about u.s. efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. he announced gail smith would lead the biden administration vaccine diplomacy efforts. ♪ host: this is the washington journal for april the sixth. president biden is expected to visit a vaccine clinic and give an update on the rate of vaccinations in the united states. look for information on c-span. when it comes to vaccinations there is a call for the united states to share covid vaccines with poor countries. supporters say the amount of vaccine in the u.s. and rate of vaccinations makes it possible, but those who warn to hold off say sharing with other countries should take place only after those in the united states have

been taken care of. what do you think about this idea of sharing covid vaccinations with foreign countries. do you -- if you agree, tell us why at 202-748-8000. if you say no, 202-748-8001. perhaps you are not sure, 202-748-8002 is the number to call. you can text us at 202-748-8003, a post on our twitter feed at c-span wj and if you want to post on our facebook page you can do that at facebook.com/c-span. a story this morning at cnn the talks about this issue when it comes to vaccines with the rest of the world. it says president biden well on his way to reaching a new goal of vaccinating 200 million americans by the end of april is taking steps towards helping other nations to ramp up shots including by boosting global manufacturing and avoiding a top global health expert who previously advocated from the united states surplus abroad.

diplomats view the developments as a sign the president is moving towards sharing some of the doses the united states will have left over once every american is vaccinated. the president remains wary of sending vaccines over the seat -- overseas before people in the u.s. have access. extra doses may be as needed as the virus mutates and the pandemic persists. that's at cnn. a story yesterday posted by tribune news services, they report coronavirus shots should be rolled out in more than 100 countries in the next couple of weeks which a shortage of supply is a limiting factor. that was one of the leaders of the vaccine initiative. if we had more doses we could make these available said the chief executive officer of the alliance of public-private partnership that works to supply vaccines with developing countries. he was on cnn face the nation on sunday talking about this idea of sharing vaccine with poor

countries and here is part of the case he made. >> i don't think there's any doubt of his vaccine hesitancy particularly in rural areas. we are seeing it early on within our african-american community in our state and across america. where we are seeing a higher uptake as each polling data comes in, we are seeing more and more americans that are willing to take the vaccine. we have approximately 535,000 mississippians that are fully vaccinated today. host: that was cnn talking about one aspect of the vaccines with the virus. the president perhaps making the case for sharing more of those vaccines with poor countries worldwide. if you think that vaccines in the u.s. should be shared, you can call us at 202-748-8000. if you say no, call 202-748-8001

. perhaps you are not sure about this, call 202-748-8002. again, if you want to post on our twitter feed you can do so @cspanwj. a couple of you posted on foe spoke. jody says america has astrazeneca doses, they have no thought of using and reported in a pfizer, moderna and j and j to immunize all of america. we don't need it so why not share. i hope it is not about the money. michael says we are sick of paying for everyone else, our own boat is going to sink if we keep it up. christian from facebook saying it's a global pandemic in the u.s. needs to lead and assist underdeveloped countries lacking the resources and infrastructure to vaccinate their people. todd vincent from facebook posting only if we do that and

send the bill to china. facebook is available to you, twitter as well. you can text us your response at 202-748-8003. the global -- the head of the global organization making that case. [video clip] >> what we are talking about is getting access to the large manufacturing facilities. the u.s. invested heavily at the beginning and has scaled up manufacturing. once the u.s. needs are met, those facilities could be used to come online for the rest of the world which could help stop the acute pandemic. our goal would be by the end of this year to stop the acute pandemic which is critical for global health security. >> china has gotten attention for its efforts to push its vaccine. russia is trying to sell its vaccine to countries in europe. that is a wealthy area.

is there an alternative to u.s. supply or do you really need america to step up? >> there are many suppliers across the world and it's not just the u.s. that has an opportunity to share doses they may not be using so it's not about taking doses away from america, it's about strengthening america by taking advantage of some vaccines that may not be used. it is unlikely. dr. fauci said he thinks it's unlikely the u.s. will ever get to the astrazeneca vaccine given the supplies it has if the other vaccine. if that's the case and those can be made available quickly, that would then help other countries. host: several world organizations have banded together to help that vaccine distribution across the world. the biden administration pledged billions for that effort. president biden was committed to

$2 billion which is more than the u.s. that offer under its predecessor and then another $2 billion under the next two years providing other nations their own commitment. officials said on thursday and this was from february the money was earmarked by congress. it will have no impact on domestic vaccination efforts. on sharing vaccinations, brian in brooklyn says it's something that should take place. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. we should definitely share what we have especially if we have surplus. the whole key to it is as many shots in the arm in as many people as possible. the world is suffering from this

and it spreads to everyone and it can certainly come back to the u.s. if people in poor countries are traveling here, if people are traveling from the u.s. to those countries and back. as many shots in the arm as possible will help stop the spread. that's really the only key to eradicating this is getting as many people vaccinated as possible as quickly as possible. host: no concern at this stage it's too early to make those contributions to other countries went as far as the u.s. stockpile is concerned? >> i'm not concerned about it. i think right now we are at a good pace and we have people vaccinated for their first shot as possible with the johnson & johnson and moderna which have a certain efficacy rate after first shot your protected.

and while they are making more of that, we are able to give away some of the rest of our stockpile and have as many people partially protected as possible. and once more, it will take some more convincing to have a lot of people in the united states that do not want to get a vaccine to convince them that it is a safe and smart thing to do. so let's get as many people vaccinated as possible. host: brian in brooklyn giving his thoughts. sharing vaccines with the rest of the world. it was a topic that came up during one of the press briefings. the press secretary gave the administration stance on this topic. [video clip] >> the u.s. has been one of the hardest hit countries in the world. 1400 people continued to lose their lives every single day.

as i noted, there are still a number of factors that are unpredictable we need to plan for to the best of our ability including the variants and the impact and what will be most effective as well as what will work best with children. we are as we get increasing confidence we have enough vaccine we will look at options for sharing more broadly. we want to largely be part of the global solution. we recognize in order to defeat the pandemic globally, the community -- the global community needs to be vaccinated. but there is a shortage of supply at this point around the world. but also including around the country still. as you know because you talk to governors and elected officials, they are still looking for supply. there are people who want a vaccine who can get it. we are not sitting on a secret dose of supplies, we are focused on getting these out the door as quickly as possible at this point. host: you can respond yes when

it comes to sending these to poor country or no or not sure. there is a line for each. gary on our no line. caller: what i want to find out is governor ron desantis is being investigated for taking contributions and taking away from poor areas to areas where he got contributions from. i want that investigated first before we worry about anything going on here. host: what about this idea of sharing vaccines with the rest of the world? caller: i want to find out if it's being used correctly or used for political gain like ron desantis is being investigated. if there is this wrongdoing he should be impeached. host: back in march of last year there was a story when it comes to sharing at least a vaccines in the united states with other

countries, to other countries are fallen into that. mexico and canada the united states sharing. at the time of this writing the u.s. sent roughly 4 million doses of astrazeneca's covid vaccine that it is not using to mexico and canada. mexico receiving 2.5 one million doses of the vaccine. canada getting 1.5 one million doses. it's not fully finalized yet but it is our aim the press secretary said during a daily briefing. ensuring your neighbors can contain the virus. it adds another part of the story the's, under pressure to share vaccines. particularly its stock of astrazeneca vaccine which is authorized for use elsewhere but not in the united states. when it comes with a countries receiving the vaccine, you can

comment on this idea whether we should be sharing vaccines with the countries in the world. the senior vaccine advisor talked about on monday this topic of this idea of u.s. vaccinations and who is getting them in comparison to those getting them worldwide. [video clip] >> equity is at the center of these mass vaccination sites. each one is located in a high-risk community as defined by the cdc social vulnerability index or other factors. of the more than 2.1 one million shots that have been administered at the sites today, more than 60% have been administered to racial and ethnic minorities. we know there is more to do on this front and we are committed to efficiency and equity as we accelerate our program. before i turn it to the doctor, i want to take a moment to

highlight the progress we are making on vaccinations overall. we are now averaging 3.1 million shots per day over the most recent seven day period. over the weekend there were more than 4 million recorded vaccinations in a single day for the first time. as of today, nearly one in three americans, and over 40% of adults have at least one shot. and nearly one in four adults are now fully vaccinated. 75% of seniors have now been vaccinated and more than 55% of seniors are fully vaccinated. so rather -- so we are headed in the right direction. host: let's head from dean in kentucky who says no. caller: i am against it because

it's good to be the rich people get those shots, not the poor people. canada needs our help when they've got that health care. they've got government controlled health care so how come they can hear their own problems. thank you. host: dave is in florida who makes the case for sharing vaccines. go ahead. caller: i think we ought to share it. i've had both my shots since the middle of february and i know in florida you can go to any grocery store, most of your drugstore chains are now giving shots. quite a few -- florida is doing really good contrary to one of the florida caller said. >> when it comes to this idea of

sharing, why do you make that case? ? caller: we are to have people traveling from a lot of these countries and we sure don't want them to bring it back here after we vaccinated a great portion of our country. so i'm a little confused, are we giving them vaccines are we giving them $4 billion cash? i don't understand that. host: that is to help with distribution efforts, no actual vaccines being reportedly given yet. what you think of that price tag? caller: when they put out a press statement it's always got dollar bills attached to it and how much it's more than what the previous administration did. that gets old. give them whatever they need to vaccinate these people and they have a right to get vaccinated like we have the right here in this country to get vaccinated.

host: as far as the $4 billion, this is from the hill. you can find it online. saying the funding for the initiative there was previously appropriated by congress. bipartisan relief and funding that was passed in december, the world health organization for echo -- epidemic repaired nest, the goal is to vaccinate 20% of the population in the world's lowest income countries by the end of the year. the biden administration said the funding is necessary to bring an end to the pandemic worldwide. to heal the global economy. it won't end if we don't ended globally. in addition to saving a lot of lives, it's also the right thing to do. with that in mind this idea of sharing vaccines the u.s. has, what do you think about that if

you say something that should be done, 202-748-8000 if --. if you say not, 202-748-8001. if you are not sure, 202-748-8002. herschel is in georgia. he says no. host: good morning. i think -- caller: i think we should vaccinate all of our people first. i'm not against helping everybody else, but we need to get our children vaccinated, our people vaccinated. i've had one shot myself and i can't wait to get the next one. i feel like we need to get all of our people to that and then the world. we need to help ourselves first and get this done if we don't want to lose any more lives than we've already lost. i'm not against helping other countries, i would just say help our people first. host: you wouldn't see it go

until everybody or a certain population? would you like to see a certain amount or everyone in the u.s. get one? caller: i know there are hotspots around the world, but i really feel like we need to get our people and our children. georgia is starting to vaccinate children and i really feel like we need to take care of ourselves first and when we do, let's help the world. and give our people a leg up and help them first. host: let's hear from davis up in kentucky who says no. good morning. caller: good morning sarah. host: go ahead. -- good morning sir. i don't think we should share the vaccine till we have our people vaccinated first and give them the money. host: you are still on. caller: i don't think we should always be willing -- willy-nilly

about giving money out to everybody because every time we give money out to everybody, we never have a return on interest. i'm tired of the common taxpayer always having to fund everybody in the world. all of the stimulus plans we've got, it's always not me paying, but i'm having to look at my grandchildren and soon to be my great grandchildren having to pay the world's bills. host: when it comes to vaccines if we have a surplus in the united states, then should we share with the rest of the world? caller: if we share with the world, than everything we have to pay out we should have to do a simple interest loan over a time period, nothing should be free. if i go to the store and do a car loan at a car lot, they are

not giving me that for free. host: that is davis in kentucky giving his thoughts this morning. next up is alan in new york. caller: we should absolutely give the vaccine around the globe. china has made a huge push and is beating us on this. but most importantly, the virus isn't just us. every time it moves from one person to another there's a chance that it's going to advance to another version of itself. the only way you can stop that for every body is for the united states or globally is to increase the vaccination effort and you can just do that here. this is the case where the whole

world is a laboratory to come up with a better virus to beat us. the only way we can stop this is by vaccinating globally. so we should for sure give out vaccinations across the world. host: the mutations you spoke about. someone made the case it's because of the fact that we don't -- of mutation that we don't have a majority of the population in the united states done and maybe that's a reason for holding off on sharing what we have. caller: but we are just going to inherit the new variants that occur in other countries and come back to us. we have to slow that down. host: you made the point. we will let it stand there. steve is from massachusetts. says we should be sharing. caller: good morning.

