a raise.e all workers he can't give me a raise but he a raise.them i am just disgusted and fed up. say one more thing. dodoes have something to with today. when i seen those soldiers were killed yesterday in afghanistan, up. had to be fed he knows the time and when they walk over there. american soldier has to wake up can't trust them people he's working with over there. headline frommed in the washington post. force -- airir

force major and she was one of those killed. and a new york detective in that taliban blast. outlines details on these two individuals and releasedl information by the pentagon yesterday. we're getting calls and comments and yournd the economy own financial situation. this is from one of our viewers, saying, i'm better off. i'm trying to build my own business now. us from joining waldorf, maryland. off.ay you're worse why? caller: the united states government has allowed so many illegals in this country. i worked construction for many years. allgovernment has allowed the illegals in here. it basically push the american out of thet construction industry. if you can't speak spanish, you can't get construction anywhere. only that, the congress just passed a bill to let all of these new visas in to bring

labor into this country. they're absolutely destroying the american worker. that's all -- you got the taking all the jobs overseas. yet they want the american daily who they screw on a basis to buy their product. they don't want to employ us but to employ the spanish, all the outsourcing. but american worker is screwed once again. is why trump is taking over. he's looking out for the american worker. the rest of the government inso theed republicans tripled amount of visas to allow people take tau our jobs. that's ridiculous. made in the past seven years has been cut in half. cannota job because i communicate in spanish. ridiculous. host: brian from waldorf,

maryland. john smith saying i'm worse off due to the epa regulations and the coal industries is taking hardest hits. the caller mentioned donald trump, a new tracking poll showing donald trump still far in with a commanding lead. survey a national thosed by 36.7% of questioned. senatoringle didn'ts bush.rubio and jeb donald trump on the campaign week in iowa. he talked about the economy. >> we will make our economy again.ble my tax treatment oh -- my tax is in great detail. it's gotten tremendous reviews great groups.

taxes going to cut tremendously for the middle businesses.r our middle class is being decimated. happens, you're going to see an economy that takes off. rid a lot of that debt. totrillion dollars going $21 trillion now. if you go back eight or nine a wordtrillion wasn't anybody knew. now it's like routine. to save your social security without cuts. we'll bring the economy back. make ourselves rich again. a woman said to me in new hampshire, she said mr. trump, i'm voting for you i love you. but it's very crude when you say you're going to make our country rich again. i said i know if sounds bad. many things i say it crude. make our country great

again unless we make our country rich again. everybody in the world rip us off. host: donald trump on the iowaign trail last week in talking about jobs and the economy and all of our coverage c-span's as part of video library c-span.org. mark wolf has this piece and in the financial times. the greek economy. which has been staggering over the last six years. a endless greece crisis. significant impact on the euro. next fromoining us indianapolis. good morning. caller: good morning, merry christmas to all and happy new year. thank you for being here and giving us a voice to speak about our situation. i'm better off. income.y got some i'm 62. i didn't have any for the last years. yearsdownsized and many

-- many jobs. i'm better off. see clearly now. i don't buy into trump's either. i do know that he says he's going to make america great again. but i also know he likes cheap slave labor. out of both sides of his mouth. he smiles a bunch, like they all do. they forgot, they are our servants. masters.ot our you all have a blessed day. newpe everybody has a happy year without any fear. god bless. host: thank you from indianapolis. mark williams with this tweet saying i'm better with more opportunities developing by the as the economy grows. investors business daily writing beatamericans are more up about their own financial prospect than any point in the past three years. though they're still not

optimistic about the direction of the economy broadly, details online at investors.com. glenda is joining us next from amarrillo, texas. why are you worse off? ofler: i'm sorry to be one those saying i'm worse off because it's always good to hear that i'm better off. my team, -- my family we're in the 65 and over range. medicare goes up, every year our medicare goes up up. goes down.security i know that's because of a lot comingaliens that are here. illegal aliens we're putting on social security. we're giving them medicare and the help aid. diabetic. is a his medicine continues to go up. we get no help. trying to control how much the medication in this country is for old people. at the pharmacy the other day and i a -- and a lady

couldn't get her medication filled because she was only on social security. didn't get enough money to pay for her medication. i haven't one of the politicians about what they will do for elderly in this country. forpent our lives working this country. we like a little help on our end of this country. ends meet.make anything that's gone down in gasoline.ry is gasoline go down, it would nice to be abling to the grocery store and buy what you need. it would be nice to be able to afford my husband's diabetic medicine. come up withpeople this money? struggle.i have a little retirement check but it's

probably a third of what i made when i worked for the government county. everything is so cut back. live? supposed to i would like to hear some of the politicians talk about what they're going to do for people help make this country. host: thanks for the call from texas. tweets first from former president bill clinton tweet.is are folks better off, do kids have brighter futures? coming together? hillary gets if. -- hillary gets it. worriedre fine, only about republicans reversing the improvements. only six gop candidates are likely to make the next debate stage when the republicans have beforee in mid-january the iowa caucus. online atavailabl available

politico.com. race.y graham is out the available at politico.com. peter joining us next from palm beach, florida. better off.re caller: i am, because i'm 84 years odom. coverage.icare 401k since obama took over. thell you the truth, i hope republicans would have worked with obama. our economy would have been much off.r they fought him all the way helping him improve

our economy. they were off to make sure he job.n't do a good that's not what you do for the country. you're elected to help the elect it to have a republican in office. idea.icans have the wrong the idea is to make everybody do better. not that you want to make sure the republicans do better. that's what's the problem. satisfied with obama did as much as he did. i'm much better off than i was bush was president. thank you and merry christmas everybody. for the call. survey onch center the middle class. the american middle class is point.ground with this no longer the majority and falling behind financially. calls and comments on better or worse off. is another viewer, who

bernie sanders talked at length about helping the elderly. --tor recognize >> recognize that we have a rigged economy. forle class in this country the last 40 years has been disappearing. than weetter off today were when bush left office? absolutely. indicated, millions of americans are working longer deeply worried about their kids. what do we do? the billionaire class, all.cannot have it second of all, if you raise the wage to a living wage, $15 an hour over the next several years. equity for women workers. we do, realhat unemployment. an official unemployment 5% real 10%.loyment

use unemployment off the charts. our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges our rail system. create 13 million jobs with a investment.lar in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have workforce in the world. that is why i will have a tax on makestreet speculation to certain that public colleges and america are in free.n host: that debate took place manchester,ekend in new hampshire. it was rebroadcast on c-span. mentioned women, this is a headline you might find in the business section of the washington post, if. looks like it was made for women to pay more. including a radio flier scooter that had a different price for girls.rsus

something that was brought to target.ntion of from danville, virginia. off, why?u're better caller: yes. [indiscernible]

for the parties to work people and try to reach a common goal. tip o'neil was the speaker of house but still able to come together for the better spirit people.merican host: thank you very much for call. this is from jim who says the bernie followers have no economic understanding. billionaires cannot be taxed spending solve our problems. debatethe fox business senator ted cruz outlining his plan. >> from 2008 to today our economy has grown 1.2% a year on average. the obama economy is a disaster and the imf is telling us this normal. it doesn't have to be. if you look at the history of

america, there are three lives government had to facilitate economic growth. reform and asax you noted, i have rolled out a tax, 10%simple flat for every american that would anduce booming growth 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. regulatory reform, pulling back regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. money.lement is sound every time we pursued all three of those, whether in the 1920's calvin coolidge or 1960's or 1980's with ronald reagan the result has been incredible economic growth. have done it before and with leadership, we can do it again. month from the fox business network on plan outlined by senator ted cruz on jobs and the economy and taxes. ourof you weighing in on

facebook page. let me share with you some of the comments including brian who ays, i'm better off that as nation we are just standing. get rid of the gop controlled our nation will start running again. from allen, if you think the sevens better off than years ago, you are sadly mistaken, valerie on facebook says, i'm better off. did not shop but anyone that money for christmas complained. colin saying you're nuts for asking this question about the and of health insurance deductibles soaring, you have the galls to ask the question on economy.and peggy is joining us from texas. off.ay you're better why? caller: because i have hope somebody likes bernie sanders running. the time.raines all

i just got shots. not working. i'm tired of everybody blaming for everything. it's like i'm sure there was in 1849 andled according to them, it would be his fault. i'm horrified at trump. bigotry and the hate and the and that he gets by with people don't take the time to the truthd see what is. it's so sad. christmas that people are voting against themselves. complain about obamacare making their private insurance and drugs go up, because the choose to raise the price of drugs.

the insurance companies choose rates.e their no concept about money 0.1% and how much that is. i'm sure they don't have a physics either. host: thanks for the call from texas. the washington wire, this andhe headline as terrorism climate change. u.s.a. today this morning retailersout the 16 sledding amazon during the holidays. some of these big box companies can say they're beating the online. how long will it last. foods, cvs and dollar tree. tweet.has this

one is better off or worse off is not necessarily to government. the leaders completing this way, problem. the during a recent campaign event. here's the democratic candidate from the debate in iowa. >> the center of my economic raising incomes because people haven't been able to get ahead. everything from college tuition to prescription drugs gone up. have to raise the minimum wage. we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing. right here in new hampshire and where all the employees get a chance to share in the process. equalgot to do more on pay for equal work. that means pass the paycheck act so we have transparency about how much people are making. women'she way to get wages up. it's good for them and families and good for communities.

