four years ago. it is the confidence issued that the general population don't feel certain about what the future holds. the concern is about being able to get a good middle-class job that allows them to be able to earn and create a career, most importantly being able to live and work in hawaii. >> biggest issue in merit -- in arizona. >> i talked about jobs in the economy every day. that in addition to k-12 education are the biggest concerns and the biggest things a governor can affect from that office. arizona is a state built on growth. that slowed dramatically. our unemployment is a point

higher than the national unemployment. >> it is jobs, economy, and my big goal this year is state budget in oklahoma. we can fun things that are priority in oklahoma and not some things we just hope works. effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability. we ask every set agency to set goals, measurable goals with specific percentages they help to achieve. we want to reduce our smoking rates in oklahoma. we set a goal -- we wanted high school seniors to go on to get a

college degree. maybe it is improving our recidivism rate helping people come out of prison. and then tying our budget to those goals speed if we are not reaching the goals, then change in the programming. >> i agree with the question of the talent and the training. i would add to the at -- to that that the and -- that the issue haven't touched john is infrastructure and energy. energy is tied to the cost of everything we do. we need to have a sound energy policy. they need to find the appropriate balance for the environment and the development of the energy.

we had been at a very wealthy state. one thing we had try to work on is infrastructure. it is the basic building -- building block of economic development. i think that is not just an issue of state-by-state. we rely on commerce to flow between the states. i think that is a challenge. how do we have great infrastructure? how to have an energy strategy that provides of audible energy? those are two big issues from wyoming's perspective. >> i want to get into energy. i think the question now is is the need for the energy policy

you are talking about as urgent as it was with a 50% decline? you way until oil is up to $100 and you say it is not a problem now, you are completely misunderstanding the concept of affordable energy. we can't just have it six months by six months. it has to be a long-term strategy. not only including how we use energy in this country about what energy we export and had we make it the best possible? we tend to be reactive as a country, as states. we go disaster by the day. some of these take long-term strategy not only for the states but for the predictability of industry, and of chemical companies. what are the energy costs going to be not next year but for 30 years?

i think to the extent we can provide that it helps the state. it provides relief for industry which is critical for investment. >> one of the reasons will prices have gone down is because of the supply. >> it is a supply and demand. it is a little bit artificial. it is supply by angry opec. and the innovation of technology of our companies that have been able to find resources that 10 years ago we thought we could never take. >> biggest economic issue facing nevada? >> investing in k-12 education. nevada is on the move. we have added 100,000 new jobs in the past four years. we have reduced unemployment rate. we read 14% four years ago. we have kicked it down to 6.8%.

we have a long way to go. we have technology, technology companies. that is going to -- the state demographer had to change the predictions for our state because there will be close to 7000 direct jobs and 20,000 other jobs coming here. i don't want to be reactive. i have to get in front of this and make sure we have this trained workforce all of us have been talking about. one of the things we did is we have brought together councils that bring together the universities to builders curriculums. that is for me preparing for the future preparing for the new nevada. nevada has historically been based on gaming and tourism, but now we will have a large data center in nevada, the largest

battery manufacturer, only one of six states that have attracted as a testing area for drones. that is an innovation i have to be ready for. that is my priority is. >> and you are dealing with foreign money coming in from aces like china. >> yes. we are seeing investment in that regard. i have learned from the other governors you can't wait for it. you have to go out and get it. we have been on trade missions to china, korea, israel, canada, mexico. we will go to year up this fall, two other places as well because there are companies, foreign companies looking to expand their markets in the u.s.. when they come to the u.s. i want to come to nevada. this is a great competition amongst all of us to have the most is this friendly dates we can. -- business friendly states we can.

we want to have a stable tax structure as well. the question i get asked is about education. that is why my focus is on that. >> many of you have been successful in terms of creating an environment for business to headquarter there or create jobs. >> just a follow-up, we are focused on making sure that we are transforming our economy into a world economy, making sure you are delivering reforms that will make a difference. >> the biggest economic issue you face? >> making sure we have people who have the skills for the future. you can see these trends coming. it doesn't sneak up on you. as we look at our plan, it is clear that we need to match what those jobs of the future are with education system that delivers them, especially with the high cost.