i am going to go a little far on my comment. as far as i'm concerned, they can have my vaccine. we have just spent over $2 trillion on a covid relief package. the democrats ran last year their election on how trump was killing people. if human life was so important for the democrats it should be important now. we should have field hospitals set up by national guards and states and this should be facilitated and getting the vaccines out to people. we are not doing that. if we took 5% of the $2 trillion bill, that would be 100 billion dollars, to get our vaccines delivered. then to our people and then we could get the vaccine out as far as i'm concerned. i'm 69 years old. i haven't gotten the vaccine yet. the way this is being run is sad. we just are not getting the

message out. host: just to clarify then you are saying when all those things are done and things are taken care of in the united states then send vaccines overseas? am i right or wrong? caller: i don't think it's a binary choice. we want to help people but my comment is that i am going a little far right with this. we are not getting the job done in this country for our people and the way the democrats talked last year, especially putting trump down. trump is killing people, you heard every day from the left. and the reaction today is sad. host: ok. got that point. let's hear from texas who said he is not sure. caller: good morning. host: you are on. caller: i watch the program pretty often.

about the vaccinations to other countries say like mexico. the cartel is going to get that vaccine and sell it to whoever can pay for it in mexico. host: what convinces you of that? caller: while the cartel is running mexico. you can see it right now on the border. host: so when it comes to the sharing with poor countries worldwide, what do you think? caller: worldwide, well we should but we should take care of americans first. joe biden has america last and anything he is for, i am against. host: ok. when it comes to india's situation. a story in the new york times taking a look at coronavirus cases giving example of some of the parts of the world saying

officials monday morning said they reported 103,000 558 new cases in 24 hours making them the second country after the united states across -- to cross the 100,000 case threshold in a single day. daily infections have surged tenfold since the second week of february. the story adding with 12 point 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases according to a new york times database, the case load is the world's third-highest after the united states and brazil. officials have attributed the spike to a lacs attitude among indians when it comes to wearing masks and maintaining social distances. some making the case when it comes to u.s. vaccines that we should be sharing them with poor countries across the world, give us your thoughts on this. three lines you can call on. if you say it should be the case, 202-748-8000, if you say

it is not, 202-748-8001. perhaps you are not sure, 202-748-8002. if you or text us identifying themselves as the pig in reno. saying of course we should, otherwise we expect -- how will we expect others to help or learn from our example. glenn from louisiana says we can give them out because not all 335 million people in the u.s. are going to need it or take it. wichita, saying we should help poor countries. wouldn't it be a good addition of the bill gates effort. their health care organizations that could administer that would support providing with the vaccine instead of corrupt governments who would discriminate against people in their population who did not support them. we will hear next from all over from california on our yes line. caller: good morning.

i say yes on the vaccine. i say the only reason america would not give the black and brown people the vaccine they needed straight racism. after world war ii, this country clothed, housed and medicated x nazis in germany under the marshall plan. i think the government did it only because they were white people. host: but when it comes to sharing what we have with poor countries, why do you say that should happen? caller: i figure it should happen because if we could do it in 45, we could do it in 2021. host: art is in new hartford, new york on our no line. caller: i'm against the shot.

i'm 87 years old. i've had my shots but i understand the shot i got is only in the last few months and i have to go back for getting the vaccine a second time. therefore anybody who is clear now is going to have to get another shot about six or seven months. host: what does that mean as far as sharing with the rest of the world? he hung up. let's hear from neil in ohio on our yes line. hello? one more time for neil. let's hear from chris in arkansas on our yes line. caller: hello. i think we should share these vaccinations with the entire world at least that's what the

science points at, it's not can it go away. i will go with what that other guy said. they can have my shot. i'm 68 years old and my living circumstances are not normal. i've been home bound now for 12 years and i don't go anywhere. but i think everybody needs to get that vaccine. host: some people said this morning or during the course of the morning that people in the united states should be vaccinated first before we handed out to the rest of the world. caller: i appreciate the sentiment, but if we've got extras, we need to get them out to the other folks. host: some of the case is being made in various opinion pieces include the pittsburgh post-gazette. their editorial from the fifth of march saying the success in developing the vaccines that are

now being distributed came partly from a massive public funding from the u.s., britain and the european union. this success seen is a monumental triumph will not preserve our national pride. we did not share the success with those who are less fortunate. patient sharing is a start, a company should be compelled to publish their formulas and follow-up with guidance to production. a recent column someone who writes on health frequently who has appeared on this program says this and makes the case saying first u.s. taxpayers poured billions into operation warp speed's development of the vaccine with the understanding they would get a larger share of initial production. the u.s. is striving to return -- for hugh to -- herd immunity next summer.

diverting some of the vaccine supply would endanger that goal. third, as the new virus variants emerge, it becomes more of a race against the clock. you can find her peace online at the new york post. for the next half hour with this idea of spending current -- sending current stocks of covid vaccines to poor countries and asking your thoughts. if you say that something that should be done, 202-748-8000 and call us. if you say it shouldn't, 202-748-8001. if you are not sure, 202-748-8002. you can text us if you wish at 202-748-8003. this is off of our twitter feed saying we should treat this and many other things as planetary attacks. no one is safe unless we are all safe. jan in illinois saying covid-19

continues mutating as it spreads among unvaccinated populations. time is not on our side. angela from maryland says yes to this effort. thanks for calling. go ahead. >> thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say i agreed with a previous caller that this is -- we are in a dire situation here and it should not be this difficult to get the vaccine. let's get it and then certainly we can share. that's no problem. i have no problem with that. i agree with that. but it is too difficult to even get it. i'm 60 years old. i've been trying and trying and just a few minutes ago was able to secure the first and second appointments to get the vaccine

at a cvs near my job. and i'm so tickled because i have been so worried about it and a gentleman that i know just passed from covid a week ago and i think a lot more people would go ahead and do it if it was easier. it is not available, there's just -- it's like the previous caller said. you should have things set up where you have the testing where you drive through. drive-thru, put the window down, put your arm out and get the first -- it should be a lot easier. and then once everybody is good that wants it and can get it easily, go ahead and share with the rest of the world. >> that is angela in maryland. we will hear from charles in west virginia who says no. go ahead.

caller: i would like to object to giving the vaccine to the world until the american citizens are taken care of. we have got to get back to putting america first again because you can see what's going on on the border and around the world. the world health organization lied to the world and biden goes and jumps back in. i believe $400 million, he is crawling -- crawling back in bed with the iranians. america is not being put first. host: would you say every american has to get one first or a certain amount of the population has to get it first before we send vaccines across to other countries? caller: take care of america. i have lost four relatives to this coronavirus. one of the ladies was a nurse.

53 years old. host: we will hear from al in maryland. good morning. caller: thank you for the opportunity to make my comment. i disagree. i am mostly concerned about this word share. i don't know what it means. however i do know our country has numerous medications that can add value to many lives across the rest of the world and we charge for those. so first of all i would say we should have a diminishing curve that is showing people are just not getting -- people are not requesting vaccinations above a certain rate, however the manufacturers continue to make the vaccine in excess of the demand. when that point is reached where

there is this available demand, i think we should offer to sell these vaccines to these other countries that will demonstrate by purchasing these vaccinations for their people that they care about their people. there will be some instances where we can form a coalition with other nations to address the truly needed people in those countries that are ruled by dictators or corrupt governments but don't care about them and would not pay for it. but i would not just share our treasure with the rest of the world at the cost of the american taxpayer. host: thank you ray from upper marble maryland there. taking the case again sharing the vaccine. this is stephen in kentucky saying for people who don't want to share it and get all of our citizens vaccinated first, how do you expect getting citizens here do not want to get -- who did not want to get vaccinated.

if you don't want to, that's your problem, give it the people who wanted scott from nova scotia saying the astrazeneca vaccine has not been approved in the u.s.. why leave it on the shelf. bill saying how long do we wait? many people will say they will not get the vaccine, so how long should we wait before helping somebody else? host: texting if you want at [video clip] -- 202-748-8003. her twitter feed is @cspanwj. from north carolina in kernersville, this is ted. caller: hello. host: you are on. caller: first, when we have 70% vaccination and people had both

shots, at that point i would start selling, maybe a third or a half to countries that can afford it at cost. in addition, why are we demanding this patent on the medicine. why don't we give it to these countries and produce it. the last thing is -- the next thing is the bible. take a look at it. we are supposed to care for those who are less fortunate. yes we have an obligation to help our brothers and sisters in any and all countries that can get the vaccine. if we would've handled it properly from beginning in these variants of the prime example, why didn't we shut down all travel in and out of the usa until it was stopped worldwide? host: north carolina making the yes case as well as randy from

chicago. hello. caller: i waited my whole month before i called like you are supposed to do. i say take care of our country first and i say yes for helping the other countries and -- there is a but in there. and that the countries we do help, when they get our help, that they get 100% proven vaccinated before they get on that plane to come back to visit america. that if we help them they have to be vaccinated 100% before they get on the plane before they come back to america to visit us. host: let me ask you, why do you think that condition has to be in place? >> because if they are not vaccinated they could bring it

back with them. if we help them, they have to be vaccinated so they don't spread it again. >> is it everybody, a certain amount of the population? what is the safe number as far as taking care of the u.s. first? caller: i've had both of my shots already and i wish everybody could be hacked -- could have them. after i -- i felt it after i got my two shots. host: giving us a call about the idea of sharing vaccinations. one of the people making those cases is janet yellen, the treasury secretary. she said in those prepared remarks she called on richer countries to step up health assistance to poor nations reeling from covid. she noted as many as 150 million people across the world falling into extreme poverty as a result

of that crisis. here is more on the economic case from the treasury secretary yesterday. >> so how do we help the poorest countries get through the crisis? our first task must clearly be stopping the virus by ensuring vaccinations testing and therapeutics are available. low income countries fall into the back of the line and may not achieve widespread support until 20 or 2024 at the current pace. more work and funding are needed to secure vaccine purchases, address manufacturing shortages and finance and facilitate the domestic rollout in low income countries. host: janet yellin from yesterday.

