♪ host: good morning. . it is saturday september 2. unemployment is near a 50 year

low. a new report says 60 1% of americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. this morning we are asking about your finance asking about your about your finances. if you are financially secure call, (202) 748-8000. if you are financially insecure, call (202) 748-8001. from cnbc.com, "as of june 60 1%

of adults are living paychepaycheck. they rely on those regular paychecks to me to regular livixpenses. many americans say they are not financiallre given their financial standing and more than one quarter say they will likely never be financially secure according to survey by bank . new york post editorial board put out. they say inflationccerated in july. the federal e the price index rose 3.5% over one year 3%.lier over june's 1 -- june's

it is heading up in the wrong direction. some clean it is just a fluke. it is -- some claim it is just a fluke. it means a whole new round of rising prices. wondering what you think and if you feel financially secure. our lines are yes and no but before we get two phones we will speak to sam seiden of politico. sam welcome to the program. it tell us about yesterday's jobs report. guest: it was unexpected and expected. people do not expect it to jump 20 basis points but they were expecting a positive jobs

number. it is a little bit stronger than that. there were some downward revisions to previous months which is something we have been seeing somewhat regularly. host: what sectors is the country seeing job growth? guest: right now we are seeing a lot of jobs growth in primarily construction. there was a lot of health care if i remember correctly. i don't have it in front of me but those tended to be strong sectors. host: you cover the federal reserve so how do you assess how the fed sees these particular numbers and what they are thinking on interest rates? guest: what the market was

anticipating before yesterday's jobs report was that the fed was going to hold rates steady at its next meeting. there is something of an expectation that rates will rise again later this year. i think this report since it was so much in line with expectations is more or less going to keep those expectations in place. in a couple weeks the fed is likely to keep rates where they are for now. host: our wages keeping up with inflation? -- are wages keeping up with inflation? guest: it depends on who you are. moderate income households is where wage growth is accelerating the most. we have started to see wage growth really so often in the

top. that is why we are hearing so much about why folks are dissatisfied with the economy. it has been a lot of high income, moderate to high income folks who have been feeling not so much a pinch, but they are not seeing their dollar go quite as far as they had a couple years ago. host: what do you think this month's numbers mean to biden's economic message? guest: i think that 180 7000 jobs being added to the economy 1.5 years into a rate hike cycle is a good sign. it is a sign that the economy is stronger than anyone would have expected a year ago. it in -- 100% of economists

anticipated we would enter a recession this year. that has not happened. at this point it is less likely to happen. fears of recession have abated over the last month. in that sense, it is a strong point in biden's favor. you pointed this out in your opening. there was still a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction out there when it comes to the economy. folks are still feeling the effects of higher prices. you have seen a number of reports and data about people eating into their savings they had created during the pandemic and credit cards are going up, and savings rates have been hit or miss over the last year.

that to me seems like the sort of thing -- it is a shakier foundation. it does not mean we will go into a recession anytime soon. that does not mean folks will be lining up for assistance, but it is a sign that there are some cracks and those probably need to be addressed. host: all right, sam sutton is the author of politico's morning money. financial services reporter sam thank you so much. we are taking your calls this morning on the question are you feeling financially secure?

let's hear from president biden in the rose garden yesterday discussing the jobs report. [video clip] >> we have added one million more new jobs. more than 700,000 people joined the labor force last month, meaning the largest share of working age americans are in the workforce now than there were in the past 20 years. people are getting back to the workplace. job satisfaction is higher than it has been in 36 years. we have seen record lows in unemployment for african-americans, hispanic workers and veterans and the lowest unemployment rate in 70 years our american women. at the same time inflation continues to fall. it is now around 3%.

one third of what it was one year ago. in fact, we learned yesterday that over the past three months inflation will close -- inflation is close to what it was before the pandemic. host: that was the president from yesterday and the rose garden and we are taking your calls on the question, are you feeling financially secure, yes or no are the phone lines and this is a text we got from michael in linden, virginia. he says "no, from the big category but yes from the individual perspective. most people have debt within their living standards."

truth sayer on x says "glad to see how the phone lines are set up today." "we are financially secure, but like many seniors unforeseen expenses could be catastrophic. let's hear from roy. roy, you say no. caller: my name is roy dean. i have been listening since the 90's. i was in over the road trucker for many years. i was born and raised in davidson county, tennessee. i lived there with my wife until we divorced. i am retired from trucking now.

i currently work at a grocery store. i'm doing ok all things considered economically speaking but i know there are a lot of challenges out there. i am doing all right. host: what are you seeing about the price of food these days? caller: half the people i interact with on a day-to-day basis for the past two to three years, the small talk is how high the cost of groceries has gotten and it seems like it is continuing to climb. happy birthday to my friend yolanda deville. she lived next door to me when i lived in nashville for many years. host: let's move on to richard in minneapolis, minnesota.

caller: good morningcaller:. i'm a landlord and have money but more and more renters were dependent on the covid money and they quit paying the rent so that means less money for me for repair upgrades, improvements to the property. this inflation is manufactured by biden. everything runs on oil. take a farmer was on the other day and he said for one acre of land he has put in 200 pounds of nitrogen that is made out of oil. that went up. the phosphate and be a monia went up and -- the ammonia went up.

all of it depends on a big combine. this inflation is totally invented by biden. host: at 9:15 our spotlight on podcasts will be on energy and i will ask them about that pipeline so i hope you will stay tuned for that discussion. caller: the pipeline has a war on fossil fuel on the drilling. they say there are a lot of permits but, try and get a permit. i hear on the news that it is hard to get a permit. now they are suing elon musk for not hiring illegal aliens. host: steve in largo, good morning. caller: good morning.

i'm 18 years old. i have never seen prices rise like they are rising now. more customers are going out of business left and right because of the food prices. these truckers, gas is so high, it used to be $.10 a pound for freight. now it is up to $.40 $.60 a pound for freight. restaurants are closing left and right. they put more people out of business than i have ever seen in my life. this guy talks through the side of his mouth. everything he says comes out of the side of his mouth. i was so insulted when he went to hawaii and he talked about

his cat almost dying, his wife almost dying. how does a man do such a bad job ? i don't blame him. i blame his wife. i blame the democratic party. they treat joe biden like a dog. they treat federman like a dog. they treat weinstein like a dog. i am sick and tired of this government. as soon as i have enough money, i'm leaving this country. host: where are you going, steve? caller: costa rica, belize! how come these people live under $200 a month, and i make $5,000 a month and i can't even go out anymore? you talk about fuel? you know who he is killing? the restaurants, the hotels.

who can drive one thousand miles in an electric car and asked just stop everywhere? they cannot afford the hotels. the hotels are going to go out of business. all this guy does is put people out of business and then he sits there and says bidenonmics is working. he brings in 7 million immigrants, puts them in schools without vaccines, but no i have to get a vaccine. i have to get three vaccines. host: we go to david. caller: good morning. i like the topic. my financial condition is better now under biden way better than

under donald trump. i have more to spend ever since biden became president. i have traveled more than i have ever traveled in my life. more people have more spending money. that pipeline is a republican talking point. that oil was not going to come to the united states. that dirty oil from canada was going to go straight across these rather things. i am living better. more young people in my family are working than they ever have worked. people are going by talking points from fox news and it is all to destroy president biden. we are doing better, we are living better. inflation is bad, i'm not going

to lie, but sometimes i think they don't know what they are doing. they are messing up. it is coming down, and biden will do a good job that next term when he wins in 2024. host: our previous caller mentioned gas prices. this is from aaa, and this has a comparison of gas prices over the last 10 years. 2019 is in black, 2023 is in red. you can see the difference between 2022 with that spike in gas prices. average for the country is $3.82 a gallon. brenda is next in charlotte, north carolina. caller: good morning, honey.

i want to thank that guy from michigan for what he said. if people listen to the news before like i do, things are better since biden has been there. i pray every day that the good lord let's biden be president again. host: how are your finances? how are you doing? caller: i'm going to be 77 years old, and it is hard for me to make ends meet. i have a service pet, a cat, and i have to have her, and she has already saved my life twice because i am a diabetic, and she knew mama was sick and my sugar was 33. if she had not kept me from going to sleep, i might have

gone into a diabetic,. she has to go to the vet. i have to keep her. i went to the grocery store yesterday, and harris teeter had this buy one get one free. now i wonder if i will be able to afford my power bill. they cut my food stamps down to $95. it is hard to make ends meet. honey, my shoes have holes in them. i glued them back together. this guy comes out here and plays bingo. that is how i am wearing a pair of shoes because i won a pair

of shoes playing bingo. host: next is julius. caller: i am a black senior citizen, and i live pretty well. the republicans are doing everything they can to panic the american public. there is going to be a water shortage in the world. 8 billion people in the world, and it is a small world now. we have the largest source of freshwater in the world. i live near the great lakes. we are doing pretty well, if you put it in perspective. republicans are the problem. they have gone crazy! host: also i wanted to show you

something else on gas prices. this is also from aaa but this is a map of the country. you can see here the red is the highest gas prices in the country that is mostly on the west coast and in illinois. the cheapest gas is the dark blue, mostly in the south. patty is next kentucky,. caller: good morning. i think i called the wrong line. i told the lady i was just calling on the democratic line, but i am not financially stable. i am not hurting really bad. i am on fixed income, but i

budget myself and i have a nice apartment and i get along just fine. but my main problem is that it seems that a lot of people blame joe biden. i feel like he has done a wonderful job. that is my opinion but i believe that. i realize that he stepped into a major mess in this country, one that i have not seen in my lifetime. they expected him to just clean it all up and everything be perfect. he had to clean up the mess before he could start rebuilding but i think he is on the right track and i do feel like most people are doing better. at the beginning of your show, talked about how what percentage of american people were living paycheck-to-paycheck. i have never known that not to

be the case in this country. most people couldn't afford a car breakdown or an emergency and that has not changed. , believe that happened mainly due to the pandemic -- as for the pandemic -- i believe he has worked -- as for inflation, i believe that happened mainly due to the pandemic. i believe he has worked on it, and it has come down. when people continue to buy when prices go up, grocery stores will not lower the prices. they will leave them where they are add as long as people continue to buy them. that is what happens all the time. the cost of living goes up every single year, and this is no

different. the people need to realize that. host: got your point. let's take a look at jerome powell. he is the fed chair, the federal reserve chair and he was speaking in wyoming about inflation. [video clip] >> at last year's jackson hole symposium, i delivered a brief, direct message. my remarks this year will be a bit longer but the message will be the same. it is the fed's job to bring inflation down to its 2% goal and we will do so. we have tightened policy significantly over the past year. although inflation has moved down from its peak it remains too high. we are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate and plan to hold policy at a restrictive policy until we are confident that inflation is moving down towards our objective. host: stephen intellect and,

kentucky -- stephen in lexington, kentucky is next. caller: good morning, mimi. i am more financially stable now, and that my wife finally has employment, so i have been picking up where i have to for the last nine months, paying for everything. i have had to use my credit card more than i wanted to, but she finally got a job so we have that double income. we have a baby. our student loans are going to start again. finding a job here at this moment in time is so difficult and so competitive. her specific job is very niche so it took a long time and a lot of networking, and a lot of tears, and a lot of

conversations to get to this point but the hr departments and a lot of companies, they are not doing their jobs at all. there is a big disconnect between what people are expecting to what companies need to employers taking advantage. it is an awful situation, but at this moment, yes. host: let's hear from paulette next in monticello, florida. caller: i am on a monthly income, and it is hard. some things people are not looking at are the contracts made between our governor here in florida and duke energy. my light bill went from $143 a month to almost $500 a month, and it is so hard to pay. it seems like a scam.

