>> eric: welcome to assignment 7. today on our program, cutting employment benefits,, top economists offer their prescriptions for struggling economy. plus woel we'll show you a device to turn plastic debris into cash. and new technology into the workplace, robots day some day will revolutionize how you do your job. >> the vietnamese population have exploded in santa clara county. karina rusk has the story. >> reporter: the vietnamese community in santa clara county is one of the largest outside of vietnam with a local population of nearly 135,000.

now, the county has the first of its kind looking at health issues facing those residents. >> this helps us give us a comprehensive view, data driven so a lot of credibility when we go to our people, this is a problem in the vietnamese population. >> this is 112 page report highlighted one of big concerns, cancer. cancer accounts for 32% of deaths in the vietnamese community. more than any other ethnic group and higher than 26% for all county residents. lung cancer due to smoking is one contributing factor. >> this county overall we have a low rate among the population, about 10%. in the vietnamese population it's 25% in the males. >> cervical cancer among women is high and liver cancer which is often linked to hepatitis "b" is staggering four times higher than the population at high.

>> we need to do hepatitis "b" screening. >> this report now gives the county, medical professionals and clear direction on where to focus their efforts. >> reporter: cancer is one of numerous issues. others are seeking mental health problems. >> people are concerned. they don't want to be labeled. so we have a lot of work to do to decrease sickness. >> in taking the pulse of vietnamese community, there were big pluses including low obesity and infant mortality rates. karina rusk, "abc 7 news". >> eric: there is a small s sies beginning to recover but are we doing everything we can to help it along. wee here is dan ashley. >> dan: just how do you fix the

economy? we asked the people that know that subject inside and out. robert reich is a professor at goldman school of public policy. shawn randolph is ceo of bay area economic institute. david henderson is a fellow at the hoover institution and was on the president's council of economic advisors under robert reagan. christopher is an owner of a private research firm in los angeles. scott anderson is senator economist with wells fargo and advisor to the federal reserve. we asked this panel to comment on the state of the u.s. economy and offer advice how it could be fixed. economy bottomed out in mid 2009 since then it has been on a slow crawl to recovery. they agree the root of the problem is jobs and most believe the government needs to step in

to create them. >> robert thinks the great depression should be a road map. >> we need a wpa, modeled what we did in 1930s who are long time unemployed. >> henderson says the way to fix the economy is to reduce unemployment benefits. >> people are picky about a job and unemployment rate could be a percentage point lower which is 1.5 million jobs more. >> henderson believes businesses would be more likely if the minimum wage would drop. >> that would make it easier for young teenagers to get jobs and unemployment rate is close to a high. >> dan: local governments can do well. bay area is home to a green companies. >> solar power. big cost of installing a system

relates to the bureaucratic costs of inconsistent standards across different cities to get the stuff on your roof. >> dan: randolph eliminating that bureaucracy and putting more people to work. >> if we had a unified permitting process for solar installations itmuch be much more affordable. >> dan: that combined with investment in roads and schools could benefit the work force, as well. >> and domestically maintain our spending and infrastructure or move to to it the private sector and you need a long term investment that is credible. >> dan: but local and state governments have struggled to balance budgets. the number of jobs for public projects have fallen. >> public spending on infrastructure has fallen because the money has been off

set in declines in state and local spending because of their own budget programs. >> long term treasury bill is still about 2% yield. that is unbelievably cheap borrowing costs. >> take that money and spend it on infrastructure and then spend it on domestic investment and make sure it gets spent now. >> eric: thousands of middle-class students at u.c. berkeley will get a financial break this year. in is a first for a public university. lyanne melendez explains how it works. >> reporter: attending u.c. berkeley has a price tag of more than $32,000 a year. that is with room and board. while 40% of students get help from the state and federal government, the middle classes is having trouble affording it. >> we don't want challenging economic times to be a barrier to access to what we believe is one of the nation's premiere

