poll sentiment -- it's a of american ms. so it goes and asks whether the about the ling economy is better now than it was a month ago and whether your sixctations for the economy months from now -- from now are better than they were in the last survey. it's tracking it based on what are your feeling, what are expectations for the economy, and you can get a little bit of noise in those based on some of the more volatile elements of of spending. for instance, when gas prices precipitously, consumer sentiment tends to pop up. when gas prices rise, consumer fall.ment tends to so there's a close relationship there. these surveys also track based income and also track inflation and what people are expecting for inflation. the experience of the last few years, most americans are not expecting to necessarily take off. it in y are experiencing

certain ways in inflation than hey've seen for much of the last six years. host: in general, how are businesses responding? outside of y doing downsizing the size of a quart of ice cream to hold down the costs. are businesses doing to deal with the consumer confidence issue? the big hat's one of approaches that they have. some people are looking for ubstitution, trying to guide consumers into other products cheaperas that might be and that might provide some help for consumers. if the price of beef goes up, try to get you to move toward chicken and vice versa. you noted withas changing the sites of products, can to ng whatever they downgrade certain products to try to keep those prices in just don't ople who want to spend anymore on some of the essentials or even sometimes of the higher-end items as well.

reddy subpoena deputy global economics editor "the wall street journal." follow him on twitter. hanks for launching the discussion this morning? guest: thank you. host: the question for you is your confidence in the economy, spending level. we've broken up phone lines for $100,000 or more, 202-748-8000. between $50,000 and $100,000, 202-748-8001. and under $50,000. 202-748-8002. and for those unemployed, 202-748-8003. hear from julianne from homestead, florida. look like to you? caller: it doesn't look bad, it's defined as the volatility. as someone with a small business trying to deal with it for

almost ten years now, really the biggest problem is you never really know how people are going to spend. $60,000, you can make one year you make $10,000. you have to sell off everything afloat. to stay it's hard to have confidence because of that. of that is really the cost staying in business just gets more and more every year. so it's complicated by that. host: what kind of business do you run,s julianne? contractor. i'm an indoor air quality remediator. host: are you finding that people, potential clients and lients are holding back their spending for whatever reason? they want to hold off because they think they with can afford it a couple of years road or they'll hire somebody without the proper licensing and get a cheaper remediation.er it will cause them problems and on't be great but it's still worth it to do it because of the volatility of the economy. you know, you might have it in

for the whole ay thing. host: you're calling in our line. $50,000 has your income fluctuated over the years because of the economy you -- in the business that are? caller: wildly. as i said, i've made -- you averages out to about $45,000 a year. it's been $10,000, $60,000. host: thanks for your comments this morning. comments aboutur the economy, your consumer confidence, 202-748-8000 for you who make more than $100,000 a year. 202-748-8001 for between $50,000 $100,000. 202-748-8002.,000, and unemployed, 202-748-803. headline of the washington wants to build a wall along the mexican border.

mr. trump who's driven much of immigration conversation announced the candidacy two onths ago said he would simply demand mexico pay new fencing by illegal g the wages by immigrants here in the u.s. to ave tax breaks some illegal immigrants claim to pay the new deportation. policy of d the birthright citizenship that grants full american status for here including immigrant mothers and most must be sent home but most for quickly reply re-entry. a look at "the new york times" headlines this morning. a look at military policy. being warned over the agents for tracking an soil expatriates. there's been a warning to of ing about the presence chinese government agents operating secretly in the u.s. prominent expatriates some wanted in china

on charges of corruption and immediately according to american officials. chinese law enforcement agents country are his part of beijing's global down and o hunt repatriate chinese fugitives and in some cases recover the gotten gains. chinese government has named the effort operation fox hunt. calls about your -- your situation, the consumer confidence, your thoughts on confidence. we're also hearing a lot about wages and and about about income inequality on the campaign trail over the weekend. martin o'malley on face the nation on cbs. here's what he had to say. >> we all know we can't make our economy work again for all of us unless our government works as well. point to the things i've done in office, to make the economy work a higher rate of investment in our neighbors north and south, invest in affordable