they raised duke energy up, and then they tell us to apply to the government to pay for it. host: paulette, are there any other electrical companies you can use? caller: no, that is one thing too. you don't have a choice. when you don't have a choice, people can do whatever they want to do. these companies are making hand over fist. they are getting paid. as consumers are the ones who have to pay -- us consumers are the ones who have to pay. they always talk about taxes. we have a governor here in florida that traveled, and made it possible in the legislature that we cannot know how much money he has spending or where he is going! they are servants, they are not our leaders. if we worked on that, everything

would come down. host: speaking of florida, president biden is traveling to florida today to view hurricane damage, and we will bring you coverage of that on their website c-span.org and on our mobile video app, c-span now. mark, philadelphia, pennsylvania. caller: i'm living in a separate reality. i'm listening to these people calling in saying how bad the economy is. here in the philadelphia area where i am, it is booming. i am retired and my wife is retired. we are on social security. we have iras. you had a segment on medicare recently. my wife and i out of pocket spent $18,000 on medical for the

whole year. fortunately, for us we had to go into my 401(k) and take the money to cover that. i hear a lot of seniors calling in here on social security, and i understand it. i have friends of mine who are struggling. all i can say to that younger people here is when you get the chance put money away in 401(k)s or whatever. my wife and i are going to ocean city in jersey tomorrow. we went there earlier and it was packed. maybe $200, $300 a night. we are going down there this weekend again. the place we normally go to we could not get in because it is booked. the places down there are mobbed. in my neighborhood, i'm retired, i see amazon trucks, ups trucks,

everyone is driving around in brand-new suvs. i don't know! i see the economy booming. i don't know if it is just this area or what, mimi. host: here is a headline from the washington post from july. it says americans are still better off with more in the bank than before the pandemic. bank account balances are 10% to 15% higher than they were in 2015. it says, "despite a year when inflation pressed prices to new heights, americans are still doing better than they were before the pandemic, however

households are rapidly spending down that extra cash they tucked away during the pandemic. median account balances are at their lowest levels in three years and have dropped as much as 41% from their peak in april 2021 when americans were flush with government stimulus money and tax returns." taken together, the data helps explain the big mystery behind how the u.s. managed to dodge the recession many analysts forecasted. gordon is up next in plant city, florida. caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to thank c-span because i am a far right wing conservative. you guys are the only ones who let me call in.

things are not going well because the government is spending hand over fist and they are devaluing the dollar and student debt is over $2 trillion. social security and foreign expenses -- these republican lawmakers, i'm a republican, but my lawmaker -- scott franklin was my member of congress before they changed the boundary. they are doing nothing to stop using my tax dollars to subsidize student loans instead of funding education. the republican platform says that we should not subsidize student loans. scott -- host: gordon, how are you doing personally? i hear what you are saying about the economy as a whole, but what

about your personal finances? caller: my finances are not good because i take care of an elderly parent. plus, i spend a little too much time contacting the lawmakers to try and get them to cut off the poor spending and stop spending. i don't spend more than i can do so why should the government? host: are you working, gordon? caller: i'm working part-time but the money is not worth as much because our national debt -- host: i'm wondering about your wages. have you seen wage growth over the past three years? caller: no. i have clients who pay about the same but the value of the dollar is going up. -- value of the dollar is going down. if they directly funded higher education, it would -- no matter

the democrats are the republican lawmakers they tax -- the tax and spend liberals keep running things up. host: richard is in oceanside, california. caller: hi. mimi, was it? thank you for having me on. i am financially secure. i am approaching 80 years old, and i have not worked since the age of 60. my wife has not worked since the age of 55. we live in oceanside. the people around us have lots of money. multimillion dollar homes -- i'm more conservative. like the man said before there are amazon trucks fedex trucks.

everyone has new pickups, new vehicles. i have a motorhome. i go camping, i go surfing. the fear mongering going on about the financial situation in our country, led by a particular blonde fellow who is quite tall, what is going on is they are trying to mess us up but a gentleman named martin luther king jr. once said that the two most dangerous things in the world our sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. the republicans are suffering from an enormous amount of sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity in their fear mongering about the economy and so on. i can't believe what is going on, people buying into that stuff. they have to stop it. host: let's take a look at a

post on x from mlb that says " food prices have gone down in my area. eggs are $1.33 a dozen. fresh fruit has come down as well. ross says "i go to walmart a couple times a week and prices on almost all items rose by $.10 to $.15. also a text from bird, " bidens inflation reduction economy has many retirees eligible working hoping for some stability. the rich people paying their fair share has created a whole new category. this is randy who says, "i feel financially secure thanks to a great ua wg pension along with social security and other

investments." let's hear from steve next in illinois. caller: the economy is not working for me. inflation is going skyhigh. for me it is 35 miles to the closest walmart. it is 25 miles to the closest store. for me to guide groceries, it costs me money in -- to get groceries, it costs me money in gas. with the prices going higher, it puts a major burden on my pocketbook. i am using my 101 stat retirement, my ira retirement is now a 101 instead of a 401k.

i had to be dipping into that constantly. supposedly biden help this out and trump helped us out. it has disappeared. it is so bad. i had to go to a nursing home and get my partial right leg amputated. it's bad. host: all right. let's talk to pat in bristol, tennessee. how are you doing? caller: i'm doing ok, how about you? host: how are you doing

financially? caller: i'm doing good. i wish donald trump would come back in office and bring down the inflation and help the farmers. we really need donald trump back in their. i'm for donald trump. i believe he could do every job in the white house. host: let's talk to diane who is in st. paul, minnesota. caller: good morning. i look at c-span every morning. my heart hurts a lot of times when i hear all of this division going on in our land right now. let me tell you something, i am

financially doing well but i blame donald trump for bringing out the people in the dark with their racism. i remember when barack obama got elected president. my grandmother cried who is now gone. i said, "sister, why are you crying?" she said "we will pay for this for putting a black man in the white house." donald trump was one of those who said barack obama was not born in america. he started that, the birther movement. everyone seems to have forgotten that. he had to prove where he was born but i see donald trump got in office and he didn't have to prove anything. he didn't have to put in his tax returns, but i am doing fine thank god because i was taught

to save my money when i was younger. i am 74 years old now, and i have younger people in my family because some of them do not have any money to save and they have these high student loans. i have a masters degree in social work. we do not have that now. these young people are suffering. i hope all of them vote for joe biden again. host: let's talk to tony in new york. caller: good morning. i am not doing well financially at all. my checking account is at -$4 and $.30. i my school -- i owe my school $3000 and they will send that to litigation.

the republicans are part of the reason i'm in debt right now. i have $12,000 out in student loans. my job at starbucks pays minimum wage, a dollar above minimum wage, which is still unlivable. host: tony, have you tried getting a higher paying job since you have a college degree? caller: i'm in college right now. i guess i have, a degree i shouldn't even say skills. even with that, trying to find a job when you are already in debt, and you are already not making enough as it is, the process of doing so and getting rejected -- i don't have much in savings to rely on anyway.

biden promised us debt relief. host: in the morning you said -- earlier you said good morden. what does that mean? caller: when people talk about socialism, people can go to that stream if they want to learn more about that. host: sorry, i didn't hear you. caller: socialism, communism -- it's a reference. i encourage a lot of your viewers to check it out because they say all sorts of racist, classist stuff. host: donald. good mornin -- donald, good morning. caller: i want to applaud all of

the citizens of america for your goodwill and who want this country to succeed and do not believe the lies pushed by mag a americans -- pushed by maga americans. my finances are stable so i'm doing fairlythe country as a whg a heck of a lot better than it was when donald trump was president. three years ago we had about 1000 people a day dying in america, because president trump ignored the devastation that covid would bring about and inflict on this country. remember, at first he said only 15 cases, and soon it will be 10, 5, and zero. the reporter asked him. he said the economy will open back up by easter of 2020.