if you want to see more of that, go to our website and you can find it there. the president is supposed to visit a vaccine clinic today and made comments about vaccinations for the united states. weather will address this idea, you can find that at c-span. a piece in the new york times looks at low income countries and how they rate as far as getting vaccines. low income countries made their first significant vaccine purchase agreements in january of this year. eight months after the united states and united kingdom made their first. the result has been as of march 30, 86% of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high end upper middle income countries. 0.4% of doses have been administered in low income countries. much more to that story. you can find that at the new york times.

what do you think about that, california, we will hear from lynn who says yes to that idea. good morning, thanks for calling. caller: good morning and thank the lord somebody checks on things. i believe that we should, but i am a little upset since i am in california, i am right near the border and i am upfront and know exactly what's going on and how many people are getting across the border. and being put on buses and shipped to the center of the united states of america. i believe we should be taking care of our own first. we are worrying about taking vaccines to poor countries and giving it to them when we are not taking care of our own and protecting our own people. people are shipped to chicago. ask me if they have been actively vaccinated or tested for the virus. the answer is no. and i know this for a fact. i've got people.

people are being put on buses. host: what would you have to see before we start sheer -- sharing the vaccine? caller: we need to take care of everybody here first and i am 76. my fiance is 80 and first of all you need to go on the computer and get online and get scheduled for it. good luck there because how many people cannot do that. i've got to give an amen to some teenage girls who went in to a retirement home and basically helped schedule people to get the vaccination. i'm handy on going ahead and getting the first shot because you've got to get a second shot and basically a lot of our clinics and stuff cannot get it or are running out of it. so that's why i elected not to push for getting the shot. host: let's go to frank who says

he is not sure. >> good morning and thank you for taking my call. i think american people are good people and they should demonstrate it even more to the world by being good citizens of the world and sharing the vaccine with the rest of the world. one easy way to do it is to involve pfizer and moderna and simply share the former -- formula code with the poor countries. especially africa. i think we owe a lot to africa, we got all the slaves that built this country, this is one way to

pay them back. host: you called us on the not shoreline. it sounds at your pretty certain we should be sharing or is there still some hesitancy. caller: i understand the hesitancy from the american people that have not received a shot yet. i think it can be done in the same time and it's just a matter of sharing the code. right now two companies are making those things in america if we open that and give the code to everyone and people will feel like we are thinking of our own as well. host: let's hear from texas on our no line. caller: my position on this is we should certainly help other countries and help other people around the globe with this.

however i'm talking about the response ability of china. the cost on this this should be on china to get everyone vaccinated. i don't see or hear anybody penalizing china for creating this virus and unleashing it on the world. >> the u.n. or maybe the u.s. should lead the way in terms of charging china financially for essentially getting this problem resolved. host: so you're saying under no circumstances should the u.s. share or no? caller: the u.s. should share. this is a humanitarian issue. we should work as fast as possible to get the vaccinations out and around the world. however we need to be careful

from a political standpoint because this vaccine and the virus has been politicized so much and there's so much power around it that it can be construed in a way that ends up creating other problems because of how politicized it is. but the bottom line is, and it proves it is politicized because nobody is blaming china. nobody's holding them accountable. host: that is tom on our no line. this is from the united states aids organization but they're making postings when it comes to the vaccine. recent public opinion polls carried out by the alliance in the u.s., france and germany found on average these countries more than two thirds of people thought governments should ensure vaccine science and know was shared with qualified

manufacturers around the world rather than remaining the exclusive property of a handful of pharmaceutical giants. vaccine developer should be adequately constant -- compensated for this. saying around the world 2.5 million lives have been lost because of the disease. by allowing a small group of pharmaceutical companies to decide who lives and dies, rich nations are prolonging the global health emergency with countless more lives on the line. from bob in missouri he says when we have access doses we should share. it has a long time effect for the country that does share. one saying it's not even self-interest. it means when all the vacationing americans return it to bring back a variant from another -- and from another viewer saying there vaccines to

spare, don't force them to spoil. there are ramifications for interacting with unvaccinated, falling ill is costly to the world's future. kurt making the case saying the mutation is been found in san francisco according to news from cable last night. twitter is a way you can reach out to us. mimi in georgia says yes. hello. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. i feel very strongly that all of the countries that are manufacturing vaccinations should be sharing the vaccinations with the world, whether it is helping them to manufacture their own, i don't know how to do the distribution, that's not something unfamiliar with, but i do know that this is an infectious disease and we

have helped spread throughout the world. i don't blame the countries -- the country where it started. they suffered greatly to. i think it is a shame it was politicized so that there have been people who have the opportunity to get the vaccination but will not. vaccinations save lives. my mother almost died from diphtheria when she was a small child. she had an emergency tracheotomy and lived, or i would not be here. people forget there are so many diseases that have killed and harmed people in terrible ways before we had these vaccinations. i have been vaccinated and i wish everybody in the country that can get vaccinated would get vaccinated. but we should not waste any vaccinations, we should do everything we can because there is no law, no separation in the

world. -- no wall, no separation in the world. host: mimi in georgia making the case. we talked about that situation. saying that according to that, a new variant of coronavirus in the bay area believed to be the first of its kind reporting a double mutation. we need to be respond for the surge in cases in india. zika virus has been mutating throughout the pandemic and most mutations are trivial. but finding out which one makes the virus spread more easily. that's the story if you want to find it online. we will go to larry in michigan and hillsdale on our no line. go ahead. caller: good morning. when did we become the world's keeper?

we the taxpayers have spent billions. host: there's a figure when it comes to specifically coronavirus. i don't want to misrepresent it. so just continue with your thought. caller: we spent billions of dollars defending it, researching it, developing it and now we are just supposed to give it away? come on. there are countries that can afford it, i say take care of them. but just give it away? for goodness sake, it's getting crazy out here. host: i think the idea go's on you highlighted such as poor countries particularly, the body mistress is asked to share with those poor countries. caller: i'm not against that. if they can afford it and it should be proven they can afford it, we should help them.

but just to give it away is just ridiculous. does coca-cola give their cola away? no. host: we will hear from gloria there in lynchburg, virginia on our gas line. >> hello. i agreed to share with those countries. during the time ebola was -- host: go ahead. caller: back when ebola was in africa, we did not have to worry about it because we had leadership and so it did not really get here. but yes, we need to share and for all those people who keep

bringing up the border and all the people of the border, we lost a half million people. letting those people and, why not. we've lost half a million people. host: don from wisconsin sending us a text saying before we release our vaccines to other countries, we need to know how long are vaccination will be effective. we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we could be short for future vaccination. debbie from facebook saying when it comes to the idea of sharing, no. making the statement in the long-term best interest and then jamie texting us saying sharing is caring, don't forget that. this is an update from the wall street journal saying the seven day average of coronavirus cases

which smooth out irregularities. the 14 day average was 63,222 cases according to an analysis of the data compiled by johns hopkins, on the seven day average was higher as it has been since march of 24 -- march 24 indicates cases are rising. you can find more of that at the wall street journal. oliver says yes, good morning. caller: i would just like to say that i am dumbfounded for the deaf by the american people who call who would not want to share that coronavirus vaccine with other countries being that the united states is going to be in the middle of travel very soon in it out of this country and we have to have that disease under

control everywhere or it will come back here. it amazes me americans don't realize what they see around the world, that the disease will come back if we don't help other people in their system so they don't bring it back to us again. i am so thankful for joe biden and kamala harris for what they are doing. i am so glad the nightmare that went on for four years prior is over. host: madalyn, good morning. caller: good morning. i am very upset that people want to give the vaccine away when the senior citizens don't have computers or access to one have not had the shot. i haven't had a shot, i'm 77. my sister is 78.

i have another friend at 68 and none of us have computers in order to get to a place and some of us can stand in line to wait. i'm upset that they want to give something away that none of us have had a shot yet. host: the long-term idea being once people in the united states are satisfied as far as vaccines and then shared with poor countries. but in this case would still hold off until most of those in the u.s. are vaccinated. caller: i absolutely believe that you need to get to the old people first. host: ok. if you more social media -- this from twitter saying how can we hope to stop new variants if we don't. from oklahoma texting us saying would we need to spend billion

who live in poverty. albert making that statement. a citizen of a country so great it is not greatly benevolent as well." chelsea word from facebook saying, "if we want covid reduced to nothing, we will vaccinate as many as possible, regardless of geographic location." as always, you could make the case as far as sharing your thoughts, you can call us, post on social media. this is from madeleine in manassas, virginia. sorry, i did that already. this is linda from arkansas. caller: good morning. i think we should share the vaccine. it is humanitarian, but we ought to start with vaccinating the immigrants on the border because they are definitely coming into

our country and they have not been vaccinated. i think we should start with 16-year-olds and up immediately. host: linda, finishing up this hour. we appreciate all of you who participated. we have been featuring political podcasters this week. today, you will meet shank uighur -- he is host of a podcast known as the young turks. that conversation coming up. the biden's plan for infrastructure and a proposal on how to pay for it. we will be back. ♪ announcer: the trial for derek chauvin, the police officer charged in the death of george floyd, continues today at 10:00 a.m. eastern. watch live coverage on c-span

two, online at c-span.org, or live on the c-span radio app. if you missed any of our coverage, watch on c-span2, or anytime on demand at c-span.org. and oscar this morning, medical professionals discuss building trust in the covid-19 vaccines during a discussion with the bipartisan policy center. watch live, beginning at 10:30 eastern on c-span. online at c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. announcer: c-spanshop.org is c-span's new online store. go there today to order a copy of the congressional directory, a contact book for every member of congress. also, contact information for state governors and the biden ministration cabinet. every c-span shop help support

c-span's nonprofit operations. host: all week at this time we have been featuring political podcasters. joining us from los angeles, california, cenk uygur. thanks for joining us. caller: thank you -- guest: thank you. host: what was the purpose in starting your podcast? guest: number one was to get the progressive message out there. especially when we started, back in 2002, we were a radio show on sirius satellite radio, then it turned into podcast. there whether lesch there was almost no progressive podcasts. later, msnbc had keith olbermann and rachel maddow.

at this point, i wouldn't consider anyone on msnbc progressive. we are not that far removed from our original purpose which is to be the strongest voice and often the only voice for progressive's. host: how do you find progressives as you see it? guest: there is the general definition commode trying writing about, expanding the circle of liberty, equality, opportunity and justice. aren't most americans in favor of that? no, republicans hate everything if i just said. i can prove it. do you want to expand it to immigrants? no. trans people? no. you have never wanted to expand it, you have never been in favor of justice. and then there is a giant chunk that the rest of the media never talks about. corporate democrats. democrats who say, we don't hate

black people or gay people, but those sweet tax cuts for the rich. they push for that, they push for deregulation, the same thing corporate republicans push for. we are not in that camp. we are in the camper fighting for the people. host: is it easier to do what you do nowadays with a democrat in the white house and democrats controlling the house and senate? guest: yes endo. yes, in that they are at least willing to listen and they are rational human beings. getting trump to do anything that wasn't 100% in favor of trump -- even his own voters know that. do you really think he was looking out for you guys? come on. he took all your money, he went 0-60 and the lawsuits, pocketed the rest. he is a crook. he is a con man. everyone knows it. republicans like him because he hates the same people they do. when it comes to joe biden, it's not like, oh my god we made it!

