captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. eyon the newshour tonight, republican senators join democrats in condemning present trump's attacks on christine blasey ford, placing brett vanaugh's confirmation in further doubt. then, two major terviews: our special correspondent questions vladimir putinbout russia's role in the world and relations with the.s. and i sit down with federal reserve chairman jerome powell to discuss economic risks a decade after the financial crisis. plus, we take a look inside the effort to protect south florida from the dangers of major storms and rising seas brought about by

climate change. >> we're vulnerable to flooding. we're obviously vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. and nowadays, the typical rainstorms that we would get in south florida in the afternoons, seem to be getting more pronounc >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr by: ♪ ♪ s.ving our economy for 160 year bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving livio through inve in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur focodation. itted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: wa >> this programade possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs

station from viewers like you. thank you. p >> woodrufsident trump has triggered fresh cries of foul today, in the fight over supreme pourt nominee brett kavanaugh. white house corresent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> the president's comments were just plain wrong. >> i wish he hadn't done it. it's kind of appalling. >> alcindor: president trump mocking brett kavanaugh's accuser. and key republican senators outraged. >> a man's life is shattered. >> alcindor: last nin southhaven, mississippi, mr. trump went after christine blaseyidord. she avanaugh sexual assaulted her in high school. le president made fun of ford's senate testimot week with his own, sometimes inaccurate version, of her memory lapses. >> how did you get home? i don't remember. how did you get there? i don't remember. where is the place? i don't remember.

how many years ago was it? i don't know. i don't know. (cheering) >> alcindor: the president had previously called ford a "very credible witness." after last night, ford's lawyer tweeted that the president's words were "vicious, vile and soulless." this morning, senate democrats took up the cry: >> president trump's outright a mockery exual assault survivor, riddled as it was with falsehoods, was reprehensible. >> it was outrageous. there's no other way to describe it. >> alcindor: the attack played ndespecially poorly with uided republicans, including alaska's lisa mllkowski. she ed the remarks "unacceptable." wht top presidential aides, like ite house counselor kellyanne conway, defended mr. trump's handling of ford's story. >> she's been treated like a faberge egg by all of th, beginning e and the r:esident. >> alcindo and this afternoon, press secretary sarah sanders said several times >> the president was stating facts.

>> alcindor: meanwhileveral republican senators said the f.b.i. is almost done with the reopened background check of kavanaugh. acat's despite complaints from hisers, and democrats, eeat a number of potential witnesses have not interviewed, including christine blasey ford herself. democrats are demanding that some version of the f.b.i.'s findings be madee ublic before nate votes on kavanaugh. delaware senator and judiciary committee member chris coons: he i do think a summary of report that doesn't identify specific individuals or allegations, but that says this is how many, this is rough topics presented, i do think in the interest of transparency would be appropriate for the fbi or the senate to relea a isport like that. >> alcindor: lna republican and senate judiciary committee member john kennedy agrees. >> normally, our background fbi investigations are not made public because of privacy rights of the person being investigated, but i think this

ld an instance where it sh be. i trust the american people to draw their own conclusio. >> alcindor: as both sides wait for the f.b.i.'s findings, capitol police have stepped up security for senators, including police escorts. today, police forced reporrs susan collins' office for what they said were safety reasons. all the while, senate debate on the nomination is continuing. majority leader mitch mcconnell said again today he's proceeding >>ward a vote. t's time to put this embarrassing spectacle behind us. the american people are sick of the display that's been put on here in the united states senate in the guise of occonfirmation s. di alcindor: as of tonight, there's no firm tion of whether kavanaugh has the votes to win senate confirmation. >> woodruff: yamiche joins me now, along with our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins.

hello to both of you. yamiche, as you point out in that reported, originally president trump was respectful of dr. ford. he said she was someone who was credible. lthen the change of tont night, he's mocking her. what was behind the thinking there? >> well, th nominatihas really become a moment of cultural reckoning. and president trump is responding to how polarized everyone has become. he senses this us versus me eementality. he as though he wants to give the crowd what they're asking for. the crowd last night wasla hing and clapping as he mocked dr. ford. that's just as important as the president mocking her. this idea tht republicans are really feeling energized by this is backed up by a new poll that came out, pbs newshour, npr, and perris put out a pol inchly 2018, democrats had a ten-point lead over republica when it came to who thought these mid-term elections were very important. so you have this idea that democrats really felt as though this is really important.

