. so creating a environment of competitive tax rates was part of it. we also went and did a significant review of our regulations. as i get around as i get around my state and the country, the most common complaint is the regulations that get in the way of them being able to be productive in their business efforts. we did a regulation reform where we counted our business regulations and had about 2,000 impacting business and getting input from the public and others out there, we found 368 of those 2,000 had no public purpose, meaning they didn't level the playing field or help the republic but a drag on the economy and did what any sensible person would do which is to modify those and sent a strong message to the private sector, we are open for business. we want you to be successful but if there are things artificial that are getting in your way we want to eliminate

the barriers and are known as a friendly state because of that. >> and throughout the country the themes are real in terms of persistent unemployment and the income disparate we're seeing across the country. governor maloy, you've been very focused on trying to move the needle on this. what challenges are getting in the way? >> i think there's a number of challenges, many of them reside in washington. the reality of the great recession, and you referred to it, was that it did real lasting systemic damages to our economy and in some tense has changed the way we live and the fact it's been the most prolonged discussion since the recession and isn't lost on anyone. though clearly there are states who benefited mightily during that period of time in many cases because of the production

of natural gas or harvesting of natural gas or oil. with a we needed to do in connecticut was to change how we did business as well. we eliminated a thousand pages of regulations, not simply as a sign to the business community we meant business but needed a change in how we did business. we created a series of tools which is the small business express program, the first time the state got in connection with supporting small businesses with matching grants and loans and other devices, specifically designed for small businesses. and in 2011 and 2012, that literally was a lifeline for the businesses to get through the great recession because it went on 16 months longer in connecticut than a did on a national basis. those small firms we saved and assisted in those days are now driving job creation in

connect, or to put it another way if we'd failed to support them in their darkest moments the jobs being re-created in our state wouldn't be there. we concentrated on things like trying to match our higher education to the needs of the state. we're very intense in pre session manufacturing, particularly aerospace, and yet we've been retiring engineers faster than 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 for that effort are 50% larger than their predecessor classes. it's the sort of thing you need to do in higher education. we're also using our community colleges like i think a lot of governors around the table are trying to match needs of the business community tighter to

the courses and certifications available to the community colleges and at the same time we try to improve our prek-12 education system as well. i think it's all hands on deck and all things need to be done and i love spending time with other governors and stealing their ideas and going to connecticut and telling them they were mine. >> it's important to be able to hear what colleagues are doing to try to match the success there. you mentioned the start of your talk many of the challenges are because of washington. does everybody on the panel agree with that? who agrees with that? is that the inability to come together when you say washington? >> i think there are a series of issues that washington fails to make substantial progress on? actually you know, the governors have been talking about our transportation needs and how to project

transportation spending when our state dollars and federal dollars are closely tied to a tax that's disappearing which is the gas tax. what are we going to do about that and what's the clear course to take to replace a reliance. tesla is building the world's largest battery factory 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're not going to be making cars that are run by gasoline and yet we're all overly dependent, or immigration issues or educational issues. i think there's an inability to respond to our needs in washington and even the progress that they do sometimes -- are able to make just takes too long to produce as a product. >> i think this is a really important point and want to stay on it for a moment or two

because the truth is what happens, for example on immigration may very well be seen differently in arizona. as it may be seen in colorado. i mean, you know, so there really isn't a brush stroke attitude or way to actually look at moving the needle on some of these issues if in fact the mentalities and geographics, the geographies of the state are so different. let's talk a little more about that [who raised their hand when i said the challenges in washington? who can add to that? governor mccall? >> it's a challenge and opportunity. in virginia we are a unique circumstance. virginia is the number one recipient of department of defense dollars. all the military assets and we have the largest naval base in the world and the c.i.a. and quantico. when you have the government dysfunction around sequestration it affects places like virginia and the washington area up here is dramatically impacted. we have to become less reliant on the federal government and

bring in new businesses around the globe which is what we really focused on. where that's presented a challenge, it's given us the opportunity to build what we call the new virginia economy. i just announced we had the lowest unemployment in seven years. we did about $5.6 million -- $5.6 billion in business and we brought the largest chinese company ever to invest in america and won that in virginia. we're not going to other states' governors but trying to do it on a global basis and bringing in companies from asia and europe. it presented us with an opportunity and we have to become less reliant on the president and bringing in biotech and where it's been a challenge, it's been a great opportunity but do well wish the federal government would get their act together. the issues of sequestration on october 1, if that happens and congress doesn't vote for it, they have to vote to stop it