host: from that debate last evening. hillary clinton. jody with this tweet. i hope i saved enough when i was well. that is not the plan. richard joining us from capital heights, maryland. good morning, you say you're about the same? the same.s, i'm about worsehough the economy is off right now. republicans have to know, for're definitely corporations. this -- they work together to american people. that has to stop. i love obamacare to a point but can take a million dollars out of everybody's birth our ownate and pay for healthcare. there's things that our do to look after the american people. they don't, they look at the people as an atm machines. we got to put these people out

office and run for office ourselves. start having employee owned corporations. you. host: richard, thank you. korea. a photograph from what would be the fifth largest the world. as they put the top on the called at's being addition to seoul's skyline. next is ann joining us from maryland. off not moneytter wise. of my fellow man. 2008, i'mnk back at

better off in every way. host: how so? a moment please. thinkmments, i really people are not thinking. we were under republicans. republicans were against social security. trump and cruz. i wonder how could cruz be president unless we change the nottitution that he was born in this country. trump is talking about making again. great he can start by bringing all of his businesses from foreign and as far as the as much men, -- service men the war draft.he i think we will find out how many people would really want us go into another war.

christians thinking terribly. is the root of all evil. host: ann from maryland. inside thetory from wall street journal. keeps the gains in check. the u.s. economy wraps up under modest. american consumers and businesses are playing a game of chicken with each other waiting other to spend first. it's the 3rd quarter, theumers are picking up slack left behind by sluggish business investments, gross is thec product which measures of goods and service, annuald a at two percent rate in 3rd quarter. riser up by three percent in consumer spending. our last call on the topic is from louisiana, robert, good morning. conversation.

caller: good morning. are we better off or are we about the same. we all three of them. lot of these republicans and democrats, they vote against their own interest. when we had the midterm elections, republicans took over congress. pursestrings.the the republicans are voting against everything that'ses for us. disability. i can't work. got glaucoma. i'm worse off about dead. who cares. you all need to change the question. the country will be better if the republicans were to work with the president. ae president can't waive

magic wand. all they want is wars. israel.all our money to why don't they just put us a big allk in the mail and we'll be better off. host: my perception of how i'm doing financially is directly linked with the current fiscal irresponsibility of the federal government. share with you one other story. this headline from inside the iraqiork times" at the forces not pushing into ramadi which is a key eye sis held -- city.eld several thousand individual soldiers have been kill order captured. when we come back, we want to our attention to the republican party and henry olsen who's the author of the a new book called "four faces of the republican party." is out witharan another book.

froml be joining us atlanta to talk about the impact this is having on those in the sectors of society and the under economy that is americansthousands of during the holiday season. she'll be joining us later in the program. to're watching and listening c-span's "washington journal" on this wednesday morning december 23rd. we're back in a moment. night on "q&a," tyler ground,ps on the merry talks about the second volume of mr. pierson's diary which gives insider's take on washington to 1969. 1960 >> it was just remarkable all the things he did. sometimes he would criticize himself in the diary if you read

carefully, you must have come across places where he said i think that column was too strong. i shouldn't have said it quite that way. at me for the mad way i wrote that column. be told. it to i'm glad i wrote it. 8:00 p.m.night at eastern on "q&a." >> this holiday weekend, tv on c-span 3y has featured programming. at 6:30friday evening eastern to mark the 125th birth ofry of the president divide david eisenhower and his granddaughter susan gather for a rare family discussion to talk about politicalry and career as well as his legacy and relevance for 21st century americans. then on saturday afternoon at rosa parksars ago,

to make room for white passengers. her stand helped instigate the busboy cot. we'll reflect on that and see lawyers played in that protest. has we'll hear from fred gray rosa parks and boycottry bus s.monstrator on nasa's project including a demand space program mars.riner for fly by of just before 9:00, writer and award winning documentary filmmaker rick burns on how the public learns about his film intelligence. american history tv. -- weekend and on local days

holidays too. 3.y on c-span >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome back olsen. he is a senior fellow at the and public policy center. edt with a new book entitl "four faces of the republican party." good morning. guest: thank you for having me on. host: i want to focus on the candidates in this race. why did you write it? wrote it because i think it's a big misunderstanding about how the operates. party i think the two factions of and premise behind the book is there are four factions. the road, middle of conservatives what we call somewhat conservatives and two types of movement conservatives. evangelical and secular and they remain pretty stable over the last 20 years. it's their interplay and locations in the different

states will determine who's going to win the domination. host: is the party growing or shrinking? guest: it's staying stable. candidates seem to be attracting some new voters into the primary process. we'll see whether that means in 2016. from what are the lessons 2011? what were some of the strategic romneys made by the mitt campaign? guest: the biggest strategic mistake they made was not understanding what the swing was and that person needed to be pulled away from the president. swing voter to be the middle income to lower middle income native born. less than ah college education and that not find mitt romney business experience attractive. not find the tax plan attractive. didn't like the president. they needed an alternative and

campaign didn't .resent an economic growth plan host: reince priebus putting together an autopsy, learning from 2012. what was your take away from that report and has the party heeded the lesson? party is heeding the lesson. the autopsy was inefficiently deep. the idea was correctly diagnosed the republicans need to show that they're compassionate. what they didn't do was take the next step to talk about the recap the economic policy that people's sense compassion. we need to show we're good on immigration and other things. then people would agree with us on our core economics. the coreact it's economics that's one of the

ing blocks. host: we've seen what happened in paris. changed orthat pivoted the debate. how has that set up the in 2016?ns guest: right now it's made national security much more issue.nt that's one thing they hold an advantage on. it's one of the reasons why in the last democratic debate, hillary clinton started to separate herself from the president as far as demonstrating a willingness to militarily. a year from now, we could have different pivots. we could have different events interyear. interfere. right now it's focusing on national security. you twot me share with campaign responses related to that. ted cruz campaign released late last week. >> securing our borders and stopping illegal immigration is national security. tot's why i fought so hard

defeat president obama. it would have given the obama authority to admit syrian refugees. that's just wrong. when it comes to radical islamic to rediscoverneed ronald reagan strategy. we win, they lose. i'm ted cruz, i approve this message. host: as you look at that spot, what's your reaction? knows where his constituency is in the republican party. there's large number of people upset that's the level of immigration. there are people who believe that the president is weak on foreign people. ties them together very nicely. it's something that within the should helprimary ted quite a bit. parker writes about the white guys awhite knights. this political news that donald maybe doing better than polls suggested. she said, yikes. is far and away front runner nationally.

story in iowarent where ted cruz is ahead in some polls. donald trump is ahead in other polls. if you look at the trump campaign and where he stands, your thoughts? trump represents something that's new to this country. in europey common classis the white working protest. levels ofe same enthusiasm among certain groups. but he's also loath and reviled many people. in fact, donald trump ask the would you never support in the republican primary? well.leads those polls as he is a polarizing figure. divided among is multiple candidates. race ofget to a smaller three or four people, you will start to see his feelings is to where he is now. host: taking a point of view,

cathleen parker's view there mibling, saying wide -- there maybe wider support for donald trump. bradley who is the former los angeles mayor, tom bradley, is african-american who ran hisccessfully for governor, 82 defeat surprised pollsterred basededicted an easy win on polling. many people were fearful of racist.nsidered now we have people not saying for trump,ill vote unless telephone surveyors out of theirre mind. guest: i wrote about that two weeks ago. statement.ect there are differences between the and anonymous poll on internet. that's the same thing we've seen overseas with white working

that they do party .etter when there's anonymity still aless there's hard feeling on his support. the polls for his support don't necessarily indicate the depth of the opposition to him. when more candidates drop out, the opposition will start to mayapse around -- trump still do very well. he's not going to go up much now.er than where he is the mosts group is numerous nationally when you talk about the somewhat conservative voter. many states comprising of 35 -- 40% of national gop electorate, evangelical voters by state,ficantly somewhat conservative voters are found in similar proportions in state. they're not very vocal they form the gop.ck base of

guest: these are the people -- host: they tend to be a lot of donald trump supporters. guest: donald trump is doing well with all ideological factions. trump is recapturing the terms ofn party in ideology.er than he does extremely poorly among graduatesh post degrees. somewhat conservative voter who trump supporters is split between that person marco cruz. ted at some point, those people candidatesf those will drop out. host: our guest is henry olsen the book is called "four faces party."epublican we welcome our listeners and also those of you on c-span radio and those watching here on c-span television. a reminder that we're dividing phone lines a little bit

segment. for this identify yourself as a conservative republican. number.he 202-748-8000. if you're a moderate republican, 202-748-8001 and others 202-748-8002. campaign.the jeb bush >> i wish we could say yes, destroy isis. finally are we need to be. >> the mass shooting is being investigated as aning a of terrorism. >> isis has claimed responsibility. this was an act of terror. so far president obama has been silent. >> americans had enough of words. declarations detached from reality of an administration or no intention to win. we can't withdraw from the threat or negotiate with it. we have one choice, to defeat

it. candidate but a similar theme with ted cruz, and homeland security issue. guest: i think all republican candidates realize how importance that is for voters now. few, perhaps rand paul become the primary exception. the battle will go to who can convince republican voters that they who can convince republican voters that they are most sincere in the fight. some people cannot link immigration in the same way that ted cruz can. that is why you have the difference in the two ads. one is immigration and one is isis.

