captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> sreenivasan: and i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: on the newshour tonight, donald trump campaigns across ohio, while michelle obama joins hillary clinton in north carolina for their first joint rally. >> sreenivasan: also ahead this thursday, new sexual misconduct allegations against supreme court justice clarence thomas emerge. >> woodruff: plus, why the united states' prosperity could be its downfall. a look through the history of empires to explore the true cost of wealth. >> they undermine themselves and they do that by racking up the more debt, by having fewer babies born, by more regulation and it's difficult to keep up patriotism as time goes by. >> sreenivasan: and, the guiding

grace of food: tv chef anthony bourdain gives his take on the power of food in his own life and in how we connect with others. >> food may not be the answer to world peace, but its a start. i think i was thinking of ted nugent. i find just about everything that comes out of his mouth violently offensive. but we both like barbecue, and that is some kind of common ground for a discussion. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take

charge of your financial future. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> 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: the presidential race is down to its last dozen days, and the campaigns are gearing up for one final push. this day found them hard at it, in two crucial states. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> reporter: donald trump's race to 270 electoral votes, at least today, meant hop-scotching across battleground ohio. first stop: springfield. the nominee greeted by a supporters brimming with confidence: >> if we win on november 8... (audience reacts) when... okay, okay, when we win on november 8 ( cheers and applause )

>> reporter: trump hit on familiar themes: protecting borders, improving the economy, and then he touched on the latest clinton news: e-mails about corporations that donated to the clinton foundation, and paid bill clinton to speak as well. >> if the clinton's were willing to play this fast and loose with their enterprise when they weren't in the white house, imagine what they will do when they are in the white house. >> reporter: separately, in an abc interview, that aired today, trump faced a question about after the election, and how he'd handle his sharp divide with clinton. >> if she wins, are you prepared to work with her? >> i just wanna make that decision at a later date. i'm not saying i'm not or i am. hopefully, i won't have to make that decision. i really believe we're gonna win. >> reporter: similarly, on her campaign plane last night clinton was asked if she would meet with trump after it's over? she also demurred. >> i certainly intend to reach out to republicans and

independents, and the elected leadership of the congress. >> reporter: clinton's day today was not about hop-scotching. there was just one big event, in the all-critical north carolina with one of her party's biggest surrogates on stage with her, clinton pushed her new plan to fight bullies... >> the young woman i met in iowa, who told me she was bullied because of her asthma. this has got to stop. and i can't think of anything more important than making sure every single one of our children knows they are loved just as they are. >> reporter: and then the candidate introduced the first lady: >> when you hear folks talking about a global conspiracy, and saying that this election is rigged, understand that they are trying to get you to stay home. make no mistake about it, casting our vote is the ultimate way we go high when they go low. voting is our high.

>> reporter: it's not the final week, but in stump speeches, and in campaign ads, the it sounds some final arguments are beginning. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> sreenivasan: in the day's other news, thousands of people in central italy are homeless after two powerful earthquakes. the tremors hit last night near the town of visso, about 100 miles north of rome. state tv captured a 15th-century church as it was brought down, and drone footage today showed the full extent of the destruction. hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed as well. >> woodruff: there's been another migrant disaster in the mediterranean. libya's navy reports at least 90 people drowned wednesday when their rubber boat tore apart. 29 others were rescued, about 26 miles off the libyan coast. most were african nationals. >> sreenivasan: a deadly air strike on a school in syria touched off allegations of war crimes today, and heated denials. it happened wednesday in rebel territory in idlib province. u.n. officials say 22 children

and six teachers died. amateur video showed a parachute floating to earth, then an explosion, and rescue workers pulling victims from the wreckage. u.n. envoy gordon brown called it an atrocity. >> this is clearly a war crime if it is a deliberate attack on a school. the statute for the international criminal court makes that absolutely clear that this is under their view a war crime when a school is targeted. >> sreenivasan: the white house blamed russia and syria for the attack, but the kremlin insisted its jets were not responsible. >> woodruff: the government of pakistan moved today to ban protests in the capital, islamabad, for two months. hours later, police rounded up dozens of supporters of imran khan, the leader of the opposition. khan, in turn, called a nationwide protest against prime minister nawaz sharif, for tomorrow. sharif is embroiled in a scandal involving his family's offshore bank accounts. >> sreenivasan: back in this country, the justice department

