captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: the east coast sustained yet another snowy, icy punishing blow today as yet another winter storm paralyzed cities and towns in a dozen states. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: also ahead this thursday, the nation's largest cable company wants to get even bigger. we look at comcast's bid to buy time warner cable. >> ifill: plus, robots can beat us at board games and computers can win on "jeopardy," but can they replace human workers? >> we have robots in the lab for a long long time, now we have robots out there in the real world doing productive work every day. that's a big difference.

>> ifill: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

>> and the william and flora >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: winter bore down on the northeastern u.s. again today, walloping everything from washington d.c. to boston after leaving a treacherous mess across the south. the latest big storm barreled up the east coast as it was being blamed for the deaths of at least 20 people. one official in the philadelphia area summed up the feelings of many, saying: "snow has become a four-letter word". newshour correspondent kwame holman has our report

>> snow, more snow, sleet, snow, freezing rain and snow again. that was the sequence for the drubbing the south, mid-atlantic and northeast endured in the last 24 hours. the huge system spread across hundreds of miles today and even earned a nickname "sno-chi" drawing on the russian city hosting the winter olympics. the washington d.c. area got upwards of 11 inches of snow overnight. and by this morning, winter sports enthusiasts were out in force. federal offices were closed today, as were the runways at the city's two main airports. the d.c. and suburban schools also shut down, adding to an accumulation of snow days here as in many other places in the country. in new york city, mayor bill deblasio defended his decision to keep the schools open. >> so many families have to go to work-- members of these families have to go to work. they do not have a choice. and they need a safe option for their kids. so as long as we know we can get our kids to school safely and we can operate our schools effectively, we make that decision. >> holman: the city itself got

eight inches or more of the heavy, wet snow. >> it's ridiculous, but what are you going to do? it's mother nature. you got to deal with it. >> it's crazy. i haven't seen a winter like this in a really long time or maybe never. >> i wish i wasn't here. >> holman: in philadelphia, snow shovelers got plenty of work as the city broke a 130-year old record, surpassing four snowfalls of greater than six inches in one season. >> i'm probably going to be here all day, till probably five or six o'clock in the afternoon, probably. because we don't even know what time it's going to stop. >> holman: all told, as this map shows, the sweep of the storm added to an already extensive snow cover from previous blasts this winter. meanwhile, southern states were trying to recover from the blow they took yesterday. a deadly mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow was too much for drivers around raleigh, north carolina. many simply got out of their cars and walked away.

today, governor pat mccrory said the cars are not yet being towed so that motorists can find them. >> the highway patrol on our interstate highways and roads are tagging abandoned vehicles to ensure that we've checked on them. and these vehicles are being left in place unless they are blocking the road. >> holman: ice from the storm caused at least 750,00 people to lose power across the south after trees' limbs crashed into lines under the weight. >> terrifying, watching trees fall into my daughter's room, was traumatic. >> holman: there was trouble, too for air travelers all over the country, with more than 6,000 flights canceled. and it's not over yet, as a second round of snow heads up the east coast this evening. >> woodruff: we check in with one state that is being particularly hard hit today. governor tom corbett is the governor of pennsylvania.

governor, welcome, what has this storm done to your state. >> well, judy, thank you for having us on. this is one of many storms we've had as chro the commonwealth of pennsylvania. and we have received a fair amount of snow in different areas of pennsylvania, 15, 16 inches in some places. we have the continuation of the storms supposed to arrive tonight, about 8:00 and go into 3:00 tomorrow morning. so it is really taxed the patience, really, of the citizens of pennsylvania. as you know the storm last week knocked out power for over 800,000 customers in southeastern pennsylvania. we have power out this time not nearly as bad, only about 1500 customers currently down from 5800 across the commonwealth of pennsylvania. but it has really tacked the patience and caused a lot of closing of businesses about and a lot of closing of schools. >> woodruff: so how is the state coping and how are municipalities coping? >> well, you just get out there and you plow your roads an try an be prepared

for the weather. particularly very cold weather that we had last week. we have dises -- businesses closing. i closed state government this week here in the central and southeastern part of the state. schools have been closing. and what we try and do is keep everybody as safe as possible. warn them when they do lose power not using alternative manies to try and heat their houses like kerosene heaters or something in the house or bringing generators ioqide. because we want to reduce the risk oci carbon monoxide poisoning. >> woodruff: we have seen some other states, especially in the south, have had traffic highway nightmares where cars were backed up for miles on state roads. how do you avoid something like that in your state? >> well, we had experienced something like that 7 years ago tomorrow when we had a huge line of traffic backed up on interstate 78 going from harrisburg to allentown

where people were literally stuck there for 24 hours. we learned our lesson from that. we try to plan ahead. as soon as we see the weather forecast, we have a philosophy here at the department of emergency management that we will lead forward. we prestation equipment, trucks. we prestation heavy tow trucks. we prestation national guard. as you know we called up national guard and put them in the or mauries. so we try and get ready for the worst and be ready for that. if it doesn't happen we are much better off in the situation so we have been blessed in the last two storms not to really have suffered a great deal of traffic as we see going on down in the southeastern part of the country. >> so what is your main worry in a situation like this? >> the main worry is the loss of power and people using alternative means of trying to keep themselves warm in their homes. they worry also there is accidents on the highways and people being careful.