what metrics are you using to determine that? he said, the metrics up here, pointing to his head. well, the metrics were way off. it was after that that we started to having 1000 people -- we lost more than one million people who did it have to die if the united states had only had someone in charge that would have taken the covid issue seriously. sure, you had low gas prices under travel but everything was down, you couldn't go anywhere. gas companies were trying to give the gas a way to keep their workers working and their pumps lubricated so that when the economy did open back up they could sell gas again. restaurants were closed, businesses shut down, and many

went out of business. as far as the inflation we are experiencing now, when we were in the middle of covid, you have 18 people on a meat packaging or prep line. one of them gets covid, you have to shut down for two weeks. if you pull 18 people off the line, out of productivity, wouldn't you think that that would cause a problem with the amount of goods produced? host: donald, let's move on to eva in georgia. caller: good morning, dear. good morning to america. one of the items, the young man, i am part of a generational household. 60, 70, and mother who is almost 90. we moved together generationally

so we could -- are you hearing me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: we moved together generationally to bridge the gap for the care that is needed. when i hear the young man from new york say he was at starbucks and he was going to school and it was low income. do you hear me, dear? host: yes, go ahead, eva. caller: the grocers, if you would pull up the grocers, there is not a grocery store that i attend. i traveled from florida to the beach, we traveled to virginia, charleston, hilton head, and i didn't see a grocery store i went in. i saw a publix, kroger's, a walmart. not joe biden. there was not a grocery store called biden. grocers deal with the pricing. put up the pricing that kroger,

walmart, and publix. plant city is a small town. we have small and medium-sized cities. we have large and very large structures in our society where the economies are very different. to go back to the structure of the financially secure, individually, perhaps people are not financially secure because if you go to school, if you get a trade, working at a starbucks, or being a barista, or working at restaurants, those jobs are not going to provide for you to have housing and retirement. those of us who were lucky enough as you read in many of the comments online or we have a pension, a social security, and investments, that is what joe biden has been trying, and the democratic party, has been

trying to give to the country that has been taken. they have given you starbucks, restaurants, and franchises to open. those are low wage no benefit jobs. now we have worker strength where we are now getting workers back into the position of beginning. who doesn't want that? it is the republican party. they are the ceos. look at the wages of ceos and profits. when you look at the business details, they say that their price power. what is price power? price power is them raising prices. there is not a grocery store in america called biden. host: this text from joseph in fayetteville who says, retirement is difficult because you can't get anywhere down south without gasoline or a bus pass. rent is expensive. if you own a house property taxes are not going down.

dave in orlando in a text that says, i am not feeling financially secure. the corporations are still gouging the public. food, housing, gas, insurance, health care, etc. the cost is still three times higher than normal. we are being priced out of living. god bless us all. north las vegas, nevada, good morning, kimberly. caller: how is it going? host: good. how is it going for you financially? caller: financially, i am secure. i am not at retirement age. knee and my husband are very financially secure -- me and my husband are very financially secure, but there is some anxiety out here for my family, because i work in the mortgage industry. i have worked in the mortgage industry since 2008 through 2010

in the bubble and all of that with the industry. what we ended up doing is lost a lot of things back in that timeframe. we lost our home. now, we regained everything. we are even stronger than we were before. we have a lot of means here. all of our cars. we have three cars paid in full. we have means, but there is still an anxiety. we have two kids in college. one is getting ready to get out of school. so, we see, we understand that even all around, the all-around economy is getting better. i learned in 2008 to 2010 couponing. learning about coupons and different things.

i do shop around. eggs are $.97 here. we live in the valley, so everything is shipped here. we don't grow anything really. everything is shipped here. prices and gas are a little bit higher, but i learned. i go to kroger's and i shop. i get gift cards i get money when i get gift cards to get rewards. i get $1 off of my guess. -- off of my gas. in 2008 2 2010 i learned to be smarter. food is high, but i shop for deals. my gas is cheaper. eggs were expensive, they were eight dollars in february for a dozen. now they are $.97. i know that inflation is coming down.

financially, you have to be smarter. that is what happened with me. host: i'm going to move on to cynthia in beaumont, texas. caller: good morning. i consider myself to be financially secure, because i went to work when i was 15 to prepare for my future and i'm 65. i worked in the government and i do have a pension, but i also worked a second job and got social security, which i don't understand with the federal government, the post office, they cut social security so i don't get the full benefits even though i have the full amount that you have in quarters. i wish the government would do certain things to help us. i do receive a pension until i die, which is good. i have two homes, but i prepared for that. even with that, we have our insurance.

we have all of these hurricanes and everything, and every year our insurance premiums are going up whether you have a claim or not. i have a home and a rental home and it is rough. you can't really prepare for that. i think the government should do more to help us. i am 66 and i went to work for one more year to get the remaining quarters for my social security. i can't get full social security. i'm penalized because of working for the government. i worked in a big chain store and was making phenomenal money, but they only paid wages $8.50. host: $8.50 an hour? caller: roses. i want to put them on blast because i think it's crappie. they want you to work four days a week five hours a day.

i'm going for my quarters, but the young lady who worked there, they can't work there because they are bringing home three -- bringing home $350 a week. the government should check into , eight dollars $.50 isn't comparable. you can't live. it is now building a new store. mississippi and louisiana. host: daniel next in pinebrook, new jersey. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing okay. how are you doing financially? caller: i'm not doing the best, but like the lady in nevada, getting smarter. i am a millennial, so i'm just starting to become an adult, i would say. i have a family with kids. organ shopping at the

neighborhood stop -- bar again shopping at the neighborhood stop & shop, using rewards, saving and spending on gas, i guess cutting down spending. i work in sales, so i am really busting my tail on sales and trying to make extra income through that. also, i believe in having a good family core with my family. they are able to help when we are finding financial problems, but not everyone is blessed to have a solid family. i would say, pray for america 100% and cut down on spending. host: richard, grand celine texas. caller: i make $24,000 a year on social security. it is pretty tough.

you know, i'm able to have food and everything, but i cannot have homeowners insurance for my house. it was too expensive. my meds are expensive. it is pretty tough out there, but i am able to make it. i just can't have the internet. i haven't had the internet for years. things that a lot of people take for granted i just have to do without. $24,000 is not much money anymore. it is $2000 a month. it goes really quickly. if anything happens, like a medical expense, teeth problems or anything, i'm in trouble. host: richard, here is -- sorry.

in norfolk, virginia, he says i am 61 and was laid off from my job at a law firm after 7.5 years. i am nowhere near financially secure. i am sending out resumes and i'm sure something will turn out for a 61-year-old man in a youth oriented culture. john, jamaica, new -- yorkie, good morning. caller: i wanted to make a point this morning. i work in the board of education . what if the issues is that they are not showing young adults how to actually deal with finances. they talk about science, technology, engineering and math, but do not teach anything about financing. by the time the kids out of high school and get into college,

they get caught in a debt trap. i wanted to talk a little bit about how young adults can start paying attention and may their parents at home can start teaching their children how to deal with financial literacy, so by the time they get to college and get out, guest: guest: they have financial awareness. this is definitely impacting our system and the future system that they do not know how to deal with money. they are just filling out credit card applications and going into debt, student debt and credit card debt. we will continue to be in this cycle. i want to mention that the banking systems do not help either. when you are paying anywhere between 28% to 32% for credit card debt, i don't know how anyone expects to get out of it.

i am thankful i do not have any debt. i have two houses in the new york region the are paid for. host: thank you for everyone who called in for this segment. you will have more time to discuss later on in open forum. comingp on washington journal. in the aftermath of hurricane idalia, we are joined by fema director craig fate to talk about their role in responding to these and other natural disasters. then later, a podcast segment with a focus on energy today. stu turley, david blackman, and rey trevino join us for the a discussion on their podcast, "three podcasters walk into a bar." ♪

announcer: american history tv, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. david grant shares his book "the wager," about the british naval ship off the coast of south america and the court-martial that followed. then republican governor christiane the -- christiane the lessons she sees. exploring the american story. watch american history tv every weekend and find full schedule on your program guide, or watch on time and -- watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. ♪ announcer: this fall, what c-span's new series, "books that shaped america." join us as we talk with the

library of congress that first rated a list of books that shaped america. 10 books featured provoke thoughts, won awards, lead significant in societal changes, and are still talked about today. hear from experts for the impact of this iconic work. among our featured books are "common sense" by thomas paine, "the eyes were watching god" by zora neal hurston. watch our series, books that shaped america, starting september 18 -- september 13 on c-span 2 or online at c-span.org. announcer: a healthy democracy does not just look like this.

it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed, a republic thrives. it's informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. announcer: washington journal continues host: we are joined by the former fema administrator during the obama administration, craig fugate, to talk about federal disaster response. welcome. you are currently in florida. can you tell us what you are seeing their and if you can assess the damage of hurricane a donya compared to other -- hurricane idalia compared to

other hurricanes in the past? guest: this is in an area that does not usually see hurricanes. back in 1993, there was a storm called "storm of the century" that devastated these communities. one thing i was watching as i started seeing images come out was the difference between homes built after those storms and the ones that were not. in florida, the building codes work. the homes that were built later stayed up. the homes that were not were destroyed. but this is a very remote area. this is a very agricultural based region. there is not big populations like you would see in south florida. and a lot of the responses being driven by power restoration. then the potential is focused

back on coastal communities were storm surge bank and areas got a lot of damage. host: president biden is set to visit florida today. tell me about how the presidential visits help. to they help better inform the president, do they help the people affected? guest: several things. this goes back to the role the president has to come down and reassure residents that the federal government will be here well after the cameras leave. once a big disaster happens, everyone is paying attention to it, then there are other crises that occur. people in the community say, what about us? i think the president wants to understand it does not matter the national media coverage. fema and other places will be working with these communities over the next few years. host: how would you rate the biden administration's response

to the hurricane? guest: i was watching. to me, it is unfortunately a very typical response, well in their will house. this was not a large population center. one of the things we did was make sure we have the ability to go in with the boats and do water rescues. our service direct -- i also served under governor bush who has a very robust mechanism to respond to the storms. it started in 2005 and continued with hurricane arm a and hurricane ian. with florida, this was not where a lot of the response capabilities were, to they were able to pool resources from south florida and central florida to help with the response. host: can you talk us through the role fema plays in a run up to a hurricane in preparation,

and during and after? guest: what is the first things fema will do as we start seeing hurricanes and other things occurring is many reach the threshold that require federal assistance. they will work with the state and counterparts, and send teams into the state, as they begin operating from emergency operating center's. fema does not wait until there is a formal disaster request. fema sends teams in to get ready. the lesson we learned from hurricane katrina. you cannot wait until the governor is asking for help until you mobilize the resources. fema runs into states. other states may be affected, as we saw with this hurricane. you had it getting into georgia and the carolinas. first, get people in so you are synced up. then, start with the at what

they need. they started moving search and rescue teams in, ending commodities ready and generators ready. one of the concessions as fema is a big part of the initial response, but they are not. there are generally coming in behind the state and local responders. this is true in this case. as the storm hits and he starts getting an idea of impact, fema begins shifting to what we call immediate needs. that will be after search-and-rescue is done. a question a lot of people have is, public shelters, longer-term and housing, maybe immediate financial assistance like people who did not have insurance to get started. fema, at the request of the governor, start turning on these programs and getting people to help register for these programs to start assessing what these needs will be.