-- he could win the nomination. there is time to go before any of the votes are capped. we are six weeks out from iowa. and four years ago, newt gingrich was winning the polls. donald trump is polarizing. him.upporters love he is now over 30% in the polls. he will be interpreted in their favor. the fact that he leads the polls for people who will never vote for him as equally as people who will vote for him, he is the single most polarizing figure today. and he is well short of a supermajority. -- says that there is a huge difference between the

corporatists who lead the gop and average conservator to -- average conservative leaning voters. that they data shows are one third of the republican party. that the people who are in the middle are in the somewhat conservative party. a partyle who don't see being dominated by the conservatives, that is the sweet spot that every candidate who wants to win the nomination wants to get. and the person who can get there is going to be the nominee. that is ted cruz's challenge. he has to persuade the somewhat conservative who may share the policies must not the us versus them attitude. one other tweet from i am anho says,

independent and i see no one worth my vote in either party. guest: you see a lot of people becoming disgusted with two-party politics. that the fourth and fifth parties are gaining support because voters are giving up hope on the two major parties. that gentleman's thought is very much along the same lines, there the leads don't understand and don't care about the average person. and consequently, they are looking for somebody new. host: four faces of the republican party: the fight for the 2016 presidential nomination -- steve is joining us. good morning. caller: i have an analogy for you. scranton, nelson rockefeller and george romney all tried to stop goal whether

who is now in conventions and , as establishment candidates themselves and they failed. when mittow, i think romney was leading, in all of the polls, and they said no, no, we want to go with someone else. -- if donald trump wants to win, if he has ted cruz as his running mate, i think that breaks the maverick dynamic. the primary election in 1964 is a great analogy. the one thing i would caution is that goldwater one very few primaries. he was a write-in candidate in new hampshire. he lost to oregon. he won in california but that is a time when divorce was popular. secondson rockefeller's

wife happen to give birth to his second child in the primary. and that pushed goldwater over the top. i think we have a very fluid situation in the republican party. ted cruzpoint, the non- and non-donald trump candidates will start to drop out. marco rubio or chris christie if bush can come back. and then you will see an interesting three-person race. and that will break down along ideological lines. is henry olsen. he is a graduate of claremont mckenna college. he is out with a new book called "four faces of the republican party: the fight for the 2016 presidential nomination." about the demographics,

this is from the wall street journal today on how the sun belt state continues to grow. florida is growing faster than california. also, north carolina and south carolina and georgia at the expense of the industrial states. .hey are losing in population how all of these demographics can impact 2016. that is available online. we are joined now from georgia. you call yourself a conservative republican? caller: i was one. host: what are you now? caller: i'm not sure. the republican party has left the black people out of the equation. --s man just said that he demographics don't matter to him. all he wants is white folks votes. and we know the reason the republican party is diminishing democratics --

demographics matter. guest: what i was trying to say is that the swing voter is someone who is downscale economically. african-americans matter a lot. they are equal citizens. the same as white people and hispanic people and asian people. african-americans have not shown themselves to be terribly for conservative republican candidates and that is one reason why, despite the desires of the republican party, imo focus -- they may focus on other voters. it is easier to get voters who are swinging between the two parties as opposed to african-americans who tend to present-95 percent democratic when they are faced with a typical republican conservative. host: this washington post photograph of donald trump in michigan, and one of our regular

isers has this question, donald trump in danger of losing the nomination? guest: i think if there were a donald trumption, would certainly lose it. because the establishment of the do not want to see donald trump be the nominee. so if he walks in without the minority -- without the majority , i think you could see them making another contender and nominee. i doubt you will see an old-fashioned brokered convention. i could imagine that if donald trump walked in with 40% of the delegates, they could elect one of the other ones. in order to deny him the nomination. a survey of experts is the

subject of today's front page story. look at the headlines. and ted cruz lead. morning, why do you think it is that the leading of the birther movement in 2008 has said nothing about the fact that ted cruz was born in canada and is constitutionally ineligible to be president? guest: there seems to be some form of nonaggression pact between a ted cruz and donald trump. i think because ted cruz was born to american citizens, there is a question about whether he was an american citizen by birth even though he was out of the country. but there does seem to be a nonaggression pact between the two of them. the weekend before the last to debate -- before the last debate, donald trump started to

attack him but then when he had the opportunity during the debate, he said that ted cruz is a wonderful guy. they seem to recognize that there is a huge background in their supporters and that has one gains, the other might lose. for right now, it is in both of their interests to not attack. host: henry olsen, from your book and from the piece you mentioned earlier, you wrote the following. you said that donald trump is the latest manifestation of a global trend. guest: across the world, what we borns people who are need in sweden and germany and france and who areerlands downscale it, people who don't callate from what we college, but working-class voters are angry. protest voting for candidates who are opposed to refugee status, who are

suspicious of globalization and you have fiscal policies that fall between the left and the right. donald trump is striking exactly the same themes with the exact same emphasis and he is getting same support as these parties overseas. that you went on to say suggest the appeal of anti-immigration policies to working-class voters is much deeper than american elites want to believe. we now have linda from new york. she is on the line for moderate republicans. caller: good morning. if i can get out what i'm going to try to say here. first, i think on ultram should crawl back under the rock. trump shouldnald crawl back under a rock.

and isn't ted cruz and immigrant? marco rubio has trying to fix the problem. he has the courage of his convictions. he wasn't for immigration before he was against immigration. i think the whole country is going nuts. inc. you. host: thank you for the call. allen called ted cruz the pride of calgary. he was born in calgary. his parents were american. and once again, this is the third or fourth caller on him, is he eligible to run for president? that is a question that constitutional scholars will have to ask. i am not a constitutional lawyer. i know that in 2008, john mccain, who was born in the canal zone was deemed eligible to run. even though he was born outside of the continental american states.

was in thes father active military. both of ted cruz's parents were not in the military, they were in calgary for work. and ted cruz had to renounce his canadian citizenship. in thee he comes up seriousness of conversation, the more you will see people looking at that and asking, is he eligible? it certainly was an issue in 2007-2000 84 barack obama -- 2008 four barack obama even though he has shown his birth certificate. guest: exactly. who, ifcruz is somebody being born outside of the united states is viewed as not being

born a natural citizen, he would be in eligible to run. but that is a question for constitutional lawyers. host: judy, good morning. virginia on the line for conservative republicans. caller: good morning. i call myself a conservative republican because i am catholic and very pro-life. huge block ofa voters and we are a peculiar people. because the catholic church preaches the social gospel. retain alike to also safety net for the poor. so we are not classes -- not classic conservatives. i watched her excellent presentation on saturday morning , lindsey graham, the last

political race. what a shame he is out of the race. he has experience, he is a policy maker. -- look at john kasich. he also has many years of experience. in the topee people who have never held political office. for all of them who are accusing and playing to people who didn't graduate from high school, carly fiorina stands head and shoulders above everyone. she is passionately and truly against abortion. to dig a hole and airy planned parenthood in it. but of course, she has no experience. host: thank you for the call.

you mention carly fiorina, let me show you one of the most recent ads that she has put out. let us stand together and do our duty and we shall not fail. >> our government has become incompetent, unresponsive, corrupts. that ineptitude and lack of ability is dangerous. talking tough is not the same as being strong. and to wage war we need a commander-in-chief who has made tough calls in tough times. margaret thatcher went said that she was not content to manage the decline of a great nation. neither am i. clintono beat hillary to keep our nation safe. if you join me, we will take our country back. in the polls earlier in

the fall -- but as we move into winter she remains in the low-mid-single digits nationally and probably in the low teens in new hampshire. is an carly fiorina attractive candidate. she is someone who displays leadership and conservative values. that is one of the reasons why our last caller is attracted to her. i suspect that if she does not nomination, she would be a republican nominee for the 2018 virginia senate seat against senator tim kaine. i suspect our caller from danville will have a chance to be enthusiastic about her. viewers, thisour ted cruz's father was not american when the senator was born. please make that correction. that is correct. is about theestion

father, he was an immigrant. not a native born american but i think he was a citizen, he had become a naturalized citizen, so he was born to two american citizens even if one was a natural born. host: stephen is next, you are on with henry olsen, the author of the book, "four faces of the republican party: the fight for the 2016 presidential nomination ." happy holidays to you both. i am listening to this this morning and i think the republican party in the last four years since 2012 has gotten worse. it seems like they tend to discard all logic, any intellectual thought in terms of being the party they preach. but teach responsibility they don't take the time to look

at the positive strengths and to eradicate the negatives. what they are doing is essentially, running around in circles. they keep making the same mistakes over and over again. i think the tea party is one of the worst movements in this country. it has made a mockery of that party and of the judicial system in this country. instance, when the same-sex marriage thing was going on, i happen to be a sexual myself. i am a white male myself and i am scared to death of these people because all i wanted, like many people like me, we wanted our equal rights. there are a lot of people who share your views. that the republican party is a group of people who are confused or don't represent values. there are millions of people who are opposed to same-sex marriage. one of the things about american

politics is that we can have these discussions out in the open as opposed to behind closed doors. host: one of the issues front -- innter in two dozen 12 2012 was deportation. it came up in the debate last week and it came up in a recent event that we covered with senator ted cruz. but here is marco rubio who came up with a plan, a gang of eight. >> i have answered that question repeatedly. in that minutes probationary status where all they had is a work permit, i personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card and that may not be a majority position in my party. but that is down the road. you have to prove that to people. you have to prove to people that it is working and that was the lesson in 2013.

it is more true today than it was then. we had miners come over and you are seeing it come up now after all of the executive orders the president has issued. courtesy of cnn, how is that playing out in the primary? guest: it is something ted cruz wants to make a major issue. it is clearly one of donald trump's major selling points. a large percentage of the republican party would like to send the illegal people living in this country back to the country they are from. a poll suggests that people do that peopleew should be allowed to settle here illegally if they have a green card. it could determine whether senator rubio determines -- rubio emerges as a candidate.