so we are constantly warning them of what they shouldn't do and what they should do. >> you and i were talking about this just before we went on the air. but what does this do to a state budget or a local budget when you set aside a certain amount of money for emergencies, weather emergencies, what happened? how are you situated to pay for all this? >> well, you have to plan that into your budget. we have done it into our budget. a few years ago you recall hurricane irene came through here. that really hurt our transportation budgetñi early on in the fiscal year. but luckily we had a mild winter and did not have to use much of our transportation budget for roads. this year we're getting to the middle of our budget. we are using a great develop money on salt and getting road crews out there. so at some point in time we hope we'll have enough funds to get through this. munici pates, it's even harder because they have limited budgets also. you try and work very goo

deals with the salt suppliers. in fact, we have arranged to have munici pates piggyback with us so they get a better price with their salt. it always is the matter of planning. i think in the last few years we've been planning a lot better. >> woodruff: just quickly, effect on the state's economy? >> well, obviously when stores aren't open there is a clear effect on the economy. here in harrisburg most of the stores that i have tried to see have been closed. it is a day before valentine's day. so i know a lot of people might be doing their shopping tomorrow. so hopefully we'll make it up tomorrow. >> woodruff: we're hoping that happens all over the country. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: governor corbett in pennsylvania, in harrisburg, thank you. >> thank you very much for having me. the long, hard winter may be putting a chill on the economy. the commerce department reported today that retail sales fell in january by four tenths of a percent. it was the second straight decline.

that's led to growing suggestions that overall growth for the first quarter of the year will fall short of estimates. wall street managed to make some headway today despite the snowstorm. the dow jones industrial average gained 63 points to close at 16,027. the nasdaq rose 39 points to close at 4,240. across the atlantic ocean, england and wales were also struggling to cope after yet another powerful storm struck overnight. it added to a flooding disaster that's lasted five weeks and keeps getting worse. we have a report from james mates of independent television news. >> reporter: when a natural disaster stretches from one side of the country to the other, there really is no way to picture it except from the air. the water from weeks of biblical rains has to go somewhere. even the mighty river thames can't get it all to the sea. this whole area to the west of london is normally dotted with

small lakes and their reservoirs that supply their capital. today, it's almost impossible to see where they end and the flooding begins. though we can be sure that this small boat is somewhere it has no business being. if the thames is struggling, the river avon as we flew west, seems almost to have given up. tewkesbury abbey is still dry, but for how much longer. on the river seven. well, look at it now. we are flying right above the normally fairly narrow and placid river seven. to be honest, this is more like flying down the amazon. central england is now a landscape dotted with newly formed islands. the map will tell you upton upon seven has the river on just its right-hand side. not today. before all this water reaches the sea, it must pass through the city of worcester. well, through, over, across. just look at the height of the

water under the bridge. and this isn't a man-made lake. it's new road cricket grounds of the worcester county side. but it's another sports ground that really shows what's going on here. look at these rugby posts. the crossbars barely above the water line are three meters, nine feet high. further down stream, the city of gloucester knows that all this water is heading its way. even without more rain, the excess water would continue to drain into these rivers for many days, but there will be more rain-- lots of it. >> woodruff: the weather was making news at the winter olympics in sochi, russia, for a different reason: it remained abnormally warm today. even so, the competition went on. a spoiler alert: tune out for a moment if you don't want to know any results just yet. americans swept the medals in the olympics' first-ever slope style skiing. and in men's figure skating, russian star evgeni plushenko

stunned the games when he withdrew after injuring his back. comcast announced today it will buy time warner cable for more than $45 billion in stock. the deal would combine the nation's top two cable television companies with a total of some 30 million subscribers. it's subject to approval by federal regulators and shareholders. we'll examine the proposed deal and the possible consequences right after the news summary. afghanistan released 65 accused taliban militants today over heated american objections. the inmates were freed at parwan prison, formerly run by the u.s. military. u.s. and nato officials warned the men are dangerous. some are suspected of planting bombs that have killed afghan and foreign troops. afghan president hamid karzai rejected the criticism during a trip to turkey >> if the afghan judicial authorities decide to release a

prisoner, it is of no concern to the u.s. and should be of no concern to the u.s. and i hope that the united states will stop harassing afghanistan's procedures and judicial authority and i hope >> woodruff: the prisoner release also comes as karzai is trying to pursue peace talks with the taliban. a u.n. mediator met with u.s. and russian envoys today, hoping to jumpstart the syrian peace talks. lakhdar brahimi conceded the talks have made little headway. but he said the u.s. and russia pledged renewed efforts to help move things along. >> they have kindly reaffirmed their support for what we are trying to do and promised that they will help-- both here and in their capitals and elsewhere-