and looking at the longer-term responsibilities. all this is taking place, synced up with the state. fema supports the government. when you think there may be something happening, getting in with the state, putting people in place, teams working together so they are sitting side-by-side with state counterparts. so you do not get a gap between what the state may be leading and what fema is thinking because they are sitting right by each other. host: i will invite our viewers to call in if they have a question or comment. our lines are by region. eastern and central time zones, call at (202) 748-8000. mountain or pacific, (202) 748-8001. if you are impacted by hurricane idalia, we have a special line and would like to know how you are doing at (202) 748-8002.

telus -- tell us about the resources fema has at its disposal to deploy hurricane response. guest: the things we would normally have at the federal level is things people were directly sent. they have very large search-and-rescue teams. they are scattered all over the u.s.. they will deploy teams. florida task force one and two are two of the federal task force search-and-rescue teams. those two teams and search state teams -- and state teams will be the first in. they also coordinate the other federal agencies's's to see what the governor team may need --

other federal agencies to see what the governor's team may need. everything like health and human services. and even including resources from the department of the fed, in addition to the national guard which is controlled by the governor. host: i want to switch now to wildfires in valley and show a portion of what president biden said about the effort to build and how much federal investment they can expect. and i will get your response. [video clip] pres. biden: i directed my team to do everything they can for as long as it takes to help malley recover in a way that respects and honors -- to help maui recover in a way that respects and honors the land. we are not trying to turn this into a land grab. you want to restore that part of the island like it was before, only better.

when i was on the island last week, i appointed bob fenton, one of the nation's leading emergency members, and i mean that. he has been on the island since before the fires erected. he will leave the long-term recovery on maui. i charged him with making sure the community has everything the federal government can offer to heal and go back better as fast as possible. host: that was the president talking about rebuilding maui. what do you think of the federal process for cleanup and what will be facing the federal government? how much is it expected to take for rebuilding? guest: and him will be interesting to see how congress provides the funding -- it will be interesting to see how congress provides the funding. we know that historically fema

funding has come from community grant dollars that usually are appropriated in supplementals for disaster. you already heard the other president bush the president -- hear the president and others talking about power lines. this will be future funding that congress will have to address. putting someone in charge like bob fenton making sure all federal agencies are under an umbrella so the state and locals do not have to go from agency to hc to navigate the funding. the key thing is, that we have seen occur before, if you do not provide additional assistance to homeowners, many of whom may not have insurance or are underinsured, as developers look for ability to buy these

properties and displace many local residents. one is the key things is to make sure these federal programs can provide additional assistance beyond what fema's programs have traditionally done to help people stay in their homes and get back to their lives. host: i want to ask about the national flood insurance program . i am going to show what the gao said abo pting that program on their hig list. itthe nift has experienced significant challenges because fema is task with two goals. keeping flood insurance affordable and keeping the program solventislly. keepg affordable has led to rays that do noteflect the full risk of loss. this has also transferred flood risk from individual property owners to taxpayers.

as of september 2022, fema's debt was $22.5 billion despite congress having cancel $16 billion in debt in october 2017. without reform, the conditions will likely worsen. what are your thoughts? guest: this has occurred every five years going back 25 years and will not change. the nfip seven ever fema attempted to raise rates to reflect what the market would charge, there was tremendous pushback from policyholders to the state delegation to congress which ultimately meant fema was told to not do that. every time fema needs to raise the borrowing limit or get more money, we were told we needed to be more sound in our pricing. what fema is currently doing is risk to point to -- risk 2.0,

which is trying to allude to a better way of determining risk for each house. for some people, it turns out that inland residents were subsidizing coast residents, paying more than their risk. weaning coastal residents were not paying -- meaning coastal residents were not paying their full risk. it is causing a lot of problems because rates are going up in communities that are coastal, which for homeowners is reaching the point where they may not be able to afford flood insurance which leaves them exposed. the even bigger story is how many people do not carry flood insurance, as we saw with hurricane ian. the tendency is for a lot of people, they think they do not live in a flood zone.

yet, when they find these extreme rain whether events, they find out they don't have flood insurance and nothing is covered. this is a challenge because people think this is limited to mass fema produces. fema says it never flows us this -- fema never said it does not foot outside this area but just set it is not as likely. foot insurance is national, not just hurricane. we are seeing extreme rainfall events that occur in places that have never seen rain of this magnitude. many homeowners got a mortgage and thought they were doing the right thing and were probably told they did not need flood insurance. when the water comes and flips their home, they have no coverage. just one inch of water is $25,000 or $30,000 and goes up

proportionately. it is not only a program financially. it is people not understanding flood risk. they need to talk to a national flood insurance program or other carriers, even if they do not live in a special flood risk or high risk area. flooding has gotten so bad across the area and we have seen time and time again where the majority of what fema ends up spending on these storms is a loss because they are such a high insurance level. host: neil has been impacted by the storm in florida. caller: good morning. host: good morning. how are you? caller: we are fine here. we are far enough inland. this is the nature coast area. we are around 40 miles from keaton beach where the eye went

through. we were originally targeted so we dodged that bullet. further north in citrus county in crystal river, they took a hit. they were flooded for a few days . unfortunately, like i said, keaton beach and parry and up a little further north of us, they took a beating. we made out very well. relatively. a lot of wind, rain, but fortunately, we had a very dry summer so the rain we got just immediately went right into the soil. so that was a blessing. at the time the storm hit, i was working on a research paper that i had been working on, trying to

identify the five -- well, i stopped at five -- worst disasters in the world's history. it started with the meteor strike that took out the dinosaurs, then atlantis, pompeii, krakatoa, and believe it or not, number five was joe biden's kitchen fire. host: we have a question from dave in orlando. he says, mr. craig fugate, is there any way to bolster governors to stockpile supplies to be ready for natural disasters? these can be rotated. we always seem to be surprised by the damage. what do you think of that?

guest: there are a lot of things we end up doing after getting hit by so many hurricanes in 2004. we build a warehouse and cap supplies. we were basically thinking, what would we need in the first 72 hours of a major hurricane. hurricanes we can see coming but we can also deal with other events like tornado outbreaks or chemical release. this is something that in states that have high frequency of hurricanes, and no road networks and supply chains can break down, they can move to doing this. but it is not all states. it is up to the decision of governors and many legislators, but with tight budgets, it is hard to keep the focus. host: i want to go back to the disaster relief fund. talk about this. this being kind of in trouble.

can you tell us how that works and what is going on with that specifically? guest: the disaster relief fund is the money congress appropriates, your tax dollars. it is not fema's money. it is appropriated for responding and recovering from disasters under a staffer act. this fund is in addition to the normal money fema has. this is the money actually used to pay for the response, pay for the recovery, provide grants to individuals. this bond is appropriated annually, but when you get a loss of disaster activity, from time to time, they have had to come back and do supplemental which is outside the budget. they had to put more money back into the disaster relief fund. they had to do it with hurricane

sandy and in 20 with three hurricanes, with hurricane ian as well. normally, the budget carries fema through their gear and disaster response. but as we see more and more disasters, the fund is now down to around $3 billion. fema had to make a decision that they can no longer do permanent work. this means there is money to respond to the valley disaster and future disasters that will occur in the short run, -- to the maliki -- maui disaster if future disasters that will occur in the short run, but they might run out. on september 1, we asked congress for an additional budget to get past that. what we call a conditional restitution is people actually

get money back into the disaster relief fund when we get to october 1. if we don't have supplemental, fema would be shut down with permanent staff. and what the disaster relief fund would have to procure with the response of anything else that happens. host: on september 30, if the government shuts down, fema stops working? will they call their people out of disaster areas? guest: no. all the full-time folks are affected by this and training. the disaster relief fund, it is not tied to the appropriation year, so it stays until spent. all the people working on disasters will stay working. the people that are not on disasters that do the other things required to support fema's mission will be further with the rest of the federal government. host: let's take a look at what

president biden said at fema headquarters thursday when he talked about the supplemental disaster funding request. [video clip] pres. biden: every american expects fema will show up. when they are in the middle of a disaster and i am calling on congress to make sure you are able to have the funds to meet help the american people deal with the crises we are facing right now. as well as long-term commitments we have to make to finish the job in maui and elsewhere. showing up to save lives is important. but this is just the beginning. some will take months and years to make sure we restore these people to the circumstances before the disaster hit. two people throughout the southeast, i am here to make clear that our nation has your back. we are not going to walk away and we will not give up or slow

down. again, we are in a situation where -- how can i say it? some of my former colleagues in the senate and people i work with every day in the united states senate think this disaster relief money we are asking for to continue to finish the job so far, and have enough money to continue to work and save the american people's lives, homes, and well-being are somehow not needed. i am not even sure what the thinking is, but we need this money. we need the disaster relief request met and we need to do this in september. we cannot wait. host: we are taking your calls for the next 15 minutes for former fema administrator craig fugate. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000.

mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. if you were affected by hurricane idalia, call us on a special line that is (202) 748-8002. john from vermont. hello. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. for guesstimate a shocking statement five minutes ago. -- your guest made a shocking statement five minutes ago. he said homeowners do not understand sled insurance. it is the opposite. sled insurers do not understand sled insurance. he just had graphics up there. you guys do not understand sled insurance flood -- understand flood insruance.

i would love him to speak to that and see how he doesn't understand this is a complete munch house and by proxy syndrome where you create the problem and then you step in and say we are the only ones that can fix this. what do you think? guest: he has his points. i would say that congress designed the program in response to people pulling out from insurance. having worked several jobs in vermont, i know many did not have flood insurance and lost everything and fema had to step in. fema is trying to address this with risk 2.0 which will now raise rates in coastal areas. there have been several discussions by congress about bills to roll this back. congress has not responded favorably to increasing rates.

for a lot of people, these rates become almost unbearable. they are an additional burden in an already stressed insurance crisis. some people do not even have it which increases the impact federal taxpayer. what fema really focuses on and what most of the funding that goes to family individuals is focused on is uninsured losses. if you have insurance, you are not likely to get help from fema, but if you do, this can result in superstrong savings. as we saw with hurricane sandy and our 2016 floods in louisiana. the caller's rights but it is not something fema itself has been able to solve, although they are trying to invest.