college and over things we need to do again as a nation. host: that's martin o'malley of ace the nation over the weekend. he was at the soap box, the iowa soap box. coming up live on cbs span. tell you about that in a bit. et's go to reed in union, washington. it says you're in the over $100,000 a year in terms of income. your confidence level like in the economy? caller: i'm slightly over self-employed 'm in the software industry. and so my confidence in the changed s -- hasn't really since the big recession in 2008. changed around the edges. but for instance, the government even report us types, self-employed real estate in software, etc., unemployment rolls. host: right. caller: so my biggest opposition is the self-employment tax. a big corporation can afford to

in matching people's social security. so we have to do that ourselves. sour, you onomy goes have to live on your savings because self-employed people unemployment, even though we pay for people to get three years of federal unemployment. digress. but we don't get it. so we have to save and continue ourselves alive. and with that comes tax debt. years d it for five running. penalties and interests. irs would gop after the big guys and not the little guys. that's my comment ost: you can send us a tweet@c-spanwj. clinton.es a threat to this is from susan page who vp would hep enters, shake down the democratic fight. no word if he'll enter. writes history says he's likely to run.

ince 1940, only three of those elected as vice president did not run for president or become president. spiro agnew, and nooe.hooe today's politics are cautionary. hard slog for biden on many fronts, money, organization, arctic latering a compelling reason for getting in left. 2016 political landscape has been shaped that clinton is the nominee even in the face of a rising challenge by vermont senator bernie sanders. joe biden's entrance would alter he democratic primary fight said democratic strategy joe campaign was the manager for howard dean's campaign in 2004 and bernie weekend at the iowa soap box, the des moines register soap box at the iowa and this is what he had to say about the issue of income inequality. work.have lots of

the minimum wage is a starvation wage. we have to raise the minimum wage, $15,000.ng [ applause ] what we understand also is that a competitive bestl economy, we need the educated workforce possible. to me that we se have hundreds of thousands of qualified young people who want to get a higher education to do so because their money lacks the income. host: over the weekend at the iowa soap box. at 11:00 ge begins eastern today from the soap box live coverage this morning and

throughout the day on c-span as speeches continue from the soap box all week, i think our coverage ay, and a lot more road to the white house coverage too. sanders' sed bernie speech, you can see that on-line c-span.org, all of the coverage available at c-span.org too. you this morning about consumer confidence. 02-748-8000 for those of you making over $100,000 a year. between $50,000 and $100,000. nd also under $50,000, 202-748-8002. unemployed, 202-748-8003. twitter.ts on @c-spanwj from marie, high nemployment, increased welfare recipients, gas prices rising.

it's not about what you make, it's detrimental to the economy. and it's unpredictable as policy bailing out wall street. and richard rogers said did we not go from losing $700,000 jobs per month in 2008 to gaining 12 2010, 57 ince march of months of adding jobs. so richard rogers confident in economy. what's your thought? we'd love to hear your thoughts. ilitary policy about the drone flights. they write that the pentagon plans to sharply expand the of u.s. drone flights over the next four years, giving military commanders more access intelligence and greater firepower to keep up with the hot ting number of global spots the senior defense

officials said. increase by 50% the number of daily drone flights in locales as ukraine, iraq, syria, the south china sea, and official,ca, said the who provided exclusive details "wall street nce journal." it would be the first significant increase in the u.s. rone program since 2011 reflecting pressure on military efforts to address a cascading series of global crises. to the chip, your thoughts, your consumer confidence, and your spending. in sterling, virginia. what do you think, patty? to the conversation? caller: hi. well, i guess the first thing is federal employee who i consider myself well paid and i'm at in life, except for for the last, let's 1/2 years?on 6 a couple of late

in 6 1/2 years. there are a lot of people worse off. but combine that with two kids being in college and, you know, the washington area, i'm definitely in the middle class in other parts of the country, maybe not. but we get no age for college. of my girls go to college in virginia, public colleges in irginia which are around $30,000 a year. i saved for years to try to make sure i was ready for that. their father died, they didn't take any of that into account. hard.s been extremely it's just kind of an example of the middle class squeeze that hillary clinton and bernie sanders are trying to address one element of it. i just wanted -- to say that that's just another dynamic to the economy that is i think really, really bad for the economy overall. signed another student loan for my daughter at uva. has to are -- she borrow an additional $18,000