the lowest tuition increase of anywhere in the country, expand our scholarship at our community colleges. that work force side and improving the education side as to what you need for that, and keep fiscal discipline which helps us get foreign investment. >> similar. the disconnect between the skills needed in the schools available, the effort we have made is to launch two years free community college every high school graduate. we had 90% of high school seniors apply for the program. that has gotten everybody's attention. >> i would not disagree with anybody. you see workforce development. in virginia and the next 10 years, one million virginians will retire and create 500,000 new jobs. we need 1 million and a half

folks to fill those jobs. i have 30,000 jobs open in virginia in the tech space. i'm trying to encourage education system to make sure when those kids come into kindergarten they have a crayola book with stem on the cover and a chapter on cyber security. it is a global economy preparing for that. we are blessed with natural gas. for the first time you are seeing 58% of ceos say they are going to in source because of the natural gas costs. we can be competitive with anybody now and then you factoring -- in manufacturing. it is a great success. we just announced the other day, i brought a chinese company back. a highly distressed area in virginia, the biggest deal in 44 years. they reopened an old than sure plant -- they reopened an old furniture plant, shipping and

manufacturing back to china. it was cheaper to do it here. we open the plant, and they are selling them back the product made in virginia. that is what you have to do. >> what about the idea that companies have so much money overseas? what you change in tax policy to open up that in terms of getting that money -- i was just talking to a ceo. they have $31 billion in cash, $28 billion is overseas. >> talk to john chambers at cisco. he would love to bring it back. he has a responsibility to maximize returns. we have to make our tax policy that it incentivizes. they have a fiduciary duty, to make its mark for their shareholders to bring that money back here. i think all of us would agree

you need to change the tax code. >> by the way. even though they have this money they would rather spend more money on r&d because rates are so low. it makes perfect sense. why bring the money back from europe or from wherever if you're going to get double taxed on it rather than just borrowing it? governor baker? biggest issue you face in massachusetts? >> snow. [laughter] >> fair enough. and you're going to get more of it. does that have an economic story to it? >> absolutely. the economic story as many parts. the big ones are for retailers and hospitality businesses, main street businesses. it has been a grim month. many businesses are not hand to mouth but a lot of them have the

times of places that if they do not come into by no one gets paid the consequence of 8.5 feet of snow and the number of days lost for those operations has been profound. i think the second big issue is it puts an enormous strain on public resources because nobody budgets for nine feet of snow. you have all kinds of local communities that we have been working hard with to try and set up mutual aid programs to help them deal with the disposal of this. we stopped counting how much snow we were moving once we got above 100 times filling gillette stadium. we got folks who sent in the national guard and equipment from states like vermont and maine, and the irony of having vermont and maine send us national guard people and heavy equipment help remove snow is ironic.

new york, new jersey. it is -- the public expense associated is significant. the third big issue which we will start dealing with over the next few days is going to be property damage as bruce start to collapse -- roofs start to collapse. is this apocalyptic for you? once we get past the snow, probably for us, i would basically put it in a slightly different way. we had one of the most successful and most vibrant and most forward-looking knowledge-based economies anywhere in the world. if you're in one of those spaces and you can play and that successfully the world is your oyster. if you are not it is a cold place in massachusetts these days. one of our challenges not just

in massachusetts but they get back to your question, why did the numbers look so good to so many people, it is an anxious time for the better part of 4-5 years. they are running fast and working hard. they're having a hard time seeing where progress is going to come from. the price of food and housing, the price of energy, the price of health care. that one i do believe is tied directly to education and bills. we have got to figure out a way to do a better job. >> what are you going to do at the end of the school year with all of these days out for kids? are you going to have them make that up? when you think of americans kids versus chinese kids, we are sending our kids to school at much lower -- the volume of days . they are being educated more in china. the snow is one portion of this

subject but this is a touchy because kohl's have been closed for so long. >> generally speaking, the performance of most kids in massachusetts, it is most, which brings me to another subject, on most national and international exams it is quite good. we can compete with pretty much anybody at the middle and upper end. our problem, it is a probably better fix, achievement gap which is an opportunity gap between the school systems and the school districts in the schools that are performing, and those that aren't as profound. that is something i really believe we had better focus on because in the long run if you don't get a great high school education through high school and beyond, your chances in this world in this economy are going to be severely limited. >> it

just builds on each other as you get further into school. high school, college. the biggest economic challenge for pennsylvania? >> i agree with education. we have to build up the infrastructure and make sure the economy can function. the biggest problem is low self-esteem. i think one of the things the governor -- that is not a laugh line. >> you have to explain this to us. low self-esteem. why? >> i'm not saying this is a matter of confidence. i think one of the things that a good leader does, and as governors we have the ability to tell our potential and make sure we are not wasting away in part because we are not as good as we are. we are one of the underachieving states that can do better with the resources we have.