it is a key issue for a lot of residents. homeowners that live in this area and their profiles have changed in the has gone up is the affordability piece. you should not be subsidizing new construction. i made the point that maybe we should stop providing flood insurance on new construction in the area. and if you cannot get the insurance then maybe it should not be built there. being caller has his points but -- the caller has his points. fema is trying to make this affordable and subsidized growth in areas that may not be sustainable for the federal taxpayer. host: robert in raleigh, north carolina. good morning. caller: hello, good morning.

i see that you were under the obama administration. i would like to say i do not know what your politics are but it looks like in the picture behind you, there is someone who is a climate change denier. if you are a republican, how can you support someone who does not believe in climate change for the running relief for people under fema? also, in eastern north carolina, there are a lot of black people that suffer from hurricane and floods who are still without housing still waiting on help to rebuild the ninth ward down here in louisiana from the hurricane down there, katrina. black people have suffered the worst disasters ever in the

history of this country, from slavery, and you guys have never tried to help us recover. i would like to hear your answers. host: -- guest: i have worked for democrats and republicans. it works for governor childs, governor jeb bush and president obama. the question about, is climate change really get -- change real? i will answer with a post from washington post. we have had five record-breaking events in the past five weeks. as president obama said, i think the question about what is causing climate change is subtle. what is more important is, how do we adapt? i keep trying to tell people that the climate has already changed.

we still need to work on looking at the causes of climate change and everyone has their opinions. the science is clear, the papers have been published. i think this is a settled science. i relent people will tell me i am wrong but that is an opinion -- i realize people will tell me i am wrong with that his opinion, not based on science. we have seen financial disasters increasing the burden on the federal taxpayer. how do we adapt? infrastructure bill is about helping people but also about building infrastructure for future risk. and then about the underserved communities and communities of color, there are many cases where we have found in fema's program inherent bias that the programs have to address. this is something in the biden administration that they are going the extra step.

in the obama administration, we did not even have a program that would allow federally recognized tribes to ask for assistance from fema. they had to go through governors. we were able to get the laws changed so they were no longer not recognize as a government by the fema programs. it took congress to change the laws we could do that. i understand your concern. probably the biggest concern, true for communities of color but also a lot of working families, is during these disasters, we are losing affordable rental housing faster than we are replacing it and displacing community at a rate i do not think is sustainable. we have seen things in many communities. they are concerned about in maui is this. we saw this play out in mexico city beach and fort myers county

. the tendencies for rapid development to take place, and people being priced out of their communities, rental properties being upgraded, and the workforce are pushed out of their communities and cannot afford to live there. these are big issues that i think as a nation, our current programs are addressing. as much as the focus on the physical impacts of these storms, the housing after these storms is getting more and more the key issue of how do we provide affordable housing in these communities so people are not pushed out? host: allen calling from hawaii. were you impacted by the maui wildfires? caller: hello. i live in a wahoo -- live in oahu so i was not directly

impacted. i have a lot of connections to people in maui. interestingly, the national media versus the local media has two different narrative about these things. since craig fugate is on, i thought i would throw some questions at him with a little background information. basically, the place they called the sirens here is called the hemaoa, hawaii emergency management administration in oahu. if the emergency is a tsunami or something, then the federal government would be called. if it is a wildfire on the outer

island, they actually have jurisdictional responsibility. the local media puts out a press release that came from hemao that said they advised maui that they should push the button and trigger the alarms, the audio sirens. the reason is because the cell phone networks, which most people are thinking they will get alarms for had gone down. because of the communications and power supply and all kinds of problems that happened with fires in multiple locations, not just lahaina. but in several parts of the islands. what happened is the guy who ran the program on maui was in oahu,

meeting with people at a conference in waikiki on that day. and general hara who runs the company was at the conference. host: so you are saying the alerts did not go out in time for lahaina? caller: the person in charge at the diamondhead facility told the guys answering the phone in maui they should pull the trigger because they became aware that these things were moving so fast. it was like they only had a few minutes. it was a use it or lose it think. the beautiful thing is they have a satellite so they will not be damaged by the cell phone networks. host: i guess i need to go off at the right time. what are your thoughts? guest: there are a lot of questions we do not have answers

to which i think is why the state attorney is looking at an investigation. he saw this in california. in many jurisdictions, wildfires are thinking of warning systems and not wanting to activate the entire island system. this thinking has changed in a lot of places because these fires move so fast. this idea that we do not want a population to have too many people trying to evacuate and jam of the roads may not be our best strategy -- jam up the roads may not be the best strategy. i don't know why i don't know. i am hearing a lot of fragments. knowing what happened is one question. why it happened is even more important. why didn't they do it? i don't know that answer. this goes back to something congress has toyed with but not done.

we need an individual investigation report to look at what happened, why it happens, and make recommendations for the future. very similar for the national transportation board. there is discussion of creating a national emergency independent of the government because disaster response is so much tied to government at the local, state, and federal level. having an independent agency that does not run into the biases or concerns or objects of how this will look is one way i think, as a nation, we need to look at this. what happened in maui is not the first time a warning system was not activated. it will probably not be the last time. if we do not learn what we need to do differently and implement that, this will cause more. host: patrick in san marco's, texas. good morning. caller: good morning.

mr. fugate, i am retired red cross so i have once your career . my issue with disaster response is not enough local county government real participation in preventing possible disasters because of the contractors and realtors building in places that the county really should not let them build in. in texas, the county does not have -- the counties do not have building codes. only cities can. they only have one code they can go by and that is emergency -- if it is an emergency, put in lights and danger. this can help, but due to the

fact that counties want to build a revenue and need residents to do that, the cities will incorporate those people and their becomes a financial, look what happens during peace time or what some people call blue skies time. versus what happens when the real disaster happens. which they actually helped create because they put the people in harm's way at the very beginning. i.e. building on beaches that are too close, or areas that are known to bring sand away through hurricanes, and patterns of washout, tornadoes, flood zones.

host: we are running low on time so i would get a really quick response for you. guest: this is nothing new. what if the problems we have for our federal reimbursement as we set the price of disaster so low there is not much for state and local governments to change what they are doing. we learned in florida our building codes needed to be strengthened. if you look at damage from hurricanes, the roofs are still on which is building codes. we know we can build better. and we do not have that, there is a tendency that will build, grow, enjoyed that, and if something happens, we will ask the federal government to pay for our losses. i don't know that that is sustainable. insurance companies are waking up to the risk of being in high-risk areas. they are walking away from these markets because they cannot sell

insurance and make money. it is not something we got into overnight. we have built and developed in a lot of areas that probably do not make sense. we need to rotate and ask, how much should you as a taxpayer subsidized development risk in state and local governments when you, and t the end of the day, are picking up the to have as a taxpayer. host: all right. former fema director -- former fema administrator during the obama administration. craig fugate. thank you. coming up is our spotlight on podcast segment. we will focus on energy with stu turley, david blackman, and rey trevino to talk about their podcast called "three podcasters walk into a bar." but first, open forum. you can call to the numbers on

your screen by party affiliation. we will be back. ♪ announcer: this fall, watch c-span's new series "books that shaped america guest: -- books that shaped america." join us as we look at 10 books from the library of congress list. these books provoke thoughts, won awards, led to significant societal changes and are still talked about today. hear from experts to shut impact on these works, and virtual journeys at locations across the country tied to the celebrated authors and their unforgettable books. common sense by thomas paine,

huckleberry finn, their eyes were watching god by zora no hurston. watch our 10 part series, books that shaped america starting monday, september 18 at 9:00 p.m. eastern or online at c-span.org. announcer: live sunday on in-depth, mary eberstadt joins book tv to talk and take calls on religious freedom and the sexual revolution in america. she is an expert on christian culture and the author of many books including "it is dangerous to believe," "how the west really lost god," and more. join in the conversation with phone calls, facebook comments,

and texts. in with mary eberstadt live on c-span on book tv and c-span 2. announcer: the c-span bookshelf podcast makes it easy for you to listen to all of c-span podcast that future nonfiction books. you can discover and view and ideas. you are making it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors, events, and cultures from our program about books, after words, booknotes+ and q&a. listen to the podcast today that you can find on the free c-span now mobile video app orhere ever you get your podcasts, and our website at c-span.org/podcasts. announcer: a healthy democracy does not just look like this.

it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed, a republic thrives. it informed, straight from the source, on c-span. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. because the opinion that matters were most -- the most is your own. c-span, powered by cable. announcer: washington journal continues. host: welcome back. it is open forum and we are taking calls for around 25 more minutes. our lines are by party association. democrat, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. we are interested to hear your thoughts on anything public affairs religion or politics. you can weigh in on what we

talked about this our first call is marked, carlisle, pennsylvania. independent. good morning. caller: my number one topic is the 5400 emails joe biden under an alias to do business overseas with foreign adversaries. we definitely need an impeachment inquiry. not only an inquiry but he needs to be impeached. his administration is a joke. number two is the maui fires. we are not getting the truth. most of them perished in the fires because i think it is a set up. notice the billionaire homestead not get touched, only the poor people. i heart goes out to them. republicans and democrats need to get together and impeach the

whole administration. we need a whole new redo. host: terry, illinois, independent line. caller: good morning. as an independent, it would help if we tried to come together. that sounds cliché to say but we have everyone on the left and everyone on the right digging their heels in. it's look at the truth. let's look at what we need to in bringing the country together. this impeachment inquiry is for what? that is a tit-for-tat thing. i republican friends, listen. just think about, what is it that is happening on our side that we know is damaging the country. are there things we need to look

at on our side, democrats, that are really pushing us further left and why? rather than bring us to the middle. it sounds cliché but come together, please. we need to save our country into love each other more. thank you. have a good one. host: about that, this is an article from the hill. if you can take a look. it says house republicans barrel toward president biden impeachment a query but some hesitate. that was from last week. this is a quote from representative ross norman from south carolina who said it is a must. if not now then when? we have enough not just to start an inquiry but to start impeachment. other gop lawmakers however say

they are not ready to take the plunge. "i think before we moved to an impeachment inquiry, there should be a direct link to the president in some evidence," from representative dawn can of nebraska. jim in pioneer, ohio. independent. caller: hello. pioneer, ohio. host: sorry. [laughter] caller: i am calling about, i am better off. almost a year ago, i was able to walk away from my job of almost 10 years. they sold out to a multinational corporation and did not want to give a raise. joe biden came in and engender the economic system -- and

engendered the economic system. i was able to get another job three weeks later. my wages are up. i bought a plug in hybrid and my transportation costs have never been lower. i drive past gas stations and smile as i see the price of gas of there. it is electric driving, 200 something plus miles per gallon. i wages are up and life is better for me under joe biden. host: mike is next in humble, texas. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing ok. caller: a year or two ago when donald trump was in, we were all doing better, the price of gas was down.