did catch up with him outside of richmond, virginia. >> i oppose amnesty. marco rubio supports it. i opposed citizenship, marco rubio supports citizenship. the gang of eight bill. whenu go back to 2010 senator rubio was running in florida, he promised the men and women of florida, if you elect me, i will lead the fight against amnesty. todd, you'll remember in texas, i promise you men and women in texas the same thing. me, i that if you elect will lead the fight against amnesty. in 2013 there was a time for choosing.

everyone had to choose which side of the line base it on. senator rubio made the decision not to honor the promises he made to the men and women who elected him. instead, he decided to stand with barack obama and hillary clinton and the money interest in washington and lead the fight to pass amnesty. and i made a different decision. to stande decision with steve king at the american people against amnesty, to lead the fight to defeat the bill. senator ted cruz at a conference in virginia this week. next, our line for conservative republicans. are you with us? caller: yes. good morning. i have a question for your best. i am a conservative republican.

i am a working-class republican. the thing is, about the people who support donald trump, and i do but i would accept ted cruz, people primarily -- a lot of this is an economic issue with them and they feel that in some , the establishment party is left that with the previous candidates. somebody like me will never support a mitt romney or a john mccain. they will stay home instead of vote. question is, regardless of who wins the nomination, do you think that the establishment of the republican party has keyed into the anger of the working-class voter in the party? guest: no. they have not. and they are in one of the

stages of grief, one of the early ones is denial. that is the reaction to the donald trump and ted cruz approach to immigration. denial. eventually, the establishment is going to have to come to grips with it. it isn't just the anger of working-class republicans, but also working-class independence at democrats. if you don't have a college degree in this country, you have seen your incomes stagnate or decline over the last years. that history true with president bush and president obama. it is something that is fueling anger about the anger among voters. -- anger among voters. come ton party needs to the idea that everyone is a citizen, regardless of their education and the government

needs to take the people who are suffering into account. that is what is fueling working-class anger. until they come to grips with it, the republican party will lose. enough of donald trump. the lead page of the washing approach. -- the washington post. -- senator graham has not endorsed another candidate. dave in fairfax virginia, good morning. caller: happy holidays. i appreciate the format that c-span provides. i would like to ask a brief question. does the rhetoric from

donald trump and others on the ticket lead over into the other candidates that may emerge as the presidential candidate? how much is this rhetoric hurting the republican brand? guest: so far there is little evidence that the donald trump rhetoric is hurting the party. generally people are distinguishing between donald party they could be open to voting for. nominee,f he were the it would be more a question of whether or not the party is associated with his viewpoints. i think that is one of the great fears of the republican political establishment. people are suggesting that andpendence and weapons -- republicans will vote for hillary clinton if donald trump is the nominee. but right now, this is not an

issue. host: this is from the washington post, it goes to the rand paul campaign. they say it is floundering despite the family name. they say that rand paul has not been able to capture what ron paul was able to during his trip to the white house. guest: that is the case. it is surprising to me. rand paul has been finding his voice in the last few months. he reacted to the rise of importance and national security among applicants -- among republicans. about theng differences between the candidates in the early part of this year, he has gone back to speaking his voice. it is one that resonates. you have seen a resurgence in the polls. but rand paul doesn't have the emotional connection that ron paul has. and that has been blurring the

differences. host: the reporting of seth maclachlan as the piece is available online at the washington times.com. libertarian voters are flocking to donald trump is the headline today. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to ask henry olsen if he has sent his wish list to send -- to santa claus this year. the has happened to republican party, they need to divorce themselves from the chamber of commerce. we know exactly what is going on and i am a conservative republican. that people are speaking exactly how they feel. we need to do something with the republican party. it is totally lost.

host: who is your candidate? caller: i like ted cruz. all of them except for donald trump. ok.: guest: clearly there are a lot of people who share your anger and your beliefs about the republican party. right now, the people who may not share those beliefs are divided among multiple candidate whereas clearly the vibrancy of the poignancy of the messages and the rhetoric of ted cruz and donald trump have attracted people. we will see whether or not that battle ends up producing the nominee. there are awhether sufficient number of republicans who are as angry as you to produce one of those two men as the nominee. host: do you think other candidates would drop out before iowa? guest: i have been surprised

that other candidates haven't dropped out so far. i think people who would drop out would be of the lindsey graham friday, they don't have a large number of people supporting them in the polls. dropping out will not affect the race significantly. most of the people who are still in the race will wait until one of the two early states. iowa, ihuckabee loses would be shocked if he continues. carly fiorina has to do well in hampshire. -- well in new hampshire. again, this is henry olsen, the author of "four faces of the republican party: the fight for the 2016 presidential nomination." if people want to follow you on twitter, can they do so? guest: merry christmas to you. host: the book is called, "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to democracy. we will have a conversation with the author.

and later we will open the phone lines to talk to you about the economy and whether you are better or worse off this past year. washington journal continues, we are back in the moment back in a moment -- we are back in a moment. three days of featured programming this holiday weekend on c-span. friday evening at 7:00, congressional leaders honor dick cheney at the capital with the unveiling of a marble bust. >> when the vice president had his critics going off the deep it, he asked his wife, does bug you when people refer to you as me -- as darth vader? and she said no. it humanizes you. [laughter] [applause] >> saturday night. an in-depth look at policing.

washington,lude d.c. police chief. >> most people get defensive if they feel like they are being offensive. respectful in encounters and request versus demand changes the dynamics. 2:00,day afternoon at race in the justice system. years0, portions of this washington ideas festival. speakers include mark warner, al gore and anne-marie slaughter. >> we have to banish the word, he is helping at home. helping is not actually taking the burden off of you. you are still figuring out what needs to be done. and you are asking him to help.

he is not the agent, he is the assistant. men do have to be lead parents, fully equal coparents. >> for our complete schedule, go to c-span.org. announcer: washington journal continues. host: joining us now from atlanta is mehrsa baradaran, the author of the book, "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to democracy. good wednesday morning. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: let me go to the premise of the book. of write the following, one the great ironies in modern america is that the less money you have, the more you have to pay to use it. 90 percent of americans consider themselves middle-class it anywhere from 20%-40% of the population must rely on

alternative financial instruments. guest: a lot of us who have bank accounts and up operating in a digital world. bankve credit cards, the , weles the auto bill pay connect to our service providers and shopping and all of this -- it is done through the network operated by credit cards and debit cards and bank operations. and those who don't have bank , or those who have to use other services, they operate in a cash economy. and that economy is expensive and stressful. so if you have to pay a bill and you don't have a bank account, you actually have to go to the water office, turn your paycheck into cash and then you turn the cash into a money order or take

the cash to the water office and pay for it there. so there are financial services that we who have bank accounts don't think about because we that worry about the way the cash from our accounts gets there. that's what i mean by it being more costly. there is another aspect besides check-cashing and money transfers, but the credit aspect. so if you are short three dollars or $400 and your tire needs to be changed, if you have cost,rgency or unexpected a lot of us can tied ourselves overthrew some savings buffer or credit card. but there are a lot of folks out there, and this goes well into the middle class, who consider poor, but you end up having to get a payday loan or a title loan.

so if you need $300 to fix your tire, you end up paying something like $1500. and that is a costly transfer. it ends up being the only option other folks have. the book starts with that premise because i think it is not just an economic problem, it is also a sociopolitical problem. host: you point out in the introduction of the book, that other -- that over half the people who had to take out $400 from their bank account would have to sell something or borrow money to come up with the cash. guest: it is a federal statistic. half the country doesn't have $400 in savings. go to a folks can friend or family member and get the money if they need it. but there are costs there.

and some people don't just have friends or family with the excess money. so they end up having to go to a service provider, a payday loan, and you see this industry is massive. so you have to think about how much demand there is. this is more than a mcdonald's and starbucks combined. this is a huge demand that is being served by this industry. host: we will put some information on the screen and remind the audience to get the calls in just a few moments. the book is called "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to democracy." about 20% of the population either have no bank account or rely on check-cashing store fronts. is average household income $25,000 and 10% of that income goes to fees or interests.

also, the average customer is indebted for 199 days. half of the loans are made in sequence of 10 other loans. can you elaborate on these points? guest: yes, the process of the payday loan is that it is meant to be rolled over. you are borrowing against the next paycheck. the folks were doing this have to have a bank account and they have a regular source of income. you can borrow against the next inflow. the problem is, you are never paying off the principal of the loan. in other words, the actual money you take out. but he pay fees as interest on that loan. so when the two weeks is up, a lot of folks and up having to roll it over. something like 20% roll it over

around 10 times. these loans are meant to be a cycle of debt. and even the business model of some of these firms put that in the management material. so this is where it becomes problematic. pr and seeeasuring a how much interest there actually have. a lot of the loans are from range of percent -- range of 300%-200%. are able to get around them because they can charter on a native american state or they call them fees. you end up paying a lot of money because of the rollover process. host: our guest is mehrsa baradaran. she is out with a new book

called "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to democracy." are dividing our phone lines differently for this segment. 202 is the area code here in d.c.. for those who earn immediate income of up to 50,000 a year. that number is (202) 748-8001. we also welcome our listeners on radio and on the iphone app available for mobile devices. let me ask you about traditional banks. this is a fascinating history. hopefully the readers of the book will also see that. throughout history there was a compromise, and understanding

that government supported banks. without government support, banks don't exist. the banks can be there on the ground to meet the needs of the community. so when we put geographic restrictions around banks up until the 1990's, if you were a bank, you could only be a bank in one community. you were in atlanta, you couldn't have a new york branch. the result of that was that most communities had a bank. the wealthys served and the poor in the community. so we had access basically nationwide. that's a start shift during the 1980's as we see regulating. that allows the money from atlanta to go to new york. and you have many different branches. so these banks get bigger and bigger.