- to unblock the situation for us. >> woodruff: the syrian opposition said it was told by the u.s. side that today's meeting was "not successful". meanwhile, in syria the week- long cease-fire in homs was extended through saturday. so far, 1,400 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged city. still to come on the newshour: comcast's bid to be cable's behemoth, a unique union battle at a tennessee volkswagen plant, paul solman on the economics of robot workers, plus, republican senator tim scott on tackling poverty. >> ifill: comcast's deal to buy time warner means the media giant-- which already owns n.b.c universal-- is about to cast an even longer shadow over the industry. if the deal is approved, comcast will have 30 million subscribers

and control just under 30% of all paid cable subscribers in the country. it also becomes an even bigger player in the world of broadband internet and video. it will operate in 43 of the largest 50 markets, extend its heaviest concentration of subscribers north all the way to maine and gain access to markets in new york city, los angeles and dallas. but the $45 billion deal is being criticized by public interest groups worried about media consolidation. we get more on all this from edmund lee of "bloomberg news." thanks for joining us. i want to start by asking what was the immediate affect for consume ares, sub describers to comcast and to time warner of this kind of deal? >> well, immediately nothing is going to happen right away. it will take at least a year for this deal to get closed. at the absolute earliest. so consumers aren't going to see any changes or

differents in their current plans or the current prices. but about ayer from now you will start seeing a different name plate on your bills, certainly and chances are your prices won't change all that much but that is what consumers and consumer advocates are concerned about, not just the pricing but, you know, the service, will it continue to be-- will it improve or be the same old same old in terms of just my cable is out, my internet is out, an it's taking a day or two for anyone to get to my house. >> ifill: when we think of media companies gobbling up other media companies time warner and aol, we think to ourselves this is going to result in reduced choice kpr consume-- redoesed choice for consumers. the cable industry is different is that likely here? >> right, that's a good point the cable companiesing time warner cable and comcast don't compete against each other. comcast c.e.o. brian roberts said this morning on a press call we done even compete down to a certain zip code. they are not in the same market. so the way that regulators

will probably want to view this or at least one aspect is will consumers see less choice as a result of this merger. and the answer is no, if you are a time warner cable customer your choices haven't changedñi as a result of this. or if you are a comcast customer. so in that way it shouldn't affect consumer choice and so therefore it doesn't hurt competition. of course to begin with, however, as you pointedñr out just a secretary ago the cable companies operate in minimonday op belows, that they evened-- they owned their markets for decades ant hadn't faced competition until the satellite and cable tv started offering tv service, that is where the competition is coming from, not between cable providers. >> ifill: let's talk about the satellite guys and the internet broadband folks who are now providing information, they are now providing entertainment and programming that goes directly into your computer or comes directly beamed from a satellite out in space. does this kind of consolidation make any competition that existed for

them more difficult? >> you can make an argument that you know, whether it's dish or directv or at&t or verizon, these guys will have a harder time competing against comcast because comcast is that much bigger. so that is definitely something that regulators want to look at. and if you are a consumer, that is something you want to be concerned about. and at least make, be aware of in terms it of will it be harder for me to, you know, to buy a different service because comcast is that much bigger. on the face of it, there isn't any reason for that to be the case. the competition remains the same but that is definitely an aspect. the other aspect as you pointed out is broadband service, internet service, people can't live without it, it's becoming more crucial, more important than your video service for that matter. and so comcast will become an even bigger or own a bigger slice of the internet broadband market. and that's definitely something regulators and consumers will want to be aware of and make sure that they're not going to get hurt by that. i'm sure comcast will want

to agree to certain conditions in terms of making sure that they're offering a high level of service at reasonable prices. because internet has become as much a you tillity as the phone once was. and you know, that's going to be an important part for regulators to consider. >> there has been a lot of conversation about cord cutters, people who let go of came, paying too much and they are just going to get their netflix or hulo and that is the way they are going to get everything and they don't have to worry about advertising. is this a threat to companies like comcast, is that why these kinds of mergers are happening? >> in fact, that's one of the stated reasons why comcast is looking to get bigger. they see the real competition as being netflix or hulu or area, these smaller upstarts that are gaining steam. and speaking to consumers in a way, consumers are changing their tv habits. that is a big reason why their services are becoming popular. they are also cheamer.