has charged 61 people here and abroad with a sweeping scam that netted more than $300 million. officials say callers based in india posed as i.r.s. or immigration agents and demanded payments of allegedly outstanding taxes or other fees. they victimized at least 15,000 people-- mostly the elderly and immigrants. >> many of the victims in this case are savvy, successful, and law-abiding people. these scammers in this case, and in so many cases like this, are convincing. they are menacing and they are ruthless in their pursuit of their victims. they convey authority and a sense of urgency that leaves their victims terrified. >> sreenivasan: federal agents have served warrants in eight states and arrested at least 20 people so far. >> woodruff: in north dakota, soldiers and police have begun removing and arresting protesters against the dakota access oil pipeline. about 200 people had camped on private land, trying to block construction, and they refused to leave voluntarily. they say the pipeline could

damage cultural sites and water supplies for the standing rock sioux tribe. >> sreenivasan: in economic news, twitter announced it's killing its mobile video app, "vine," and laying off nine percent of its global work force, about 300 people. the company is losing money and has been searching for a buyer. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 29 points to close at 18,169. the nasdaq fell 34 points, the s&p 500 slipped six. still to come on the newshour, new allegations against justice clarence thomas. the republican party's challenge with women. new emails that show bill clinton profiting from clinton foundation donors. how americans' economic prosperity could be masking future threats, and much more. >> woodruff: there are new allegations coming out today of sexual assault aimed at supreme court justice clarence thomas.

marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the "national law journal" and a newshour regular, broke the story and joins us now. marcia, welcome to the program. you cover the supreme court. >> yes. >> woodruff: how did this come to your attention? >> well, the evening of the day all of us were reading about donald trump's audiotape in which he talked about how he treated women, morris smith, who is a lawyer and executive at natural gas company in alaska, put a post on her facebook page in which she recounted three instances of inappropriate touching, even sexual assault, in her life, and one of the incidents that she mentioned involved justice clarence thomas. back in 1999, when she was just shy of her 24th birthday, she was a truman foundation scholar here in washington, d.c., and she was at a dinner party hosted

by her boss at the time at the foundation, and justice thomas was there with some other guests. she claimed that he groped her at that dinner. a friend of hers sent a copy of the facebook post to me in a private twitter message and, after discussing it with my editors, we felt we should open the line of communication with her. i called her, with no commitment to publish anything, to see if she wanted to talk. she did not seek us out, and we did not go hunting for her. >her. >> woodruff: you say this is a dinner party that involved a group she was part of, her employer was having the dinner. how did she happen to be next to, adjacent to the justice? >> she was called a resident scholar, she basically helped the foundation with its

activities, and part of her unofficial duties was to be at the dinner parties that the director of the foundation used to network. this was a special dinner if which the foundation was planning to give an award to a kansas state legislator and justice thomas was invited because he was going to give the award the next day at the supreme court. she claims she was there doing preparations and doing final setting of the table for the dinner. most of the guests, she said, were in the kitchen with her boss, who was a gourmet chef. when she was setting the table next to the justice is when she claims that he reached out and grabbed her with his right arm about five to six inches below the waste and squeezed her several times while asking her where was she going to sit, he thought she should sit next to

him, and she eventually broke away. >> woodruff: that night, she didn't say anythingto anyone at the party. >> no. >> woodruff: but she did later? >> based on my conversations we had almost daily, while listening to her, i began to report out to see if there was any corroboration, and i found she had three roommates, thousandsmates that summer in d.c., and i found them and interviewed each of them individually, and even though they were fuzzy, i mean, it's been a long time on the actual details of what she said, they all remembered her telling them about inappropriate behavior by the justice and how they really just didn't know what the do. i also found a fourth person who was a scholar that summer who also remembered her telling him about the incident shortly afterwards. >> woodruff: now, marcia, you have asked the justice about this. tell us about that. >> i approached the -- my editors and i thought we had enough to approach him on tuesday, and i walked the letter over to the court, public information office, in which i

told him specifically what she was claiming in her own words, and then later that evening i followed up with a series of questions. he finally did get back to us late wednesday afternoon, and at that point, he had just one sentence in response. he said, the claim is preposterous and it never happened. >> woodruff: and are you aware, marcia, of any other allegations involving justice choms other than the anita hill? >> no, as i said in the story, there have been no other public allegations against the justice since the anita hill hearings in 1991. >> woodruff: so where does this go from here? >> i think people should read the story. as i often say on the "newshour" when i talk about decisions, i try to give as much information as possible so that people can make up their own minds about what the court has done. this was a thoroughly reported