you see bank of america who has branches nationwide, and they are able to put money in the most profitable branches, you shut down the branches in areas that are not profitable. what is not profitable? inner-city areas or rural areas. other banks, the savings and loans at the george bailey bank -- that was fictional. mess are involved in this exit is from these low income communities. happens, there is a direct correlation between those banks leaving and the payday lenders filling the void. is, it isn'tt it profitable to lend a $500 loan if you are a bank. you would rather loan a multimillion dollar loan because

it is the same overhead cost but you are able to get much more interest. taking smallor deposits doesn't yield much money. has tried tot enhance these banks and entice these banks and it hasn't worked. banks are not interested and it is not profitable. there is money to be made elsewhere. matt smith,s from he says, it is expensive eating poor in america. expensive being poor in america. guest: that's right. it is. it is hard to understand that .or people who aren't poor it takes a lot of empathy and living in someone else's shoes -- for a whilet but once you understand how many

sharp edges there are two poor , and thatives financial aspect of it is not the only one. there are many. things that happen, unexpected emergencies, they can really set people back. and once you take out one of these loans or even go to a family member, it can really snowball. and your life can be fragile. a lot of us don't spend the time thinking, what would i do if i money in mysome bank account that i could throw out if i needed it. host: another viewer says, payday loans are a trap. they need toe time avoid one fee by incurring another. from the book, "how the other half banks: exclusion, exploitation, and the threat to

democracy," another point from the author. she says that the fight for was startedbanking before the ink dried on the constitution. ended sometime in the last few decades as deregulation did away with attempts to restrict bank power. banks became large and powerful and stop serving a large section of the population. baradaran is joining us from atlanta. jack,go to rhode island, you make more than $50,000 a year? caller: yes. i worked on wall street for 30 years and i reached the levels of middle management. i was fortunate. i was trained by three very wealthy jewish gentleman. when i wasld me running the business at 25 years old, they said you have to bring

value to the table. ok? once you reach a certain , i was treated well, but i reached middle management and it was very difficult to make hundreds of millions of dollars a year. that is controlled by a very small select international financial elite. they run the game in the world. it doesn't matter who is running for president, democrat or republican. will housesay, he the gold will will be world. money controls everything. and you have to hand that to them, the jewish people control world banks. from providence, rhode island. we will get a response. guest: he brought up wall

street. it used to be that we separated investments and trading from the banking industry. and as we have seen over the last 20 years, those things have merged. growing fury of wall street was that they were doing it, is financial innovation, to help us out and really after the financial crisis, it became apparent that wall street is massive. it is much bigger than it was. and the size and risk that comes with that isn't really helping us do anything better than we were before. it is really not a benefit to main street to have wall street be so large. risk,e of the heightened main street is threatened whenever the machine of credit freezes up like it did in 2008. freezes, we can't

get the loans that we need to make our lives go. the other thing that became apparent was that wall street was also backstopped by the federal government. and this is a point that a try to make in the book several times. to say, let the market handle people -- handle the poor. we do have a market for payday lending and i don't think those high costs are the market price. and i talk later about why but we don't have a market in banking the way markets of supply and demand traditionally work. we have a federal government backstop that doesn't allow the banks to fail. there are reasons for that, political but other reasons. we also have trillions of dollars of federal money going into these wall street banks. that is dependent on them lending it to the rest of us. it isn't being led to the rest

of us. whether itable about is even benefiting fortune 500 firms. it seems that money is circulated around and wall street through the derivatives and the trading. the question is, with putting so much money and wall street, is the money coming down to help us out as a society and economy? your mentioning before to the caller and i talked before about the evidence low in the u.s. history about the debate about what banks should do and we don't have that debate as visibly and as strongly as we did. there was andrew jackson who waged a bank or and thomas jefferson and alexander hamilton fought so vigorously about the banks. fdr wereilson and strong leaders who took on the banking industry.

some of them make mistakes. maybe they didn't fully understand it but there was the exchange in the conversation and we don't see that as much these days. before joining the university of georgia law school, our guest, mehrsa at brighamtaught young university. you make them between $25,000-$50,000? caller: yes, i do. i am a veteran. i average in the middle. my wife had to have knee surgery. and the insurance that she has , ther job only pays 80% , wethat we have to pay found out what we read for the surgery that i had to pay that

before she could get the surgery. fromo i had to take money our bills from my check to pay for the surgery that she was going to have. that is put me behind. from to borrow money different places in order to make up for the money that i had. and now i have loan bills to pay have got to cover other things that i have. and i find now today that the president or the government is not going to raise social security. the government is not going to vase the the a -- the payments that we get but everything else is going up. i just don't understand how the middle class is really the poor class now. host: thank you. guest: i'm so sorry to hear

that. i agree with you that there are a lot of folks -- medical emergencies,. my daughter also just had a i am fortunate enough to have insurance that covers it but i feel the same way, because if i was not, it is a high cost and you would look quickly to find that money. there isn't really an option to not get these surgeries that will save our kids lives or make your life better. so you make it work even if that means borrowing from a place that you know is costly. say: from the book, you french lenders are causing problems in our society that are cause for alarm. we might approach them with temporary solution and relief if we look deep enough we will find a cancer eating away our democracy. guest: yes, the point i'm trying

to make their is that the payday lending industry isn't the problem. there has been a lot of talk about it. i think it is a symptom to a bigger disease. becauseon i say that is i come at this from a banking perspective. i actually walk -- i actually worked on wall street and i said he banks. -- i studied banks. i understand help banks work and how the credit market functions and how they lend and the decision-making that goes into it. and also the government-bank relationship. so coming at it from that angle, payday lending is a symptom. the social contract that we have has been breached. banks to do something for us and that is why we support them. we have never been so supportive

of banks in all of our history. we give trillions of dollars in qe and discount loans and all of these complex ways that we are supporting the banking industry and there are not doing the thing that we need them to do. and the payday lenders are. so i don't think the payday lenders are -- they are sharks, sure. but that is a market void that was created by the banks. we just blame them and just try to stop them, it ignores the huge demand that they are meeting. and what it stops, they will come up in another form. so we had to take a look at the banking industry. a hard look at what the taxpayer money is buying. it is now in loans or asset purchases so we can say, we have made a profit. but if you look closely, these

banks don't exist without huge federal reserve and federal government infusions of credit. what do we get from it? host: mary jane is joining us from ohio. good morning. mom today is going in for financial advice from her banker. they contacted her and want her to take the money out of the savings account, and it is a sizable amount. she has money invested but she wants to keep a fluid part of money for her in case she needs it quickly. is there some reason why they would be paying so much attention to her lack of making money? is there something going on right now? she's older and they want to get the money out of the savings and into some other fields. i don't know what it is, i will go with her today.

is there something we should be on the lookout for that might be a trigger? i don't want to end up like greece, where they take all of the money that you have in the bank. if you could give me insight into that. host: do you trust your financial advisor? caller: well, i don't know. within thes changed last 1.5 years and it seems like bigger.eager -- it is i just don't know. i don't understand. i just know that there are different things that she could be invested in and she did call her broker to find out if there's something she could get the money out and still make money. right now she is making nothing on the savings account. host: how much money are you talking about? an estimate? caller: considerable.

under what hundred thousand dollars but it is a lot. host: thank you for the call. i think something that i hear a lot is that people don't trust their banks. you say it went from a little bank to a big bank. that is a common story. a credit union but it does get bigger and bigger all the time. so i think that you are pointing out -- i don't know who this bank is. i can't answer your question specifically. i know that the federal reserve has increased rates so hopefully your banker is trying to find a higher yield place for your mom. i hope that they have her best interests at heart. toefully they are not trying swindle your mom. ask a lot of questions and make sure you are comfortable. ask a lot of questions and go online.

with thehe problems banking industry that i highlight in the book, i am not turkey -- i'm not talking about bernie madoff. i think there are a lot of problems on looking at the whole large-scale thing. but i don't think that people are out there trying to steal money from good folks like yourself. i hope that is not the case. book, mehrsar baradaran writes the following. banking policy has always reflected the social goals and civic principles of each bureau. the state is shoring up a powerful banking industry that is, in turn, excluding those americans most in need. back to your phone calls. good morning. a ged teacher.

one of the problems that i have is getting students to understand the concept of percent. they recently had a student say that i said he had any idea how much that percent would be in a year? she had no concept of that. it is such an immediate need that they don't understand. not in their own self-interest. i wanted to mention that are representative, her largest campaign contributor is the loan offices.