and will have a dramatic impact of states in the country and the biggest state would be virginia and maryland an others hit by it. i hope they figure it out and we don't go in a sequestration mode and shut down our government because it's devastating to lose that family paycheck. >> you make a great point especially about attracting foreign capital because we know today the u.s. is the best game in town. you have real struggles elsewhere, europe deteriorating on an economic basis, the e.c.b. trying to help but it's much more than monetary policy. asia, much slower than a few years ago, china having come down from the highs in terms of economic growth so an enormous amount of money is coming to the u.s. which is creating another issue for the strong dollar and our multinationals. in terms of manufacturing because that really is one of the places for jobs. so 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 these issues affect real people and the needle in terms of nick growth. >> we're specialists in blaming washington and that obviously fills up a weekend and beyond. but i think the quagmire here is reflective of the economic quagmire we're still in in this country and to talk about recovery and slower than before but are we back to sort of the situation as usual where the united states once again rules the world economically and we're not. and i'm from minnesota the economic confidence index was published last week, minnesota ranks the highest. our citizens are the most competent of any state in the nation and we're at zero. in other words, this year they think the economy for the united states will be no better than before.

and every other state is a minus. every other state, the citizens are less confident about their future and the future of the country economically than they were a year ago and yet the conditions haven't improved. what are they telling us that we're sort of -- washington doesn't know the answer. what is the answer? raise taxes, cut spending? the deficit is less than it used to be but we're not making the capital investment as the governors just said. we're not investing in transportation and infrastructure, the things we know need to be done. the resources aren't there. we're caught i think in this trap where we can't say ok, let's name this quagmire we're stuck in and people telling us they don't have confidence in the future and what are we going to do with it? >> do you feel you have the space and sort of, you know, the time to actually have these conversations? i mean, do you think that you

can communicate this better to congress and the president? are you not going 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. alaska, 62% of our land is controlled by the federal government. we're not allowed -- for the timber. the restriction is on the mining oil and gas development. they've taken another big chunk, another 20 million acres off. there's more parkland in alaska than there is in the rest of the united states combined. to turn this into one great big park, we're having a tough time with the economy we're not allowed to develop. plenty of resources and people want to develop but they're making it more difficult every year and that we can develop offshore the revenue sharing experience is zero. most states get 37.5% and we

get 0. not a good time for me to be talking about the role of the federal government in our state because that's one of the reasons i'm here, to carry the message they're literally putting us out of business. >> this is a legislation issue we'll delve into later. >> there's plenty of frustration around the table and that being said, on the one hand we live in a world with three billion people looking for jobs and 1.2 billion jobs available. we clearly are in this unbelievable global war for jobs which really means we're in a global war for talent because the jobs go where the talent is. at the same time there are millions of jobs in this country which are open because people can't find those with the relevant skills. to me i like to focus on the things i can control. it's really the latter issue. we have a couple financial services employers alone in delaware which is a small state which between them have about

1,000 vacancies primarily in the technology era. we've been very much focused on and picking up with something governor maloy talked about, is making sure our institutions of higher id -- education and understanding on a granular level the context skills people are looking for. whether it's the launching of pathways to prosperity program where we're focused on making sure kids in school are developing the necessary skills or listening to our employers, again in the i.t. industry who keps telling us, their recrumet strategy is hire employees away from each other which is a lousy recruitment strategy. it's better for everybody, our employers and looking for better employment, we're working with them to accelerate the base to train people in commuter programming.

and it's not about a two-year degree or a four-year degree, as important as they are but there are plenty of people we can train in 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 addition to the regulatory reform efforts making sure we have a fordable cost of doing business. the quality of our schools and infrastructure. the thing i keep hearing from employers has to do about angeds in the skilled work force and bat state can do to facilitate that. >> i want to talk about it a lot more. we hit on regulation a bit which we'll get back to but let's stay with skills gap. when i speak to c.e.o.'s, i hear of the revolution going on in terms of the marriage of technology and health care and this revolution in life sciences and the need for engineering skills and the need for science know-how. governor hicken blooper, you've

seen it in your state -- governor hickenlooper, you've seen this in your state. are we keeping up to ensure our children are actually armed with the best resources they can have to get the jobs that are available. >> certainly colorado is an example of how it's working and this recruitment strategy, along with washington, d.c., the number one destination for millenals, the last six years, young people, 18-30-year-olds have been flocking to colorado, a rich, talented environment but yet within our own education system we are not delivering the kids that are sufficiently educated and have the -- it's not degrees but the skills. it can be a certificate, doesn't even need to be a certificate, but to fill the jobs. just as governor markell said, any number of technology jobs, especially the life science