and carefully edited story and i suggest they read it and make their own decisioner, and we'll see. there has been some reaction. the justice has very loyal supporters. some have come forward with very skeptical comments about the story. >> woodruff: marcia coyle with the "national law journal." thank you for coming to talk to us about it. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: now, to the allegations that donald trump, and some of his surrogates, have not only alienated, but declared war on women this election cycle. this on a day when another woman has come forward to accuse trump of groping her, bringing the total number of accusers to at least 12. the former miss finland in the 2006 miss universe pageant charges that he grabbed her from behind as they were being photographed together. >> such a nasty woman. >> woodruff: the "nasty woman" interjection at the last debate... donald trump standing behind hillary clinton during the

second debate... the "access hollywood" audio tape from 2005 in which he boasted of groping women... and subsequent allegations by 11 women who say trump grabbed or inappropriately kissed them in the past. it's all taking a toll: a poll by the public religion research institute found evangelical christian women, in particular, are breaking away: 58% support trump compared to 77% who voted for mitt romney in 2012. plus, a third of republican women in congress have defected from trump. but, the nominee's male surrogates are on the offensive. this week, former house speaker newt gingrich scolded fox news anchor megyn kelly. >> you are fascinated with sex and you don't care about public policy. >> me, really? >> that's what i get out of watching you tonight. >> you know what, mr. speaker,

i'm not fascinated by sex, but i am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we're getting in the oval office and i think the american voters would like to know... >> and therefore, we're going to send bill clinton back to the east wing because after all, you were worried about the sexual predators. >> woodruff: the exchange elicited praise from trump yesterday: >> we don't play games, newt, right? >> woodruff: but the clinton campaign is hoping to capitalize: >> i'd look her right in that fat ugly face of hers. >> woodruff: ...using trump's own language about women-- in ads that show young girls looking in mirrors. and today, in north carolina, the candidate had this to say... >> i wish i didn't have to say this, right now... but indeed dignity and respect for women and girls is also on the ballot this election. >> woodruff: now, less than two weeks from election day, several polls show clinton leading among women by even more than

president obama's 11-point margin, four years ago. >> woodruff: to explore what's behind some of those numbers, and the fears from some republicans that their party may be alienating female voters for years to come, we are joined by missy shorey, executive director of maggie's list, a political action group that works to elect conservative women to congress. and christine matthews is a republican pollster and president of bellweather research. we welcome both of you to the "newshour". let me start with you, christine matthews. someone you know, i'm sure, nicole wallace tweeted this week, i'm quoting, she said, republicans are engaged in a hot war, her words, against women that will end badly for the party. how do you see what's going on right now? >> i agree. the whole tenor and tone of this campaign has been one in which women voters have been casualties. i think, you know, we've really turned off women. i think the gains we made as a

party in 2014 sort of on the heels of recovering from 2012 where two senate candidates unfortunately used rape analogies in very unfortunate ways, we have made progress. i think this election cycle we've completely regressed, and i think we're going to see an historic gender gap in the lines of 20-plus points. >> reporter: when you say "we've regressed, what are you referring to? >> what i mean is, you know, basically, the democrats have always said, you know, republicans are waging a war on women. and i think that we started in 2014 to have conversations that moved us past that. again, we have the unfortunate comments in 2012 about rape. and in 2014, i think we had some constructive conversations. we won senate races in most of our battleground state. we moved beyond that. now not only are we seen as not sort of modern or with the era, we're seen as completely

regressive cavemen, actually. >> woodruff: you mean because of comments by donald trump, by other republican men supporting him? >> i think because of donald trump, primarily. he set the tone for this. he set it in the primary when he attacked carly fiorina's face and said, you know, look at that face, is that presidential, and it went downhill from there. and i don't think we've seen a lot of republican men stepping up. they said it's unacceptable, but the problem is, in the rub, in many cases, they're still supporting donald trump, and i think the women in the party feel very -- i have to say betrayed, yeah. >> woodruff: missy shorey, as a woman in the republican party, how do you see all this? >> well, thank you, judy. this is a very important conversation, and the way we need to look at it is this is a raw moment in politics. we don't have a perfect candidate. but at the end of the day, this election is really going to come down to our future. it is a pocketbook issue. it is an issue where families

and women and children deserve to have more opportunity and, quite frankly, much more responsible government. and the dialogue we're having today is so distracting because the real issues are utterly ignored. >> woodruff: you're saying you don't take seriously the kerns about what donald trump said in that audiotape, the access hollywood tape, and the accusations by the women who have come forward? >> absolutely, judy, everyone takes it seriously, everyone is concerned, and everyone knows that that behavior is not acceptable. mr. trump has apologized, and i have accepted his apology, and, as a result, many people do. but this is a tough year. people are going to have to look and say where do they want the future of the parties to be? do they want our values of less government and more opportunity to go away? do we want issues of security to be taken off the table? essentially, we're looking at a