that has also evaporated. the poll now shows that 82% of democrats describe the mid-terps es very important and 80% of republicans alsoribe the mid-terps as very important. democrats, that should be really bad news for them, because democrats have been talking about this tlue wave,king about taking back the house, even the senate, and now what you have are repblicans saying, this nomination is why i might go to the polls. >> woodruff: so energizing republicans. but you've been talking to ople at the white house. how concerned are they or are they concerned that this could cost them somehow in the mid-terms, especially among women voter >> the president let loose last night, so the simple answer is no, they are not concerned about this. sarasarah sanders said the prest was stating the factsot. he'sorried about whether or not lisa murkowski or susan j collins f flake will look at his comments and say, this has really gottn out of hand d i can't vote for brett kavanaugh. the president is going to go with his g this isn't a large change of

strategy. it's really the president looking at that crowd and saying, i'm going to give them what they want. >> woodruff: lisa, there are some late-day developments on the part of senat odemocra the judiciary committee. what are you hearing? >> a lot to talk about tonight. we just saw a letter posted by dick durbin, the number-two democrat in the senate and he'on he senate judiciary committee. be posted a letter questioning a tweet by repcans in which they said that the f.b.i. background checks to this point on many kavanaugh have come up tith not a whiff of any issue relateo either inappropriate sexual behavior or with inappropriate behavior with alcohol. that's what the republicans tweeted out. dick durbin has said, we reviewed these les confidentially, and this is inaccurate. what he's saying is, past f.b.i. atckground checks have come up with something r to inappropriate behavior either sexual or alcoholic, but judy, is is alassic tit for tat, and everyone using any kind ofy weapon tn at this moment as we wait for f.b.i. report.

>> woodruff: so state of play right now, lisa. if the f.b.i. continues, doesn't talk to kavanaugh, doesn't talk to dr. ford, what does it lk like? >> well, i spoke a short while ago from a senate republican judiciary source who said they have put no limiton the f.b.i., that the f.b.i. is free to talk to both dr. ford and judge kavanaugh, but it's the f.b.i.'s choice, it is possible that the f.b.i. will just use the committee testimony as the sis of its report. they're saying it's not any limits that they've put on this, but i think what yamiche said is very important. i do not think lisa lisa murkowi and susan collins, the are not going to vote based on what the president says. so he's nogt takin a risk. i think there are biggetir qus about votes. democrat joe manchin said he is still firmly undecid also his office confirmed to me reat chuck schumer is not really putting presn him, maybe because chuck schum

democratic president on these undecided votes might not help them at all. i think we're seeing another figure from a poll very quickly. the partisan divide on this question is unbelievable. do you pport or oppose the nomination of brett kavanaugh. look at that. republicans 88% support it.s but democr% oppose. that divide is getting larger. >> woodruff: yamiche, bloomberg news is reporting that the f.b.i. says the reason they're not talki tngbrett kavanaugh, to dr. ford is because the white house has told what is the white house saying about that? >> the white house is pointing to the senate and saying the ball is in their court. sarah sanders said fro the podium that they're deferring all of their direction from the senate the issue with that of course is that the f.b.i. is really something that is really an organition, an agency that answers to the white house. it's the white house who can tell the f.b.i. what to do, not the senate. i talked to a already, a republican lawyer who has gone

through vetting judicial nominees for republicans in the past. that lawyer told me tha in normal times the senate would request the f.b.i. to make so sort of investigation or some sort of supplenl background check and the white house would pass off that information. in this case, that rlly coul not be the case inch this case we're not in formal times. so it's not beyond doubt that the white house could say, you know what, i wt the f.b.i. to only look at this and look at that. but this lawyer said that it would be very unusual for th white house or the senate to tell the f.b.i., do not talk to these two people. that person said, what is reallp likelyning is that the f.b.i. is making a cal claights reying, if we have a week to do this and there 40 people we want to talk to, here are the people we need the prioritizat all being said, tonight in. ford's lawyers came out with a letter sthat they will not -- that they want the f.b.i. to talk to their client and that they won't give up her therapist notes or her polygraph notes that she took to senator grassley as he's requested

unless f.b.i. talks to her. r lly her lawyers are pushing for that interview. >> woodruff: fascinating q lisa, veckly here at the end, you've been talking to republicans about theiasconcerns anhey intersect with this poll. >> woodruff: yamiche reported that the white house may not be worried about the mid-terms but congressional republicans are. here's why. let's look at something in this isll about white women. s a critical vote for republicans. a majority of white women voted for president trump. look at when asked, do they oppose or support the nomination of brett kavanaugh, look at that split. white women 45% oppose this nomination versus white men 30%. and i spoke to members of congress who said ey are seeing that gender split. they're worried about what that reans in november. women turn out than men at the polls in mid-terms. >> wdruff: we'll be wating that as we get closer to mid-terms. lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor following this kavanaugh story. thank you both. ew