jobs. the technology companies are connected to health care. they are exploding and we're having to import a lot of the talent that's going to these companies. if we don't figure out a way pretty rapidly to transform how we're preparing kids to go from -- shouldn't just be the university but from high school, to how we get more apresence usship programs and make sure kids coming out of college don't have a bunch of debt but are ready for the jobs and again, our strategy will be just stealing from each other instead of really generating our own. >> is that a private sector job or is that a government job, the idea we need to training our children better? >> i think when i talk to the c.e.o.'s of our larger employers, arrow electronics devita, we have a number of large companies as a headquarters there and look at

it as a collaborative problem and they don't buy into let's turn it over into government and let them do it. most are funding scholarships programs, some others like arrow helped create community college programs that actually deliver specifically the type of skills and training whereby you can almost guarantee a kid you finish this six months or nine months worth of work and you'll have a job, 98%. but at the same time, they can't do it by themselves and they need us to -- we have the infrastructure and the process. the hard part is to make sure that we are connecting business and all of our different facilities of education in real time and not what happens too often is we plan out a curriculum and by the time that curriculum is designed and the i's are dotted and the first group comes out 12 months later, the job's already changed. we've got to be much, much faster. >> governor hutchinson?

>> i think the effort's right on target. you look nationally, only one out of 10 high schools in america offer computer science. in the u.k. it's mandated and in china it's mandated, it's technology education. and we have a joint responsibility to prepare the students for those kind of skills in the workplace. obviously the private sector comes in and supplements that but that's the opportunity to bring technology, jobs to your state. in will arkansas, i'll sign it next week, which requires commuter coding to be auth in every program in arkansas and will start the next school year and is an opportunity to change the dynamics of the economy and provide technology education and job opportunities for young people and bring those jobs back to america. >> across university, one of the hottest classes now is coding and learning coding and

skills around engineering. governor bullock? >> i was just going to say in montana we are creating jobs among the fastest pace in our history, 12,000 jobs created last year, 4.2% unemployment rate and growth in every single sector and at the same time, highest high school graduation rates we've ever had, doubled the number of students taking college classes? the high schools to get that jump. >> why do you think that is? >> why day think all those pieces are? >> why such vibrancey? >> i think in part it's certainly post recession, a place as ours wasn't hit as hard but it's also i think the opportunity where creating right climate and great opportunities and different sectors. i had a chance though i spoke to elon music a while ago and said if you were governor, what would you do? he said, i'd go out and

encourage all your people to have more babies. i'm like huh? his point was you have a million people, over 147 square files and you'll have some challenges. how we make up for that, and i really think it is a collaborative effort. you go for your private sector and other companies coming in and saying i need to provide you a pipeline of trained and talented governors and work with your two or four-year colleges and universities and sometimes it's for the that degree but a stackable credential to scale folks up but i think it has to be a deliberative effort with the private sector in combination with the public sector in our educational system to really make sure that we're meeting the work forces and the employers' needs in all of our states. >> which underlines the idea this really needs to be collaborative. this needs to be a partnership between business and policymakers in terms of recognizing the issues and

ensuring that we've got the training around that. governor? are thank you for being here. it is about collaboration between the private sector and certainly the public sector. the public sector doesn't create jobs, the private sector creates the jobs. i think what most families want they feel like they have to work harder and harder every day to be able to achieve financial independence. yet we also have the situation to where in states like oklahoma where you have a very low unemployment rate, about 4.4% right now and you have employers who can't find the workers they need and then we have a very low unemployment rate. the real challenge is the skills gap and making sure you have the right level of educational attainment in your individual states and not just by the state itself or by the nation but even regional and localized within the local communities, the local regions of your individual states. we formed a partnership with many different organizations but one in particular is we've

been realigning our k-12 education with our career technology schools with the type of courses being offer and our higher education sectors with the degrees and working with the private sector and saying what do you need for your skills? i know in eastern oklahoma, the skill sets they need, maybe in forestry or tourism manufacturing but western oklahoma is all gas and if you go to oklahoma city or tulsa or two major metropolitan injuries, they have a lot of financial services and have a similar skills gap. one of the things we talked about last year at the governor 's association meeting, how do you meet the skills gap and get the right education attainment level and take care of the jobs and to have people not just have a job but a career path. 2/3 of the jobs before 2020 will require more than a high

school degree. you'll have to have a career certificate or college degree to be successful and reach the middle class and is one of the biggest challenges in the nation, how do we make sure we have the skilled educated work force relevant to today's ever changing innovative, modern economy? >> the issue is so important and almost seems like a luxury to discuss it during a time there's a whole portion of people in america right now who really have not seen the impact of the recovery. i mean, you heard what vice president biden said the other day. you also see it in the polls. even though we see all the economic data that looks to be getting better every month, you have an active poll where people say i'm not feeling it. i don't necessarily think things are getting better and still think we're in a recession. talk to us about pennsylvania and the challenges you've seen? >> i've been in this job for four weeks so i come out of the