just to get through her third and it's just -- it's killing me. again how much you're a federal government worker. us what your wage rate has been? remind us of that. uest: a federal employee of june of 2008 after having been a contractor for the pentagon for years. and the basically my -- i've $1,000 since 2009. nd that -- you know, the food inflation has been outrage yous. it doesn't seem to be something that the media ever pays attention to. know, you could take your family out to dinner for 2007 and now it's like $50 or more. so you know, it's just everywhere. but, yes, my raise is going to $1,000 in six years. host: appreciate you joining us

this morning. falls, idaho, and mark's on the line making under $50,000. the economy- what's look like for you? what's your consumer confidence like? caller: my confidence is great robust ve in a very growing economically growing an active falls has city council soliciting businesses from other states and they're being successful. but my comment is on this bugaboo.n one of the huge big box stores falls, a new one they built, nationwide big box store which i shop at regularly, they announced they were raising their employee starting salary from $8 to $10 an hour nationwide. host: yeah. boy.r: so i thought, oh what's the prices here? i'm a price conscious shopper. the same stuff every week. i was watching the same stuff.

so sure enough, up went the prices. in one case, the nationwide good of hot dogs, very brand of hot dogs which i behold, i buy, lo and come to the bin where they usually carry them and there's huge three foot by four foot sign that says price rollback. hot just bought the same dog, you know, one week before the price rollback was it went to 86 cents. and the weight went from 16 ounces to 12 ounces. outraged. i called the manager on the phone and said hey, if you don't take the sign down i'm going call the local newspaper and fraud. you for this is outrageous. and across the store, prices for the $10 an hour wage. so there's no free lunch. ost: yeah, how often do you shop there, mark?

caller: every week. host: hear from roger in pasadena, maryland. roger?o you think, what's the consumer confidence like? it says you make over $100,000 a year. are you confident in your job situation? caller: i am. operations manager for a trucking company. the company we haul for, their 18% esses went up probably this year. but, again, my same concern that the last caller had being the fact that i'm an operations operation, ing an prior to that, i was a manager of the big box retailer, our payroll.e expense was and i think we need to do something with the minimum wage, ut the minute you raise the minimum wage, you're going to raise the number one expense between has and raise their to coffrecover their profit. its's a lose-lose.

my question is how does a ompany get and it if their number one expense is payroll. roll,f they raise their pay they have to raise the cost of goods. host: the issue of minimum wage came up with a conversation with chuck todd and donald trump on "meet the press" yesterday. has to hat mr. trump say. >> donald trump: i want to keep he minimum wage where it is because we have a country competing more than ever before, airplanes and transportation and the internet. we're not going to be able to rest of the the world. i want to compete with the rest of the world. i want to bring in other jobs so eople don't have to live on minimum wage. but we have to compete with the rest of the world. host: donald trump yesterday todd.huck the question for you is from the headline in "the wall street journal." back er confidence falls sharply in july. i want to know your thoughts. ere's ron in madison, connecticut. go ahead, ron in connecticut.

yes.r: yes, driver, i ker truck haul petroleum and heating oil. for going to be voting trump because i was in construction prior to this and the construction industry has in connecticut has been overblown with illegals. don't pay taxes. as far as me going back into construction, that would be unlikely. and i'm worried about the security of our country because they drivese trucks, the tanker trucks, i have to have an fbi background check my hazmat tanker ndorsement and my card to get in the terminals and unload. i go to renew everything here in have illegals i standing in front of me to get stuff riving permits and and they don't speak english. i'm wondering is the same problems in construction with to overflow going into the trucking industry?

because my -- my commercial river's license and my background checks is the only thing protecting me right now. temporarily laid off because the demand for diesel fuel is as and we're not hauling much to holding tanks, and i'm just worried about the whole economic situation. vote for donald trump because we have to seal our borders here. going to be people like me, i'm hanging on -- i should be making right now than i am, and we've got to turn the country around. like trump in y there to secure our borders, it's an absolute must. should have the benefit of knowing who i'm sharing the highways with. if somebody wants to pull up to use me and they want my truck as a weapon, i have no protection for that. we have to secure our interstates for the country. we need stronger border control. and consumer confidence the cost of living. talk about the confidence board "the wall street journal report"ed on.