terrible personal behavior as opposed to really looking at the policies taking us forward, and that's what's going to keep the party going. christine is right, this is a very tough time for us, but it's important we stand up for our own values. >> woodruff: christine matthews, she's saying the economic issues are more important than phi of this. >> i don't think -- well, i would respectfully disagree. i think that what donald trump has done, the tone that he has set for this campaign has been so damming that it's very difficult to have a conversation about pocketbook issues. it's so over the top, it's so distracting, it's so disrespectful, i, for one, am not beyond that. for me, and i think every woman has to struggle with this, every republican consultant that i know, every woman, this is all we talk about, how difficult this is, how stressful this is, how, you know, with two other women consultants, i started a

firm that was supposed to help us talk to republican women, or all women, really, and we feel almost slapped in the face by this kind of conversation that we're having and, for me, i'm not going to be supporting donald trump, i never was and i never will. the question for myself and other republican consultants and women voters is then what? what do you do? it's not like there's a full embrace of hillary clinton on the republican side. you know, republican women don't like her either. so then the question is what do you do? >> well, let me come back to missy shorey. you hear what christine is saying, that when republican women get together, they can't get past that has happened in this campaign. >> well, maybe some people, that's their case, and maybe that's kind of a mindset of a consultant. but for those of us who are grassroots activists, we have to respect democracy. millions of people came out and voted in the primaries on a level they never have before and, as a result, there is something there, there's a core donald trump has -- a chord

trump touched on. do i share her concerns on many levels? yes, i do, and i think every woman does, but this is not going to be the only issue that's here. we really knead to look at the the bigger picture. i also say, let's elect more women to office so we have more options going forward. let's look at the future of what's there. and i will tell you that when i speak with my other republican women, yes, this comes up, but it's not the only thing we're talking about. we're talking about many things in terms of do we want a culture of corruption going forward we've seen with the clinton white house and we'll see in the next one? or do we want a situation where we can have opportunity, economic prosperity and security? those are things that are important and that we can get the kind of supreme court that we need for this country to protect our constitutional rights that just have not been brought there. these are things that people are having a hard time getting into and past because of the issues at hand. they are serious, but they're not the only issues. >> woodruff: christine matthews, what about her comment that, well, consultants may feel

this way but we're out here in the trenches. >> i'm a consultant but i do research among women voters, also. women voters are expressing despair. republican and independent women voters, i'm hearing words like despair, agony. they are very unhappy with what they have seen in terms of how donald trump has talked about women, so it's not just like the professional class in d.c. that is concerned about this. i am. my friends here are, but so are the voters, so are the women i talk to as part of my research every day. >> woodruff: how do you see this getting resolved? i want to ask both of you this question. >> i am concerned, actually. i think the republican roster is going to shrink. i think a number of women who worked in this field and have worked in this field for decades have declared themselves free agents, and they're going to say a party that basically rejected other qualified candidates and is supporting donald trump a party who, you know, we're seeing because of donald trump, you know, vladimir putin's

favorability is rising, paul ryan's shrinking, where is my role in this? so i think you will see a number of women say my time and talent are worth something and i'm not sure this is something i'm going to continue to do. >> woodruff: missy shorey, how do you think see -- how do you see this getting resolved? >> i think we need to say what do we stand for as individuals, americans, and where do we see the future of this country and standing up for policies and programs the better way paul ryan has put forward, and the first 100 days of what donald trump said. is he a perfect candidate? no. but the reality is we have to weigh the future of our country with this. i do think we have a lot of soul searching to do as a party, christine is absolutely right, but the issue is do we let other people define who we are as a party or do we embrace our principles, move forward and relentlessly advocate for them? >> woodruff: well, i know both of you are going to be continuing to think about this

hard until election day and beyond. missy shorey, christine matthews, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the hacked clinton campaign emails published by the anti-secrecy wikileaks provide new details on an issue that's been dogging hillary clinton for some time: the relationship between the charitable clinton foundation and the clinton's personal wealth. to put it in context here's john yang. >> yang: hillary clinton has said job one after she and her husband left the white house in 1997 was making money. she talked about it in a 2014 abc news interview. >> we had no money when we got there and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for chelsea's education, you know, it was not easy. first of all, we had to pay off all our debts, which was, you know, you had to make double the money because of, obviously taxes, and pay off the debt and get us houses and take care of family members.