we need to address not only the structural issues, but also the psychological issues to keep us and hold us back. low self-esteem is a big problem. >> that requires leadership in terms of making sure people have optimism and hope that they can get a better life. >> especially in pennsylvania. >> governor harper? >> the biggest challenge facing utah is the challenge we have had, the growing economy. how do we keep it growing in a fast-growing state? we are one of the third or fourth fastest-growing states. i take a page out of president bill clinton's book for he said it is the economies david. it really is. the number one focus of all of us. we know we cannot have long-term sustained economic growth unless we have a skilled labor force. it goes back to education and

beyond high school diplomas, and high school needs. then it's the better alignment with what the skills we are teaching schools are in the demands of the marketplace are. you asked the question earlier about his responsibility is it to make sure that young people get a good education. is it public or private? it is a collaboration. part of that equation which we tiptoe around is it is the parents and guardians responsibility that their children get a good education. that is a component we overlook. we have too many parents in utah drop their children off that kindergarten, pick them up at high school graduation and a how was it? they need to be more involved to make sure they are getting their assignments done, that they are learning in school. that is an aspect we need to talk about to make sure the

parent-teacher conferences are being helped and people are working together with how they will excel in the classroom. the challenge from me is to have great success. how can i continue to make sure that happens is going to be a requirement of a skilled labor force. >> what is an appropriate level? >> our gdp has grown 4.1%. twice the national average. our population is under 2% growth. we have a high birth rate. we are a young birth rate. i have a lot of kids in school. plus people are now moving to utah for great quality of life and economic opportunity. it is a conundrum as far as how do you accommodate that and still grow and have that expand?

>> in parts of colorado and parts of the country, it is confidence. people double leave. it is not just their self-esteem but a big part of job creation is entrepreneurship. entrepreneurs generally put technology and health care aside, a lot of times a guy working for us and that accompany this one of the better workers there. he wants to start his own business. he thinks he can do a negotiated better contract, manage his workers better. if he doesn't feel the community supports him taking that risk, if he thinks there is too much red tape, if she feels there is not enough space for her entrepreneurial activities and they won't do it. over the last several years we

have seen that. the number of startups have gone down significantly. you can tie it to a number of things. how supportive we are of entrepreneurs. the media is constant bombarding people with this negative impression of how this is broken, or that is broken. we go through these campaigns where the level of negative advertising is beyond what anyone could have imagined 20 years ago. people don't believe anymore. that is having a direct effect on our entrepreneurship. colorado is growing. we have tons of startups. we do believe. we have a funny way of infrastructure. we move rapidly and the planning that has gone on is not going to be sufficient.

even if we had it we are too far behind. it is good policy to have. traffic jams congestion, we are one of work on this together. it is better than having empty streets. i think that sense of confidence is that this is going to be the key for the overall country. people forget governor clinton before he was president talked about the economy stupid. our recession started in 1984. he was running for president in 92. that recovery had some dips. these recoveries are difficult processes. part of that is getting accelerated have people believe to get confidence. >> i agree. the media plays an important part in terms of ensuring people understand the facts and what is going on. one of the reasons that people have not been feeling it is

because their wages haven't moved. you have an environment where unemployment, they are not getting better but the average guy or gal has not seen a change in their salaries. >> absolutely. we just open shake shack. >> usually successful deal. >> the wait staff, the price of the menu goes up. they have gone up 250% less 25 years. wages have gone up a fraction. i think that pressure, you see that in every industry. >> that is true. >> the segue from that is why is that? there are two big reasons. businesses have more choices than they have ever before about where to locate and where to expand, and where to hire. >> and who to hire. we have to come to grips with the fact that we are not entitled to a job tomorrow just because the employer was in our

state yesterday. this is not just a battle amongst us as governors. the battle is with employers around the globe. that is number one. number two, that are profound implications. we carry these computers in our pockets. the positive aspects of that, increases productivity, more wealth and opportunity. i'm sure we all have employers in our states who are producing twice as much as they produced 10 years ago employing half as many people. this revolution has big implications for the nature of what is the role of people in producing things. i think particularly given the fact that there are more choices than ever before, we need to understand what it is that they care most about when they are making that decision about where to invest and hire. then we have to act on it. to me, the biggest take away of all this is what everyone has

talked about. it has to do with workforce and skills. the $28 billion overseas, i think it is not just about tax policy. even if the tax policy was equal they are going to have lots of great choices about where they can get a great workforce. we need to make sure every single day we are getting better because we know other countries are investing heavily in that. >> you make a great point. this issue is only going to get worse. right now as we sit here they are doing prostate cancer surgery robotically. they are doing health care checks of our bodies. we have sensors all over the place. machines talking to machines. that will mean fewer jobs. is everybody ready for that? obviously not. we don't have the skill sets. >> at the same time these