so comcast is getting bigger because they want to be able to have the size, to have more money to experiment more, to develop other technology tas that hopefully will allow them to compete against whether its netflix or hulu or some other new company that could come down the pipe that we haven't heard of yet. but that's also something that regulators and consumers what want to look at, which is how will comcast play with a netflix or hulu in the sense that their ability to deliver their streaming service through their broadband connection because even if you want to cut your video service and you want to go for netflix, you still have to get an internet connection and chances are you will probably get it from comcast. if comcast makes it more difficult, and this goes to the net neutrality debate that's been happening, in government and with sec-- something they are concerned about looking at f comcast makes it harder for netflix to deliver their service or their lines, that is going to be something that will cause concern and regulators will want to look at. >> ifill: let me ask you finally, last time we heard

a big acquisition tore story involving comcast is when they announced they were going toñr buy nbc universal in 2009. it took two years for the deal to close because of the regulatory scrutiny. could we see the same thing happening in this case? >> i think if anything the smart money is it will be açó little easier this time than the last time. and the reason is that when they bought nbc, nbc is a programmer. and comcast, they deal with other programmers whether it's cbs or disney or fox, you know, to get those, the content on their systems. they wanted to make through that nbc wasn't going to get fathered against those other guys. in this case it's not the same dime you cans, not the same competitive situation. so in that way it might be a little easier for comcast to get this done. >> ifill: it will be fascinating too much what. i know that is what you paid to do edmund lee of bloomberg news, thanks so much. >> right, sure >> woodruff: now, a union vote

at a tennessee auto plant is putting a spotlight on the future of organized labor in the south. jeffrey brown has our story. >> brown: they started voting yesterday in the snow at the v.w. plant in chattanooga. at issue: whether to join the united auto workers. the vote comes in an era when many foreign auto-makers have moved to southern states, where overall union participation is low and as u.a.w membership has fallen dramatically from 1.5 million members in 1979 to just over 382,000 in 2012. hoping for a win in chattanooga, the union has released youtube videos of v.w. employees who are voting yes. >> volkswagen will be stronger when they come together with the u.a.w beccause that combines not only volkswagen's history of working with labor, but it also adds in u.a.w's experience of working in the u.s. market. >> brown: volkswagen itself has

remained officially neutral on the question. but it does want to set up a german-style works council to allow employees and management to collaborate on decision- making. labor experts say by law that means the plant must first unionize. but that sentiment is hardly unanimous. >> i think everyone knows i have tremendous concerns about the u.a.w being a part of our community in this way. >> brown: among others, republican u.s. senator bob corker-- once the mayor of chattanooga-- and the national right to work group argue that unionization will jeopardize jobs. and republicans who control the state legislature have threatened to withdraw millions of dollars in tax incentives for volkswagen if the u.a.w wins. upping the ante, senator corker yesterday released this statement, saying:

that was quickly disputed by frank fischer, chairman and c.e.o of volkswagen chattanooga. he said: the voting at the chattanooga plant continues through tomorrow. two views of what's at stake in this vote. vincent vernuccio is director of labor policy at the mackinac center for public policy, a non- partisan education and research center in michigan. and harley shaiken, a professor at the university of california, berkeley, who specializes in labor issues. let me start with you, you had big a deal is this and why does the ua work he is a window of opportunity here? >> oh, it's a very big deal. i think what's at stake is the uaw and volkswagen working together to create a new u.s. model to compete globally.

that's @ó very big deal in large part because you're going to have a works council representing all employees. you're going to have the uaw as the union bargaining with volkswagen, an on economic issues am and you have a very advanced plant. what fuels this model is worker input at every stage of the manufacturing process.ñi it's new for the u.s. but volkswagen has used it this model in all its plants worldwide with the exception of two in china, and one in chattanooga and of course in chattedding intoa that could change by tomorrow night. >> well, vincent vernuccio, there is a lot of opposition to this. explain it. why would it be a bad thing for volkswagen workers to join the uaw? >> well, i think a lot of the volkswagen be workers are simply nervous. they see volkswagen working with the uaw. that if volkswagen just signed an agreement with the union to allow the union to come in and despite the questions of whether this could actually work in

america, if it's even legal in america. the workers are seeing that both the company and the union are on the same side. and that a lot of them are questioning, hey, who is representing us. who is coming to make sureñi that our interests are heard. and when you have the union and the company working together, the workers may get lost in the shuffle within that's your concern at this point? the workers, the workers can vote on this, right. so they have the power to join the union. >> the workers can vote on this. and the workers are facing a very quick election. remember, volkswagen themselves were the ones that petitioned the national labor relations board to have this election. and the speed that this election occurred is veryjprare. and a lotñi of workers are saying, a lot of workers who are opposed said our views aren't being heard. volkswagen is keeping the opposition out of the plant. >> brown: harley shaiken, respond to that. em leigh about the interests of the company.