in the day's other the confirmed number of dead in indonesia's earthquake and tsunami rose again, to more than 400. some 70,000 people remained homeless, as aid slowly trickled in. jonathan miller of indendent television news, reports. >> reporter: people are trying to put their lives back together again. but when your home has been t'ushed and splintered, as thoughbeen trampled by giants, it's hard to know where to start. age tsunami left little to salv outside assistance is now getting in, food and, earth-movers, petrol-tankers, now coming down the - battered coastal strip into palu. we went the other way, to donggala, close to the quake's epicentre. the fishing port took a bashing. only around 50 people died here, 20 still missing. near the harbor, 33 houses wer consumed by the raging sea; there are several dead bodies still in there

so close was this place to the epicenter, the first of several waves hit within a minute of the quake. six members of rainaldi's family died, including alfaril, his onlyon, just a toddler. >> ( translat ): when it happened, my wife was holding the baby. she couldn't swim and she could not hold onto him. the baby was taken and she was knocked unconscious by falling concrete. she was found a kilometer-and-a- half away. still alive. se and ears were full of sand. >> reporter: the indonesian government has come under fire for reacting too slowly and its failure to get aid in fast enough. s e military has been airlifting supplies in, but tarea is remote; roads were completely blocked and impassable for several da, and in the mountains, most still are.

not far from donggala, the former village of loli saluran, leveled by the tsunami. today, on his second visit to the disaster zone, the indonesian preside met some survivors, who he told to be patient, promising help would arrive soon. whthis part of the world ie tectonic plates collide. a seismic fault runs straight doe the middle of bay there. this is the third tsunami inside a century. every generation has a tsunami story to tell.th tsunami of 2018 will be etched on the memories ofhe anotgeneration. the regularity of these events might bolster people's cynicism, but it doesn't make them any less deadly. >> woodruff: that report from onnathan miller of independent televiews. the white house today stepped up its denial that president trump dud his father engaged in legallous schemes to avoid

inheritance taxes. "the new york times" reported the allegations, based on mitensive reviews of the 's financial documents. ident called it "a very old, boring and often-told hit foece", and press secretary sarah sanderowed suit. e the president's lawyer addressed some of ecific claims and walked through how ndthe allegations of fraudax evasion are 100% false and highly defamatory. there was no fraud and t evasion by anyone. >> woodruff: the new york state tax department said it is reviewing the allegations. the presidenpris ramping up sure on saudi arabia, over oil prices. at his rly last night, he pushed the saudis again to help u.t prices. and, he suggeste military power is the only thing keeping the saudi monarchy in power. he said he's told saudi king elman that "you might not there for two weeks without us". the united states has terminated a 55 treaty on economic an

consular ties with iran. that came today after the international court of justice, or i.c.j., ordered the u.s. to ease some sanctions on iran, on humanitarian grounds iran argued the sanctions violate the treaty. in washington, secretary of state mike pompeo said that agreement long ago ceased to have any meaning. >> we'll see what the practical fallout is. the iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time. we ought to have pulled out if it decades ago. siday marked a useful point with tde that was made this morning fr i.c.j. this marked a useful point. druff: the court decisio is supposed to be legally binding, but pompeo said the body lacks jurisdiction. separately, he said he looks forward to heading back to north korea this weend, for talks on getting the north to give up nuclear weapons. it turns out yesterday's poison scare at the pentagon was a false alarm.

two envelopes gave off false g dications of ricin, at a mail screencility. ale envelopes were addressed to offinow say the envelopes contained castor seeds, from which ricin is derived, but not the poison itself. in chicago, testimony concluded in the trial of a white policen, jason van dyke, cused of murdering a black teenager, laquan mcdonald. yesterday, van dyke testified that he opened fire after mcdonald brandished a knife. but dashcam deo showed the teen moving away when he was shot 16 times. closing argunts are set for tomorrow. this year's nobel prize in chemistry goes to two americans and a briton, whose genetic work led to new bio-fuels and drugs. frances arnold, at theli rnia institute of technology, is only the 5th woman to win the chemistry prize.

the other winners today were george smith of the university of missouri, and gregory winter, at a molecular biology lab in fmbridge, england. the u.s. senate gaal approval today to a bipartisan bill that aims to fight the opioid epidemic. it totals $8 billion over five years for law enforcement and public health measures. it also crac down on illicit opioid shipments from other countries. president trump is expected to sign it. federal disaster officia tested a new emergency system this afternoon on cell phones for the first time. the warnings can include weather, child kidnappines, and also "ential alerts." fema says presidt trump would be barred by law from using the system to sendis own messages. and, on wall street, the dow jones indurial average gained 54 points to close at 26,828, other record. the nasdaq rose 25 points, and

the s&p 500 added two. still to come on the newshour: an interview with russian president vladimir putin. rie federal reserve chairman discusses to the u.s. economy. and miami learns to cope with the ever-present threat of climate change. pr woodruff: this morning in moscow, russiaident vladimir putin presided over a forum designed to discuss global energy issues. but he had much more to say, on a variety of topics. nick schifrin has that. >> schifrin: judy, putin sat down with top energy industry c.e.o.'s, and the saudi oil minister as part of an annual conference. he was questioned at length by newshour special correspondent c rylcote, who lived in l.ssia for 20 years, and who moderated the pa ryan joins me now from moscow.