headline, poll, the economic confidence in the u.s. the ns lower at minus 12, gallup economic confidence averaged minus 12 for the week ending august 9. his is consistent with the weekly averages since early. remains much lower than the positive numbers at the beginning of the year. entered positive territory in late december for time since 2008. it dropped below zero in february and has not been in territory since mid march. that's gallup's poll. what are your thoughts? the are you seeing in economy? the cost of living? joe is in braidington, florida. making between $50,000 and $100,000. go ahead. caller: good morning, the man have a heart. he's going to spend health insurance. the rn around and did

opposite. 800,000 won't have health insurance. you hear on the news all across people are died. and if, indeed, trump is making on immigration. repeal obama o care. so if obama care save between 10 11 million people, americans, i think it's worth it, don't you think? host: appreciate your thinking so. any other comments? guest: yes, i mean trump is making a good point on immigration. are making alicans big mistake on -- they want to go to war with iran. they want to send soldiers. ity want to send how much is going to cost? how many trillions of lives? how many soldiers. mention american soldiers. how many innocent people in iraq? how many have died? than 100,000? thank you, sir.

bye. host: focusing on the economy morning and your consumer confidence. a couple of calls mentioning donald trump and the immigration released yesterday and part of that calls for building of the wall between the u.s. and mexico. expanded on his thoughts with his interview yesterday on "meet the press." donald trump: the executive rescinded it. new set o make a whole of standards. and when people -- > you ear going to deport families, children. donald trump: we have to keep the families together. you have to -- oh -- onald trump: we will work with them. they have to go. we have a country or we don't have a country. the cost of goods? look at the costs right now? >> the cost of doing it. donald trump: let me say this, do you think there's tremendous cost for the illegals that are here now. >> of course.

is there mp: tremendous evidence that crime is being committed by illegals. see it all over, just last night. all over. we will do it and we will xpedite it so people can come back in. >> still not clear. donald trump: chuck, it will be sout so well, you will happy. in four years you're going be interviewing me and you're going great job you've done, president trump. this morningsation about consumer confidence and for numbers 202-784-8000 those of you making $100,000 a year. 202-784-8001. 202-784-8002. for all other, the unemployed, 202-784-8003. mississippi andet.

make money. you walk into a chevy dealer down here. i was just down in connecticut. brand-new tacos are $73,000. 's.tahoe you keep talking about inflation. -- answer is we need to there are so many companies with an international presence skating out on paying taxes. 45% of the american people are carrying the whole tax load for the whole nation. something has to change. i don't have the answers. raising the minimum wage which is exactly what everyone talks about is just raising prices. everyone has to raise prices to pay for the minimum wage. you can't win. host: go back to your comment about hotel costs in new york

and connecticut. what is driving up those costs, do you think in those areas? -- how a friend of mine do you justify $60 a night, $55 -- how can you justify such a price difference in different parts of the united states? it is because that is where the cost of living is. part of the nation, they can only justify so much. host: do you find a vast difference like in the lodging tax, the tax they charge you to stay in a room for a night or week? caller: absolutely. a friend of mine is a smoker. he was paying $12 a pack for cigarettes in new york, nine dollars in connecticut. we were talking -- and

mississippi they were four dollars. people who stay on extended projects -- if you don't you can't see what is going on in the country. host: let's go to the unemployment line. thank you for joining us this morning. i just want to make a funny how-- it is everyone -- not everybody, but some people are down on the minimum wage increase. yet, minimum wage has never increased with the kind of percentage that all products have increased throughout the 50 years i have been alive. why if we aretand going to be a competitive nation against china and other companies -- countries using to-wage labor, we need

increase or bring in the tariff taxes for imports from third world corporations. if it is an american corporation m thirdg in front world countries, we ought to double that tax. instead of cheap labor, no epa standard or work safety, no insurance coverage -- of course, that has been done away with. it is unfortunate the way the country is going. host: mark, have you beenork in and when did you become unemployed? caller: because they treated the veterans. i was overdosed during a surgery which destroyed my vertebrae and spinal cord. i worked for 20 years and construction and various other labor jobs.