practice -- >> that's ok. >> so you have all the answers. >> that's right. no. but i can tell you what i saw from the private sector and the reason i'm a democrat is because i recognize we have to have the balance you talked about. first of all -- there are four things. first of all, states are captive of the macroeconomic trends going on in the nation and the global economy. beyond that there are three things the states need to do and pennsylvania especially. first, we need to set the table for economic growth. and it is the private sector that does that but takes a very robust public sector to make sure the private sector can function. the public sector, not the private sector, provides public goods. the private sector cannot address equalities and don't set the rules for the most part to make sure the market performs optimally. i think some of the things can be done in the private sector but a loss has to be done

publicly. in pennsylvania, we need to take it comparisons of the advantages we've got. we're the keystone state with a god given location and the greater universities of higher education in the world. massachusetts. we have some of the greatest institutions of higher education in the world. we have a great work force. we have so many things. >> say it again. >> governor bullock you can jump in. >> we have great attributes and need to take advantage of those things. i think government is uniquely qualified to do that. finally, i think government works at the margins and some of the things we can do to make sure we are having an education system which has relevant skills. we have to have a robust, well-funded education system but has to be accountable and has to provide the skills the private sector and families actually need. i think we do have a situation where families are looking somewhat pessimistically at the

future even though unemployment in pennsylvania is down below 5%. the work force% of the population engaged in the work force is not that good. people are flocking away from the workplace, maybe it's because of a skills mismatch. people aren't staying in pennsylvania. we have our work cut out for us and as governor can set the table for issues for robust growth. we have to make people feel good what the future is in pennsylvania and what their future holds and what the opportunities are. i think they need to be optimistic and government can play a big role in unleashing those animal spears. >> in this session we really want to talk about where are the jobs, where is the growth, what are the main issues getting in the way? i'd like to get the insights of a few more of you who are new to your roles because some of you actually won the people's

vote because you are a businessperson and because people leave that a businessperson can try to apply business principles to a policy framework. governor ducey, i'd put you in that category. tell us what you've seen so far. >> i did run as a businessperson and i come from the private sector. my taken was cold stone creamry, the ice cream concept. you get a lot of undeserved popularity selling ice cream. so we translated that into a campaign. but i think people -- most people understand a small business. and i think when you talk about those principles of what makes a small business work are the same principles you can apply to government, a budget that you're accountable to, a plan that you follow, good communication with your franchisees, the investment in

people in terms of what happens inside the store and customer service. i did never -- or i never said that government is a business. i think that's a dangerous way to look at it. but i think businesslike principles, leadership of setting out a vision, a mission of how you're going to accomplish it, to demon straight it through the people on your senior staff and then put metrics out there that people can see if you're driving towards those numbers will affect their quality of life, expansion of the economy, a per capita income, lower crime rates. those type of things are the pragmatic way to give common sense numbers that i don't believe are partisan, they're just things that say this community is going to be better tomorrow than it is today because we're working on these issues. >> what you're talking about is accountability and when the people know there's accountability in place oftentimes you do see a

different performance. >> i think a lot of the jobs of the future are in the stem field, science technology, entering and math and also are better paying jobs. i started and signed an executive in september of 2011 to really put together a public-private partnership that involved business and education at all levels in government, in stem, in really the lieutenant governor co-chairs that along with marion drengo, the c.e.o. of vamir manufacturing and gone from 40,000 kids involved to stem to 80,000 to now 117,000. a lot of enthusiasm and interest. and it's changing -- there's just a kid that never thought they might have an aptitude in math and science are now seeing a real opportunity there. another thing we've done is because of the skill shortage that we hear from business, and

we know there's a big reduction in the military, we started something called home base iowa and we're actively 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 almost 1000 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. with the stem program, long-term, and the home base iowa 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 the stem area. maybe it is manufacturing. at the same time faced with issues around immigration, around the cost of health care. of course, education. let's dig deeper into what can be done.

for example, in terms of immigration, in terms of the idea that the funding for homeland security may not come through, is or anything they could be done on your level that actually can move the needle to give business economics some clarity? no comment? what is the biggest issue? i would like to go around the horn and see what the biggest economic issue you face right now? governor? >> in terms of the state of hawaii, it really is about connecting the dots between the job opportunities and the graduates graduating. like most other states, we do have jobs ago unfilled. the students and the graduates don't really have the right job

skills. >> you're saying that skill sets is your number one issue in hawaii? >> yes, in terms of getting to the next level, the economy is doing much better than it was four years ago. the challenge is the confidence issue, 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 will allow them to be able to earn and create a career, most importantly being able to live and work in hawaii. >> biggest issue 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. it is a place where people have been moving from around the country. that slowed dramatically.