then joe biden comes in and opens the border. we have all these my friends in that to not have jobs. i would just like to say, donald trump get back in office thank you. host: j, newport news, and the inner -- jay, newport, indiana. caller: i would like if you could share some light on the problems at the border. in new york city, they have immigrants living on the streets . in chicago, they have them living in police stations. i am just concerned. what are taxpayers doing about this? and if anyone is going to try to do anything to fix the problem. host: ok. this is something from nbc news

on immigration. here is something that came out yesterday. it says, "immigrants cleaning up after hurricane idalia wonder if ron desantis's immigration law will limit the ability to rebuild florida." this is where all the immigrants that he wants to push out are needed, referring to a law deterring undocumented workers in florida. you can take a look at nbcnews .com. saul. good morning. caller: hello. right now, things are getting better. for a lot of people i see keep calling -- i see a lot of people keep calling about they were doing better.

i am going to turn this off so you can hear what i'm saying. but i want to let you know that the reason why donald trump is not in the white house is because god took him out of their. things are getting better now. he is not in there because he lost the election. he is not in there because god took him out of there. the things he has done in that white house and the things he has done to people. the type of christian he is. a lot of people love him but he is not right. he is a crook, a liar, a thief. god will not allow him to do this to people. that is why he is out of the white house. and he will stay out of the white house. host: kevin in rockville center,

new york. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. hello? host: go ahead. i can hear you. caller: i am calling to say the reason why gas prices are up is because saudi arabia is raising the price up and causing pressure on us. we need to be independent from saudi arabia. host: ok. we will be talking about energy in the next segments of the sword to stick around for that. nor in the bronx, new york, democrat. good morning. caller: what happened is i don't understand people. when we had this man in office, our lives were turned upside down.

this is nonsense. the things he was doing. i think we are better off now because we have peace of mind with joe biden in office. that is what i think. host: the front page of the wall street journal this morning create aggressive interest rate increases are not deterring strong hiring and spending. there is a saying economic expansions do not die of old age. they are murdered by the federal reserve. if that is the case, the u.s. economy is out running it would be assailant this year. responses made the economy surprisingly resilient to the fed is most aggressive interest rate increases in 40 years. employers added 3.1 one million

jobs during the past 12 months including 187,000 in august. labor department said friday. the unemployment rate rose to three point 8% from three point 5% in july as more americans join the work force. three factors explain why u.s. economy keeps defying predictions of recession. a growing workforce and sewer price increases -- and a slower price increases. gary is next. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go right ahead. caller: my finances are bad right now. i see these commercials for getting out of debt. call these numbers for debt relief but the minimum amount you have to be in debt for is about $10,000.

i am am nowhere near that. i am a be $5,000 in debt, may be below that, but i cannot seem to get ahead. when i run out of social security then i am using my food card. when i run out of food card, i am using credit cards. i cannot seem to get a head. i think mr. yang had the better idea. everybody get a monthly payment of about $1000 a month to spend to maintain their existence so they did not go into debt. they do not lose their homes. the house things mr. magnum talks about on the commercials, those things, you have to have a

house that is over $100,000 or more before they look at your house. my house is nowhere near that. if i were to sell my house today, it would be may be $50,000, so i cannot refinance through refinancing the house. it is pretty bad out here when you are not so much into debt, but you do not qualify for extreme poverty. host: leah in anderson, south carolina. republican. hi, leah. caller: hi. in south carolina and georgia, i have folks in georgia, there is a big awakening going on and it is beautiful. there's t-shirts being worn by people of color. and what they are saying, the

more they indict, the more we unite, and that is happening. that is happening big time. our government talks about putin and how horrible he is, and indeed, he is, but look what they are doing. going after mr. trump. i believe they would go as far as killing him if they could and they could. so, it is great to c people are seeing how devastating our economy is, how we are having to live. we cannot afford groceries. we cannot afford gas because of those cronies in washington. biden is a liar. open your eyes and look what they are doing. selling us out to china. thank you. host: stephen from michigan sent us a text that says, there is no

evidence that joe biden did anything wrong. making false accusations not based on facts is sinister and undemocratic. carol, independent. caller: good morning. maybe i see things different. all politicians are liars, but for some reason, -- when trump was president, everybody that liked him, they were just doing great. biden is doing -- president. everyone that likes biden, they are doing great. there is middle ground. when you realize -- all politicians, none of them are god, and they are all going to stretch the truth. trump did not do anything that politicians for years have been

doing, but he is getting persecuted. biden is doing the same think that politicians have been doing for years. he is not getting touch. the media will call one set of politicians. they will tell them you are lying. you're not telling the truth. the other side, the reporters will just sit there and nod, smile, and wave. there is nothing out there that i believe on any of them and until they all grow up and start acting like adults, then i will start believing them, but until then, it is just a big game -- they are a bunch of little high schoolers see who can get the hissy fit out. y'all have a good day. host: jean on the life or democrats, kentucky.

caller: biden, trump, barack obama, bush junior, those four presidents have been doing nothing for the economy. i put money towards this economy. i feel like i've been helping biden out, trump out, barack obama out in this economy. i feel like i've been paying taxes and i am a slave. i'm successful feel like i am being watched by the feds. they want you for 30 years and stuff like that. i have been paying taxes. i have been doing everything in this country. been paying taxes, paying on this and that, this deficit, and that deficit. this is not even being recognize. we like he might be crazy, but no, i am not crazy.

i have been running this country. host: brent in louisiana, republican. caller: hi. love this show. speaking about the flooding and the five things that broke record. i know in south louisiana, my opinion, it is by the build out. you cover 400 acres of land with concrete and subdivisions, that water has to go someplace when it rains. i would like to hear something about that. host: armando in san antonio, texas. democrat. caller: hello. host: hello, go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm calling from san antonio. i want to know, everybody complaining about mr. biden. he is not doing his job.

they are trying to take him out of office. i got news for those folks out there. this man is doing a wonderful job. he's going to get reelected. thank you. host: kathy in chicago, and dependent hi, kathy. caller: hi. i want to say, i want to thank the republicans for being so supportive of their impeachment of mr. biden. the reason i'm saying this is because then we get a black female for president if they impeach him. great idea. we can take it one way or another, women should be in charge. mr. biden who is getting of an advanced age could take the teaching some of the younger democrats what the responsibilities and duties and what skills they need to be in the presidency, so we would have

somebody who is not past the normal retirement age in u.s. as far as fema, the u.s. military revamped its entire logistics system just years ago. they managed to get it all so it is up and running better than ever. if fema look at some of their logistics and applied those to the civilian population, perhaps we would get things done easier. i did not see why they are not using the military without their guns to help the fema people out. warfare has changed. they need to be more trained in urban things. this could be a double win. military gets experience and knowledge they would not normally have because they would be working in urban communities. host: active duty forces opposed to guard and reserve? caller: even if you're using the

guard and reserve, regular military could be an asset. yes use all the assets you have. as long as taxpayers are paying them, maybe that is what they need to be doing at that moment. it would get the more experience in urban area warfare, if they were able to see her is destroyed, whether by fire, floods, hurricanes, whatever, and able to work in those environments and see what they need to do differently than they did 20 years ago. host: providence, kentucky on the line for democrats. monty you are on the air. caller: thank you for taking my call. the conversations you're having today, these people, it is baffling to me how many different opinions i have but i'm glad to be able to get on "washington journal" as i have. thank you.

i'm 63 years old and i've worked hard all my life. i never go over my means. i think people go over there means. they cannot afford it. they blame whoever. i thank god for c-span. i thank god for america. thank you. host: peter is next. florida. democrat. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. i heard one of your caller say all politicians are liars. i'm in my 24th year in local government and there are more local officials in this country then there are national figure has. -- figure heads. i think the political party system has been spinning out of control.

i've been listening to this morning. very disappointed. i think it is time to turn our focus back to those of us who are working in communities, working towards a hometown harmony because this is just a destructive path. host: how are you working on that hometown harmony? caller: i am hoping to work with my colleagues in the photo at association, regional planning council -- florida association, regional planning council on problems like our flooding problems and resiliency. i chair one of the councils on that matter. i think that the partisanship, if i had my way, i would remove the party signals off of our

ballots because it is time for us to start being human beings and stop being members of these hateful tribes. host: karen in littleton, new hampshire. good morning. caller: good morning. i was calling to make a couple comments. please do not cut me off. i want to speak about the wonderful thing that happened pertains to helping people out in florida. first of all, i am an independent, but my vote is a spiritual vote for those, the person on the platform is about within the bible. next, for the people who think we who like what chuck did for our country because he loved our country and was putting us first, monday going everywhere else but to us here -- the money

going everywhere else but us here. we do not think he is a god. we are not his disciples. so, people need to think about but they are calling us. the gist of the who just said not everybody in the government is a liar, he is right. that is a sad thing to say. there is good people on both sides. we know there is money going into people's pockets on both sides. the fact there was a woman a little while ago and she went inside about us all uniting and coming into the middle. there is a reason why there is a democrat and a republican party. to unite, yes, there has to be a give and take, but we will not all come together and agree because republicans morals are different.

anyways, i want to say something about florida. i went to the department store. two nights ago. when i got done checking out, this really nice cashier said would you like to donate to florida for what they have just gone through for the hurricane. i said, yes, i would love to, so i did. this lady was just so nice, great personality, but she was just so happy that people -- he is able to collect money from people because density is going to send it -- because they're going to send it to florida and it is about her being so happy people were giving and glad. i want people to know i can only imagine, not only this country, but i have heard other countries

helping them out. host: rick in indiana. republican. hi, rick. caller: hi. how are you? host: i'm doing ok. caller: that is good. only think i have to say is the people that vote democrats, i feel sorry for them. i guarantee you one think by next year, we are going to be in war with russia. biden loves to be in war with russia. while we are having hurricanes and these earthquakes and floods because god is trying to wake up the people to go on his side. we have to understand, we are at the end times. democrats are trying to rule the world. we have to get him out of there.