are they pushing for this? explain a little bit more about this model of the works councils. >> sure, well, the company is not pushing it. the company is remaining neutral. and in a situation where employers often are so virulently against the union, it looks like pushing about it is neutral. the workers are going to decide. what vincent is essentially arguing isn't an argument, it's anti-union feelñiing massacre aiding as an argue. and what i mean by that is i i have vincent and many others who are so strongly oppose to this from the outside would prefer no union anywhere. and this is workers making the decision. if they don't like the experience, they can vote the union out in a year. they will elect their represents. they will ratify or not every contract that is negotiated. robert wagner the senator in the mid 1930s who wrote the basic labor relations law of

the country, the wagner act, said at the time the free right to choose a union is the difference between despotism and democracy. that's what is at stake. what is unique about this particular model is it builds on what the japanese became so famous for in the 1980s, which was quality circles and lien production. and in that case you had teams that are improving things in a given area. with the works council workers have voice in all aspects of a factory's operation. and in fact, worker representatives guide basic decisions for volkswagen internationally. that is a very big deal. and using this volkswagen has become one of the most successful automakers in the world. it's the second largest auto company by sales. and the value for stockholders rose by 107% over the last three years.

that's the highest of any automaker in the world over those three years. >> let me ask you. >> which was a successful model globally being applied here. >> you can respond to that. what is so wrong with that model? >> well, it's a good model and it works, first there is a question of the professor mentioned the if it is even legal. the national laborñ2h)elations act prohibits the company, saying the reason they do that is because they don't want a company colluding with the union against the workers, or the company establishing a union to collude against the workers. and was this push to have kind of a works council, more coop rattive management and union organization it was called the-- it was actually passed by the republican house and senate. president clinton vetoed it so it never went into law and the a.f.l./c.i.o. was one of the chief opponents

trying to fight against it because they worried about management and the union getting too close and having the workers left out in the cold. >> i still would like you to answer my question about why in this case would it be a bad idea, do you think, to unionize that plant? >> well, it's going to be a bad idea for the workers. and it is up to the workers. -- giving the workers the ability to choose via secret ballot the uaw tried to go in there last year and organize them via card shop where cards are signed out in the open and could be open to intimidation. so they are doing it by secretary are the ballot. i applaud the company for that. good for them. but workers will be at a disadvantage in the uaw. remember the uaw prides itself on what it calls democracy and prides itself on its pushing majority rule. while unfortunately for these new workers that there are a lot of retirees, a lot

of senior workers that outbuilt them. as they have seen with the big three up here in michigan and in the strong uaw states, those workers sometimes get the short end of the stick. that is why you have two tiers. so these workers have to ask themselves a very hard question, with majority rule, that the uaw finds itself on, what democracy is the interest of the minority going to be trufered by the majority workers that have more seniority and have different interests. >> you started by saying the stakes are extremely high here. if the uaw wins do you see the possibility of this spreading particularly to other foreign automakers in the south? >> oh, i think it absolutely could spread. it certainly won't automatically spread. what is at issue is what happens at volkswagen am but i think the power of this is this model works with everywhere else. it could work extremely well in this plant with this union, with these workers.

and if it does, workers at mercedes-benz, workers at bmw, workers at nissan are going to look at this and say this is what these workers are gaining. and i would like to pick up something that-- was just said. retearees don't vote for officers and they don't vote in the contract. and in terms of how workers fare right now, we can look most recently at several weeks ago when the ford motor company announced last year's results for north america. ford is entirely yunized in its blue collar workforce in north america. record profits, 18.8 billion. 8.8 billion, each worker received a check for $8800. >> what's not to like. >> we do have to leave it there, i'm afraid. we'll watch for the election results, thank you. >> ifill: this week, we've

stepped into the future with stories about robots in the opera and the coming revolution in 3.d. printing. now, paul solman gets in on the act with a look at the economics of this latest machine age. it's part of his ongoing coverage, "making sense of financial news." >> sorry to see you do that. >> a robot that plays connect 4. first one to get four in a row wins. my grandkids thrash me at ten times the speed, but after decades as promised, robots like baxter here are finally replacing humans at a break-neck pace. >> really? >> or so say m.i.t. professors eric brynjolfsson and andy mcafee. >> where we always needed human beings suddenly we have alternatives that are good and getting better quick leigh. >> we have been astonished at how rapidly things are happening, whether it's self-driving cars, computers that can place jeopardy and beat the best champion. you are seeing a wave of