[laughter] joe biden is the definition of a corporate democrat. so proud of locking up millions of people through his crime bills, his war on drugs, etc. has he gotten better? yes. he is a political animal adjusting to the wind. right now, the country is very progressive, his voters are massively progressive. the only reason he became president over bernie sanders was the media said he was the only one who could be donald trump, and he barely did in three states. do we have to push joe biden? yes we have to push them a lot to get them to halfway decent. would you like an example? host: please. guest: $15 minimum wage. every democrat said they are in favor of the $15 minimum wage. i knew they were lying. corporate democrats work for the

chamber of congress and they are never going to pass it. the only way they pass it is if progressives beat the living hell out of them. everybody said, oh, you're too skeptical, rachel maddow tells me how great the democrats are, they will probably do what they promise. i set, -- i said, that is hilarious. when they put the $15 minimum wage in the covid relief bill, -- they are not going to have it it has always been alive. -- it has always been a lie. they took it out, and that's exactly what were talking about. i've got news for you, it is the money, lebowski. the only thing politicians in washington care about, with the exception of justice democrats, is money. donations. we've made bribery legal and are surprised that everybody works for big business.

everyone does. mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi joe biden. host: thank you for joining us. if you want to ask questions, -- what is the tebow i.t. network? guest: we are the largest online news network. we are on about a dozen platforms. youtube, facebook, youtube tv, roku, pluto, you name it. twitch, twitter. we are a 24 hour news channel. some compare -- some compare us to the conservative alternatives, except we are not. we deal with only facts.

facts, then analysis. we are very proud of our perspective and we do not hide it. mainstream media hides our perspective completely, which is pro-corporate. tax cuts for the ritz -- the rich are objectively great, universal herrell test universal health care sucks, what bias? we are clear about our perspective, but we never play with facts. if the facts come out against us, we have done this many times, we said no, here are the results of the math. here what the numbers and the facts show. when you do that, you get to be popular. right now we have about -- views a month. host: i noticed he did an interview with someone who holds to this qanon.

what prompted you to engage in that conversation? guest: conservatives have an interesting love-hate relationship with us. as you can tell are ready, not a fan of republicans. the qanon people are -- well -- nuts. i wanted to find out why. what made them lose their minds? the reason conservatives don't mind us the way they mind mainstream media is they know they are -- they know we are honest. they will on mainstream media, say yeah, that is a good idea, there could be jewish space lasers. to be fair, the mainstream media is clear on that. that is factual. there is no jewish space laser. everyone in mainstream media is clear on that. conservatives know that we are honest with them, and yes,

sometimes we can even agree. i will give conservatives credit come i talk about this in my book too, i spent a whole -- the way, justiceiscomingbook.com. after talking about why republicans are awful, i say to be fair, conservatives have corruption. up better than democrats. a lot of democratic voters bend their neck and say the corruption on the democratic side is ok. when nancy pelosi took $70 million -- we have gained some trust with conservatives because we are honest. why did i interview qanon? how could you possibly believe this insanity of a child molestation ring run by democratic leadership and brain juice harvesting? that is insane. there's a couple reasons. mainstream media lost all credibility with them, so then a

believer where they say. you keep telling me trickle down economics is great, it hasn't been, your liars. and then we go looking for other theories, and then it's on to conspiracy theories. one of the reasons it works is that child molestation in this country is apparently a much bigger problem then people are willing to admit. once they run into people like that, which is far too often, they are light lee -- they are more likely to believe it. a lot of mainstream media is not understanding that problem. the second issue, buckle up, religion is wrong and religion gets them to believe there is a real satan running around. one of the qanon guys told me -- and he is a former cop from chicago, otherwise the same person, he said look, we eat the body of christ every sunday. probably the same for satan.

once you get people to believe in nonsensical mythology that makes no rhyme or reason or sense, you can get them to believe anything. religion is a giant part of the republican party. people who have completely lost logic and reason? perfect voters for republicans. host: we have calls lined up. valerie in new york. you're on with cenk uygur of the young turks. caller: hello, how are you? i did know yours still around. first i heard your voice was a documentary about an -- is a stone. i've got a question, i just finished christopher hitchens' memoir and got a good education on how far-left politics of died. -- politics have died. do you think republicans are

better at independent journalism? i do. they have all of the radio stations. how do you think that has impacted politics? guest: it is a mixed bag. great question. again, i give republicans credit -- voters, not the politicians. their politicians are the worst. they either work for giant corporations, or in terms of donald trump, himself. voters are more independent-minded they have gotten rid of the blanket propaganda that encompasses us all. i've got to say, trickle down economics -- the new york times, npr, cnn, they told you trickle-down economics makes sense. do you know that is? give all the money to the rich and hope it trickles over you. come on. how could you believe such nonsense. it turns out look, you get a covid-19 relief bill and most of

the coast of the american people in the last version, it stimulates the economy from the bottom up. every economist knows the truth but they never share with you on television. or in the new york times for -- near times. the rest of it, they slip into insanity so often in republican media. they lost 60 cases in a row in the courts. every conservative appointee, every trump appointee said you have no evidence. republican media gets up and says, obviously there has been fraud, obviously all of the judges are liberals, they didn't actually roll on it. ok, well, you're a weirdo liar. they lose all credibility every time they leave the arena of facts. host: on the republican line

from nashville, tennessee. tom, go ahead. caller: i would like to talk -- remember ukraine? having away blankets and medicine? how about burisma? here's another thing, how many houses does biden, kamala and pelosi own? why don't they give up their houses and give it to the homeless people? giving vaccines all over the world -- you know what they would do? they would set up things like hunter and burisma. host: your are on with our guest. caller: i would like to comment after i hear you. host: what would you like to ask our guest specifically? caller: hunter biden and burisma and joe biden holding up

lincolnton medicine. guest: first on burisma, hunter biden on the board of burisma because he is a ukrainian gas expert? of course not. he knew nothing about gas, little-known ukrainian gas. he was on there because his last name was biden and that was a way of getting a payoff, hoping to influence joe biden. of course it's true. his hunter biden super relevant to current day politics? not at all. he has no role in the administration formally or informally. you want to beat up the president's sun because it makes you feel good? have at it. understand that trump's kids robbed us blind when they were in office. what are they get, $640 million? in four years? jared kushner, beavis and

brodhead -- butt-head, eric and don jr.. after you got fleeced -- jared kushner couldn't even get clearance from the secret service. he was a national security threat and you want him in charge of national security? after trump robbed you, you are worried about hunter biden and his past? corruption is real, it is as real in the democratic party as the republican party, but hunter biden has zero role. zero. they are doing that to distract you. if you want to say pelosi and the others have houses, of course they do. did they get rich off politics? yes they did. when pelosi takes millions in campaign donations, exxon mobil,

other wealthy corporations, they didn't give them that money for health and charity, they did it to influence. of course it influence their votes. mitch mcconnell does the same thing, but worse. you think trump didn't do it? trump took giant amounts of money from corporations and said ok, i will do them favors. he said of the saudi's after they cut off a journalist paused head, muslim fundamentalists -- journalists working for the washington post and trump said, we get a lot of money from the saudi's. earlier he said, they bought apartments of mine, why would i be opposed to the saudi's? open your eyes. you are worried about the democrats? republicans are picking your pockets. i do not know if anything skinny get through your head, because most republicans are totally brainwashed by their media. oh yeah, democrats are corrupt,

but when trump takes your money and serves corporations, trump is honest. get a clue. expand your mind and watch something other than propaganda. host: are a guest graduated from the wharton school of business at the university of pennsylvania, columbia law school as well. let me take the business side of your experience, when it comes to the biden administration plan to raise the global corporate tax, what does it achieve as far as the agenda of the administration -- what does it do to corporations? guest: first, corporations are not people. the supreme court decided you could never even look into that, a case from the 1800s where the owner of a railroad company said railroads are people -- they never ruled that. corporations are way to take over this country. we have science fiction movies were machines or robots take

over, guess what? we are in the sciences -- science fiction movie. corporations are the robots. they took over the country. they started with the railroads, but mainly through book tv valeo and citizens united. the supreme court said yes, corporations can give unlimited money to politicians. there used to be a word for that, bribery. now we go, no, $1 million to a politician? i'll bet it's just a friendly conversation. no. it's a bride. republicans get bribed more than democrats. amazon is worth $1 trillion and they pay nothing and they laugh at us. we bought all of your politicians, you idiots. they go ahead, trump, we give you money, do as we told you. he lowers the taxes for

corporations from 35% to 21%. that is an outrage. it is highway robbery. why? if corporations don't pay taxes, guess who does the echo you do. i do. all of the fees we pay from traffic tickets, every one of those things has gone hi. sales taxes go higher. why? it mainly falls on the middle class. for the rich, sales taxes nothing. corporate tax is arguably more important, but notice the trick of the democrats. they didn't say let's bring the taxes back up to 35%, no. biden said 28%, and pretended as if he is repealing the trump tax cuts. no. this is a shell game that corporate republicans and corporate democrats play. in the end, corporations get their taxes massively cut.

if biden is able to reverse it, they never go back to the original rate in the first bite. why do i beat up the mainstream media? did you see msnbc screaming 35%? if trump was never in office, you would be proposing a massive tax cut for cooperation -- for corporations. keep her eyes open if you're democrat or republican. wall-to-wall propaganda. host: let me ask you about senator joe mansion -- already saying he would oppose the plan. what you think about moderate democrats and what you think about this idea of a moderate democrat? guest: thank you for asking. there are no moderate democrats. a democrat who is moderate, according to the country -- it does matter, you can look it up online right now. any poll on any issue, the

progressive position has nearly two thirds of the country united. about 80% of democratic voters. if you are an actual moderate democrat, you would be right around where aoc is. people go, oh no, she's too radical. look at her positions. there are outliers like abolishing ice and defunding the police that are not 6% popular, but everything else -- raising taxes on the rich, green new deal -- yes. the millions of jobs you create with infrastructure. yes universal health care coverage. yes welcoming immigrants. yes on legalizing drugs. i could go on and on. two thirds of the country is on our side. when you hear moderate or centrist democrats, they mean the center of d.c.. they don't mean the center of the country. the center of washington is incredibly wide ring, pro corporate.

joe manchin says no, i represent west virginia, people of west virginia don't want higher wages. what? did you just say that out loud? they do a poll, turns out 70% of west virginians one a $15 minimum wage. it's an obvious lie. of course they want higher wages. what kind of an absurd lie is that? all of the media write it down, oh, western into does want higher wages. joe manchin is a moderate democrat. no he has not he is a corporate democrat. he works for the chamber of commerce. he got legally bribed millions of dollars and now works for the people who bribed him. it has nothing to do with the voters of west virginia. if you pull that stuff on guns and said -- ok, i get it, the people of west virginia have a different idea on guns than i do in california.