technologies will create new jobs, the kind of jealous we never thought about before. >> absolutely. >> biggest economic chase -- choice you are facing? >> the honest answer is the one we don't know. who would have envisioned a down term the likes of the great recession a few years before it took place i would say there are challenges that we currently know that we are ignoring. climate change although we did talk about massachusetts or boston issue with snow, climate change is a gigantic challenge. my states on the eastern seaboard, maybe not in my lifetime that i hope and the like them of my children, i hope they get to the point where they will be as challenged by that as by seawater rising and the implications of greater disparity and whether.

i think that is a gigantic problem. transportation infrastructure presents a global disadvantage. i think we have to address that. we go back to how we going to fund how we address that. income disparity and what we do or don't do about that, the story about the chef not making as much as the wait staff, there is also a cultural, educational and racial disparity on who works on what side of the house. we have institutionalized to some extent those disparities me have to worry about it. demographics. we are getting older. there are -- everybody has

gotten older. it is not because you have a better skill set. on the demographic side. i think these are serious issues. political infrastructures, the person who used a way of political battles was the worst that could unified. now the person that can win more often than not than ever before is the person that can best divide. that is a problem. >> governor? >> kentucky has been very fortunate in coming out of this recession and a strong way fairly quickly. our unemployment rate has gone from 10.7 to 5.7. it continues to fall. our economy is really picking up . none of us are where we want to be yet. >> to what do you attribute that

success? >> every ceo i have talked to. they love incentives. they love infrastructure. they love the things that we give them. the thing that they want more than anything, their number one priority is a productive workforce just like everybody else. i think we ought to spend a moment talking about what the definition of a productive workforce is. obviously it is a trained workforce. we have problems like so many that we have programs like so many where we develop the skills needed for the jobs of the 21st century. a productive workforce, every smart ceo will tell you, is a healthy work force. they are not on the job all the time, they are not productive. we have made great strides in kentucky getting our workforce healthy. it has to be a drug-free workforce. all of us have that issue in our state. we have it.

we are having to attack that problem. all of these things that we do in one way, you can see the relationship. it goes to developing that productive workforce that is going to give you the job attractiveness to bring those folks into your state because you have that workforce that will do the job they need. >> governor? >> our challenges are the opportunities. in arkansas we have great entrepreneurs. we have great producers. you think of the global marketplace, that is our challenge. making sure the global marketplace is open to our industries. you look at walmart. they have expanded beyond the united states in the global marketplace, tysons food, in terms of the and poultry production, exports all over the world. rice production. we are a small state of great entrepreneurs that has to have a global marketplace to make sure

we create the jobs. i think that is the opportunity we face. i have listened to the comets around the room whether it is workforce education, job skills infrastructure. from a state perspective i would like to see the federal government give more flexibility to the states to address those problems. i think that we can do a better job. i think that we can manage it. i think it has been proven that while the federal government has done a great job of collecting revenues, they have not been very good at providing the solutions to the states and we have done better. i would like to see that flexibility. >> does everyone agree with that statement? [laughter] this is going to be a topic you discuss with the president tomorrow. >> i hope to absolutely do that. i think there is a growing

recognition in washington that there is a willingness to give more flexibility. i don't blame this simply on the federal government. things have changed. we have been very dependent. we have enjoyed have the federal largess returned to the state. times have changed for the federal budget. with the states being greater innovators. with mobile society that we have more competition. i think it is time to read figure that balance in federalism. that debate goes on. we can certainly push it and grab hold of the rains. >> let me push back a little bit. the last thing you said is actually a little bit at all its with what you first said. you want to strike the right balance. i can go along with the argument that maybe it is time to reset that balance. let's not forget there is a balance there. we have a national economy everyone takes advantage of

whether you are pennsylvania or arkansas. the manufacturers, the distributors, they take it manage of not just a global economy with the fact that we have one of the biggest and richest domestic markets in the world. that takes federal regulation and some federal cooperation. we can't lose sight of the idea that states can do everything. >> i agree totally. immigration, we need to have the federal government engaged in that, and trade policy. the federal government needs to do trade policies. but whenever it comes to our job creation, when it comes to our infrastructure, we have been dependent upon the federal highway dollars. let's read figure that. there are a ways to do things differently. i don't think it is inconsistency. i think we are in agreement with that. we need to make sure that there is a clarity