>> yang: now, documents and messages in stolen clinton campaign emails suggest the clinton foundation may have been part of that. they're written by doug band-- a white house aide to bill clinton, a central figure at the clinton foundation and creator of the annual clinton global initiative meetings. in november 2011, he wrote a memo describing the intersection of his foundation fundraising efforts and his management of president clinton's "for-profit business opportunities" -- which band called "bill clinton inc." for example: the for-profit laureate international universities, which gave more than $1 million to the foundation. band called it "a foundation relationship that evolved into a personal advisory services business relationship for president clinton," who made more than $17 million over five years a consultant and honorary chancellor. u.b.s. wealth management gave the foundation more than a half-

million dollars. band said his firm "encouraged" u.b.s. "to invite president clinton to give several paid speeches, which he has done." clinton's fees: $900,000. or gems education, which gave $780,000. band said the "relationship has grown into a business relationship for president clinton." band wrote the memo as part of an internal audit which began after chelsea clinton accused him of "hustling' business" at c.g.i. meetings. it appears to have triggered some personal hostility. in november 2011, band complained that she was "acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do." there's also evidence the clinton campaign was concerned about the foundation's activities. in june 2015, campaign manager robby mook wrote campaign chairman john podesta: "do they plan to do big events next year? possible for those to be smaller and lower key in 16?" today, a clinton campaign spokesman wouldn't confirm the

authenticity of the emails, which he said were "hacked by the russian government to influence the election by weaponizing wikileaks." for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> sreenivasan: now, new rules for broadband providers when it comes to collecting and sharing customer data. the federal communications commission voted for the first time today to create protections on the transmission of personal information from broadband providers. tom wheeler is the chairman of the f.c.c. and he joins me now. what is a provider going to have to do under these new rules? >> the key thing is it is the consumers' information, not the networks' information. and the consumer, now, has the choice to say how they want that information to be used and if they want it to be used. so there are really three key things -- one, there has to be

transparency that the consumers have to be told here's what we're doing with your information. two, they have to have choice, so do you want to opt in or opt out of this kind of service. and three, that data has to be stored securely and consumers have to know if there is a data breech. >> sreenivasan: you've ex parched of the definition of data. businesses pushed back saying the browsing history, usage, internet industries have all that and you're placing undue burdens on me, verizon, at&t, et cetera. >> what we're talking about is not the fact that you may go to a dozen sites that each will get a little mitt by the of information. we're talking about the network that takes you to every site and knows everything you're doing, and that's the big difference. you hire the network to deliver you to those sites. you don't hire the network to

take your information without your permission and turn around and resell it. >> sreenivasan: businesses are also saying, listen, this is part of our marketing or how we actually make money is off of this consumer data, and if the f.c.c. does this, what about if the consumer gets charged more, almost a privacy fee, a tax if i want to stay private? >> let's go back to the fact that nothing says they can't use this information, just that they have to ask permission, okay. so that's step one. step two is that pay for privacy -- we don't want privacy to become some kind of a luxury item, but we want to look at that on a case-by-case basis in terms of how does policies that affect pricing, that are what are the specifics of those rather than looking at them on a broad basis. >> sreenivasan: right now this is limited to broadband

providers. there are a lot of companies now who have more than a broadband provider. they also own content creators, do both distribution and creation. what about the fact i'm with at&t, there is the satellite, the cell phone, all kinds of things where my data could be stored and transmitted. this seems to just cover a small sliver. >> so if your communications company is engaged -- has other communications activities, they can share the information, but if they have not only communications activities such as their own web site or they're taking you to other web sites, that information is your information, andeth not information that they have ability to turn around and sell without your permission. >> sreenivasan: what have you learned now, looking back -- five years ago, the merger of comcast or the acquisition by comcast, not on your desk, but

more likely than not at&t is trying to buy time warner and it's going to show up in the f.c.c., what have you learned that worked and didn't and what would you codifferently? >> right, it's not on our desk yet and we don't know the parameters, and our job is to develop the facts of the case and make a decision based on those facts. i think what's more important is to say five years is a long tame. let's look at specifically what's happening today, what the marketplace looks like today and let's make a decision based on that, if, in fact, this ends up on our plate. >> sreenivasan: so is there something you can say that, you know what, these kind of restrictions didn't pan out or these restrictions that are only going to be in place till 2018 if that's what the structure of that deal was, they need to be changed because the marketas changed so much already? >> first you have to say what are the specific circumstances in the item that you're looking at right then, and then go from