i understand it. i could show it to you in the polls. if you say west virginia doesn't want higher wages and they want you to work for corporate america, that is nonsense. i can't believe the rest of the folks in washington call themselves reporters and they can't suss out -- he's not a moderate, he's a corporate democrat. host: cenk uygur of the juncker hurts -- of the young turks. caller: i have listen to your program before, i agree with many issues you have. the trickle-down effect i always thought was beyond -- i got a good laugh out of that. tax cuts for the wealthy are enormous, and they wrap it in some wrapper. democrats -- what can i say? i am independent. democrats want these gimmicks or whatever, just eliminate capital gains, raise social security.

all of these things could be solved, but they want to come up with some cute gimmick to do it. what worries me now about the main media -- you may be involved in this -- identity politics. if i am black and female, gay, asian, whatever, somehow my prestige goes up. that is tribalism. the british controlled the indians -- 20,000 troops. what i am seeing is the corporate media and the main media and some of the liberal media -- mostly liberal media -- are falling into this stuff. i have been against police violence from the beginning. all police violence. but to sit there and say that blacks are killed at a higher rate is just not true. host: you put a lot out there. guest: that question is really

interesting and complicated. let me try to walk through it. for small, do i agree with identity politics? it depends on what you mean. everybody mean something different by it. some people use that as a weapon, yes. the people who invented identity politics is the republican party. now, i've never heard that before, so it must be -- it must not be troop your let me explain. it is called the southern strategy. you can look us up anywhere. republican party admits they do this. -- apologized for the southern strategy. the southern strategy was a valid racist. the voting rights act gives us an opportunity to -- racist -- let's not become the racist party so we get white voters. embrace my heart that it worked,

but it did. i asked -- about it on msnbc end he said we had a good 40 year run. that is it. you hate black people? vote for republicans. that was the southern strategy, and no one disagrees. present a politics, do corporate democrats often use it as a shield and a weapon? yes. they get very wealthy african-americans were people of different categories and talk down to everyone else. it gets absurd. sometimes they say, cenk you can't say that because janet yellen is a woman. wait, she got paid millions by giant corporations. that's empowering women? no was not. it's empowering janet yellen. you can't be head of the federal reserve and treasury secretary and tell anyone that you can't

get criticized because you are a woman. that is insane. that is not female empowerment. that is the exact opposite. say, oh please, ims -- i am just a women you can't criticize me. no. i'm not going to listen to -- which side you're on. if you say hey, it is all nonsense. black people get treated the same as white people, my guess is you are white and you have not experienced it. [laughter] walk in some of the else's shoes for a second. everyone of these is verifiable and you can verify it on your own. black people and white people smoke pot at the same rate. black people get arrested at four times the rate. if you're white and some he says white privilege, and you get upset because you're not rich and you don't have a yacht --

the privilege of not getting arrested when the other guy did -- the reason it is frustrating to you and you can't understand it is because by definition you never experienced that discrimination. it is a foreign concept to you. somebody says, this thing happens, and you say it never happened to me. of course. that's the whole point. i am asking you to open your eyes and look at your brothers and sisters wore black, latino, transgender, and go hey, nobody ever kicked me out of a bathroom, i bet that would suck. especially if it was unfair. nobody denied me the right to adoption. nobody denied me the right to control my own body. maybe if i thought it from their perspective i would see it as a problem. i will tell you something you will relate to. a lot of times it is race come a lot of times it is class, both.

they knelt on george floyd's neck and killed him. any chance they would have done that to a white banker? -- you all know there is no chance in the world any cop in the country would have knelt on a white banker's neck for nine minutes because they know they would get in trouble. for black people, they have been crushing them for hundreds of years. i never again trouble for it to mike and whatever i want. i had a former baltimore cop on the show and they said we arrest black people were because if we arrest white people, it could be a judge's son. we have to hit a quota so we just go to the black part of town. now he is a whistleblower sin, of course we arrested them right or wrong. if you go to a white neighborhood in round people up, you can find pot in their pocket

and arrest them just the same. we just do it to because it's easy. that is real, brother. host: political podcasters. cenk uygur, founder and ceo of the tyt network. tytnetwork.com. windows your show air? guest: 24 hours. [laughter] tyt, almost any platform you're on. you can watch our videos one by one, segment by segment. what are they thinking about this, or you can watch the 24 hour channel or watch our podcast of different shows. the young turks is a flagship show and the ty t network has many shows on many platforms. check them all out. they are progressive, fact-based program. host: how did you settle on the

name, "the young turks?" guest: i happen to be turkish, but that is not why. i was outvoted. [laughter] the young turks means, young progressives looking to overthrow the established system. it is in the english dictionary. we thought at the time, young progressives looking to overthrow the establishment -- that is us. we were against cs tablet from back then when george bush was in charge of caller: thank you. two points on want to bring up. i took economics at snm college and we were told that lowering the corporate taxes allows hiring to increase, and therefore there is going to be more taxes coming in from individual employees. however, that is because more

employees are paying in, not because you are increasing the amount that each individual is paying. that is what happened under trump. we saw where corporate taxes were decreased, more hiring was going on, but there was no increase for the individual tax base. the second point is, i understand racism. i am white. i was beat up in high school by a group of black students. i had just moved there from new jersey and they were making fun of me being a white honky. when my dad went to the counselor, they were told that the school would not charge any of the students or suspend them because the naacp would get on their backs. i understand racism, but i have to look at the perspective of hatred.

if people have empathy, like you brought a, if people have empathy for each other, i have friends of mine that were black. i think god for that because i never thought all black people were like this. it never occurred to me. i think god that i had black friends. i appreciate your points on the empathy. if we just look at each other as human beings, you know what i mean? that is all it takes. they can symmetry -- thank you so much. guest: let me address a lot of that. that's why a doing the show. i love talking to real people, so the talking points i get from politicians -- number one, sometimes racism can go the other way where black folks might do crime against the white folks. of course. might it be race related? it could be.

i believe you're sorry. does it happen more -- i believe your story. does that happen more in the opposite direction? yes. historically it is not close. you know the story of and that till. a black person looks at a white woman the wrong way, hang him from a tree. that happened in this country. that doesn't happen today -- well, unless there is an outlier. you see modern-day lynchings like where they chased that jogger in that neighborhood and shot him. george floyd. it happens to some degree today. it happens less horrifically as it happened back in the day, but does that come down to other things? black people being arrested?

having to deal with the cops more often? the racism usually goes from white to black, that is the history of the country and that is the current day. could it on occasion go the opposite direction? of course. there is no race that is saintly. we are all human beings. black people are not better than white people, they are not worse, they are equal. that is the whole point. i'm not saying i don't believe you, but there is no such thing as the ends -- the naacp criticizing arresting black people. well, the naacp would be really busy because millions have interested. -- have been arrested and people who arrested them got away with it. that's total nonsense. naacp is not coming to a local

school and saying black people beat up someone and we don't want to punish them -- that is 100% made up. i'm not saying you made it up, but likely it was a convenient excuse for your principal. in terms of the jobs and revenue, i used to be a republican. i am old enough that there used to be liberal republicans back in the day. i was in favor of civil rights, all of the things around social issues that are considered progressive, but on economics, i believe the republican -- i believed the republican party. i was wrong. they told us they were gonna cut the deficit, so i waited. they never did. the last republican president to balance the budget? dwight eisenhower. tax cuts for the rich is reagan,

bush and trumpeted -- trump did. i realize at one point, they are lying. it is not to get us more money -- we never get more revenue from it. they cut corporate taxes, they will hire more people, there will create a higher tax base. when has that ever happened? never. they always say we will get more jobs. wait a minute but trump -- before cobit -- before covid -- added fewer jobs than obama did. that is convenient because obama came from another republican led recession. obama was adding jobs at an incredible rate. republicans say that doesn't count. trump got more jobs -- less than obama -- and they say it is a miracle. no. it was the flow of the economy

and he wrote obama's wave. after they cut taxes, they said it would increase employment, they didn't. they didn't on a big scale, and they didn't do it on a small scale. corporations were out there on television going, we are going to hire more people, we tracked it. those exact corporations cut jobs. suckers, we already got the money. we are going to ship your jobs to china anyway. they did come time and time again, they did "efficiencies." in order to become more efficient, they fire you. never believe them when they say we are taking the money for your benefit. you should tell them, why don't you just give it to be? how could they give it to you? increase your wages. are they increasing wages?

hell no. host: brian in washington, d.c. caller: i have three questions. what do you think of what happened on the capitol january 6? who do you think will win the next election -- presidential election? do you ever think bernie sanders will ever be president? i will take my answer offline. guest: does are great questions. -- those are great questions. i'd love to make predictions, and a lot of them have been proven correct. unfortunately, they have been bad things, because that's how politics is. i said the democrats are not going to pass $15 an hour minimum wage. i was right.

i give you that as background for -- i have no idea who is going to win the next election. we are in a very unstable time. it could be biden. biden might not run. it may be trump, holly, carlsen, jamaal bowman, i have no idea. if anyone tells you they know, they don't. i make predictions -- i wait for facts. i let facts accumulate. the reason i am right about almost all the legislation is because it is about the money. it is actually not at all complicated. you can figure out who has more money, and you know who's going to win. why would progressives deny gay rights?

usually republicans have more money because they're willing to do anything on behalf of their corporate friends. because those are their donors. democrats take bribes from corporations, but a little less than republicans. on the gay-rights issue come all the donors were on the democrat side so we won. you can say it is the tide of history, and i am thrilled we won, but it was also because we had a lot of donors on our side? yes. in this case, there are not enough facts to determine who's going to win 2024. later, as more facts and evidence comes in, we will see. i don't know yet. mia coppola -- i thought bernie was can win. in 2013, i said he could beat hillary clinton. everybody thought he was nuts and he was pulling at 1%. he close to 60 point lead and almost bitter. i talk about that.

that was based on logic because i know how progressive the country is. in 2020i thought he was going to pull it out and i was wrong. the main reason was because i underestimated the power of mainstream media and its ability to brainwash people. they told everyone he couldn't win whenever he pulled indicated he was tied with joe biden on who was most electable. a lot of independence love bernie sanders because they know he is honest. but, the media told every democratic voter -- msnbc is the number one culprit of this. lie after lie, he can't win, he is a socialist -- sorry, chris matthews. at least, his inference. i'm a got, trump is going to get reelected. i will give you one last example, in mississippi, over 70% want medicare for all but

they voted for the one guy who said he was definitely not going to do it. they voted against the guy who said he would. why? because mainstream media scared the be jesus out of them. that's the same thing about hillary clinton. hillary clinton lost a donald trump. we were right, they were wrong. in 2016i thought bernie was more electable. you will never see anyone omit that. nobody on tv will ever say, i'm sorry, turns out hillary clinton was not electable. seems pretty clear, because she lost, but not one of them apologized. -- lost by less than trump's margin of victory. they almost lost to trump again, the corporate democrats socket politics. they were good enough in the mainstream media to beat us in 2020. every year that goes by, the online media gets stronger and

mainstream media gets weaker. online media on the right-wing site has been a disaster, but online media on the left has way more facts. that's the thing we keep catching them on all of their lives. eventually, under 45-year-olds have a massive advantage. under 45-year-olds are incredibly progressive. definitely more than the democratic party. we are going to eventually win, but i do not know if 2020 his eventual yet. the capitol rights. -- riots. look, i love enthusiastic protests come a you should shake the rafters a little bit. the establishment is very comfortable in their seat of power. when a politician gets yelled at, they say, how dare they. the masses bothering me.