the ones that are ripping off these poor people. the last thing i would like to say is that i think it was elizabeth moran who mentioned -- elizabeth warren that mentioned post offices could do a better job of providing -- they used to be postal savings. involvedices could get in low income people and their reasonable rates of interest. host: thank you from the call. you mention the postal service and this is a related tweet. " postal banking could provide low-cost financial services through the nation's 30,000 u.s. post offices." you response? guest: i'm glad you brought up postal banking. that is what the book is about. the conclusion of the book. i think there really is a

solution here and i have worked with elizabeth moran and bernie warren andelizabeth bernie sanders. they have supported this idea. i think this is the conclusion i came from. we need a public auction for putting all this money into banks. it supposed to get to the people and it is not. it's getting sucked into the middle man. let's have a direct route. i see that happening through the postal banks. the last two chapters of the book go through that history in united states of our very robust postal banking system and how well it works. folks, we, low income get it from 1910 until 1966. most developed countries have this system. it's a win-win. there are a lot of multiple parties winning. people don't have use of payday

service. is this massive inequality we have in the banking system. we balance the scales a little bit and that is a win. elizabeth warren is an advocate. we are waiting. the union just delivered 150,000 signatures to the post office inspector general's office this last week. the momentum is building on this idea and i hope it keeps going. i wrote an article three years ago advocating this. it was sort of an academic pie in the sky idea. i have been so happy to see how it is really gaining legs and people understand the scale of the problem and how common sense solutions postal banking is. i am glad you brought that up. you look at the theoretical foundation i lay out in the book because it really -- i usually

don't come that problems with a solution. i tried to lay out the problem. that is what i did on the first go of this article. i wanted to talk about the problem in the banking actor and the post -- banking sector and the postal banking was so obvious. i have not found a reason to put it aside. i think it's a good solution. host: the kansas bringing -- the caller ringing of the point that the representative getting support from these payday lender companies. how pervasive is that? guest: it is pervasive. they have not had the fight national yet. be -- cfpd, regulating consumer loans, they started to focus on payday loans. the rules are just rolling out now. the payday lenders have been really effective arguing state-by-state for their cause. and includes raising caps

allowing products to be called different things. --georgia we don't have payday loans are banned in the state of georgia but we have title loans, installment loans. they create some other form by which the land these high rates -- lend these high rates. we should watch these industries. we should see who is lobbying whom and how they are trying to get around these laws. what we really need is a solution. in so far is there is huge demand, there will be a supply that i did -- either the payday anders, or we push underground and have old-school loan sharks and i would hate to see that happen. host: we've been through a week of authors. mehrsa baradaran is our guest from atlanta on how the other half banks.

we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. another half hour in our conversation on this book. stuart from virginia, good morning. my money is inherited wealth most of it. i make money off of a check of the military and from the civil service. that's how i make the money i make. was $3500i live in when i bought it 60 years ago. i own everything around it. that is what aided me to keep late the wealth i've got. i paid for used cars. i lived below my means. and i intend to pass on my inheritance to the next generation.

that's how i kept my head above water. host: thank you for the call. guest: you are very lucky you had property. that is the number one way people accumulate wealth. you brought up the racial disparity, the huge wealth gap. african-americans have been excluded from property ownership by policy, jim crow, segregation, discrimination. when you don't have property you're not able to pass the wealth from generation to generation and that greeted acute problems. edc more african-americans percentagewise having to rely on -- paydays because they don't have intergenerational wealth. racial breakdown of debt and , as are anot equal

lot of things in this country. host: we are talking about payday lenders and the friends banking system. zachary is next from alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. i had a couple of questions more on the legislative point of view. is there any legislation in place or any champion for this in congress? or are these issues statewide and state-controlled? you are saying in georgia they banned, but didn't comprehensively cover the issue. guest: are you talking about payday loans or the postal banking? host: payday lenders. guest: they are regulated state-by-state. most of that action is on the state level. congress.s not in treatedagency that was during dodd frank and charged with regulating these types of

loans. they are starting to look at it. there are champions in the senate and congress. sanders,arren, bernie senator brown. b does have some champions in congress but the action is at the state level. and then in the agencies host: larry is following up saying, who is profiting and owns these businesses? guest: i talked about this in the book. there was this facade of informality. they look like neighborhood mom-and-pop payday loans. they have bright signs and usually kind of shabby and in low income areas. there are about five or six major corporations that own these payday loans. one was just purchased by one of the wealthiest -- four people in mexico -- for people in mexico.

they are massive and highly profitable. a lot of them are public companies funded by wall street. organized and quite large. host: roger is next from ohio. good morning. i did have a regular bank account and credit card bills. me to sell ited for $.25 on the dollar but i had come up with $2000. i did that by going to a payday loan people. mine was once a month to set of every two weeks. i did that for about a year until i got some extra money. i have a question and a suggestion. if i did not have the loan and i --nced a check at $835 fee,

$35 fee, why is it interest? are they doing that on purpose to make the interest rate look higher? host: thank you. guest: that's a great question. this is a lobbying issue. banks have succeeded in not calling this overdraft fees interest. they are fees. banksl cases where the would pile on the fees so you overdraw once and they would just charge you $35 and then another $35 the next day. that looks like a lot of interest but you call it a fee and it's below the use reason. that is why a lot of people choose wisely not to have a bank account. or to not use a bank account. they are scared of the overdraft fees. they are random and punitive and have no connection to the cost of paying for this overdraft.

these are banks punishing customers and repelling small accounts. banks want small accounts so they put these fees on to give that message to customers that they are small savings are welcome. they collect free checking but you have to have a minimum to put in a banker for the start charging you. the reason i know these charges are not the cost of the overdraft is because there are several. a bank was piloting account or you would pay a five dollars monthly fee. if you overdrew on your account they would freeze it. . anything to do that if you don't have the money in your account and you draw a check on it, they just won't honor the check. you can deal with that yourself and set of stopping the $35 fee. or they could let you overdraw and in charge of interest on the amount you have overdrawn. that is how the postal banks in the u.k. do it. they land in that way. he overdrawn by $30 or $50, and

until you make good you are charged interest. it's a reasonable one and set of a random $35 fee. host: our guest, mehrsa baradaran has written for vanderbilt law review. bankingy, a former professor and teaches law at the university of georgia. pamela and marilyn, good morning. caller: good morning. i did not hear the last two , but i can't understand why these payday loan banks or payday loan establishments are allowed to be in existence. basically aas said person that has five dollars in their account, they withdraw it and overdraw the account they can be subject to do all these

fees. why is that allowed? guest: good question. to be that our culture did not tolerate usery. many religions said you cannot charge high interest. -- every thing started happening will be deregulated in the 1980's. will make therket rules on how much interest there is. allow up to $700 -- 700% interest through these payday lenders. they are allowed because we as a society decided this is ok. and because there is a demand. i do want to be clear. if we shut it down and write legislators and say we want payday lending gone, that does not solve the problem. it solves one symptom of a problem. book, it'sght in the

not the tumor. is the symptom of the larger cancer. host: viewers say it is hard for young people to have bank accounts or established that it was all the punitive fees and catch-22's." host: guest: i think a lot of people are choosing not to bank at establishments. a lot of young people trust google and apple more than bank of america. they have gone and are putting their money in some sort of a paypal or prepaid debit card. they just don't trust banking institutions anymore. once they start earning more money and having to get a mortgage and things like that you will have to deal with a bank at some. point host: did people want to follow you on twitter? .uest: @mehrsa baradaran

host: let's go to john from michigan. how much do you make a year? 125,000 dollars. i have a social security and small pension. before that you could write a book on this, easily, i owned the truck company and i was making wanted to $50,000 a year. -- $150,000 year. i was doing the payday thing. i was doing one credit card to cover another one. hit the recession immediately the bank she mentioned closed in on me. 9% toss account went from 33.5%.

i thought them for a while and the comptroller in the treasury. eventually i wound up losing everything. the trucks, the house, the new cars. it's funny she is out of atlanta because i ran from atlanta to miami a lot. i started listening to mr. ramsey on the radio. boy, what good advice. if you can't pay cash, you don't need it. aat i did is i bought foreclosed property appear for $7,800. really run down. pay cash. i fixed it up. it is beautiful, christine -- pristine. my vehicles are older but i know had a fix them. the parts are less expensive. if you can't pay cash, you don't

need it. everything i have now is paid for. i sleep good at night. i'm looking at other properties now. host: thank you for the call. guest: i think it's interesting. congratulations. i'm so glad you regained and that is good advice. i start the book with this, a couple of stories where someone similar to you. who strained financially has an unexpected expense or something happens and the end of meeting alone to make it -- needing a loan to make it. a $300 loan once of costing $2000. the other story and make up as a person named steve he was doing really well before the financial crisis. things are going in and out. they are operating under high leverage which seems like you are also -- were also.

it looks to be balanced. then the interest rates spike. some investments go really bad and they lose everything. that person finds a miracle over so theye them cannot lose everything. they know they are good for it. if they can just make it through this credit crunch, they can get there. steve is not a real person. it's a bank. this is essentially what happened. they were maxed out like yourself. investmentsot of they just figured would work out. they had revenue coming in that they were in heavy debt. lehman brothers was leveraged, aig had trillions of dollars of outstanding debt. they figured they would make. when they did not, people like

yourself would go bankrupt. the banks don't. that's part of the problem. society a moral ambivalence about debt. people like dave ramsey give also they saynd those that borrow are morally inferior to those who a in cash. -- pay in cash. but we have a banking industry and that is their motto. if we are going to be sanctimonious about those who borrow and say you've got it on yourself, then we should think about that with the banking industry and maybe say if you borrow too much and you fail, you have to fail. host: jim from cookeville, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning and merry christmas.

i drive a truck for a living. my total income is somewhere between $90,000 and $100,000. i have a couple of rental properties. i know a fellow that has a degree. a younger guy. at the time he was in his late 20's. could not find a job and floundered around. himmother died and left probably 30,000 to $40,000. and life insurance. started lending money out of his pocket to people. interesting than 10% if they were able to pay back in one week. he did this for a long time. probably 10 years.