an, thank you very much. set the scene for today and one of the main things you talked about was a former russian spy >> sure, nick. so big conference, about 1,000 people in the room, many of whoa ited for about an hour for president putin to arrive and for the plenary session to begin. the subject du jour was energy, however new york ra sanctions is not a topic that you can ignore. they affect the energy sectr. they affect the entire russian economy. so i asked president putin how he tends to deal with some more sanctions that are going to be imposed upon russia as a result of russia's alleged involvement in the poisoningof a former russian spy by the name q sergei skripal. in response to thastion, pres sent putin chose toak about the spy himself. >> ( translated ): i see some of your colleagues are pushing this idea that mr. skripal is some kind of human rights activist,

he's just a spy, a traitorthf mother land. get it in there is such a thing as a traitor of the mother land. he's one of them. imagine if you had someone who betrayed your country. what would y think about them? what would anyone in this room think if we were talking about someone from their own country?e just a scumbag and that's all. they've instituted this whole information campaign around this issue. >> schifrin: he didn't stop there, ryan, did he? he also proclaimed russa's innocence. >> he did. and keep in mi this was no simple attack on the spy. a chemical agent was used. this was done in the united kingdom, and there were other people that were affected some s asked dent putin about that. >> espionage aside, i think there are two oth issues, one is the use of chemical weapot'n, and not forget that in addition to the skrial family being affected in that attack, there was also a homeless person who was killed when they came in

contact with nerve agent. >> ( translated ): yeah, i sometimes look at everything that's happening around this mattered andm simply amazed. some guy showed up and started poisoning homeess people? what kind of nonsense is that? what? are they street cleaners? >> schifrin: so, nick, this was really sloppy affair, right, that you had bystanders that were hurt in the attack and that reference there to what were they street cleans is because a homeless woman who died as a result of thisttack actually picked up a bottle of perfume at the nerve agent, british authorities tell us, had been aced on and used it. so president putin here is effectively saying, what, well, if we were behind this, would we have been that unprofessional? of course not. russian intelligences are very professional. this is sloppy stuff. t's absurd tonk that such

an unprofessional act would have bbeen carried outy russian agents. >> schifrin: y also asked him about russian meddling in u.s. elections, not only what russia is accused by the u.s. intelligence agencies of doing in 2016, but also 2018t and w intelligence agencies say russia is still doing this year. let's take a listen to his answer on that. >> ( translated ): i'd like to see the insanity end concerning russia's intervention in some u.s. election and for the fierican political elites to calm down and lly work things out amongst themselves so that like we say in oil markets, they reach some kind of equilibrium and balance of common sense and shared national interest. and i'd likerohat in theess of their own internal fight they don't pollute russian-american relations and negatively affect the rest of the world.ch >>rin: so, ryan, that's kind of a denial that russia is involved in 2018. is putin expressing a frustration that he and a lot of russians hav that they simply

haven't gotten the results of improved relations that president trump promised back in 2016. >> yeah, that's right. if you think about it, going back to helsinkihen presdent putin met with president trump, president putin told the world at he actually supported president trump. he wanted presidenttrump to win, i should say, in the election, becau president trump promised better relations with the united states. so you kwod ofer, well, did he back the wrong horse, because in a way, as a result of president trump being so compromised by thi investigation, the relationship with russia, the relationship with russia and thenited states is in many ways perhaps much worse thad it wove been had president trump not actually come intopower. but when you ask president putin about that, he doesn't take the bait, if you will. he doesn't -- he's not going to throw president trump under the bus. as far as president trump is

concerned, this is a democratic party inspired conspiracy. they're just angry at president trump for winning the election. he thinks president trump won the election fair and square, and by tn way, he ts that the democrats have it out for him and russia, as well. so he didn't give any... make any suggestion really that because tngs are not sort ofrn coming, g out as he was hoping in terms of russian-ameran relations, he made it clear he wasn't going the blame donald trump himself for that. >> schrin: but he did have some criticism of president trump, and specifically of aat ent president trump made last week some first let's listen to that. this is a statement of president trump speakinthe u.n. general assembly referring to the leading oil producing countries of opec,hich is led by saudi arabia. >> we defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they takyadvantage of us giving us high oil prices.