there, and we don't have that basis yet. >> sreenivasan: finally, you've had a lot come on your plate reclassifying broadband as a utility, net neutrality, and when you came in, you came from the cable industry, and people said, look at this, he's going to give them a free pass. has this job changed your perspective especially on the public comments you're seeing here? >> i'm is same person i always was. my career has been representing the insurgence against the incumbent. i was always for the folks who were bringing more competition, and the mantra of my term with the f.c.c. has been competition, competition, competition. >> sreenivasan: tom wheeler, chairman of the f.c.c., thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a young minnesota boy chosen to

become a great buddhist leader. and chef anthony bourdain explains his hunger for new adventures. but first, much of this election campaign has focused on worries over stagnation and whether the country is heading in the right direction. tonight, we have a conversation that takes a much longer view, about the price, and paradox, of the country's historical prosperity. our economics corrspondent, paul solman has our look, part of his weekly series, "making sense." >> washington, d.c.'s a beautiful city: greek-roman architecture, our society is based on those empires, but they're gone. so why do we think our country is going to defy all of human history? >> reporter: because empires, asserts republican economist todd buchholz, are so often forced to pay "the price of prosperity." >> they undermine themselves and they do that by racking up the more debt, by having fewer

babies born, by more regulation and it's difficult to keep up patriotism as time goes by. >> reporter: "the price of prosperity" is buchholz's downbeat new book, a dissonant contrast to its upbeat author. >> ♪ oh what a night! >> reporter: buchholz was an original investor in the musical mega-hit "jersey boys," author of the best-selling "new ideas from dead economists," director of economic policy under president george h.w. bush, pushing economic growth optimistically. but he rails at what we've become: a people that want everything, but won't pay for it themselves, and thus, in the first of his symptoms of prosperity malaise, have run up a $19 trillion national debt. and how, exactly? >> because people will lend to us, and because we don't work because the u.s. is a rich country, we don't seem to have the need yet to discipline ourselves.

>> reporter: but in the future there will be fewer americans to cough up the taxes to pay the debt, our fertility having fallen below the replacement rate for the first time in our history. low fertility is buchholz's symptom number two. >> this was a hospital. this is where my kids were born. lots of d.c. kids were born here but it's not a hospital anymore. it's condos. you know throughout the world, throughout history, when countries get rich, they stop having kids. >> reporter: because... who needs them? >> rich countries don't need as many children. we used to need kids to work in the fields as farmhands, to crawl on their bellies into coal mines. well, kids are more like luxury objects now. >> reporter: so the richer we get the fewer kids we have, but is that a bad thing? >> you need somebody to support the retirees. you need to pay into the pension plans. you need people to work at the hospitals, at the nursing homes. if you haven't produced enough

babies to do that... >> reporter: ...you need immigration, supposed symptom number three. >> it was a tremendous advantage for the united states for most of the 20th century. but if you have waves of immigration, you better figure out a way to turn those immigrants into red-blooded americans or else you end up splintering the society. >> reporter: look at today's anti-immigrant backlash, says buchholz-- against those who learn very little english, practice a different religion, come here illegally, like, we were told, some of these day laborers from mexico and central america. they shape up at the parking lot next to our newshour headquarters in arlington, virginia hoping for the most basic work. luis hernandez gets hired two to three days a week, he says, at $15 an hour and up. >> renovation.

kitchen, bathroom, the floors, yes. >> reporter: he sends money back to his family in guatemala. jose reyes sends money back to honduras to support his wife and three kids. how much do you send back to honduras? >> maybe, for month, maybe $500? >> i admire these men for working so hard on behalf of their wives and their children, but when they're doing the work and then sending the money back home, we do have to ask, does that really contribute as much to the american economy as if they were devoted to actually being here and staying here? >> reporter: but there are immigrants serving as doctors in hospitals, professors at universities. they come, they stay, they contribute, no? >> it's a good thing we have immigrant doctors and immigrant engineers because if you or i get sick this afternoon, we're going to go to the hospital, we're going to hope someone serves us. >> reporter: but these workers

are doing work almost anyone could do, illustrating a fourth price of prosperity: as a country gets richer, claims buchholz: its work ethic erodes. tony barajas is the site's coordinator. why wouldn't americans, many of whom are still out of work, not take jobs like this where you can show up and make what 700 bucks a week, something like that? >> nobody wants to do those jobs and i know it's kind of cliché to even say that, but that is a fact. >> maybe for pay is too cheap, you know, it may be the job is too hard, you know? >> reporter: and while these guys wait for work, many legal americans their age can afford to do otherwise. >> we're prosperous enough that we can afford to have one in six able-bodied men of working age, sitting at home playing video games. >> reporter: last stop on our price of prosperity tour:

theodore roosevelt island, splitting the potomac between virginia and d.c., and a backdrop for buchholz's conclusion. >> when teddy roosevelt was around, there was an ottoman empire there was a hapsburg empire, they controlled millions of people across africa, the middle east and europe and they're gone. prosperity killed them, because they didn't have a way to hold the people together. they didn't have the rituals and the holidays and the pride in their country and that's what we need if we're going to hold ourselves together during periods of prosperity. >> reporter: so buchholz has remedies: big tax credits for having more kids; bonuses for starting to work young and for getting off unemployment insurance; make immigrants and students applying for federal loans visit patriotic sites like this one. >> i would require them to get their passport stamped, not just at j.f.k. or whatever airport they arrive at, i would require

them to go to at least five national monuments or museums, maybe here at teddy roosevelt island or the smithsonian or the museum of tolerance. to demonstrate that they are trying to learn something about american history and you know what? i would require the same thing of american students. >> reporter: i had one final question. do you think the rancor of this election is symptomatic of the kind of dissolution of america you're talking about? >> i think this is a corrosive election and i think it does reflect deep divisions and distrust of our fellow countrymen. half of americans look at the other half and say, they're too lazy or they're not willing to get up and go to school and the other half looks and sees a bunch of fat cats and talks about income inequality. >> reporter: hardly a new theme in often contentious america.

but it sure seems at odds with hopeful sanctuaries of the past, like teddy roosevelt island. for the pbs newshour, this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from washington, d.c. >> sreenivasan: the tradition of re-birth is a central tenet in the buddhist religion, and when spiritual leaders, or lamas, die, there's an elaborate process of identifying their reincarnation. it's usually an infant. one such young lama was identified a few years ago, far away from his himalayan roots. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports from minnesota. >> reporter: they are chants more likely heard in a himalayan monastery than a working class minneapolis suburb. but it's here in columbia heights, minnesota that nine- year-old jalue dorje begins the

day in a routine of tibetan buddhist mantras-coached by his father. a bit later, there are house calls from volunteer teachers: in modern tibetan; in the calligraphy of the ancient scriptures. >> he has really motivation to learn and especially and even i know him, he's tired but he says no i'm not tired. i want to continue, you know. so that also motivated me to teach him. >> reporter: it's a fitting trait because jalue dorje has been recognized as a reincarnation of takshem karma yongdu choekyi nima, an eminent senior lama or spiritual leader who died nine years ago. he would be the 8th reincarnation of the first takshem lama, who lived in the 16th century. in tibetan tradition, the process of recognizing a reincarnate varies, depending on circumstances.

spiritual masters divine from a variety of signals. in the case of jalue dorje, it was the dream of a senior monk who had visited jalue's home in minnesota, which is home to some 3,000 tibetan americas, the second in size only to new york. in that dream, tigers roamed in every room of jalue's house. it was a critical clue in the search for the takshem lama's reincarnation. >> the takshem lamas, they used to wear skirts of the tiger skin, so then i also thought, this might be right, you know, because takshem lama was passed away year before and everybody was trying to find his reincarnation. >> reporter: the question of whether that reincarnation is indeed jalue dorje went all the way up to the dalai lama, spiritual head of tibetan buddhism >> then his holiness' prediction was the same and many other high lamas, and so he was confirmed.

>> reporter: in the old days, the boy would be moved to a monastery in tibet, or now in india, where the dalai lama and thousands of followers have lived in exile since 1959. however, the dalai lama suggested that jalue's monastic education be deferred until he's a bit older. the spiritual leader has emphasized that tibetans-or all buddhists-must reconcile their traditional belief system with the modern world. >> i always appeal we buddhist should be 21st century buddhist. >> reporter: for jalue dorje that means immersion in ceremony and scripture on one hand and on the other a fairly typical 21st century minnesota upbringing. soccer and swimming are favorite pastimes-as are more sedentary ones, isolated in headphones and a laptop computer. all this will soon change drastically in a himalayan monastery, perhaps in a couple of years, though an exact date

has not yet been determined. after about ten years in india, he is to return to minnesota as a spiritual leader. when you grow older and you've completed your studies, what do you think you'll be doing for people? >> i'll be praying for them, i'll be chanting for them. >> reporter: when i asked what those chants mean, he responded after consulting with his dad, who sat in on our conversation. >> its like meaning of how to help. how your body works, to be nice and to have peace and... yeah. >> reporter: not every young lama fully embraces the rigorous altruistic calling of meditation and service to others. the modern world can be filled with distraction