this guy now lives in a multimillion dollar how that house -- house and he just loaned money out of his pocket. smart guy, young kid. but totally unregulated, right out of his pocket. i know what he was doing was illegal, it has to be. the interest rate would cap out over 18% a year. be a highly regulated -- i think it's deplorable. it's embarrassing for a country to even be forced into something like this. host: let me get a response and thank you for the call. guest: it's perfectly legal. 18% is well below but the payday lenders charge. is itou are saying shouldn't be. it's immoral and wrong to charge people that much.

i tend to agree with you. there is a sense that because you have money you are taking advantage of those who do not. this is why a lot of religions, christianity, judaism, islam, buddhism, hinduism outlawed usery. to charge someone who doesn't have money for the loan. we can debate on the morality of this. tohink a lot of people tend have his opinion there is something wrong with this. i don't feel good about this person doing that. i would say your friend is charging people less than what they could've gotten from the payday lenders. maybe they preferred to borrow from him. i don't know how he collected. i hope he was not using violence or extortion but that is a problem you have to deal with. it is perfectly legal unfortunately. when peopleote, "

of lesser means than us borrow from payday lenders it reveals their ignorance. the richer guilty of financial but financial mismanagement by the poor is seen as morally reprehensible." guest: i think we have a sense if you're borrowing from the dumby loan you are done -- or don't understand. if you had financial education, you would not make such a mistake. people who use these loans. i have studied them. in my experience it's usually not the case. they are actually more financially savvy. i have a buffer. i'm very lucky. i don't have to worry about feeding my kids for one month to the next. if i screw up, i can still feed them. some people don't. when you are balancing on that thin tightrope you can to take

financial matters seriously. i think when people go to these payday lenders they had no other choice. studies prove this out. they have gone to friends and family and tribe credit cards and they fully understand the costs. for those of us were middle-class or those that are wealthy to wagner fingers and say you were making -- you are stupid and making a bad decision, i think that is hypocritical. badlso make that b - decisions. plenty of people went underwater by buying big houses they could not afford. plenty of bank ceos did the same thing. i think financial mismanagement is not domain exclusively of the poor. i think the rich and middle class can all live above our means and we often do. host: mehrsa baradaran, explain the cover of the book. guest: i did not pick it. this is the cover and harvard

press, my publicist, they take a picture. i think what it shows is payday lending establishment is usually in a low-income neighborhood. this has become part of life and that is what is -- it is meant to represent. many of you have gone inside to observe. they are checkered all over certain neighborhoods. not another neighborhoods interestingly enough. some people have never passed the payday lending site. in some it's right next to mcdonald's. places you go everyday. host: dolores is next from tennessee. good morning. isn't ity question is true that all money is actually borrowed into existence? the federal government does not

print its own money. it borrows it in that it brings into existence that way. it hase federal debt, been borrowed to cover the deficit but if it printed money, they were just print money. host: we will get a response. guest: that is an important point. banksof people think of and bank loans is operating like deposits coming in and being out.-- lent that is not the way modern banks work. when banks make a loan, they treat a deposit. the banks multiply money. they make more money and this is not money -- this is electronic money. that is how they multiply it. the federal government is printing and borrowing all the currency you see. it's an iou from the federal government.

initially how banks were formed in the bank of england is that the government put in money in the form of a loan to the banks. that loan is never been repaid. he just keeps getting circulated and multiplies. i think people, it used to be we had a gold standard. that was never quite stable. when they talk about that now it's a misunderstanding of how money works. multiplies and that is what makes our economy grow. it is not a fixed number we have to balance and get within. it is treated or bank lending and that is how the federal reserve also pushes money out by lending. trillions of dollars. it's being linked to these banks -- lent to the banks and the way it circulates is quite complex but it's worthwhile to figure out. there is a lot of misunderstanding in the public.

host: i want to follow up on how about the charges for those reports mortgages that many others are using with thousands in upfront fees?" guest: that i find it be predatory and morally awful. a lot of these folks go out and find people. they give up a reverse mortgage and a big pile of cash in the own your home. the elderly you then cannot ask the home on, it's a bad idea. unless you have a plan on how you can pay it back and why you need that money. i think it is probably not a good idea. host: the. last call is from fredericksburg, virginia i'm from panama city. host: patricia you're on the air. caller: what i wanted to ask is my daughter had $10,000 in a money market account and it dropped down to $8,000 and now

the bank is charging her $15 a month to leave it there. is that normal? guest: it's totally normal and happens all the time. she might want to change banks or find a credit union. , i haven't talked about that enough. it's a way to solve these problems. not all of them but some of them. unfortunately, totally normal for them. it's probably in the papers your daughter signed. host: mehrsa baradaran in the book is "how the other half banks." thank you for spending this last hour with us on "washington journal." guest: thank you for having me. host: we want to go back to the question about your own financial situation. are you better off, worse off, or perhaps about the same this year? the phone lines are open. we will take a short break and come back to get your calls and comments. (202) 748-8000. if you are better off

(202) 748-8001 if you are worse off, and (202) 748-8002 if you are about the same. we will be back in a moment. ♪ weekend book tv brings you three days of nonfiction books and authors. on friday back to back airings of "afterwards." aei president arthur brooks discusses his latest book. makee biggest mistake we on the conservative side, the one that trips people up the most is the one that should be the easiest. get happy. 8:00 p.m. cornell west examines the life of dr. martin luther king jr. in his book. that for understood any human being who wants to reach a level of integrity, honesty and decency as a long-distance runner, you have

got to kill something in yourself. fear. yet the kill something in yourself. europe session with position and status and wealth. >> followed by former senator john danforth. how faithful people can change politics. >> religion does point is beyond ourselves. -- us beyond ourselves. for the faithful people, the "me" is not central. -- at 10:00 p.m., p.m., her local experiences in government. >> i don't think we do anybody any favors by trying to dress of politicians as if we are not real human beings that it made major mistakes and have major problems in our lives. a panelday at 7:00, discussion on william f buckley junior's run for new york city mayor in 1965. at 11:00, winston group

discusses his latest book, " the generals." >> one of the first questions i usually asked is why did you choose these three men from the second world war? embodied is that they super characteristics of courage, character. and patriotism >> on sunday night at 8:00, we look back at a turning point in world history in 1932. the rise of hitler and fdr. at 11:15 p.m., melissa katz discusses her book. there is a reason i chose the chamber of commerce as a subject for my book. it sums up the

story of how we got here to this place. >> this holiday weekend watch book tv on c-span2. >> washington journal continues. host: are you better off, worse off, or about the same in your own financial situation? that is the focus of the next 30 minutes. we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. the final third-quarter estimate showing the agronomy -- economy growing at about 2%. the associated press with its survey of the top stories of the year. the top business story, china's sharp economic slowdown and the impact it had on wall street, especially in early and mid august. and the effect on the u.s. economy. the phone lines are open at (202) 748-8000 if you say you are better off. (202) 748-8001 if you are worse off. and if you're about the same, (202) 748-8002. the president talking about the

economy in 2015 and what is ahead in his year in news conference last friday at the white house for leaving for hawaii. [video clip] president obama: as i look back on this year, i see so much of our study work over the years is paying off for the american people in big tangible ways. our early actions to rescue the economy set the stage for the longest private sector job growth on record, with 13.7 million new jobs in that time. the unemployment rate is been cut in half, down to 5%. most importantly, wages grew faster than any time since the recovery began. over the course of this year a level decisions we made early on half paid off. the steady implementation of the affordable care act helped to drive the rate of the uninsured below 10% for the first time since records were kept on that. health care prices have gone to

the lowest from -- levels in five decades. we now know that 6 million people have signed up through healthcare.gov for coverage beginning on january 1. 600,000 on tuesday alone. new customers are up one third over last year. the more he signed up, the stronger the system becomes. that is good news for every american who no longer has to worry about being one illness or accident away from financial hardship. host: are you better off, worse off, or about the same? the president's comments. you say you are about the same? caller: good morning. cousins who have been gracious and kind to share holidays. nurse, contracted work, nursing home, a call center.

in my 50's. i've been doing this work since been semif having professional since the recession. i am one of the ones who utilize the payday loan. you just had a lady on with her commentary. wanted to share america. i'm getting kindness from a family member who is doing very well. a doctor. families it women, were two days before christmas going to have to have that payday loan. this legalized usery as she said is a lobby. it is a lobby business that is being created on the poor. the banks here in southwest georgia crossed the line. bank of america closed down in albany, georgia every branch

they had in that small town. that thel town customers literally have -- are forced for those that have go to thethey have to nearest bank. the payday loans lobby industry, legalized usery, loansharking, these ubiquitous stores along the storefronts of small, rural, poor communities. feeding off of four people rappelled --ank rappelled -- repelled small accounts. and congress has allowed it. host: thank you for your call in watching the program. , it is on ourit

website online at c-span.org. a tweet from christy who says "93 million of the labor force out of work. the highest in history which makes you delusional." malcolm from brunswick, georgia. you say you are worse off? caller: good morning. basically, i am retired and have a savings account. the interest i get is laughable. inflation, i don't know where the government gets its figures. inflation isu alive and well. rampant on food products. services you buy. hotels. anything you want that he used

to pay. usingmber a great deal of all of these products and now i'm paying for-five times the price. i'm talking about the last 10 years. host: you have a pension or a retirement plan? what else are you living off of? caller: i have a pension. old-timers like us, we were always told to save your money and it will do well with interest. that doesn't work anymore. that was just for the people that group in the 1940's i guess. if you think you're going to live off of interest now, you are a full. --fool. host: the new york times is writing about the elderly. the aging society changes the story on poverty in old age. one of the great success stories

of the 20th century with the decline of harmony among the elderly. that story is starting to change. a typical american worker whose career pay averages at about $46,000 a year in today's money could retire this year at the age of 65 with a social security benefit worth about 39% of the career average. unless somebody is sent to replenish social security's shrinking trust fund, by the year 2035 the first pension check for such a worker might amount to as little as 27.5%. let's go to tom from minneapolis. caller: hi. a quick comment. that social security thing sounds like wooey. i will get is topic. they say social security is good for another 20 or 30 years. i will just say that. i don't know where the story came from. host: we are talking 20 years.