our unemployment is a point higher than the national unemployment. getting that economy turnaround is what were going to do in this administration. >> oklahoma? >> it is jobs, economy, and my big goal this year is to work at structurally changing how we do our state budget in oklahoma. we can find things that are priority in oklahoma and not just fund things we just hope works. effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability. we ask every set agency to set goals, measurable goals with specific percentages they hope to achieve. and a year they hope to achieve it. for example, we want to reduce our smoking rates in oklahoma. we set a goal to reduce our smoking rates by 2025 by a certain percentage. 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 being able to help them be successful once they exit. and then tying our budget to those goals, and if we are not reaching the goals, then change the programming to make the government more accountable, affective, and efficient there it -- and efficient. >> i agree with the question of the talent and the training. i would add to that and one issue we have not touched on is is infrastructure and energy. energy is tied to the cost of everything we do. we need to have a sound energy policy. we need an energy strategy that is long-term, that finds the appropriate balance for the environment and the development of the energy.

wyhoming, as we export more than any other state, we had been at a very wealthy state. we can do some remarkable things. one thing we had try to work on is infrastructure. it is the basic 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 affordable energy and the cleanest way possible to the country? those are two big issues from wyoming's perspective. >> i want to get into energy.

i think the question now is, that people are going back and forth about, is the need for the energy policy you are talking about as urgent as it was with a 50% decline? >> i think this is the exact right time to be looking at it. if you wait 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. this is the time to look at it. what should the portfolio be? not only including how we use energy in this country, but what it is you export and how 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 predictability for industry which is critical for investment. >> one of the reasons that oil prices have come down so much is because of the supply. >> it is a supply and demand. it is a little bit artificial. it is supply and demand partly 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 attain. >> biggest economic issue facing nevada? >> investing in k-12 education. improving the delivery of education in our state. nevada is on the move. we have added 100,000 new jobs in the past four years.

we have reduce the unemployment rate. we were at 14% four years ago. we have kicked it down to 6.8%. we have a long way to go. we have new companies, technology companies. governor malloy talked about the tesla battery plant coming to our state. 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. as matt said, 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 developed sector councils that brought together the private sector, the university's comic k-12, so that we can build

those curriculums so that workforce will be ready to go when those businesses open up. 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 have the largest data center in nevada, the largest battery manufacturer, only one of six states that have attracted as a testing area for drones. that is another big emerging area in aviation that i have to be ready for. that is my priority is. >> and you are dealing with foreign money coming in from places 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 be going to your this fall, some 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 business friendly states we can have. 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. governor nixon? >> just a follow-up, we are focused on making sure that we are transforming our economy for a world economy, making sure you are delivering reforms that make a real 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. this stuff 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. we've also cap the cost of education down, the lowest

tuition increase of anywhere in the country, expand our scholarship program 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. >> governor. >> similar. the disconnect between the skills needed in the schools available, the effort we have made is to launch two years free community college or technical school to every high school graduate. we had 90% of high school seniors apply for the program. that two years free has gotten everybody's attention and hopefully we can address the gap. >> i would not disagree with anybody. workforce development. in virginia in 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 northern virginia in the tech space. cyber security. 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. listen, 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 in manufacturing. bringing back advanced manufacturing to america's 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 invested the money,

reopened an old furniture plant, taking the product to our port and shipping it back to china. it was cheaper to do it here. we took their money, open the plant, and sell 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're change in tax policy to open up that in terms of getting that money -- i was just talking to the qualcomm 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 fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to maximize returns. we have to make our tax policy so that it incentivizes. they have a fiduciary duty, to make it smart for their shareholders to bring that money back here and turbocharged our

economy. 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 borrow more money on r&d because rates are so low. it makes perfect sense. why would you bring the money back from europe or from wherever if you're going to get double taxed on it rather than just borrowing it at 0%? 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 has 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 kinds of places that if they do not, in and by things, 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 plowing removal, disposal of this. we stopped counting how much snow we were moving once we got above 100 times filling gillette stadium. we have had folks like governor wolf 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 roofs start to collapse. is this apocalyptic for you? i think that once we get past the snow, probably for us, i would basically put it in a slightly different way. we have 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 in it and play successfully, the world is your oyster. if you're not, it is a cold place in massachusetts these days.