i can't do it anymore because i cannot hold onto anything or barely get around because of the damage to my spine. host: we appreciate you being part of the conversation this money. the washington post addresses the minimum wage with a different take. your thoughts on the economy,

the cost of living, to ricky in nashville who is making under $100,000. i have made over 100,000 dollars, but in 2006 i lost my job. i walked into a retail outlet because i saw the writing on the wall and i applied for a job. they hired me. within a few months, it had fallen apart. the smartest thing i ever did was walk in and apply for a job. i am still employed there. it is kicking my but every day. i'm 59 years old. five years ago when i lost my 2006, i made a conscious decision because i had a daughter getting ready to go into high school. my only child going to college. i made a conscious decision to pay my house off these last 10 years and put every bit of disposable income i had to pay off my debts. 829, a 50 ise of

the best you can get. i can get anything i want credit wise, but i can't pay for because of the wages. what i'm telling you is this. i am fixing to retire. 65, my daughter is in her senior year of school. we got that taken care of. i have done what i have done for the american dream. the house, picket fence, all of that. now that i'm older -- health care is what i'm calling about. it is not health care insurance. it is a health care crisis. as we get older and have more problems with our health, if we can't afford insurance based upon social security and other pensions that are not there -- 401k's have been wiped out. what will we do for the people? they have work to pay -- i am not talking about the people who don't want to work. i am talking about the lower middle class and the upper poor people who have always worked, who want to be left alone and

rejoice in america's benefits. our government, both sides, has screwed us. thank you. next upre is dennis talking about consumer confidence, the cost of living. westchester ohio, dennis, go ahead. caller: good morning. i was concerned that if the minimum wage is raised, what happens to the next level of income? don't we close the gaps on those workers so that in effect they workers?nimum-wage also people living on social security is like a fixed income. are we putting them into minimum wage? my understanding that when you start off a job is you should move on. you start out at minimum wage and then you work your way up

and change jobs. minutes of phone calls on consumer confidence, the cost of living, what you are seeing. we are a little over three weeks away from seeing the return of congress. the washington post looks at the return of congress. their headline, a challenging fall away congress. i will pull this off of another look at wall street journal.

this is senator just -- senator jeff flake. announcement, he could face unanimous opposition from the president. a member of the senate foreign relations committee is widely seen as the most likely republican to vote for any agreement with iran. he said on saturday he would not back it went congress vote on it next month. senator jeff flake of arizona. of the economy, i want to let you know that coming up today on c-span2, thoughts on the economy and the fed from formal -- former chairman ben bernanke. defense spending is the same. we will have that for you live 10:30 eastern on c-span2. on the cost of living. the marcus, welcome. caller: my concern is that i am

an educator, and we are charged with educating america's youth g then be productive citizens of our country. we are also in charge of dealing with immigrants, specifically hispanic, and for years we have been unable to get funding due view from the public's eyes that we are not able to educate our children. we are educating our children, we are dealing with the immigrants. learners -- we have to do something about them. host: next up, bob in petersburg, virginia making less than $50,000 a year. go ahead. if we don't do some regulating to the companies and

price ofons rising the something every time they give someone raises, there will never be a change. what they need to do is that every time a corporation raises their prices, it has to be elton automatically for the people that work for them. it is a shame. now, the price of oil went down, but you still have to pay four dollars, three dollars for a quart of motor oil that was a dollars six or seven years ago. if there is anybody out there that wants to get into a lawsuit against c-span because of discrimination, i would be more than willing to participate. host: why do you say that? i guess we will find out. thanks for your calls. more ahead as washington journal continues on this monday morning. next up, we will hear from michael farris, the cofounder of the group convention of the states project. he will talk about the groups

grassroots effort to amend the constitution. later on, more about the economy. he will talk about economic populism as a rising theme in the campaign 2016. as washington journal continues. ♪ >> tonight on the communicators -- >> he was really into computers, sci-fi, and that pushed them. he had always heard of silicon alley and dreaming of getting to america. from a young age, that is what he opines to do and at a young age she ran away from home and did it. >> a bloomberg reporter on one of silicon valley's most inventive leaders. elon musk. >> he is seen as the next steve jobs kind of figure.

.e has this attention to detail he pushes his workers hard. i tend to lean more to an edison idea. i think elon has lots to prove. i take away that he is a guy who has these thousands of engineers at space x tesla, the brightest of the bright, he is a hard-working individual and is able to get products out of them that can be commercialized. that has really changed industry. to me, he is the guy who has combined software and hardware. bits and its -- atoms and in a way that nobody has. >> tonight on "the communicators" on c-span2. the road to the white house continues live at the iowa state fair on c-span, c-span r