by the year 2035 according to social security administration. not this year. caller: i'm sorry. 2035. i thought it was 2025. -- i'mto make college-educated. smart or dumb. i did well, was married. work in information systems which is increasingly being outsourced. i don't know if anyone should go to information systems and computers because if you're not doing hands-on work, it will be done by indians are russians or bangladeshis or somebody. i lost my career little by little overtime. -- over time. my wife left me. we accepted it. now here i am getting ready to go onto social security. i have a decent average payment

coming my way, about $1000 a month. i am tightening up my built. i shop all the time. i have a little bit of a mortgage. i shop at discount places. i never pay full price. i am buying used close. i'm not ashamed of it. i find stuff like shorts. they look fine to me. i use them for work shorts -- shirts. what do i care?> i never thought this would happen to me. it's about the middle class little by little losing our jobs to foreign workers. host: tom from minneapolis, thank you for the call. the associated press business adheres giving china the top business story of the year. it took five years for people to become really worried over china's slow-motion economic deceleration. the freak out finally hit global markets in august between the

10th and 25th. the dow jones plunged 11%. --ryone submitted underestimated china's troubles impacting the rest of the world. you say you were better off? caller: i am better off because i made a career change when i was 38. i am now 47. i own my in construction company for many years. that is a tough racket. i changed and went into heating and ventilation. in order to do that and get paid a decent wage i had to take -- i had to have hands-on experience. as i continue onward in the field there is so much to it. so many different aspects that you can continue to go and get recertified and different things and go to school. you areme you do that

worth more money because you are capable of working on more and different types of equipment. there are a lot of careers of their where there is not the opportunity. in their say to anyone mid-30's and looking forward and saying i'm not sure where my career is going to go and there is no upward known -- mobility, look at something else where you can do that. although itsay, tok me about five years where i'm making between $80,000 and $90,000 a year, but it's almost like my car insurance company. i had the same payment for five or six years and never went up. all of a sudden when i got a raise the payments and the premiums go up. there are a lot of different examples in my life for costs increase. although i am better off, the

cost of living increases so that offsets to a large degree. overall i am better off. i think people have to understand it is competitive out there and you have got to get yourself where you are worth more money. the only way to do that is education. host: thank you for sharing. you sound like you are listening on c-span radio. a hands-free device. we will you get back behind the wheel. there was an app available for your mobile device. a reuters tracking polls showing donald trump continues to maintain a double-digit lead over his closest contenders. according to this national survey he is in first place at 36.7%. ben carson and ted cruz tied at about 11%. followed by senator marco rubio at 8.3% and jeb bush at 6.7%.

who pack we janet yellen had her quarterly news conference announcing a slight increase in order percent -- a quarter percent increase. here is the reasoning behind the fed's decision. [video clip] >> earlier today the committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by one quarter percent, bringing it 1.25% to 1.5%. this marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period in which the federal funds rate, which fell near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis in recent -- and recession since the great depression. it also recognizes the considerable progress that has been made towards restoring jobs, raising incomes and easing the economic hardship of millions of americans.

and it reflects the committee's confidence that the economy will continue to strengthen. host: that announcement from janet yellen. marvin is joining us from philadelphia. caller: good morning. i hope you can hear me. host: we can. let me explain to the audience. the most upbeat in the three years. you can read the details at investors.com. go ahead please. caller: i have a legal quandary. am i better off, worse off, or the same? my wife died. she was very sick. to throw anyway i could make her more comfortable. i feel that miserably. -- failed at that miserably. i even very frugal.

frugal.very i'm a lesson $24,000 a year and able to pull a few thousand out of my pocket any damn time i please. i live alone and have no expenses. i have a reverse mortgage. i am doing fine. reallythe icy people struggling -- around me i see people really struggling and i don't understand it. i go out and buy my food at discount groceries. i buy a closet full of toilet paper at one time to get 30% off. i do stuff like that. i have a room where i do stuff like that. at the same time i am really confused at what is going on in this nation.

i look around and see people with electronic devices, $500 worth of electronic devices walking around. or the $6,000 computer in their house and a $2000 television. of a manhis a case with a loaf of bread under both arms crying about he doesn't have any food? what is it? right now i'm in a situation where i should be -- i can see how people with children have problems. i can see how people are spending a fortune on the relatives, their wives or their children because they are sick and have real problems. understand in't now i'mld -- right

lucky to find a guy who cuts my lawn. host: a few. this is from matthew this is the usa is about the same. just got back to you -- 2001 economic stability. . so usa would just now start noticing" -- noticing." you can read the story online for the gallup poll in organization. and a photograph from "the washington post." consumers comfort and joy. this is the scene along fifth avenue in midtown manhattan. because you carol from new york. you say your worse off? caller: i am worse off. i am worse off because a few years ago we had a rental property that we had to sell as a short sale. we brought the property when the market was good and in the market crashed.

-- then the market crashed. having different tenants or not having any at the time we had to carry that mortgage. we just could not do it anymore. my husband is retired and i teach. we had to sell it as a short sale. state are moving out of because the taxes are too high. the cost of living is high. besides the snow. we are moving to a warmer state. i wanted to comment on a couple of callers. a woman called who said she teaches and she had a student who cannot understand percent. i teach math. it's really appalling what is coming out of high school. even elementary school in terms of common core and with the kids are being taught now. the a not even being taught how to think through a problem.

that i think is one of the very scary things. ono, i wanted to comment jackson providence talking about an elite group. i do want to say i feel that education and politics and the banking are all connected. your author was very smart. she was making the connection between -- but she didn't quite .ay she works in education between education and the lack of it at earlier ages and then all these problems happening to people financially because they just don't know what to do. they were not taught how to handle their money. like the woman who teaches ged says, the girl cannot figure out what the percentage was. a $15 charge on a $100 loan. host: do you think finance should be a recommended class in

high school? caller: definitely/ where are you going to move? caller: we hope to move to florida. it's a little bit less -- it's better financially but there is no state income and the school in property taxes are incredibly lower. journale wall street reporting florida is now growing at a faster rate california. over 20 million residents. thank you for the call. from a tweeter that says "no interest on savings account, no interest -- reason to save money. washington works for the banksters only. up next is liz from new jersey. caller: hello and thank you for the guests earlier. i found are interesting. i think i'm about the same but

when you are supposedly maintaining your lifestyle there are things that are not being handled that could come back and change your situation. i recently retired. the interest i am getting on money i have saved is probably lower than it has ever been. it's been that way chronically for over a decade. we have an ongoing problem with retirement in the future because the same people have not had a pay raise for 40 years are not making enough to adequately fund a 401(k). most of them are not participating or participating at such a low amount that they will never sustain a retirement. there is a lot -- what we hear

from washington? in addition to the average american not having a solid retirement, now we will attack the social security and health benefits and call it a reform. that is not what is called for this point. host: thank you for the call. looking at the shrinking middle class. class is the middle the majority. how the american middle class is losing ground. next is robert from virginia beach, virginia. caller: good morning. i would say i am worse off. i'm in my mid-20's. i graduated college a couple of years ago. i am unemployed. all the jobs in the city that are advertised are all seven dollars an hour. 13-14 hours a week with no benefits. i have been on interviews and

asked how you make ends meet if you accept this position? but that that was rude is the reality of the economy if that is what is being offered as part time and eight dollars or nine dollars an hour. everything is going up. people with children, the cost of diapers is going up. people'sme time regions are going down. it's very tough out here for the younger people that are just trying to establish themselves right now. host: thank you for your call. politico reporting on the upcoming debate. the next one taking place in mid-january. fox news is putting it together in south carolina. only six republican candidates likely to make the stage. the criteria could shrink as the debate stage to those six potentially pushing ohio

governor john kasich, carly fiorina, and senator rand paul out of the main event in into the undercard debate. christian from new haven, connecticut. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you very much for c-span. i am enjoying the conversation this morning. i would have to say we are perhaps doing a little better off. as every caller is echoing this morning, that that iraq is kind of a relative term -- that better off is kind of a relative term. standpointe income we are doing a little better. host: thank you for that call. another point? caller: sure. i would like to say this stuff about inflation. i think david we started questioning our statistics a

little bit more we get from the government. if you would poll people about inflation and joblessness, i think it would come up with much higher numbers than what the bureaucrats in washington say the numbers are. i would just like to add that. host: thank you for that call and another tweet saying it's going to get worse. " the gop congress and democratic president are both high on the tpp, the transpacific partnership," president will be giving the state of the union address. we have coverage on both c-span2 with book tv programming and c-span3's american history tv. you can check out the full schedule on c-span.org. we are back tomorrow morning and on christmas day with "washington journal." thank you for joining us on this wednesday. we hope you enjoy the rest of your day at the marion barry -- very merry christmas holiday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> tonight on c-span, the charleston, south carolina, church at the site of the mass gunting in june, hosts a violence summit. they will gather to discuss the problem and possible solutions. here a doctor tell the story of a patient and how it affected her practice. >> i got involved in the issue of violence 25 years ago when an entire family of patients was murdered. i had just seen the baby. i talked to mom about