technology that can automate all sorts of cognitive tasks. >> in their new book, the second machine age, brin jovlson and mcafee argue that industry is facing a revolution as radical as the one powered by the steam engine. >> the industrial revolution is about overcoming the limitations of our individual muscles, what is going on right new in the second machine age is overcoming the limitations of our individual minds. >> at m.i.t.'s museum, the march of the smart machine. >> we've had robots in the lab for a long, long time. now we have robots out there in the real world doing productive work every day. that's a big difference. >> but these physical robots are just sort of the tip of the iceberg of literally billions of software robots that are cruising across the internet. >> specific softwareñi programs like kayak, providing cheaper travel, amazon with its one click bying and personalized shopping tips, maps that talk you to your destination. >> the more experienced the

technologies get, the more data they get, the better job they doñi. >> at bros ton's new makerbot store, the 3d printers make a bust of you. one plastic layer at a time. or anything else you can dream up. >> right now this 3d printing machine is just being used to generate a miniature át other ones are being used to make things like dental implants on the spot, toçó mahu@q!ings like prosthetic jaw implants that are completely customized for an individual. >> also completely customized, mechanical hands and fingers. >> i can pick up stuff. >> with these printers, anybody with a new notion from a better baby spoon to an electric skateboard can become an entrepreneur. because it costs peanuts to lay down a prototype. >> the great thing about this technology isn't just the way it is bunging down costs, it's the way it is making complexity basically free. you can put any arbitrary

design in here and it will make it. >> and economic alisium, lower costs, higher benefits. or says mcafee a glory greater than ancient greece. >> where the citizens kind of debated democracy and led these enlightened lives, they were supported by the work of human slaves. >> his vision, a robot-run athens. >> we won't have human slaves, we'll have an army of technologies that are doing the heavy lifting required for a society. >> but hold on. is a world where robots do almost all the work more like classical athens or hades. >> if you go up there. >> take my connect 4 rival. this could be baxter taking a lunch break if he ever needed one, but in fact he can do simple production jobs literally 24/7. and he's a superquick learner. >> if you want to get this robot to do a simple task, you grab its arm, and suppose i want to pick something up over here. i just bring it down, press the button and it says ah.

>> he must have wanted me to pick something up. >> baxter who costs just $20,000, is the brainchild of boston-based-- robotics whose c.e.o. rodney brooks is a one-time m.i.t. robot cyst and a co-founder of irobot, maker of the rumba vax i'm. brooks says baxter is designed to augment human workers, not replace them. >> a lot of jobs in factories are very dull and very repetitive. and one of the line technicians said the job where we recycle the broken pieces of plastic, it is an unhealthy job and now baxter sits there 24 hours a day doing that job that no one in the factory wants to do. >> more over, says brook, baxter is kepping plants and jobs stateside by cutting costs. >> i see this is a tool that lets people in american factories be more productive. >> but how many people will baxter and his brethren replace.

oxford researchers predict half of all u.s. jobs will beñi automated away within the next few decades. >> service jobs are supposedly the default. though it might mean a nation of hamburger flippers. but even the flippers may need a fallback now that a machine can supposedly grind out 360 gourmet burkers an hour. and speaking of food. >> as you can see the food is being prepared without being touched by any hands. and in the human-free environment -- >> italy, the land that brought us handmade pizza, now brings us machine made. >> and in minutes a healthy genuine italian pizza is zfbd with a guarantee total hygiene. >> they admit that more baxters do mean fewer factory jobs. >> but getting more from less is good news overall. >> it is good news for us as an economy. >> as consumers. >> yes, but this is just what people are afraid-of-, right, that that guy will

take every manufacturing job imaginable. >> with the first machine age there were a lot of ago ago jobs that were he lim limb-- agricultureal jobs that were eliminated by the country responded by providing widespread education and we were able to move to new education and skills. >> as robots get more and more capable brynjolfsson argues we have to teach this set of humans a new set of skills. >> ed cag in america is focused on getting people to follow instructions. but going forward we are going to need much more creativity. simply followings rout instructions is something software is pretty capable of doing. there are still a lot of things that computers and artificial intelligence and robots are still lousy at compared to us. they're very infectionive negotiators. they can't lead a team of people. they can't communicatio communication-- communicate subtles the same way we can. >> give me specific jobs that if young people are watching, what do they do? >> we've got bridges and

roads and ports that are crumbling. the physical plant in our schools, they're desperately in need of repair. there's no robot that can do any of those jobs. >> and there is an explosion of opportunities in jobs that involve interacting with other people from salespeople to nursing and elder care, kindergarten teachers. >> how likely is it that in this political environment government is going to play a major role in making the transition to the new second machine ageness we're disappointed that the united states government hasn't seized the opportunity to address these problems the way it should. but ultimately, the bulk of job creation is lakely to come from the prave at sector. henry ford, steve jobs, bill gates and lots of other people helped invent whole new industries that we couldn't have conceived of at that time.çó >> and though robots may be racing ahead on the factory floor,. >> connect 4. >> there is still time, it seems, before a terminator might take over. >> eat your heart out, if you had one.

