captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. the newshour tonight, k republican senators join democrats in condemning president trump's attacks on christine blasey ford, placing brett kavanaugh's confirmation in further doubt. then, two major interviews: our special correspondent questions vladimir putin about russia's role in the world and relations with the u.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 frms the dangers of major st and rising seas brought about by climate change. ln we're vulnerable to flooding.

we're obviously able to the effects of sea level rise. and nowadays, the typical rainnorms that we would get i 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 provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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>> 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 accuse and key republican senators outraged. a man's life is shattered. >> alcindor: last night, in southhaven, mississippi, mr. trump went after christine blassa ford. sh kavanaugh sexual assaulted her in hh school. the president made fun of ford's senate testimony last 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 e cry: >> president trump's outright mockery of a sexual assault survivorriddled as it was with falsehoods, was reprehensible. >> it was outrageous. there's no other way to describe it. >> alcindor: the attack played ecpecially poorly with unded 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 president. >> alcindor: and this afternoon, press secretary sarah sanders said several times >> the president was stating facts. >> alcindor: meanwhile, several republican senators said the

f.b.i. is almost done with the reopened background check of kavanaugh. that's despite complaints from his accusers, and democrats, that a number of potential witnesses have not been interviewed, including christine blasey ford herself. democrats are demanding that some version of the f.b.i.'s findings be math public before senate votes on kavanaugh. delaware senator and judiciary committee member chris coons: >> i do think a summary of the report that doesn't idtify specific individuals or allegations, but that says this is how many,his is rough opics presented, i do think in the interetransparency would be appropriate for the fbi or the senate to release a iaport like that. >> alcindor: lou republican and senate judiciary committee member john kennedy agrees. >> normally, our background fbi investigations are not public because of privacy rights of the person being investigated, but i this is an instance where it should be.

i trust the american people to draw their own conclusio. >> alcindor: as both sides wait for the f.b.i.'s findings, capitol lice have stepped up security for senators, including police escorts. today, police forced reporrs away from 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 toward a vote. >> it's time to put this embarrassing spectacle behind us.ic the am people are sick of the display that's been put on here in the united states senate in the guise of a confirmation process. in alcindor: as of tonight, there's no fircation of whether kavanaugh has the votes to win senate confirmation. >> woodruff: yamiche joins me now, along with our congressional correspondent lisa desjardi.

hello to both of you. yamiche, as you point out in at reported, originall president trump was respectful of dr. ford. he said she owas somne who was credible. then the change of tone last night, he's mocking her. what was behind the thinking there? >> well, onis nominahas really become a moment of cultural reckoning. and president trump is responding t how polarized everyone has become. he senses this us versus me mentality. he feels as though he wants to ey'rethe crowd what t asking for. the crowd last night was laughing and clapping as he mocked dr. fthord. 's just as important as the president mocking her. this idea that 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 as very important and 80% of republicans also describe the mid-terps as very important. bmocrats, that should be really bad news for themause democrats have been talking about this blue wave, talking about taking back the houseth, evesenate, and now what you have are republicans saying, this nomination is why iight go to the polls. >> woodruff: so energizing republicans. but you've been talking to people 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 no, they are not concerned about this. sarasarah sanders saidhe presidt was stating the facts. n's not worried about whether lisa murkowski or susan collins or jeff flake will look at his commentsnd say, this has really gotten out of hand and i can't vote for brett kavanaugh. the president is going to go with hisut. this isn't a large change of strategy. it's really the president looking at that crowd and

ying, i'm going to give them what they want. >> woodruff: lisa, there are some late-day developments on the part of senate democrats on the judiciary committee. what are you hearing? >> t lot tok about tonight. we just saw a letter posted by dick durbin, the number-two democrat in the senate and he's on the senate judiciary committee. ue posted a letter questioning a tweet by rlicans in which they said that the f.b.i. background checks to this poin on many kavanaugh have come up with not a wff of any issue related to either inapppriate sexual behavior or with inappropriate behavior with alcohol. that's what the republicans tweeted out. dick durbin has said, we reviewed these fis confidentially, and this is inaccurate. what he's saying is, pas f.b.i. background checks have come up with something related to inappropriatbehavior either sexual or alcoholic, but judy, this is a classic tit for, t and everyone using any kind of weapon they can 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 basis 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. do not think lisa lisa murkowski and susan collins, they are not going to vote based onhat the president says. so he's not taking a risk. i think there are bigger questions about votes. democrat joe manchin said he is still firmly undecide. also his office confirmed to me suat chuck schumer is not really putting pr on him, maybe because chuck schumer realizes a