bless you all and thank you. host: thanks to everybody that called in. coming up next, our weekly spotlight on podcasts. cohost of the podcasts "three podcasters walk into a bar." they would join us for a discussion on energy policy. will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night on q&a, richard norton smith shares his biography of president ford titled an ordinary man. he talks about his personal life and politics as all his efforts to heal the country following the watergate scandal and his controversial decision to pardon richard nixon. >> fellow americans, are long, national nightmare is over. >> the irony about the whole

phrase, whoever wrote it, is ford did not want to use it. he thought it was kicking a man when he is down. hardiman made the case you do not understand. people need to hear this. they need to hear it from you. the final surprise is that it was far from. >> richard norton smith with this book sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span q&a. you can listen to q&a and our podcasts on our free c-span now app. ♪ >> this fall watch c-span's new series books that shaped america.

join us as we embark on a captivating journey and partnership with the library of congress which first created new books that shaped america lists to explore key works of literature from american history. the books featured have a rope thought, when a wars, led to significant changes and still talked about today. hear from experts who will shed light on the impact of these works and virtual journeys across the country tied to the celebrated authors and their unforgettable books. among the books,, since by thomas payne, huckleberry finn by mark twain, their eyes were watching god by zora neale hurston, and free to choose by milton and rose friedman. watch our series, books that shaped america, starting monday september 17 at c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. ♪

>> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work, citizens truly informed, a republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the nation's capital to wherever you are because the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: it is our weekly spotlight on podcast segment. i'm joined by podcasters rey trevino, david blackman, and stu turley. they are cohost of the podcasts called "three podcasters walk into a bar" about energy policy. welcome to all of you. thank you for joining us. stu, i will start with you.

your each podcasters in your own right. why start this podcasts? why do a podcast with three podcasters? guest: thank you for having us on. love your show. thought leadership in energy transcends, does not matter would energy, so all of us have our own successful podcasts. we were sitting down in a bar one day and we said, have you ever heard of that joke when somebody walks up and goes, three guys walk into a bar and everybody goes to the carpet because it is a horrible joke. that is others. we talk about energy policy. rate is on the -- rey's wildly successful. david blackman has energy question which is just fantastic.

mine is the energy news be podcasts with michael tanner for a daily show. i get to also interview ceo's and thought leaders from around the world, authors. it is about being thought leader without being an influencer. there is a difference. we have been having an absolute blast sharing each other's podcasts and being a podcasts hose is weird. i never thought i would have a podcasts. i did not know what one was. host: stu, tell me about your background in the energy sector and what you are bringing to the podcasts. guest: thank you. i will tell you, ceo of sandstone group, and i have worked for an investment group to have a podcasts and conference and i really got to learn from the investment side

of the house on that. really had a great time with him and also worked with a wonderful organization that did automation . we were installing the backbone and technology for companies like bhp. it was just unbelievable great people in the oil and gas space. several years later on, after having a great team of data scientists, and everybody else were able to integrate rules, regulations, and things for the colorado rules that were just very stagnant and integrating oil and gas operators from data from the field to their accounting and then onto their investors.

that natural flow this right on in. when you sit back and take a look at industry thought leader, we picked that up and drop it over to the other markets. my partner and i looked at each other, michael tanner, and got we have to do our own podcasts. it was accepted. host: rey, you host the crude truth. tell us about your background in energy sector and how that informs where you are and your views on energy policy. guest: ok. thank you for having us on and for everyone listening and watching. i am the director of operations for -- out of fort worth texas, and i'm proud to say i'm second-generation oil. i would for that company and regional oil wells for profit and tax deductions to help out

and to also produce all you'll -- produce oil. started out working out in drilling rig and i work my way of and have just been thoroughly enjoyed that. about one year ago, two years now had an opportunity to be -- meet jeff crilly. he said have you ever thought about doing a podcasts. i had no idea or did i have the time to do something like that. fast forward about another year and he goes i think you need to do this. my good friend and all our good friends really said you should go into a podcasts. you have so much experience in the industry that it would be great for you to get on there and talk about that. also invite on amazing individuals that are true industry leaders in the sector,

but also bring entrepreneurs because who are we kidding, without entrepreneurs, u.s. would not be what it is today. that is really what i have thoroughly enjoyed and in fact, david blackman, was my first guess on the crew to treat. david, thank you for that. host: david blackman, author of you have been critical of joe biden's energy policy. can you tell me why and when it comes to the inflation reduction act. guest: i have a bias against subsidies of energy, policies like we see today. i know most people more member the fiasco from the obama years. that was $500 million,'s so

manufacturing that went bankrupt and caused a lot of controversy. i think you're going to see a similar dynamic happened with the inflation reduction act. it is a much bigger set of money. to subsidize all manner of energy-related projects, not just wind solar, but also carbon capture, hydrogen projects, and these are risky businesses, and we are going to see bankruptcies come out of that. we will also see -- the best part of the inflation reduction act act is the enhanced credit. companies of all sizes and shapes and wide variety of areas are able to access. that piece of the inflation reduction act act, very productive across our economy. it way the subsidies are working

and handed out, i think is kind of a dangerous thing that is going to create a lot of starting and stopping in the energy space and it is an effort by the government to pick winners and losers in the energy business. i've been around long time and never really seen programs like that work well. i have a negative attitude about efforts like that. host: i want to ask about a piece you did for forbes, a column with the headline, ira subsidies might create energy minerals supply shortages. tell me about that as far as the critical minerals. i take it for alleged vehicle batteries and solar panels and things like that. guest: this array of critical minerals. you start with lithium, cobalt,

copper, magnesium. there is an array of them that go into the making of not just batteries for electric vehicles, but stationary batteries, to back up wind and solar, generation that is kind of a booming industry. it is a pretty successful piece of things happening. also, any place where you use magnets and turbines from elect to use it as you're using critical energy minerals. the prices for some of these minerals have shot up dramatically the past few years as the subsidies have gone in place and companies are starting to try to build these projects. that places stress on the mining business because all these minerals have to be mined. unfortunately, for the u.s. and western world, we got out of the hard rock mining business about 40 years ago.

we see this -- we ceded the space to china and china controls a big portion of the mining for the minerals and process for lithium and other minerals and supply chains for them. mike big concerned about that is number one, because you have these projects be subsidized to build new renewable energy infrastructure, lecture vehicles, you are going to create shortages of these minerals. it's going to cause the prices to skyrocket and it is going to cause the batteries to become more expensive and prices for electric vehicles to go up as we are seeing. it is just this think that piece on itself -- feeds on itself. look at the projections for demand increases for lithium is a great example because it is the main mineral that goes into the batteries, they are talking

about a 900% increase in lithium demand globally by 2032 and a 4000% increase in lithium demand by the 40 -- 2040. there is no instance in global history where mineral widely mind has been able to increase supply by those percentages in a short time frames. my concern is we are going to get to a point where we are subsidizing the building of electric vehicles and mining for all these minerals, which is good, you're going to need the minerals, but you are at the same time policies that are going to crowd gas powered cars out of the markets. you're going to end up in a few years public with a price system in the automotive industry is going to look bad. there's not going to be a really good, easy solution to it.

i can be wrong about all of it. frankly, i hope i am wrong about all of that because it will be such a crisis like that, it would be bad for our whole economy. when you just look at how these things are playing out in my podcasts, energy question, i have interviewed i think 18 different ceos and senior executives from a lot of different parts of the energy business like a makers, lithium minors, solar companies. in the course of those interviews, you get a feeling there is no real overarching plan happening at the federal government level to try to coordinate the timing of all these things. it is kind of a free-for-all right now that could end up not going well for us. i hope i am wrong. host: i would like to remind our

viewers if you would like to call in and ask a question, make a comment we can do so underlines by party affiliation. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can interact with others by textile social media -- text or social media. rey, you own a oil and gas production company. can you tell us how president biden's agenda has impacted companies like yours? guest: on day one of this administration, it has impacted small independence like pecos country operating very much so in ways of permitting and ways of investment dollars. since he took office january 20 of 2021, we have seen a tremendous amount of capital that is not gone into the oil

and gas industry. it is transitioned over to esg wind and solar so we have had trillions of dollars go over to unproven energy sources and also , unproven investment sources while oil and gas industry that basically powers the u.s. has determinedly slowed down. it is why we see the price of oil rice the last two years. from a policy standpoint, he may have opened up drilling leases, however, to get the permits, it is still taking anywhere from six months to 12 months, not even to mention that you have other groups, they now trying to put back on the endangered species list just to slow down drilling in west texas. in texas the hub of oil and gas in america today and it is

always been for the most part. host: stu, this is a headline on cnn.com. it says under biden, u.s. oil production poised to break trump error records. the article critics accused president biden of waging a war on the oil industry hurting consumers yet on his watch u.s. oil production poised to shatter all-time records set during the trump administration. guest: i will tell you what, we sit back and take a look at the amount of our great oil and gas workers around the country, they are producing more because of technology and hard work.. but we cannot just take the look of production at u.s., u.s. does about 30 million barrels a day. we take a look -- 13 million

barrels a day and take a look at world consumption, we still have to import in heavy crude which would have been the keystone pipeline from canada. they take a look at the energy policies of this current administration. the eastern seaboard is still importing oil and gas, natural gas, from russia. it is bringing in gasoline and diesel from spain which is being refined from russia crude oil. we take a look, yes, our numbers are up, but it is light crude coming out. that will go to the refineries here in u.s., but they have to blend it. we need other countries. even though we produce a lot, the regulatory issues across all energy are costing the u.s.

consumer lots of money. those kilowatt an hour is not happening. host: david, i want to ask you about the keystone xl project and the impact on prices. people are saying that since biden cancel that project, that is what caused gas prices to go up. guest: that is a great question. i disagree with that conclusion about it. i think the consolation of the pipeline was not justified, but i do not think it is play a big role in causing my sister go up. gasoline prices follow the price of crude oil which is set on international global markets. based on supply and demand. what have had to benefits of transporting oil from canada down to i refineries along the

gulf coast there are set up to refine mainly that crude oil, much more and bring it in on trucks and change which is what is up happening we do not have the pipeline. my other issue with the cancellation of the keystone by executive order was that it was done without the company, the operator of the pipeline been found to be in violation of a single law or regulation. that damages i think that it does damage to rule of law in our country. the company had invested already $4 billion in finishing out the pipeline. the light itself was already more than halfway built cash -- line itself was already more than halfway built.