one of our challenges not just in massachusetts but elsewhere and it gets 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. primarily because 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. -- skills. 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 schools have been closed for so long. right? >> 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, and it is a problem we 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 and beyond, your chances in this world in this economy are going to be severely limited. >> absolutely. it just builds on each other as you get further into school.

high school, college. governor wolf, the biggest economic challenge for pennsylvania? >> i agree with education. we have to build up the infrastructure and make sure the economy can function. i think the biggest problem in sylvania 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 is your biggest economic problem, 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 opportunity to do this and tout our potential and make sure we are not wasting away in part because we are not as good as we

are. pennsylvania is one of the underachieving states that can do better with the resources we have. one of the responsibilities of leadership is to address not only the structural issues, but also the psychological issues to keep us and hold us back. so, 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. yes. >> governor harper? >> the biggest challenge facing utah is the challenge we have had, growing economy. how do we keep it growing in a fast-growing state? we are one of the third or fourth fastest-growing states. the need to have economic expansion continues. i take a page out of president bill clinton's book, where he said it is the economy, stupid. 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 into post high school needs.

there needs to be better alignment with what the skills we are teaching in schools, and 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? governor hickenlooper talked about the fact that 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 at 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 held 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 require a skilled labor force. >> what is an appropriate level? >> excuse me. >> what is an appropriate growth 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 don't believe. 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 then 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. all of us reducing red tape haven't done a good enough job of showing 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. my company got sold and i got laid off in 86. 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. >> he was describing wages in the kitchen. 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 challenge 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's 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 lifetime 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 we 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. in just a matter of 23 years and 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. but 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 are partnering with business 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 -- comments 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 in order 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 reconfigure that balance in federalism. that debate goes on. we can certainly push it and grab hold of the reins. >> let me push back a little bit on that. 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. and 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 advantage of not just a global economy but 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 global marketplace. the federal government needs to do trade policies. but whenever it comes to education, 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 -- reconfigure 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 in the difference and responsibilities. >> governor? >> north dakota, our gdp growth over the last 10 years has been 10.4%, more than three times the national average. >> is that because of energy? >> about three or four points of that 10% has been attributable to the energy sector. the rest is other industries agricultural, technology heavy manufacturing. and you know, our greatest challenge is managing the rapid growth of our state. one of the fastest growing economies in the world. if it were not for north dakota, gary herbert would have achieved his goal of being the fastest growing economy in the country. we just keep chasing it and working hard to do the things that everybody has talked about.

and the national media does call me and ask me why is north dakota so different from the rest of the nation over the last 10 years, and i think it is not that complicated. we have low taxes. we have a reasonable regulatory climate. we have a terrific workforce. and we have a state government that we think is the most accessible government in the country. companies come to our state for that reason. you see deere rebuilding, microsoft is expanding. there is economic activity that is a long ways away from the oil fields. so it is working well for us but at that pace, 10.4%, we have to

go to stay on top of that. and keep everything going forward. the highways getting built. buildings getting built. law enforcement expanding. all the social services you have to bring to bear. all that has to keep up. that is without a doubt our biggest challenge. >> what has been the impact of the seller and the price of oil? >> so far we are almost surprised at how little we are noticing it. the bachman foundation in northwestern north dakota, it is one of the most productive in the world. we think our costs producing a barrel of oil is in some counties as low as 30 hours a -- $30 a barrel. the drilling pace is not dropped off that much. plus the fact that we had a shortage of workforce going in. so we are finding that if

anybody has been laid off, they have had no problem whatsoever finding another job. governor? >> my biggest challenge is probably the governor will not agree to a border realignment. we permit faster and lower taxes on our oil and gas than most in north dakota. in addition to that, i like to look at it more of post economic challenges as real opportunities. at the state government level, i think the opportunities, i need to maintain fiscal discipline. a reporter at j.p. morgan say we are the most fiscal state in the country. that allows us to do things to give folks looking forward that much more excitement. it allows us the ability to -- it may not be sexy, but reduce interest rates that we provide

local governments on wastewater and sewer water. saving $40 million for ratepayers across the state. i think we need to continue to build on a business friendly environment. like many others said, at the end of the day the private sector does this. we have the private sector to identify the opportunities and obstacles for growth. as a result, we have either repealed or streamlined 714 regulations that rather unnecessary, unwarranted, stand in the way of further economic development. we are asking them to say help build the business plan for the future. that is where we get into so many of these issues of we do have a skills gap. we had to do things like fund early childhood education because we know the difference that will make long-term. and the investments all throughout, if business is at the table saying where can we grow, and what are the opportunities to look long-term