i can't stand there elitist attitude. did they cross a line january 6? yes. massively. they were chanting "hang mike pence." hundreds of people. their own vice president. trump got them riled up in a murderous mood. they came with nooses, zip ties, they were looking for nancy pelosi and they were looking for trouble. now that they've found a trouble, don't cry me a river. all those guys sing, i thought it was just a fun protest, aren't we allowed to do that? no. you're not. in the history of america, generally you were, but not anymore. in terms of trump himself, what he did was a political crime. he knew he lost the election -- or he's insane, i don't care, either way, he tried to

undermine an election and martial law. he is a fascist through and through. he should have been convicted in the senate. legal trial, it is going to be hard to convict him on a criminal offense because his words were vague enough it would be hard to prove in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt that he meant they should go kill people. host: we are out of time. cenk uygur, the young kurtz -- the young turks. host of the young turks. thanks for being part of our political podcast week. our next guest, we will ask you to comment on what you think of your top political story as you see it play out in the papers. here's how you can let us know. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000.

we will take your comments when we return. ♪ announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government created by america's tape -- cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these companies who provide c-span viewers as a public service. ♪ announcer: today, a discussion about combating domestic extremism in the military and law enforcement hosted by the atlantic council. watch live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or the free radio app. host: we want to get your comments on top political stories. we call us on the lines. (202) 748-8001 for republicans.

(202) 748-8000 for democrats. for independents, (202) 748-8002 . representative matt gaetz in the news, the republican from florida defending himself in a co-op head you can find in the washington examiner. there is a story of senator schumer talking about potential marijuana legalization. the governor of arkansas vetoing a transgender youth bill. here is the headline you can find at the washington examiner for matt gaetz, "the swamp is out to drown the but i am not giving up. to this point, there are exactly zero credible or even non-credible accusers willing to come forward by name and stayed on the record that i behaved improperly towards them. governor cuomo has 10 accusers.

let me address the allegations against me directly. i have never paid for sex, and i have not slept with 17-year-old." there is more of that in matt gaetz's op-ed in the washington examiner. politico has this story about the senate acting on legislation legalizing marijuana. "president biden has been a conspicuous outlier on democrats when it comes to marijuana. senator schumer, majority leader emma says the president's reticence won't stop the senate from taking action. "i want to make my arguments to him." "at some point, we are going to move forward. period. ." host: arkansas online concerning transgender youth, the governor monday announced his veto of the bill that would ban gender

affirming care for transgendered youth, prompting proponents of the legislation to urge both chambers to overrate his decision. arkansas would be the first state to put such a ban into law which will put the state international spotlight. house bill 1570 would prohibit health care providers from administering gender reassignment including hormone therapy for people under 18. if you want to comment on those stories, you can. we will start with greg from chattanooga, tennessee. caller: it would be the present nature of our border -- if it keeps going like it is, i do not know how the european nationalist race is going to survive. it is getting really bad. the way the systemic racism is talked off with the only -- that

is systemic would be affirmative action against the european white male. any day of the week, you can watch any local news and see for sure you've got problems of black crime. host: how does this relate to the border? caller: if it stays open, i am afraid they are going to send us into the never world of oblivion. host: ok. let's hear from john in california. caller: good morning pedro. my top story is also immigration. i can't believe we had something that was under control and broke it. now we are getting flooded and there is going to be all kinds of ramifications because -- especially the $15 minimum wage

because you could pass a $15 minimum wage and still hire an illegal alien. it is undermining -- especially the black community, you know? so. anyway. the whole thing seems to become a why did you do that? why did you open up the borders and because those kids to be put in cages? why aren't they back with their families? one last thing i would like to say is the last guy you had on, he didn't like anything. what c4? what was he going to replace all of this with? i thought he was way out there. host: that's from california. from kentucky, republican line. caller: i don't know if people out there are religious or not, but if you never looked up in

the bible, job chapter 38, the lord tells job to stop crying and feeling sorry for yourself, scraping his balls with her saucer, he said act like a man. host: how does that relate to a top political story? caller: george floyd. what the democrats have done to black people and what black people have done to themselves. that man killed himself. he put himself in a mental state where he killed himself because he felt sorry for himself. host: how did you come to that conclusion? caller: i have seen all my life. host: specifically in george floyd's case. caller: i saw it in him. i know how people act. he was going to have some type of mental distress and was also going to lead to physical distress. i have seen that in other before

do that. they will die of a heart attack. host: guest: -- host: by the way, the george floyd coverages on c-span two you want to monitor it there uninterrupted. you can find out more information on our website and following along. when it comes to your top attached host: let me push the button first. deb in georgia. caller: i went to cvs down the street to ask them if i could get the vaccine and the pharmacist said i have to go online to make an applied bent, but i don't have computers and all that stuff. i am a widow, i am on benefits. i barely make it every month. i am confused why they say that

old people like me are a priority when i go in and they have a sign saying they do the covid vaccine, then i can't get it because i don't have a computer. host: deb in georgia, talking about the rate of vaccinations. you can put that as well as the political, dashed line the new york times -- "a key tool for enacting plans of this administration, top senate official ruled monday that democrats could use the fast-track budget reconciliation process for a second time this fiscal year, potentially handing them more power to push through president biden's agenda." the -- the decision means democrats could open the budget plan from february and an eye infrastructure package or other initiatives shielding them from

the filibuster that requires them the 60 votes to overcome. lower in the piece, the guidance could substantially weaken the filibuster by allowing the majority party to use budget reconciliation come a a powerful tool that allows spending to pass on a majority vote multiple times in a fiscal year. that would dilute the power of the minority to stall or block legislation. it is the latest bit to chip away at arcane filibuster walls -- filibuster rules. marshall in florida, phil. republican line. caller: good morning. my worry is the borders. they open up the border and we've got problems with overpopulation coming in across the border. i don't understand why they didn't just finish the wall. ok, put a gate there and check people. right now, they don't they are cn

people a lot of money. i don't understand why we didn't finish the wall. they are not checking everybody that comes across the border. that could be terrorists that come across the border. they are threatening more coronavirus and other come in. i don't understand why they are doing this. host: the washington times this morning looks at comments made by the homeland security secretary when it comes to the border wall. it says that the president has communicated quite clearly his decision that the dod funds to the construction of the border wall has ended.

that leaves room to make decisions in particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished. you can read that at the washington times. if your member at the attack on the capital, one of the officers ended up dying. one went to the hospital. he was released yesterday. there is a tweet about his release. [applause] again it, can shaver being

released from the hospital. more of that story at cbs news. the top political headline is climate change driving migration from central america. we know how to solve this. our progress has been too slow. we lack the political will. our own government can't work together. from chris in oklahoma, the independent line. caller: good morning. we will always have a problem with the border. it's just going to get worse as time goes on. walls can be climbed. there is going to have to be a different fix for that. as far as marijuana, everyone

that's in jail for that crime, it's not really right to keep people locked up if we are going to allow other states to have it legalized. it's not real fair to process. we shouldn't be abiding by the old laws. as far as gates, that guy is as weird as trump. donald trump, i think he just ruined this country. all of these other followers, i think they've got mental problems. i don't understand with these people believe. host: richard is in tennessee. you are the last caller for this segment. caller: i was wondering why they do not report profits made by some companies concerning the

covid disease. host: what you speaking about specifically? caller: there is no reporting on who has made craft -- massive profit from treatment of this disease. host: ok. richard in tennessee finishing off your top political stories. thanks to those of you who participated. we have seen a covid relief plan being passed i this administration. up next to talk about those efforts, an economist from the university of maryland talking about the plans and we will take your calls on it as well. we will have that conversation when washington journal continues. >> this morning, medical professionals discussed building

trust in the vaccines during a discussion with a bipartisan policy center. watch live at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span, online or on the free c-span radio app. >> weeknights, we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what's available every weekend on c-span 3. tonight, pandemics and disease. in 1918, flu virus infected one third of the world's population. the university of puget sound talks about the correlations between that earlier pandemic and the global crisis today. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern. enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span 3. >> washington journal continues. host: he is the professor emeritus at the university of maryland, also a columnist.

he joins us to talk about the economic effort of the biden administration. you wrote a recent piece looking at this idea for infrastructure. this could be a case where it could get bipartisan support. can you make that case? guest: there are a lot of good things in that infrastructure program. a lot has nothing to do with infrastructure. the difference is the problem in getting bipartisan support. let me alert you to two major elements. there is about $600 billion for straightforward infrastructure. there is another $500 billion of what we would call industrial policy, something americans don't like to talk about. it means things like promoting the semiconductor industry because the chinese have been doing the same, and the koreans

and taiwanese. it is basically subsidizing them. increasing support for research and develop it. those have strong i partisan support. they could be financed on deficit financing and some on the basis of increasing the gas tax. that's the big red flag. it hasn't been increased since the 1990's. it is way out of date. there is a lot of other stuff that can be characterized as social safety net, social programs. reality is they are not infrastructure. those of the items with which they have strong support. i don't believe the democrats are interested in a bipartisan approach. they can't get the whole bill that way. to go through a kabuki dance, are you interested in supporting this and they come up with it.

they are just interested in obstructionism. they seem to have an infinite supply of reconciliation. they leaned on the parliamentarian. it's like a hydra. my feeling is there is a potential to bring the country together. it's a lost opportunity. i'm not speaking as an economist but more of a political observer is a common project like the space program. railroads, ports could use a rebuilding. industrial policy, i don't particularly like it. it's the rule of the day in the global economy. if we don't do it, we will lose out. think of it like the war production board during world war ii. we need to meet the chinese challenge. there is broad support for those

kinds of policies. let's get on and do it. host: if you want to ask questions of our guest, democrats (202) 748-8000, publicans (202) 748-8001, (202) 748-8002 four independent voters. the treasury secretary wanted to raise multinational taxes. i want to tell you what she had to say on that and then get your response to it. >> competitiveness is about more than how u.s. headquarters companies fair against other companies in global merger and acquisition bids. it's about making sure the government has stable tax systems that raise sufficient revenue to invest in a central public good in response to crises. citizens fairly share the burden

of supporting government. the proposals announced last week call for bold domestic action, including raising the u.s. minimum tax rate and renewed international engagement , recognize it's important to work with other countries to end the pressures of tax competition and corporate tax based erosion. we are working with g20 nations to agree to a global minimum corporate tax rate that can stop the race to the bottom. together, we can use the global minimum tax to make sure the global economy thrives based on a more level playing field. it spurs innovation, growth, prosperity. host: what do you think about

that as a means of financing? guest: i think it's a very naive statement. it's one that doesn't take into consideration the history she is live through and participated in. in order to have a common corporate tax, you have to have a common base. this is what we are going to tax. in every country, people like to exclude things. you can have a common rate. if you define r&d and give it a tax credit like we do, you are going to have a smaller tax. not everybody will want to impose the same credits. the second thing is we've been engaged in negotiations for many years about how internet companies should be taxed. you have a basic division where they are sold. when we shipped automobiles

around, we made cars in detroit and sent them to japan. there was plenty to tax once they got here. you tax them on the distribution cost. now, if you are in cappuccino on the west coast, this provides the basis for running cell phones. there is not much physical presence. the europeans generally are very upset because they don't have big internet companies. they came up short competing in that area. they want attacks on the basis of sales there. there is not much presence there to tax. we get involved in the conflict. you can have everybody taxing at 25%.