not good. we want them to stop raising prices. we want them to start lowering prices. usand they contribute substantially to military protection from now on. >> schifrin: so trump is blame, oil procers for high prices. how did putin respond to that? >> well, puti blamed president trump and the trumpmi stration's imposition of sanctions that come into effect in november on iran, which is taking a lot of iranan oil off the market, so less supply of oil, higher price. he's blaming the trump administration. he said if i was able to speak r,th trup about this matte would tell him, donald, if you're looking for someone to blame for higher l prices, higher prices at the pump, then just look in the mirror. >> ( translated ): let's be frank, these oil prices are at least partially the result of the u.s. administration's own actions. i'm talking about the iran tions, tact political problems in venezuela.

just have a look at what's going on in libya. the state has collapsed. this is the result of irresponsible policies. it's best not to intervene in the market. it's best not to try to get some competitive advantage with the help of picit instruments and try to regulate prices like in the soviet union. that does not lead to any good. >> schifrin: and some more criticism from putin onab president trumt bringing ra european efforts to be sovereign and se from the u.s., not only attempts to create a military alliance in europe separate from nato, but also economic independence from the u.s. take a l pten to whtin said about that. ot>> ( translated ):ery long ago the president of france, i think he was speaking in new tly stated the need n'sbolster the european uni economic sovereignty and diminish its dependence on the united states. of cour, that's correct. >> schifrin: is this putin just stoking transatla?ic tensio >> certainly it's partially

that. he doesn't have to stoke them too much. remember that it is the united states that chose to withdraw from the iran deal. the european countries, the e.u. didn't want that to happen. yi fact, the e.u. is still to figure out way to do business with iran by kind of skirting the u.s. sanctions that are going to be imposed by iran, by skirting the american financial sr.tem and the dolla this is great news for vladimir putin, because russia facing u.s. sanctions is trying to figure out a way to proct itself from them, because the way that those sanctions, theni ment gets transmitted on russia is through the dollar, is through russia's exposure to american financial system, american banks. ve he thinks it's fantastic that you ot just russia, but an ally like the european union looking at the same kind of thing, a way to get away from american, if you, will finanal

homogony. >> ( translated ): our american partners are committing a sloss l clsh colossamista. undermining the dollar, they're udermining the faith in the dollar as theversal instrument. they're really cutting the branch on which they're sitting. it's strange, even amazing. it's a typical mistake of any empire when people think nothing will have any effect.y they think te so sustainable. there can be no negative consequecoes. but thos sooner or later. >> look, nick, here's my takeaway, this is preident putin talking his own book to a certain extent, that said, this was a very pnted attack on th united states that will get a listening in europe. and what's ieresting is that he did it by delivering some eniticism of prestrump, dut mainly keeping it generic and general eally talking about the whole of the united states. i think president putin right

now feels confident. he feels like he is in a position of strength, because a tt of the e.u. countries are wondering about u.s. policies, and he's definitely not going to go down withut a fight. >> schifrin: ryan chilcote joining us fm moscow. thank you very much. >> woodruff: now, a cotion thth one of the most important policymakers iworld, about the state of the u.s. economy; n the job market; and a look at why american's wages still stubbornly lag behicd other econrends. fesat down this afternoon with the chairman of thral reserve, jay powell. it was part of the atlantic oreas festival at the harmon centerhe arts, here in washington, d.c. hello, mr. chairma

>> hi, judy. how are you? >> woodruff: delighted to be here with you and with everybody here. so as we sit herect onber 3rd, 2018, we seem bein a goldy locks economy. the my -- economy is growing at a healthy clip. inflation seems to be under control. unemployment rate is down, some say hisorically down, and we have a stock market that just cseems to keep breaking ords. how long can it? last >> i wish i knew. so you're right. the economy initially after the great recession began growing in the second half of 2009 and atti s struggled but we've made a lot of progress slowly over then years, a i'm very happy to say that we are at 3.9% unemployment. that's the lowest in 20 years. we're growing at about 3%, which is above almost everyone's estimate of the longer-run trend

growth, which implies if we do grow at that rate unemployment will go down further. if it does, it will be the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, since 96e late0s. meanwhile, inflation is at our 2% goal. it's a rema srkably positi of economic circumstances. and we're working hard to try to, you know, sustain e expansion and keep employment, ow and keepoyment inflation right on target. >> brangham:. uff: but do you think it can go on indefinitely? >> indefinitely is a long time. i this thre's no reason to think it can't continue for quitsome time, though. eventually erks ternal events happen, and you know, not every business -- busiss cycles don't last forever. there's really no reason to think that this cycle cannt ue for quite some time, effectively indefinitely. >> woodruff: so let's talk about two of those measures. unemployment, you talked about it, it's under 4% it's been declining. inflation has hovered around 2%g