because in government with political cycles it doesn't always look long-term, but partnering with them in looking forward, i think it is just going to create that many more economic opportunities for the state. >> governor walker. >> the good news in alaska, we are closest to the market. i will not say we can see it from where we are but we are close. but the bad news is we can't get access to our resources. the permian basin has 475. we will drill 63 wells. we just can't get access to our resources. we have the highest cost of energy. >> the federal land. >> it is limiting our ability to get there. in wyoming, they have drilled 19,000 wells. we have drilled about 6000 wells. so we just can't get access to our resources. we have the highest cost of

energy. electricity in some places, over one dollar per kilowatt hour. diesel fuel is the equivalent of $30. we are paying two dollars down here. we have the coldest temperature days. we don't have cold snaps. we have cold seasons. so it is very frustrating that we have trillions of dollars of value in the ground and when we became a state we were assured we would be returned to live off the resources. that was the mandate. we have held up our end of the deal. the administration has not. our biggest challenge is getting access to our resources for our economy and our own people so people can afford to live in the villages some of the highest i've heard is 15 people live in one house. that is ridiculous based on the energy. we really injectinject more energy

into the ground than they consume in gas in california, and washington combined. it is all about distribution. we have plenty of resources. we just have to be able to get to our resources. >> governor. >> thank you. sitting here listening to the discussion, i feel lost. we are experiencing a very difficult time in our economy. not only that we have been associated with united states for the last 120 years, we haven't really developed any economy that would coast into some direction. here you are discussing which way to go as far as direction of our economy. and here we are struggling to find if we do have an economy or not. we lived under the mercy and survived under the mercy of the federal government. we don't really have a strong economy. but we do have a couple of

galleries which rely solely on the availability of fish and the fishing industries. it is getting tough. it is getting very tight on its policy. it is getting to be a national issue with the chinese and other foreign countries who are trying to take advantage of the fishing industry. we are the victim of such impact on our economy. what we have been discussing this morning, as insular territories and commonwealth, we need to come together to find some ground within the relationship between the federal government and the territories of the commonwealth. we feel we have been left out many times, especially in our location, where it is 18,000 miles from washington. we are the furthest of american soil in your been there since the

-- and we have been there since the beginning. we feel like many times we have been left out, and the only time we can feel the impact of the american dollar is when there and national disaster or something happens to our territory. otherwise we feel lonely down there. so we have been discussing the prospect of insular territories and commonwealth to come together and ask our organization to find a place for the insular territories and commonwealth in international associations. we also need to see that the federal government delivers more attention to us.

i can say it without reservations, so seeing with the united states of america, we feel like we're headed nowhere. the closest people to us are the chinese who come around in our shores with change in pockets trying to set up some business with our local people. they have restricted us from fishing in our waters. they have restricted us from other areas. we are victims of all this federal mandate and regulation. we cannot even protect our shorelines. you need to call the army corps

to get a permit. we can't even deal with something unless the federal government knows that we do not have the resources to accommodate the lives of our people. we have been americanized by the the americans, they convinced discussed america is the best nation in the world. we agree. after so many years we feel like we have been left out. for the first time, the assistant secretary of the interior visited our shores. for the first time, somebody visited [inaudible] and i tip my hat at for paying attention and witness firsthand how the american people down there live and survive in that part of the world. >> very important. >> i hope to take time to voice. >> thank you. >>thank you and good afternoon. first, the greatest challenge of the economy of the virgin islands is to convince my colleagues here in the national governors association that their winter meetings of the association should take place in the virgin islands. [laughter] [applause] 78 degrees. we are hopeful that the next 2 winters i don't have to get off of my sailboat to come into the snow. >> that should've been obvious.

>> much of the conversation i was privy to today, we understand a lot. in the virgin islands, we also have that challenge of aligning our workforce development, our education, our universities with the rapid changes in the economy for preparing our workforce for the new jobs. i think we are on the same model of going through schools graduating from high school, getting to a degree and getting out the world, and being competitive and productive. the changes in the economy happen so rapidly and the infusion of technology in much of what we are doing any economy and particularly in health care, we have to shift that model to prepare our people to be able to take this on. most know that the main source

of the economy in the u.s. virgin islands is tourism. we have great opportunities and technology. we have to shift for that. that is going to require a great deal of investment in the infrastructure, to be a competitive location for business globally, and be able to cycle back our workforce to leave and come to the u.s. mainland for education to have the opportunity to come back into the virgin islands and work and raise their families, and be productive. we find ourselves, we produce for many of your cities and states, many people work there. like the governor said, one of the biggest challenges to the territory, though, is federal bureaucracy . and a lot of rules and regulations made in washington and the other states or the federal offices are located. there is not an understanding how fragile the territory economies are. so when they make these rules and regulations they are just destructive to our fragile

economy, and we lose jobs by the hundreds or thousands because of them. we don't have reasonable rapid response on the federal government to deal with these issues. we have to go through the congress and through a lot of bureaucracy. and at the end of it, that segment in the trade is no longer relevant for us. we are going to be looking to the nga and are calling to assist us in getting that point across. we understand where we are at scale. in the 2017 winter meeting, u.s. virgin islands. it is a lot warmer and more fun. thank you. >> you make great points. the attitude is not the way to go when you know your state best and better than anyone in washington. a final word from you. >> this is a great chance. i really appreciate it. puerto rico has great challenges. we have been dealing -- we have a huge deficit of 24%.