all this adds pressure on jalue's parents, who labor long hours doing janitorial jobs in minneapolis. devout buddhists, they say they were honored-and a bit awed-when they learned of the boy's recognition-- something that has even brought them into close quarters with the dalai lama. >> it was the first time in my 40 years i got to see his holiness the dalai lama. it is overwhelming for me because ordinary people don't normally have the opportunity to meet him. >> i'm happy that he has the chance to learn about the modern world as well as the eastern spiritual wisdom-both combined right from childhood. its going to be good. >> reporter: but like every other parent of a nine year old- he has strategies-mainly an incentive system to keep his son on task. every time you memorize a set of scriptures, you get a toy at target, like a set of pokemon cards or something? >> yes, mostly that. >> reporter: he's learning to strike a balance in life-even as ceremonial obligations are being added to his routine.

at this gathering celebrating the birthday of the karmapa lama, a major spiritual leader, dorje came prepared with a book that's popular with grade school readers. what's the book? >> "the diary of a wimpy kid old school." >> reporter: did you bring pokemon cards? >> i snuck them. >> reporter: does your dad know that? >> no! >> reporter: so, we agreed to keep it a secret between him and the television audience. for the record, the pokemon cards remained out of sight and jalue dorje remained as attentive as any adult through the three-hour ceremony. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in columbia heights, minnesota. >> sreenivasan: fred's reporting is a partnership with the undertold stories project at the university of st. thomas, in minnesota and a version of this report aired on the pbs program "religion and ethics newsweekly."

>> woodruff: now to another in our "brief but spectacular" series, where we ask interesting people to share their passions. tonight, we hear from anthony bourdain, who sheds light on kitchens around the planet for his cnn series "parts unknown, and whose book, "appetites" was released this week. how did i get from, you know, dunking breaded clams in hot grease to where i am today? (bleep) if i know. >> this is the kind of angry, extremely unpleasant person i was in college. i actually walked around campus with nunchucks and would show up at an occasional social function bearing a samurai sword. i look at that with some embarrassment, but then again what were you doing in the '70s? i wanted to become a heroin

addict. i was proud when i first shot up. i was an awkward guy whose only success socially was to be the baddest guy in the room. and how do you wind up a whiney, pathetic, needy person, i learned every less son i needed in the rest of my life as a dishwasher. it was the first time i went home respecting myself. in the good old bad days, it was a hazing period in the european tradition. a part of me misses that. on the other hand, hitting people in the workplace is on balance not a good thing. i live life with a guiden principle, you have three or four good ingredients and the most important thing is not screw them up. treat them with a little respect. all of america who cook in their backyard insist on ruining a perfectly good hunk of meat again and again. leave it alone. let it rest. food may not be the answer to world peace, but it's a start. i was thinking of ted nugent. i find everything that comes out

of his mouth violently offensive, but we both like barbecue. that's common ground for discussion and surely that's not a bad thing. the ground rule is if i'm going to grandma's house, i will eat what grandma puts on the plate and i will smile and ask for seconds and say, thank you, grandma. i respect vegetarian's personal life choice -- actually, i don't, screw you -- but let's pretend i do. all my personal relationshipships around the world go with a respect for what they put on my plate. i can't sit there and go, i can't -- do you have a spinach salad? it would be interpreted as insulting in those cultures. it's a blessing and curse that i can always go back to brunch, no matter what happens in my life. nobody needs brunch. despite its ridiculousness, if this tv thing doesn't work out, there's a brunch gig.

my name is anthony bourdain and this is a "brief but spectacular" take on this is my hunger. >> woodruff: sorry we didn't know him in college. >> we lost one vegetarian viewer right there. >> woodruff: and you can watch additional brief but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. on the newshour online right now, a new study finds that perceptions that boys do better than girls in math start in kindergarten, despite efforts to close the gender gap. also, areas afflicted by violence from boko haram are now suffering a new nightmare. find a photo essay of children and their mothers who are victims of a hunger crisis in nigeria. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: on charlie rose tonight, the cast of "the crown," a new netflix series on the life of britain's queen elizabeth ii. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks.

for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention. in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by

newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> stories impact that inspire, engage. on help making economic sense, education, science and technology, and the arts. every night on pbs.

>> announcer: this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. a tale of two tech stocks. one beat earnings expectations by a lot. the other missed by a lot. and one may be a better long term investment than the other. protecting your privacy. broadband providers now need your permission to sell your digital information. a win for consumers. a blow for telecom and cable companies. final stretch. why issues surrounding trade and agriculture could tip the scales in the battleground state of georgia. those stories and more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday, october 27th. good evening, everyone, and welcome. two powerful tech companies