for a ime. the fed used to consider it a trade-off when the unemraploymet was dropping. there were worries that inflation was going to go up. and vice versa. has that cycle ended? do we know -- are w longer seeing that kind of a trade-off anymore? >> sot hashanged. it's -- we can't say that it's ended. if you go back to the least time ntwe had unemployelow 4% was the late 1960s. so for four years you had employment go into the mid-threes and inflation took off. so there was a strong relationship between very low levels of unemployment and tight levels of resource utilization and inflation. and central banks around thely world retepped up and got inflation under control and to the extent that the public believes that central banks will keep inflation around%, which is one of our main jobs, that has tended to reduce the sensitivity of inflation to changes in unemployment. that's where we are now. but we got there by having a credle commitment to keeing inflation on target.

so it's not something we can -- we have to keep that commitment, but for now, our inflation dynamics are that inflation remains at 2% and doesn't react much to even further declines. joo. >> woodruff: let's talk about wages. wage growth overall ver sluggish, notwithstanding amazon's announcement that it's raising the minimum wage there. doou expect that to continue? >> so wage, if you go back about five years, you saw a range of wage and compensation measures were clustered around 2% growth now the measures are around 3% growth, which is sort of consistent with the underlying economics. wages and compensation should cover inflation plus the increase in productivity, which amounts to about 3%. the mystery really is why in a very tight labor market, we get reports from all around the country from companies in different industries, that labor markets are really tig'tht. they cfind qualified people some it's a bit of a mystery why they're not bidding up this

scarce commodity of labor more. so we do -- we have seen a gradual increase in wes, and my own expectation would be that we would continue to see some of and it would be quite welcome. we don't think that we're in danger of a situation where particularly imminent danger of a sation where wage increases are going to provoke price inflation. our focus is price inflation. no but you think something may aboutfundamentally change what's going on with wages? are we now at a point where workers bargaining powr has declined in a significant, long lasting way? here may be something in that, yes. it's a different -- in an era of globalization and an era of technological evolution, it may be that wers and companies have internalized the idea that lots and lots of jobs can be done all around the world or cap be i -- supplanted by

technology. there may be something in that. i would say, though, as we sauls say, it's too soon to say, wagev have been g up, and that's in keeping with a tight labor market. we doxpect that to continue. >> woodruff: still on jobs. many people were laid off during the cession who were nevr able to get back to full-time work. many of them ded up in part-time jobs. some of them just stopped looking altogether how do you read that? what's your sense of that? >> it'sue . the financial crisis cost a lot of people their jobs and their homes and their careers and their hopes and dreams to some extent. so we want to avoid that. and over the ten years really since the depths of theis cris we have seen a tremendous recovery in the labor market and the economy generally. labor force participation is back up to normal lls, in fact even indeed above normal levels. it doesn't mean that this strng

economy has reached every american. it has. we know there are demographics and this are regions and industries and individuals whoha not, you know, have not been affected, haven't gotten their jobs back, anso you know, these big negative events are quite costly, like financial crisis some we've done really a lot of things over the course of the st decade to ty to avoid having that experience again. >> woodruff: let's talk about something, i guess your favorite subject, interest rates. right now it seems to me half the world is worried that you're raising rates too slowly. they say growth i so strong and labor markets are so tight, inflation could take off. the other half of the world doesn't want you to raise ratats ll or as much as you are. they argue you are widning the inequality gaps that are already out there, that as we've been discussing, wages are too low. you obviously think you're threading the needle about oight. but what makes you sure?

>> so it sounds like we're doing something right. i'll talk about the two risks that you mentioned. move too quickly and we prematurely end the expansion and inflation never gets solidla to%. and that's always a risk at this point in the cycle where the economy has been growing now for nine years. it's in its tenth year of goa.e the alternatsk is that we move too quickly too, slowly, sorry, and the economy overheats. that can show up in the form of too high inflation or, you know, financial market imbalances and that kind of thing some you look at those two risks. s for a log, long time after the financial crisis, the second risk wasn't a risk at all. re far away from full employment and inflation was below target. so we kept rates low for a long, long time. ept them at zero for a long time. and we had a lot of advice to ve more quickly and raise interest rates. i'm very happy we didn't followa