>> but don't prompt a taunting penalty just yet said baxter engineer kyle maroney. >> i didn't necessarily put you on the highest level that he is capable of. but i cut you a little bit of a break. >> turns out that if he is programmed to win, baxter can already beat any human, even a competitive reporter's competitive grandkids. >> wham schbam. yeah, yeah. >> your generation, seems had best learn the skills of the future or else. >> ifill: you can read more online about what makes this the second machine age and what jobs are still best suited for humans. >> woodruff: now to a subject on the minds of many americans this year: the growing divide between rich and poor in this country. the issue is also the focus of our ongoing series of conversations "closing the gap."

last week, i spoke with democratic congressman george miller of california about how he believes the problem should be tackled. yesterday, gwen spoke with republican senator marco rubio of florida about his anti- poverty plan. tonight, we hear from south carolina senator tim scott, who recently launched what he's calling his "opportunity agenda." i sat down with the republican lawmaker yesterday afternoon. >> . >> woodruff: senator scott, welcome to the newshour. >> thank you very much, thank you for having me on your show. >> woodruff: you have been talking a lot lately about the need for the republican party to put more focus on lower and middle income americans. why is that a priority for you? >> i think a lot of what we see are the stories that come out of our own lives. for me it was really being raised in a single parent household, understanding the challenges that so many moms face that are trying to raise two rambunctious boys as my mom tried to do with me and my brother.

and understanding that the path forward requires a different perspective on the conversation, or inñi the conversation. for me, it was really learning a little later in life by the time i was in 9th grade t was pretty late in the education, but for me it was learning in the 9th grader that there was hope and opportunity that there was a way for me to find a path out of poverty that included education, included thinking my way out of poverty. and so for me it was focusing on education. and so much what you will see on my agenda, much of myçó agenda starts with the conversation 6-- conversation of education. how do we improve the education outcome, not the intentions but the outcome of education for kids that are trapped today in poverty. >> woodruff: why is that important to do? i mean what is it shall it -- what are the gaps or gap out there that you think needs to be filled? >> so often what we do as policymakers is we focus on the outcomes of education. we focus on the challenges that we face as a nation as

the example. part of the the symptoms that we see is high unemployment rate. but when you look at the high unemployment rate you will find very quickly that if you have a college degree that the unemployment rate is a little less than 4%. if you have a high school diploma your unemployment rate is 7.7%. if you didn't finish high school, your unemployment rate is at 10%. except for the fact that those over 25 who did not finish high school, half are in the workforce, half are not. so imagine that real number, the real number of unemployment rate on those kids who don't finish high school. it's an amazing impact on self-esteem, an amazing impact on one's ability to fulfill his or her potential. and it's an amazing impact on our economy. so the output of our country is significantly reduced if we don't find the best path forward in education. >> is this something that you think has been largely overlooked for a long time? >> well it's obvious to me that our nation and our

states spend about $600 billion on education. and yet our outcomes in education are getting worse. and so what i have proposed is for us to take a serious look at how do we create an environment where kids are going to succeed at the highest level possible. and to me that includes having the parents, giving the parents more choices so the kid has a better chance. whether that's charter schools, public school choice for those schools that are failing on the school district, whether that is private school. we need to have a real cafeteria plan so that the parents have the best options on the table for their kids. >> an how much does that cost the taxpayer. >> good question. i with tell you that the cost of unemployment can be measured in our government programs today. which are government assisted programs, nearly a trillion dollars, so there is a multiple ways to take a look at the costs, the true costs of those who do to the get a good education and those who do. i would say that we're spending over $600 billion

on q through 12 education in this country, the question if we were to take three or four or five percent of those dollars and put that into the competitive environment to see what the results are, i think we would see the same results around the country as we have started to see in d.c. part of my choice, to give you a classic example, spart of my choice is to provide d.c. kids with an opportunity scholarship at 40% of the cost of public schools, 97% of the kids in the opportunity scholarship program graduate from high school, 56% of the kids do,. >> is this something you are getting sport for in your own party, in the republican party? >> absolutely. people are excited about this opportunity that i'm proposing. we're actually having folks from the other side of the aisle very interested. we take a serious look at this, talking to some of my former colleagues in the house. i have had meetings with different senators. so we're trying to create a conversation that is not republicans and democrats.