universities. >> enter mcap. families that earn $80,000 and $140,000 canvass. here is how it works. say a family makes $100,000 a year. most they will pay is 15%, in other words, $15,000. their son or daughter will have to contribute by taking out loans or using some of their savings. berkeley will then make up the difference. the university will rely on donations to fund the program. there are other sources. >> one of sources of funds is we have been increasing the number of out of state and international students who pay fees and some of the revenue is going to be used to provide middle-class access. ose to 6,000 middle-classuarter students will benefit from this program. >> an opportunity for

financially and make my life a lot easier. >> trying to pay for my education and my brother's and sisters's sisters's so hopefully it will help us out. >> reporter: the program is only being offered at cal for now. deadline is march 1st for an application. >> eric: up next, turning trash into treasurer. >> for every ten pounds of plastic we make about a gallon of fuel. >> eric: the ambitious effort to turn plastic debris into liquid ?t?t?t>

>> eric: a northern california nonprofit group hopes to use new technology to get rid of plastic debris from the oceans and beaches. as cheryl jennings tells us it's like going back to thee.

>> cheryl: that dream of turning garbage into fuel is being nurtured by a lot of inventors and one of them has come up with a small portable device that turns trash into liquid gold, unrefined oil that could be used to power sbings. captain jim holm wants to apply it to a massive project. >> we're looking to find methods to remove the plastic trash that is floating out in the world's oceans. >> cheryl: he is with the nonprofit clean oceans project. they want to make a large plastic conversion machine to fit into a 60 foot catamaran. they look for floating plastic. >> we will be able to take the plastic trash and convert it into usable fuel. bigger bigger conversion machine has the ability to melt 500 pounds of

plastic trash a day making 66 gallons of fuel in process. we saw a demonstration with a desktop model. first plastic trash was stuffed into the machine. the lid was sealed tightly. then the heat in the chamber was turned on to 800 degrees. >> process is called pyrolisis. >> it bumps up to the water and then the gas condense in order a light liquid oil that you see floating on top. water. the machine is made by a company in japan. it's distributed by an american company. they dropped by abc7 in san francisco. >> ininvented this kindof of machine. there is a lot of plastic in the world. so it's a serious program. >> cheryl: his partner is the ceo of the company.

this video from the united nations university showed some demonstrating a desktop unit at school in japan to teach children about the importance of cleaning up plastic trash. >> in nepal there was a truck that runs around, it is powered by the fuel. >> the system basically has filtration that is similar to a converter so the only two things that are coming off of the process is off gas are water and a very small amount of co2. >> cheryl: this is one of the areas they want to take it to the garbage patch swirling in the ocean gyra. they swirl around a central point that create a whirlpool affect. >> some estimate there are millions of tons of tic trash floating over the ocean. >> one of the biggest things we

believe we can do to help keep the plastic out of ocean is to provide a monetary value for plastic trash. >> they would like to see a program similar to identical go fees on cans and bottles. that would encourage people to collect it and sell it. the buyer could sell the fuel. >> for every ten pounds of plastic we make about a gallon of fuel. >> about the downside to the machine is the cost, $15,000 for desktop and $275,000 wanted by the proje but the upside, it's making plastic trash into a reusable resource. plastic machine would take less than two gallons of gasoline to produce ten gallons of fuel from the plastic trash. we have a link to the project at abc7news.com. look under see it on tv. up next, not feeling well?

how about some robots that could work for you? >> this is easier than ever, but not without pitfalls. how you can become an author.

>> eric: entertainers can catapult to fame by airing their work on the internet. now authors can do the same. michael finney shows how easy it is to publish yourself. >> this is first group of black abilities. >> less williams holds an important place. >> legs is one of the legendary tuskegee airmen the first african-americans to serve as u.s. military pilots. >> but in the military. >> they fought enemies abroad

and tell lot of times they will tel you there is not big enough audience to publish a book about that. >> his daughter helped him write his memoir about battling prejudice after he risked his life for thinks country. they decided to publish the memoir themselves instead of waiting to find a willing publisher. that is a route that is being used by a number of growing aspiring writers. >> it turned out to be not so easy. >> she paid $1700 to a service to help edit and design and print the memoir. >> there were some parts we couldn't get straight. >> reporter: she says the proofs came back with errors and she had to pay extra for corrections. when the final proof came back,