thice. i think the country benefited workers and their families. so now we come to a situation where unemployment, as i mentioned,s close to a 20-year low, and headed lower by all accounts. and the really extraordinarily accommodative low interest rates that we needed when the econy s quite weak, we don't need those anymore. they're not appropriate anymore. towe need interest ratee gradually, very gradually moving back toward normal. >> woodruff: president trump, as you've noted, he started outl on talking about how he believes the fed should remain independent, and he's been given crit for appointing high-quality nominees to the fed board, but he's also thi summer, this past summer criticized the fed, the policy of raisg rates. you write that off as just politics, does it put some kind of pressure os n you,the chairman of the fed, and does it harm the institution, because

reis is something sidents have rarely done? >> you know, my focus is essentially on controlling the controllable. and that's... we control what we do. [laughter] what we do at the fed. you know, this is... to anyone who has known nour institut over time, this is just who we are and i think who we'll always be. we're a group who we are quite removed from the poli process, and we look at the best thinking, we look at the data we try to get desperate views, try to come to a consensus, and try to dthe right thing. we're insulated from political cycles because our terms run, they don't run continuously oram it's the cycle as elections, and we try do the right things fr the medium a longer term for the country. i think that's why a lot of w peopt to work at the fed, because there is tremendous satisfaction.er we don't let ohings distract us and we're just going to focus onjo thosbs that haves

-- that's alww we will be. >> woodruff: did you have a communication privately after the president made those >> no.s? >> woodruff: you said we have been hearing a rising chorus of concerns from businessestrround the coabout tariffs. what exactly are you hearing? >> people are concerned abourit ng material costs and tariffs and the loss of markets and supply chains in a big way, these supply chains haveeen, you know, unsworth der construction and now very fully built out over the course of a quarter century some they're very important to the way the global economy works. weabe been hearing concert that. you don't see anything in the numbers. maybe you wouldn't expect to yet but we don't see the tech any slower growth or any lower investment or lowehiring or any of the effects that might flow from more unrtainty on the part of business. >> woodruff: what keeps you awake at night, if anything when it comeso this economy and the world economy? >> basically everything. you know, nobody wants a central banker who well, right? [laughteha what good is?

you knowi... if we get... getting monetary picy right is so important for the public and so we all of us who work at the fed think this is the thing we think about all the time. we have to get the monetary policy right. the benefits of doing that are very broad for the country. and, you know, the world is full of risks. many things can go wrong and i probably lose sleep over different things every night. >> woodruff: do you worry... how much dy you worrthat there could be another financial crash? >> my guess is that the next set of problems we have won't look a lot like the last set of problems we had.w you kni think there's -- we detect measures of manual instability as -- we don't detect measures of financial instability at this time. they're in the merate range in the view of my staff, my view.

so it will be a cyber attack, ae global, those are the kind of things, or maybe it will surprise us and look exactly like the last one, but we don't really see the kind of buildup of risks in the financial markets or let alone in thenk g system where we see much higher capital and less risk being taken noosm meanwhile, we're in goldilocks time. >> yourwo s, not mine. >> woodruff: chairman jay powell, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the floodwaters are still receding from cerricane flornd the damage, which could total well over $20 billion, is still being assessed. theflooding was fawiworse than ths from this storm. and it's prompted a larger conversation once agait what could happen to other coastal cities. that's the focus of miles o'brien's report tonight for our weekly segmentn the "leading edge" of science, technology and health.

>> reporter: in miami, it's not a matter of if, but rather when the big one will hit so at florida international university, they have built ao wall of windttress their ifenses. >> so, here is take. >> reporter: wow! >> and we have-- >> reporter: that's something. >> 12 fans, six each diameter, 700 horsepower each and we can go up to category five level winds.ep >>ter: ionnis zisis is an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department.il here they scale models and subject them to hurricane force winds. it has shown them how buildings failand how they can be built to endure a sustained barrage. >> we need to understand how these structures are going to respond extreme event. everything that goes into the building codes and the wind standards is a resul research.

>> reporter: hurricane andrewpi was tal moment. the category 5 storm made ndfall south of miami, i homestead, on august 24, 1992. the damage was widespread, and made worse by inad cuate buildinges. but that was then. >> we are at a much better placp ed to 1992 or even the '90s. so, the building codes that are enforced today are much more strict.ep >> rter: but today in south florida, engineers and emergency planners a increasingly worried about the threat from water. susy torriente is the chief resilience officer for the city of miami beach.so >> the l learned from after andrew created the south florida building code really for wind, and that was adopted to the florida building code. kiw do we actually start l at flooding and sea level rise and look at our buildie and start to add more measures in there for adaptation for

that? so i think that's something that pr can learn from the past and bring it into thent. >> reporter: miami beach is a seven square mile barrier island aythat sits low between bi bay and the atlantic ocean. >> that makes us beautiful but, we're vulnerable to flooding. we're obviously vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. and nowadays, the typical rainstorms that we would get in south florida in the afternoons, seem to be getting more pronounced and stronger. >> reporter: and in the spring and fall, when the pull of the moon is strongest creating the highest tides of the year, the city must also contend with serious flooding beneath blue skies and sunshine. so they are bu the midst of ilding 80 stormwater pump stations to ep their feet dry. the pumps, along with roads that are raised above grade, are doing the job for now, even though those so-called "king tides" grow steadily higher as sea level rises.