it's not con teferb-- conservatives and liberals. i believe all of us care about the outcome of education for our kids. and so i want to just be one of the folks leading the charge so we can have a nonpartisan conversation about the most important issue to our economic future. >> woodruff: as you know very well one of the thins the president is talking about, democrats are talking about is raising the minimum wage. they say that say basic thing that feeds to be done in order to help folks at the lower end of the income ladder. >> yeah, i would tell the president and my friends on the left we can have a robust conversation about actually helping those folks that, the entry level of the income ladder by having a conversation about restoring the 40 hour workweek that is in obama kar. the fact is that today employers are making the decision to move their employees from 40 hours a a week to 30 hours to week to comply with the aca. if we were to restore the 40 hour workweek, we would have a, at least the same impact on the same number of people as we would have having a

conversation about increasing the minimum wage, without the job losses, without the reduction of hours that comes with a 40 or 50% increase in the minimum wage. >> so you are saying it all comes back to the health care law? >> no, i'm not saying that at all. i think a lot of things come back to the health care law withoutñrñiñr any question. but this is a, an decision that we can make, in the health care law. restoring the 40 hour workweek in order to make sure that those folks who today are facing a 25% cut in their pay because of the health care law, if we were to restore that we could continue the debate, of course i'm not supportive of the health care law by any question, we could continue the debate on the rest of the law, how we could deal with tfiá. but today we're going to have a real conversation about income inequality, the fastest way for us to restore the more equality, is faster done, more equitiably done by restoring the 40 hour workweek. >> and that would be done by amending the law. >> we could do that very quickly with both houses, of

congress, the president could sign it. that would restore in a major way 25% of more than i think is 2.3 or 2.5 million americans. >> you reject out of hand the idea of raising the minimum wage. >> i don't reject out of hand the idea of raising the minimum wage, what i recorrect is the notion that we can somehow create a higher quality of life by simply debating the minimum wage. there are things that we can do like restoring the 40 hour workweek. but i believe will have a faster impact on the most vulnerable in our society and by doing that, then we are on the right path. if we are to have a conversation about the minimum wage, i'm happy to have that conversation, then we perhaps should have that conversation. we should have a serious conversation about the pros and cons and not simply having a debate about a minimum wage because it has a 77% approval rating among those folks listening to our show today. the fact of the matter is that we ought to take a look at the whole conversation on

the minimum wage. but if we want to do it holistickically i'm happy to participate in that conversation. but until then, we can immediately impact 25% of the paychecks of more americans than the minimum wage would help. >> but you know the president has said he's not going to accept. >> he certainly said he would not accept a total rejection or repeal of the law. this would be a quick indecision. it would be easy to do. it has wide support on both sides of the aisle. if the presidentçó stepped up to the plate and said he was willing to try this i think republicans and democrats what come together and american was see for the first time in a long time, bipartisan support for them, and not for each party. >> senator tim scott of south carolina, thank you for talking with us. >> yes,úmz'am, thank you for having me on the show.ñiçó tomorrow we'll continue our series from philadelphia mayor michael nutter.çó

again, the major developments of the day. winter bore down on the northeast again, walloping everything from washington d.c. to boston with up to a foot or more of snow. the storm was blamed for at least 20 deaths, most of them in the south. comcast announced it will buy time warner cable for more than $45 billion in stock. the deal would combine the nation's top two cable television companies. and the government of afghanistan released 65 taliban suspects over heated u.s. objections. >> woodruff: on the newshour online we kick off an exciting new partnership with al-monitor, a website devoted to news and commentary on the middle east. tonight you can watch a live- stream of the first ever pbs newshour al-monitor trendlines special with our chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner. tonight's trendlines: "syria after geneva 2" focuses on the prospects for ending the civil

war and the wider impact of the conflict on the region as representatives from the government and the opposition engage in peace talks. find that on our homepage. >> ifill: also on the newshour online right now, there's still more time this winter for a snow day or two to sneak in, so why not prepare your kids with a reading list. we asked kate dicamillo, children's book author and the newly appointed ambassador for young people's literature, to recommend her favorite reads for when the weather outside is uncooperative. find that plus an extended list on our arts page. all that and more is on our website, newshour.pbs.org. and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, a report from california on the drought gripping the state. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. brought to you in part by -- >> the street.com. founded by jim cramer, the street.com is an independent source for stock market analysis. cramer's action alerts plus service is home to his multimillion dollar portfolio. you can learn more at the street.com/nbr. megamedia deal. the nation's largest cable operator, comcast, wants to get even bigger. it plans to buynumber two. time warner. what will the regulators say? shoppers stayed home last night causing retail sales to drop. how much is due to the weather and is it cause for concern? and cisco skids. shares slump as the