here in the middle there are hundred pages from someone else's book. >> that is when i decided to cut it off. >> reporter: she cancelled the contract and she received a refund of about $1,000. she signed up with another service. things went fairly well untilt . >> i noticed they had changed something that made an inaccurate statement. >> reporter: they had changed the back cover to say the airmen made all american. but the book claims just the he>> they faced the same discrimination they were facing before. >> the cover was supposed to say their accomplishments will change the course of american history. she admitted she let the booking to print without noticing those offend is words. she paid $225 to have it fixed. then she ordered 100 copies but when the books arrived they still had the wrong words on them. >> i just wanted to pull my hair

out at that point. >> reporter: she contacted "7 on your side" and the company said it did nothing wrong. she failed to give approval for the corrected wording so the changes did not go through. spokesman says with thousands of titles it's important for each author to make sure the manuscript they are approving is exactly the way they want it to appear. >> h copies was very discouraging. >> they did not respond for our request for comment. >> if you are self-publishing and proofreading responsibility is left with the author. >> cynthia frank runs ft. bragg cypress house press who offers resources. she says her experience s that they need to tight control over publishing. >> they are grateful for the

assistance that a geepd copy aid it aid it was frustrating learning the hard way but the book conveys the message. >> i was hundreds of blacks, one of servicemen. >> so if you are thinking about publishing yourself, make sure you read the publishing contract really carefully. find ou all your rights and fees and potential royalty. there are plenty of resources and local groups that support new writers. i'll hook you up with the information you need if you go to abc7news.com. michael finney, "7 on your side". >> eric: music movies and video games move into the clouds. maybe the next step is putting yourself in the clouds. a local company using robots to be everywhere at once. >> braid si is a real person.

she is at home right now in illinois. she is also here at the network conference in san francisco all while she briefs conference in an office in mountain viewer. >> she is working for us but she is working for three other companies at companies at the same time. >> they are virtual. you can rent one for $600 a month if you need to be two or three places at once. >> they don't have arms to use copy machines or open doors, the point is when you are miles away. >> a lot of meetings happen somewhere else in the office, in the break room or machine shop. so being able to roll right in there and join the conversation where it's happening is important. >> they showed us how they can activate a robot to check on employees. and with a little help they can

cruise around the parking lot. >> if i wanted to look all the way down. >> or you can look up and see your reflection in the front door. >> you open the doors for them but robots have helped a lot. >> and it becomes workplace etiquette as robots become part of the workplace. >> budgets are much tighter, they are not putting people on planes to have the physical face to face. >> in san francisco, jonathan bloom, "abc 7 news." still ahead, we'll show you some of the things that is bringing old san francisco back to life again.

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>> eric: san francisco land marks of another era are being celebrated at the annual garden railway show in golden gate park. don sanchez shows us some of the recycled creations. >> it is a nostalgic return to

an era. only thing is missing selling of hot dogs. they go back to the 1920 arrest. >> we thought for anybody who was lucky enough to go to playland it would be an awesome chance for them to come and feel the old stuff they remember from their childhood. >> mr. ri go round revolves around an old table. >> all the cars on it or pencil sharpeners. >> the buffalo have real fare. seat cars climb to the stars. there is a live camera on one of them. sutro baths return. >> this museum was slightly different back then. >> there is many old arcades and in the middle of this, an icon.

the laugh now seems insulting. >> this is one of the bumper car bumper cars from 1935. the people that drive today may have learned on this intraining. training. >> playland was torn down in 1972. >> i don't know if you could ever re-create it. >> they will continue until april 15th. >> eric: if you would like more information on the stories on our program today, go to our website at abc7news.com, look under the news link on the left side for assignment 7. that is all for edition of editf assignment 7. i'm eric thomas. thanks for joining us. we'll see you next time.

>> a raging fire in the east bay and crews chose to let it burn. >> a family is evacuated and a driver runs away from the scene after leaving an apartment in shambles. >> how law enforcement officers will be celebrating after tonight's super bowl.