for president to come in on the first day and issue an executive order, canceling the permit for the pipeline, i think it did damage to the rule of law and to the industry's ability to have confidence in the fair application of laws. the u.s. has had a stable legal system and it is one of the reasons why our country has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and energy over the years. when you do damage to that stability to the rule of law, you make it harder for companies to justify making these major multibillion-dollar investments, that take on projects that can take a decade or more to complete. i think it was ill advised move by president. host: marian in grovetown, georgia. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to ask about solyndra.

i keep think about it from the right. solyndra was the country, just like we did with oil and gas, the country subsidizes companies that we think are needed for the national goods. we did that with oil and gas. unfortunately, it was supposed to end when they are up on their feet, and a lot of companies went bankrupt and had problems. we died we had good idea to have solar panels and try to get -- we thought it would be a good idea to have solar panels and get renewables up and running. i did not know why it is constantly saying solyndra is so bad, but nothing, the republicans and you up there are saying that think about what we do it with oil and gas subsidies constantly. that is really annoying. the other think, something else you said there, i just cannot remember. host: that is ok.

stu. guest: great question and grade opinion. but when you sit back and take a look at why the tax subsidies from everybody saying there are tax subsidies with oil and gas. is actually the free market and nobody is talking about the supply and demand. there are tax incentives that have been on the books for many years. that stimulates growth and continuing drilling. tax subsidies, such as the ira, are not working. black rock esg investing last year loss $1.7 trillion. the biggest wind farm manufacturer has lost billions of dollars. the electric vehicle operators in u.s. got free handouts on

all dear electric vehicles. ford is losing $60,000 per electric vehicle they sell. the average american cannot afford an ev. we take a look at the batteries and everything else, the child abuse that is done in the congo is horrific to do this. the subsidies are coming from printing money and then giving the money, let's give examples. subsidies, many of the subsidies are going to foreign countries that are coming in for the inflation reduction act for products are not recyclable. you take a look at solar and wind and we have a crisis of esg

and damage the environment coming out because of lack of recyclability. there is only one battery manufacturer out there. frayer battery out of norway making recyclable batteries to cut down on the child abuse and child labor around the world. subsidies are in the form of legislation and printing money. tax instances is not a subsidy. the esg funding, the great american oil companies have been given money back to the investors and cutting back on investments in oil and gas which cause money -- cost money to the consumers. take a look at california and new york, double the price of energy in texas. texas has wind, solar, coal,

nuclear without subsidies. they did you subsidies. governor perry was incremental in getting texas into the wind business. texas is a great example of how you can use renewables, storage, nuclear, coal on your grade and still deliver the lowest kilowatt per hour to everyone on the planet. there's a difference between subsidies and tax incentives. subsidies are printed. tax incentives provide incentives for investment. does that make sense? host: we got this from michael. i would give this to rey. can you make it clear that fossil fuel energy developed in u.s. is sold on the global market and not designed to lower prices for american consumers? guest: if we could drill more

oil you'll come, we could actually fight opec in this new formation of something called brics, brazil, russia, india, china, and south africa. the more we can drill we can fight on a global scale to bring down the price of oil. if you notice opec has cut over 500,000 barrels of oil a day since president biden took office. you type in the fact we do not have 800,000 barrels coming in from the keystone pipeline, along with the sanctions against russia, that has tied our hands behind our back. not to mention this administration has also tied our hands behind our back. if we could drill may be right now, we could fights on the global scale to help bring down the price of oil in america and at the gasoline pump.

host: pio on the republican line , san ramon, california. caller: hi. i remember in the 70's, we had gas shortages, oil strategist and not producing a lot of audio. i think the american oil industry and energy industry that produces oil and gas is so underrated in this country and underappreciated. the fact they get the oil out of the ground, refine it, to market and at a great price and it is always available, it is amazing. the biden administration, the energy policies are cap. -- are crap. look at how what the technology and we are producing more oil than ever. i think 15 years ago we were producing 6 million a day and that we were declining but now

look at what we are producing, we are growing and growing. we could have energy independence in this country and incredible growth, but we have to get rid of this administration because their energy policies are terrible. that's all i have to say. you are great and keep speaking the truth. thank you very much. host: david, you have a column in forbes titled biden energy policies confusion continues saying there's a difference between the biden agenda and their public statements and actions,'can you clarify? guest: thank you for the question, caller. we produce more oil today in texas now and we did in u.s. entirely in 2008 -- than we did in u.s. entirely in 2008. the biden administration on

whether or not they want the oil industry to produce has created confusion the past couple of years. we will have instances where the president says one thing and secretary grant home says another in the same week indicating different wishes on desires on behalf of the biden administration. it is been confusing to the industry. whether or not the energy department or the president want the companies to produce more oil, the president has been very outspoken about his desire to and oil and gas production in u.s. within the next 10 years. he promised to do it during his presidential campaign. then we see the industry being criticize periodically for not producing enough oil and gas to keep gasoline prices down.

i do not think it is a fair criticism. i think it is what germinated the idea of writing that column. i wish and i know from my long experience in the industry, working with ceos and senior executives and on public policy, that when the messages accusing from the government, thanks -- confusing from the government, it makes it difficult to plan your business and make business investments you have to make to do the work. consistency of messaging from the administration would be helpful i think to the businesses. host: jerry in michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say good luck and keep up the good work. the grid we have right now not

sustained, although scars on electricity. the natural gases are the best way to go. but i didn't want to do away with that. -- president biden wants to do away with that. in 2003, the eastern seaboard was a total blackout. you can also people come in had it, heck the system, put it down , fossil fuel for the other countries are not participating like china and india and all these other ones. it is fruitless for us to do it. they do not want to do nuclear. all i can say is we cannot do something as equal to what we

already have if not better, leave it alone. host: stu, the health of the electrical grid. guest: it is a disaster. i think the caller great points. our national grid is teed up for cyber attacks just like he said. there are over 400 main components in the grid today that we bought from china. there is more than that came in from houston and we did i -- that same one installed, the article came out this past week and it has embedded close so they can shut it down at any time. there is also with the open border from this administration, there is so many chinese and other folks that do not want to help the u.s. they want to harm the u.s.

david blackman has been leading the charge on this one as well as rey and that is the supply chain. if we get hit by either an emp, if there is a war going on, and we sit back and take a look, a disaster happens to our gr id, it would take years to replace that damage grid. it is a matter of holy smokes batman, this could be a gigantic disaster. you cannot put renewables on the grid unless it is planned for. there are over 24,000 energy projects and many of those are renewables. they cannot get to the grid because the regulatory process is broken. great points to the caller. host: the caller mentioned

nuclear. guest: i think nuclear will be a great long-term investment, not only those who invest for americans. i had a wonderful guest on the crew the truth the other day. miss america 2023 and we got to talk about nuclear and the brand-new location they put in georgia, how that is going to change the entire area, and have nuclear has had so many far advances that we should start investing more intimately are now in public the next five years to 10 years -- start investing more now the next five years to 10 years and add more nuclear to the great. i am for the nuclear. in the transition period, i think natural gas is where we

need to be. it is inexpensive. that can drive us for the next 100 years because our grid, as it is not 100% today, but it is taken at hundred years to get to where it is today and it is all relied on coal, oil, and natural gas. democrats flipped the switch tomorrow and took us all of oil, gas, and coal, we would not have any more shows or podcasts, will be back in horse and carriages, walking around because we would not be able to make any more products that we use every day here in america and around the world. host: terrel in maryland, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. under donald trump, the gas prices went all the way down to a penny. 60 oil companies go out of

business or bankrupt? guest: more than that. we had over 200 bankruptcies in the 2015's, 2016's timeframe. get those back in the obama administration but it is not because of public policy. it was the price crash. societies these and other opec members decided to flood the market to fight off the growth of u.s. -- saudi arabia and other opec members decided to flood the market to fight off the growth of u.s. host: matthew in dearborn michigan, good morning. democrat. caller: your industry received 20 billion in subsidies from the feds. 18.3 million people died from pollution your industry creates. you are changing the chemistry, the atmosphere with the pollution you create.

you have for billion dollar industry. i think more than anything you do not want to get rid of your $4 billion industry. also, there's more people employed in renewables then in your industry. that is all i have to say. rey. guest: i will say in texas, the oil and gas industries are a third of the economy here in u.s -- texas ns texas economy goes, u.s. economy will go free as far as talking about $4 billion and 3.8 million people dying a year from the oil and gas industry, i deafly do not have any numbers to support what he is saying or any's fax -- definitely do not have any numbers to support what he is saying. we have saved.

even in these most, newest argument with the hurricanes, we are actually saving more lives than we ever have in any other hurricane season due to the advancements in oil and gas and technology which means to protect lives of other people as we continue to go on. i state we are saving lives and mother earth by not using would to keep homes, we are using natural gas and keeping the rain forests thriving. host: -- guest: can i add something? host: go ahead. guest: that was a great point from his viewpoint. however, let's take energy and energy density. when you take a look at wind farms, they are saying they are

supposed to last 30 years. they are zero and free. that is not true. if a windfarm has an average lifespan of net zero of tenant years by the time you calculate -- ten years by the time calculate transportation and the blades to get the carpet net zero, the financial aspect of the wind turbine is less than eight years. i cannot get any more data, nobody is refusing this, financially a windfarm is hurting people. there is evidence to that everybody in new york and california and germany -- germany, this week, tearing down windfarms to open up the coal mine they need. people are going back to coal which is bad. rey brought up natural gas so

the misconception out there needs a data. thank you for that to me step in. host: that was stu turley and also joining us david blackman and rey trevino. they are the cohost of the podcasts called "three podcasters walk into a bar." it is about energy policy. inc. you for joining us this morning. guest: thank you. host: that is all the time we got for today's "washington journal" and will be back again tomorrow 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning eastern live on c-span. in the meantime, have a great labor day weekend. ♪ [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. 2023]