they are not designed to protect miami beach from a huge hurricane storm surge, though they can help dry the city out after the worst is ove but scientists are reminded there's no free lunch here. me say the pumps are dangerously concentrating runoff pollution. henry briceño is a research professor at f.i.u. >> we do monitoring in thetl biscayne bay mto see what is in the water, that's we do. >> reporter: he and his team uso phisticated instrumentation to gather data on the turbidity, salinity and temperature, as well as the levels of oxygen and chlorophyll, important indicators of the human impact on water quality in miami beach, we saw water pouring from this pipe. not from a pump, it's just the outgoing tide, mixed with contaminated groundwater. and yet no instrumentation was

required to determine the wat was foul.ey all eeded was a human nose.sm >> thal is like a rotten egg, it's very strong. that's hydrogen sulfide, and that smell is from bacteria. >> reporter: be glad you can't smell it. and the outflows from the pumps are even worse. for briceño the pollution thoblem is intertwined wit larger threat miami faces as it grows rapidly despite the existential threat it faces from climate change. >> i wonder if they are aware that what they are doing is building in the future atlanti and that the whole thing is going to get flooded. >> reporter: the idea that this city is inexorably on its way tg beco real life version of the mythical underwater city is not a new one. 1958, the "bell science hour" broadcast a film called the" unchained goddess" directed by no less than frank capra.

>> our atmosphere seems to be getting warmer. this is bad? well it's been calculated a degrees rise in the earth's temperature uld melt the polarized caps. >> reporter: it explained thenc scof global warming, its consequences, including sea level rise, and offered thisof depictiohe future. >> tourists in glass bottom boat drowned towers of miami through 150 feet of tropical water. >> reporter: tay that cartoon is showing signs of coming true. harold wanless is a professor in the department of geography and regional studies at the university of miami. he wks past a series of maps where current sea level rise projections are laid over the florida peninsula. >> you can see, by six feet, miami and broward county, fort lauderdale are now a little ridge with channels beeen in the everglades as an estuary.

>> reporter: and south florida must contend with a vulnerability unique to an area with this population density. >> the miami limestone is one of the most porous limestones anywhere and water just pours throh it very, very, very, very rapidly. >> reporter: at an excavation pit on the campus of the oniversity, wanless showed us what the entire res built on: a geologic sieve o limestone. >> as sea lel continues to se, in the same way the inwater disappears, these awater will just come up. >> reporter: so the hard seawalls and structure pioneered by the dutch and adopted in new orleans to keep rising floodwatersnd storm surges at bay would be utterly ineffective here. henry briceno hopes a soberi reality will sink in. >> i'm sorry to tell this to people in miami, we are doomed. and what we get to do is just

, otect as much as we can while we are living herebut get prepared to move away. >> reporter: and yet as bricenio plies the waters of biscayne siy, it is evident people are moving in the oppote direction. >> we're here on key biscayne. this is one ofhe houses that we're building. >> reporter: nice. how many square feet here, you know? >> it's about 8,000 square feet. >> reporter: cozy. that's developer clay tootle showing me an eight-figure climate change castle. it sits nine feet above sea level, with concrete slab floors, walls and roof where all the systems, including a backup generator, will sit. it will be fitted out with stout double glazed windows. w says features like this are now common for hlthy clients. you guys really have thought of everything. >> there is always something else to do, but we try to get as done possible. >> reporter: how long is this house going to be a safe house

to live in do you think? >> this will be a safe house for 30 years. >> reporter: after that, it is all but certain to be a fancy fortress, with a moat. real estate that is underwater, not financially, but litally. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in miami. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, we have more on the trio of scientists who won this year's nobel prize in chemistry, and y their discovery matter that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.in s online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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desperation in ind to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. desperation in indonesia where a massive tsuni and earthquake have killed 1,200 people and likely many more. porter matt rivers from palu ground zero. >> plus, good and mad, all ask author and journalist rebecca traister. and a manmade humani irian crisisn latin america as more than a million refugees surge across the border from venezuela. the colombian president duque tells me how his country is handlinghis influx. also tonight, "the new york times" fights back. our walter isaacson speaks to

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