we are not going to be able to reach a reasonable conclusion or compromise on that. she knows that. this is multilateralism. i don't know what the agenda is. it is something that is impractical. the garden of eden, everything was perfect. there was that apple. if we just take a bite of the apple, we know more than everybody else. 120 countries around the world, everybody can agree. with the intellectual property driven companies, you can move the company. you could pay some fees to get out of the united states. you can move to the cayman islands or bermuda. it's that simple. there is not much you can do

about it. if you put a tax on what they export, you violate international law. i just don't see this as a starter. it's the sort of thing in a case study from eight first-year mba student. i would say go back and rewrite the paper. i want to know what is going on at the treasury department. some of the proposals that were offered by the trump administration, let's have a common base. they were equally ludicrous. i am trying to wonder what they do over at the treasury department. host: as far of the political side, we heard senator joe mansion speak out. what do you think that does with other democrats who may not want to see it that high?

guest: now you're getting close to it there may be motivation. it requires some leaks to do that. let's pretend that i am. then you can say when they say this is going to make us uncompetitive, i'm going to get these international negotiations going. senator joe can go along with the tax. everything passes by 50 votes these days. they will get there tax. they will get their worldwide minimum that relieves us of the competitive burden of having a high tax rate. sometime in 2055, it's not going

to happen at any time soon. i really wish i could speak personally with the treasury secretary. i really would be amused by her answers. it reminded me of the time we needed electronic currency and miniature and told me he wasn't interested in that. yesterday, the chinese gave us electronic currency. one of the things you can count on is economists have their feet planted in the past. it's very hard to get them looking forward. that's why they don't like industrial policy. the other thing you can count on is the treasury department is playing yesterday's baseball game. host: let's hear from a caller in maryland. you are on with our guest,

professor at the university of maryland. guest: i just want to say i am very upset about the fact that the agenda is starting to when it comes to taxing corporations sounding like business as usual. what is 28% going to give us when it was 35% before it was knocked down? amazon pays no taxes. i will boycott any company that doesn't agree with raising the tax even higher. we need to have the money for the infrastructure he wants to create. he's not going to get it anymore because were not going to tolerate it. everybody seems to be owned by these corporations, which are not people. the people need to know the truth. maybe you should tell them the truth. the people have the power. right now, the corporations own.

they have owned this for the last 50 years. most people that i know are tired of it. that's all i've got for you. joe mansion needs to get out of office. host: we will let our guest respond. guest: you've touched on an important problem. you can set the tax it any rate you want. there are ways to avoid it with deductions and exclusions and chiseling away here or there. then your tax rate will be zero. 28% would make us one of the highest in the world. we are -- what matters is what they really pay. if you're going to boycott every company that opposes a corporate tax increase, you must be very good sewing your own clothes.

they're not gonna be many companies that support this unless they've got all of those deductions and exclusions. maybe jeff bezos can support it because he's got all of that going for him. i would have to look at their corporate returns. this problem goes way back. when i was a kid in the 60's, the telephone company had a monopoly. they didn't pay any taxes on profits. this is a problem. i think this rhetoric that says we are owned by this or that, that's kind of like shouting. if you go to your church and you shout like that, any process gets to the problem. right now, we are shouting at each other on these issues. we are not going to get very far very quickly.

i think senator mcconnell said something very poignant. yesterday, senator schumer said this will put a 10 -- and into obstructionism. mcconnell set how would you like it if we got it 51 vote geordie and we start passing national right to work act. we are getting dangerously close to authoritarian solutions. if you get your grasp on power, you can ram through the way people feel. the country is terribly divided. it's been that way for a long time. all of the shouting and screaming is not particularly useful. host: let's hear from michigan. caller: good morning. everybody keeps talking about everybody else. i have yet to hear from the beginning of this pandemic

anybody talk about disabled people in this country. ronald reagan said why punish the successful? what about the people that just didn't make it after paying years into social security, just like every recipient in this country? i did it for 25 years and wound up having three spinal surgeries. the wages just unlivable. you've got hundreds of thousands of people in this country who are living on less than the minimum wage now. they have paid for years into that very same insurance policy that every social security retiree has paid into. just like i have.

i still supported myself. to work for 25 years and wind up having to live like this, i just had my tax credit taken away, my property tax credit. this is how you are paying for a lot of the stuff. host: you put a lot out there for our guest. go with that. guest: a couple of things. we really need an enhanced national pension system. we need when the doesn't discourage people to work when they can work. we need to recognize people are living longer. they are not largely engaged in physical labor. even when they are, it's not what it used to be. and i was a young man, i was a

gravedigger. i worked in a warehouse. i can member hoisting boxes up to the third level of shelves. we did it by hand. there were no forklift trucks and so forth. they were terribly expensive. we only use them for very limited applications. people don't lift boxes like that anymore. we can work longer. if we do that, we can provide people with more generous pensions. the second thing is when i began my work life, we were told that your old-age retirement will have three legs to it. social security, your private pension or ira, and your home. you had to pay off your home so you weren't paying the mortgage in retirement. that second leg can't be relied

on. it simply can't. people find themselves in a situation where they have to pay for a home or they don't. all they have come in and is so secured. we always knew it wouldn't be enough. we assumed other money would be there. we have to come up with the system. this is been talked about for a long time, that encourages people to create iras. we talked about this over when i do the business networks. it gets hard to get millennials to sign up for payroll deductions, even when they can afford to. we talk about our kids being difficult in that regard. a lot of young people are setting themselves up for a bad end. they think they will work forever. i can understand this feeling of immortality. it is so far in the future when

you're 30 years old. the notion that you will be able to work forever when you've got people all around you that can't work anymore should be a vivid example of why you need to get going on this. we do need a better national pension system. we need one that is not premised on private companies. if you get a job when you are 21 and stay there, which isn't normal these days, suppose you. that from employer to employer, a lot won't around. it will be absorbed or go out of business. for example, i wouldn't be surprised if the general motors pension isn't worth much. the people that make carriages didn't make automobiles in the end.

the people that rely on pensions from the traditional or legacy automakers may find themselves very disappointed. if you think i'm nuts, ford is going through another downsizing. eventually, that block of ice becomes a cube. the way it goes away. host: let's go to stephen in pennsylvania. caller: i am concerned about the tax increases across the board and nobody is telling the public the truth, it's going to affect every single american, no matter what your economic wage earning. sorry about the dog.

what i found since 1988, they took away our pensions in the 90's. we had the 401k. that was lost twice in my lifetime. nobody is talking about the sticky hands in politics. they are taking money away since the 60's. every time they go to get money to get something, they raid the public trust. i don't think our politicians should be doing that. we would have enough money with social security and other investments over the past year if they would stop taking money away. the tax increase that mr. biden is proposing is going to really hobble the american business. it's going to hobble american

business because it's a global tax increase. host: go ahead. guest: i didn't think i was talking about the consequences of the tax increases. let me give you my story on it. you can decide whether it's wise or not. i am terribly concerned about these tax increases. i know tax rates were higher in the eisenhower era. there were so many loopholes. it's what you actually pay that matters. there are not that many ways out of it. you have to pay it. when you are above this estate exclusion of $11 million, you've got to pay it. if you have enough money, it's 40%. if you look at who does the investing in america, not

investing over the ford motor company. the real investment that goes on in america are small startups. they are the ones that bloom into apple and facebook. there are a lot of venture capitals -- capitalists out there. they spread it around. maybe one out of 10 of those little enterprises succeeds. their whole payoff is in terms of capital gains. the government doesn't subsidize those activities the way it does in china or korea or taiwan. we use the capital gains tax break to subsidize it. that might not be clean and transparent. they are going to tax that at ordinary rates. they are going to raise it to

40%. the other think about those old people to do the investing, a lot of them live in new york and california. that's the reality. they do a lot of nice things in mississippi. investment startup is not one of those things. it's really not where it happens. it happens in california and new york. if you look at the consequences of an older person investing money they will never spend, he's already got his big house and all that stuff. you look at the consequences of investing in a startup, he's got a one in 10 chance succeeding. when exceeds, he will pay 80% of the profits and taxes because of the tax increases being planned in terms of ordinary rates, capital gains.

the reality is what's been driving the american economy has been this innovation. they've been creating the jobs and the wealth. if you complain about how big amazon is, if it wasn't big people wouldn't be working. it's marketing people, amazon wants an economist. they didn't get the message on my age. we can't afford to smother that. the little guy isn't going to have a job. i'm afraid that's what's going to happen. in the woke religion of inequality and unfairness, it seems as though being successful is something that is grounds for exclusion and banishment.

i know i sound like a clarion for the gop. i have often felt the gop itself, when i went to the white house, i am a conservative economist. i would talk about the need to promote electric vehicles. that is terribly important. we want a level playing field. we are not promoting it properly. gasoline engines are incredibly advantaged right now. that is very much to the detriment of the future of the u.s. worker. we will be driving them, they will be made someplace else. host: you saw the jobs numbers come out last week. 916,000 jobs. what do you think about what

underlies them? guest: this recovery is great for 90% of the economy. productivity is rising. a lot of people lost their jobs in this pandemic that will never get them back. one of things we learned how to do is have fewer insurance adjusters. we will have fewer airline pilots. we will have fewer sandwich makers. the pandemic and the recession will continue for a long time. there wasn't a meaningful do it right now retraining initiative. many of these people live in the wrong places. there probably won't be a job for you at amazon in manhattan

doing marketing because you don't have the background. most of these people don't have the money to relocate. there is nothing in there on that. i think that's what we desperately need. the president carries with him i.s. is just like donald trump did. they carry baggage from their childhood. with joe biden, it's his irish parentage. his wife is a community college teacher. he wants to send everyone to community colleges. someone who is making sandwiches and barely has a high school education isn't going to get much out of committee college. he doesn't need two years of training. he needs a 14 week program in writing code. with proper relocation assistance, we could use an

apprenticeship program that pays people $15 an hour. you get paid to go to school. that will lead to jobs that pay $70,000 a year. that's where the money should be. i write this all the time. the phone never rings because it doesn't fit what permeates the treasury department. it never really did. it doesn't fit into joe biden's view of the world, which was very progressive in 1962. host: one more call from john in california. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: i have one simple question. actually, too. my question is about corporations.