in 18 months we reduced that to zero. it is now between zero and 2%. unemployment rate was 16.5%. it is now 13.7%. it is too high but it is on the way down. the crime rate was the highest in our history, now the lowest in the last 22 years. so we are moving, the economy the lines. the on the positive line. we are breaking records. it is only 7% of our economy. our main part of the economic is manufacturing. we produce more medical devices per square mile. and as a matter of fact, for the first time since 2008, for the first time since 2006, the

federal bureau of labor statistics states that our private sector is growing in the public sector is shrinking. without firing people. 16,000 only on attrition, that is why we are able to budget. but right now we are focused on a new tax structure. we are moving puerto rico to a value tax. we will be able to take the -- take 22% of the population and income tax to pay zero income tax. and that has been able to work in improving the economy in 160 countries already in the world. so we are moving in that direction we will continue with that. >> thank you. it is extraordinary to me that

the skills gap has been an across-the-board issue for all of you. and despite the fact that each state has its own mentality and its own strength, and opportunities in terms of resources, manufacturing. you all agree on so much, and clearly the issues are around the federal government and its impact in terms of broad strokes -- broad brush strokes in the face of your own very different economies. it feels like the opportunities do surround manufacturing, as well as some of those science and health care jobs. i want to thank all of you for -- governor herbert and all of you for having me today. i wish you success for the rest of your meeting. [applause] >> thank you for helping with this valuable discussion. i think we learned a lot from everyone at the table. governors this concludes our , special session.

please join us at a reception. i believe it is underway. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [inaudible chatter] >> the c-span city tour traveling to u.s. cities to learn about their history and literary life.

we partnered with time warner cable free visit to greensboro, north carolina. caller:>> except for at&t and bennett college, most everyone else was like, i am not going down there because anything might happen. there are these mdc to and it is quiet, and we go and sit down and wait. to see what is going to happen. a waitress came by with a try of knives that where, she was so nervous that the knives were rattling. i was so nervous that i did not know what she might be doing with those knives, but i could tell she was scared. she was as scared as i was. we sat there with our textbooks trying to study. i remember her saying, we can't serve you all or we do not serve collards. i'm -- we do not serve col

oreds. if they ask you what you would like, a cup of coffee, but they never ask us because they knew they were not going to service. >> today at 2:00 eastern on c-span three. >> guard tellers are gone, but the memories come flooding back for so many people who until today, had lost such a big part of their childhood. for many released after the war, some buried the memories and with it, the history of this camp. now more than 60 years later -- > tonight on q&a>, the only

family internment camp in world war ii in texas, and what she says is the real reason for this camp. >> the government comes to the father's and says, we will reunite you with your father -- with your families and the crystal city internment camp if you agree to go voluntarily. i discovered what the real secret of the camp was. they also had to agree to voluntarily repatriate to germany into japan if the government decided they needed to be repatriated. the truth of the matter is, the crystal city camp was humanely administered by the ins. but the special war division of the department of state used it as roosevelt's primary prisoner exchange in the center of roosevelt's prisoner exchange program. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern and

pacific on q&a. you are watching c-span, created for you as a public service by today cost cable companies. next, washington journal. next, utah governor advice share of the governors association gary herbert on the issues facing states. the swearing in ceremony for ashton carter to become the next defense secretary. at 11:00, remarks from jeh johnson as he addresses cyber security issues. on today's washington journal daniel helper of the weekly standard discusses how foreign-policy issues are impacting potential 2016 presidential candidates. adam green of the change committee looks at -- after

that william brandis of the national consortium for the study of terrorism talks about this past week's summit countering violent extremism. washington journal is next. ♪ steven: good morning, a live view of the capital. congress back in session this week. lawmakers have just a few days to work out an agreement to fund the department of homeland security. if they do not, the department could face a partial shutdown by this weekend. it is sunday, february 20 second. secretary john kerry back on capitol hill this week with a hearing set for tuesday. you can aspect -- expect questions based on the headlines in today's "washington post unicode we want