the money is passed through their dividend holders. it makes no sense to me. guest: it's less than amusing to talk about landmines and barbed wire. these are terribly desperate people. i'm not for doing them any harm. i think this administration's policy is misguided. i don't think the last administration was misguided. don't have time to go into why we have this migration problem at this moment. with regard to taxes on dividends, my feeling is on corporations, double taxation is a profound problem we are unwilling to talk about. even if companies keep all the money, their shareholders will pay when it's distributed in the forms of higher stock values or

they pay very steep taxes. the corporate and personal income taxes have been so broken. it is so beyond political repair. politics is politics. this goes back to the senate. it goes back to the greeks who spent endless hours debating things. we could probably be in the garden of eden if we hadn't bitten the apple. my feeling is the whole thing should be thrown out. we need to go to a tax of about 20%. that would be enough to finance his agenda. it would finance a benefit for children which even republicans like mitt romney think will happen. it would be enough to finance a

benefit for older people. we wouldn't have these debates about who is fair or what's fair or what's upside down. i think the trump administration and the tax-writing people in the republican era really let us down. the tax reforms that were proposed looked a lot like a veiled value added tax. i would rather not do it in a veiled version. i would rather do transparency for everybody to see. you've got to do what you've got to do in washington. i am into what's possible. i really think they let us down on that. it is really unfortunate. host: he is the professor emeritus of economics at the university of maryland. he writes a column. thank you for your time today.

guest: it's been a real pleasure to visit with you again. host: we are going to spend the last 20 minutes talking about the role of business when it comes to the world of politics. you've probably seen the back-and-forth yesterday with rich mcconnell calling out major league baseball over decisions on the all-star game. we want to ask you when it comes to businesses, should they be more or less involved in politics. if you think they should be more involved, (202) 748-8000 is how you can call us. maybe you think they should be less involved, (202) 748-8001. we will take those when we come right back. flex coming up life today, the policy center on effective ways to build confidence in the covid-19 vaccine. that's lie that 10:30 a.m.

an event on countering domestic extremism in the military and law enforcement. the trial of minneapolis police officer derek chauvin. that continues. >> go to c-span.org for the federal response to the pandemic. if you miss our live coverage, it's where you can find the latest. you can use the interactive gallery of maps. go to c-span.org. >> washington journal continues. host: when it comes to businesses, should they be more or less involved in politics. that's what we will ask you until the end of the program. mitch mcconnell talking about this decision by major league baseball. he writes this.

that is from the minority leader yesterday, talking about what was going on with major league baseball. what do you think about his thoughts and the role of business when it comes to politics? should they be more or less involved. if you say more involved, (202)

748-8000. if you say less involved, (202) 748-8001. if you want to post on our facebook page, you can do so on her twitter feed as well. we will start with gabriel in maryland. he said they should be more involved. caller: i believe that our government should be more involved with sports. since the beginning of sports in america, sports have played a huge role in politics and social transformation, like the race issues and things like that. you know the sports were part of

america and part of politics from the beginning. host: we are talking about the role of business. what do you think about their role? caller: business. those are the same. those are intertwined. you have these lobbyist groups. that is basically our government. the walmarts, big organizations. they pretty much have a lot of power and influence. people would do anything for money, especially a lot of money. these big companies throw money at the politicians.

they are human. absolutely. host: let's go to jerry in florida. she said business should be more involved. caller: yes. i believe that businesses should be more involved in politics. businesses are representative of our community. they serve these businesses. they are not some robot. they have ideals and things they believe in. if they are going to serve the public that keeps them in business, they should also have the right to choose to remove their business from businesses that are not in line with the ideals. to say that the as this should

stand on another planet and have no say so is not fair. host: even though the decision might affect those who support them who oppose with their supporting it? if a business makes decisions, some may disagree with it. caller: always. it's always with the majority believes in. you're never going to please every buddy. some people are going to say one way. if they choose to remove themselves from a place because their policies are not in line with their own, they have a right to do that. host: let's hear from carrie in cleveland.

there should be less involvement in politics. caller: i don't believe politics should have anything to do with these companies. the fact is they have this thing going on about florida. all of this commotion turning the all-star game from florida -- from georgia to colorado. it's got to stop. there is no reason for it. the other thing was -- host: the previous caller said business is an entity that could express themselves politically and have the right to do so. caller: that's freedom of speech.

it doesn't do anything for the common good of people at all. host: let's hear from nicholas who says businesses should be less involved in politics. nicholas is in maryland. you are on. go ahead. caller: the biggest issue i have with businesses involved in politics, especially with major league baseball and delta airlines, it is disingenuous. you have the ceo of delta airlines before they decided to make their statement about what was happening in georgia was praising the bill for the things that were in their like codifying sunday voting. it is such nonsense. it's part of this woke olympics that we have of who can signal

the most virtue. i am so tired of knowing. a lot of my personal friends, i am a business owner. i am so tired of keeping my political opinions to myself at a fear of having my business attacked or canceled that's the main reason why a lot of these companies are speaking out and becoming political. it's not because they actually care. host: is there something you would advocate for boycotting? caller: i'm not saying i would boycott. i think it's stupid. i feel like as a culture we are getting more and more soft. nobody's willing to stand up for their beliefs. everybody is caving to the cancel culture. it's toxic and it's going to

hurt us so much in the long term. if you look at the polling data of people who are afraid to share political beliefs in public, and you look at major companies that should be staying neutral or speaking out like the ceo of delta did where he had to retract what he said. to me, it's frustrating to see a country that was built on the backs of people who had principal and character and conviction where you just have everyone being soft. it's disgusting. host: marco also sent a letter to major league baseball on this issue.

since major league baseball is using its platform to demonstrate unwavering support for fundamental human lights, will you see sure -- cease your relationship with the chinese government? that is marco rubio making a statement yesterday. more involved in politics or less when it comes to businesses. you are up. go ahead. caller: i just have a couple of comments. business should be out of politics. they should do their business and be out of politics. shame on these businesses moving out of atlanta.

they are hurting people in atlanta. it is the democrats fault. thank you very much. host: john says more involved. that's where he comes down in ohio. caller: good morning. i want to respond to the comments that mcconnell made when he used the euphemism in terms of frantic, trying to describe people who have more progressive ideas being emotional. the majority of americans are supporting more gun lot restrictions. we would like to have nationwide insurance. republicans are in the minority, they have decided to oppose these issues.

basically, when blacks and others are saying it shouldn't be based on if you are a republican or democrat. we should make our democracy work for all. host: what you think about the role of business? why do you think they should be more involved? caller: they are more responsive. you're dealing with consumers. basically, they are saying we are responsive to our consumers. we are responsive to whether a person is democrat or republican. we should be examples for the rest of the world. we had that tanker that was isolated in the egypt. you saw a worldwide decision.

we have to get this tanker moved. walmart and these organizations say this is impacting the entire world economy. host: the south florida sun-sentinel reports that albie hastings in his tweet after -- has passed away at the age of 54. -- 84. the paper says he crusade against racial injustice and became a federal judge. he won congressional elections. he died this morning. he was diagnosed with stage iv pancreatic cancer. he continued public appearances and site -- seeking medical care. he passed away at age 84.

michael is up next from georgia. he says businesses should be more involved in politics. caller: thanks for having me. the reason why is because a long time ago the only way we got change. the reason they moved from georgia is because the state representative took the power away from the secretary of state. the previous one -- host: why should businesses be more involved in politics specifically? caller: that's the community.

the republicans -- that's the republicans. host: that is wayne in georgia. politics -- businesses should be less involved in politics. caller: condolences to the congressman who passed away. the reason i say business should be less involved in politics is as a taxpayer i see all of these wonderful tax breaks we give these corporations in order to move in different communities and help support. if they are going to get involved in politics, that gives them an advantage in an atmosphere of fear for the workers that work for these corporations.

corporations -- you may be thinking different way. as a taxpayer, take the tax breaks away from them. let them pay their full share of taxes. host: that is wayne in georgia. the larger issue of business and politics. we will take calls for a few more minutes. the hill is reporting that billy evans, the police officer who died from the car attack the capital last friday, will lie and honor at the rotunda. it will be april 13. the united states congress joins all americans in one of the tragic death of one of our capitol police heroes. they went on to say officer

evans became a martyr for our democracy. we are profoundly grateful. margaret is next. we will notice the flag is still flying at half mast. this is margaret in houston. businesses should be more involved in politics. caller: i think the question is rhetorical. they've always dictated politics. it's just that she was on the other foot now. the bulk of the political contributions are always from corporate america that went to the republicans. the republicans gave them all of those tax breaks. as long as they got tax breaks, they turned a blind eye to whatever the republicans were doing. now the shoe is on the other foot. the democrats are marginally

empowered. they are listening to us now. to say they've been neutral when it comes to politics is just wrong. they've always dictated what their needs are in politics. host: go ahead and finish your thought. caller: it's just that the republicans are angry now. they are not doing their bidding. corporate america is not doing their bidding in this narrow instance. host: we will go to illinois. caller: i think the big problem the republicans have is they were the ones clamoring for citizens united, which set a corporation is a person. they got it enshrined in law. if a corporation is a person, they should be able to say whatever they want to say.

businesses are saying something they don't like. they have a problem with it. that was a republican effort. in the end, it is turning back to bite them. it is kind of sad. they made their bed. host: i mentioned the flag was half mast, it is half-staff. one more call. this is from steve in illinois. he said businesses should be less involved. go ahead. caller: i remember when michael jordan, there was some senate race in north carolina. he was asked to endorse a certain candidate. he didn't want to get involved. he said i don't want to endorse anybody. that's the point.

the goal of business is to make money and sell products and do what they do. it's not to tell us about politics. michael jordan gave into the blm movement. he caved later. finishing off this call and finishing off the chauffeur today, thank you for all of you participating. another edition of washington journal comes your way tomorrow morning. see you then. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021]

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these television companies, who provide c-span2 viewers as a public service. -- c-span to viewers as a public service. >> a look at some of today's live coverage. in about half an hour, we will be live as medical professionals give their ideas about building trust in covid vaccines. it starts at 10:30 eastern. at 1:00 eastern, combating domestic extremism in the u.s. military and law enforcement, hosted by the atlantic council. live coverage at 1:00 p.m. eastern today. at 2:00 p.m., a brookings institution conversation on the filibuster, what it is and how it works.

at 3:45, president biden will update on the response to covid. he is expected to announce that vaccinations can open to all adults nationwide sooner than planned. all these events are also live at c-span.org, or you can listen with the free c-span radio app. >> utah senator mike lee spoke about executive power under the constitution. this event was hosted by the hoover institution. it is 35 minutes. michael: hello, everyone. my name is michael mcconnell. i am a senior fellow at the hoover institution and i want to welcome you to hoover capital conversations. the hoover institution is a preeminent research center dedicated to the principles of individual, economic, and political freedom, private enterprise and limited represented government. this