democratic president on these undecided votes might not help inem at all. i we're seeing another figure from a poll very quickly. the partisan divide onhis question is unbelievable. ro you support or oppose the nomination oft kavanaugh. look at that. republicans 88% support it.83 but demo% 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 me sort of investigation or some sort of suppltaembackground check and the white house would pass off that information. in this case, that really could 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 want the f.b.i. to buly look at this and look at that. this lawyer said that it would be very unusual for the white house or the senate to tell the.b.i., do not talk to these two people. that person said, what is realle likely hng is that the f.b.i. is making a cal claights saying, if we have a week to do this and there a0 people we want to talk to, here are the people we need the prioritize. all that being said, tonight dr. ford's lawyers came out with a letter saying that they will not -- that they want.b.i. to talk to their client and that they won't gi up h therapist notes or her polygraph notes that she took toenator 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 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 hereg 20 still missi 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. the military has been airlifting supplies in, but thiarea is remote; roads were completely blocked and impassab several days, and in the motains, 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 presint met some survivors, who he told to be patient, promising help would arrive soon. this part of the world is where tectonic plates collide. a seismic fault runs straight down the middle of the bay there. this is the third tsunami insie a century. every generation has a tsunami story to tell. e 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 an less deadly. >> woodruff: that report from jonathan miller of independent television news. the white house today stepped up its denial that president trump y d his father engaged in legabious schemes to avoid inheritance taxes. alhe new york times" reported

thgations, based on extensive reviews of the family's financial documents. the president called it "a very old, boring and often-told hit piece", and press secretary sarah sanders followed suit. >> the president's lawyer addressed some of the specific claims and walked through how the allegations of fra tax evasion are 100% false and highly defamatory. there was no fraud and evasion by anyone. >> woodrf: the new york state tax department said it isle reviewing the tions. the president is ramping up pressure on saudi arabia, over oil prices. at his rally last night, he pushed the saudis again to help cut prices. and, he suggested u.s. military power is the only thing keeping the saudi monarchy in power. he said he's told saudi king bsalman that "you might n there for two weeks without us". the united states has terminated a 1955 treaty on economic and consular ties with iran.

that came today after the international cot 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 emate mike pompeo said that agt long ago ceased to have any meaning. >> we'll see what thtical fallout is. the iranians have been ignoring for an awfully long time. we ought to have pulled out if it decades ago. today marked a useful point with omdecision that was made this morning he i.c.j. this marked a useful point. >>noodruff: the court decis is supposed to be legally binding, but pompeo said the body lacks jurisdictio separately, he said he looks fothard to heading back to n korea this weekend, for talks on getting the north to give up nuclear apons. it turns out yesterday's poison scare at the ptagon was a false alarm. two envelopes gave off false

indications of ricin, at a mail screfacility. cie envelopes were addressed to ofs now say the envelopes contained castor seeds, from which ricin is derived, but not the poison itself. in chicagotestimony concluded in the trial of a white policeman, jason van dyke, accused of murdering a black teenager, laquan mcdonald. yesterday, van dyke testified that he opened fire after mcdonald brandished a knife. but dashcam video showed the teen moving away when he was shot 16 times. closing arguments 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 arno, at the california institute of technology, is only thin5th woman tohe chemistry prize. the other winners today were george smith of the university

of missouri, and gregory winter, at a molecular biology lab in cambridge, england. the u.s. senate gave final proval today to a bipartisan bill that aims to fight the opioid epidemic. it totals $8 billion over five years for law forcement and public health measures. it also cracks down on illicit ropioid shipments from ot countries. president trump is expected to sign it. federal disaster officls tested a new emergency system this afternoon on cell phoneti for the firs. the warnings can include weather, child kidnappings, and also "presidential alerts." fema says president trump would be barred by law from using the system to se his own messages. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 54 points to close at 26,828, another 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 whom ened for about an hour for presputin to arrive and for the plenary session to begin. the subject du jour was energy, however new york russia sanctions is not a topic tho you can ie. they affect the energy sector. they affect the entire russian economy. so i asked president putin how he intends to deal with some more sanctions thatre going to be imposed upon russia as a result of russis alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former russiean spy by th name of sergei skripal. in response to thatstion, president putin chose to speak about the spy himself. >> ( translated ): i see some of your colleagues are pushing this idea that mr. skripal is some kind of human rightactivist, he's just a spy, a traitor of

the 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 you think about them? what would anyone in this room think if we were talking about someone from their own country? 's just a scumbag and that's all. they've instituted this whole information campaign arod this issue. >> schifrin: he didn't stop there, rn, did he? he also proclaimed russia's innocence. >> he did. and keep in mind this was no simple attack on the spy. a chemical agent was used. this was done in the united hengdom, and there were people that were affected some i asked president putin about that.o >> espnage aside, i think there are two other issues, one is the use of chemical weapons, and let's not forget that in addition to the skrpal family being affected in that attack, there was also a homeless peon who was killed when they came in contact with nerve agent.

>> ( translated ): yeah, iso times look at everything that's happening around this hottered and am simply amazed. some guyed up and started poisoning homeless people? what kind of nonsense is that? what? are they street cleaners? >> schifrin: so, nick, thisll was rey sloppy affair, right, that you had bystanders th were hurt in the attack and that eeference there to what were they scleaners is because a homeless woman whodied as a result of this attack actually picked up a bottle of perfume at the nerve agent, british authorities tell us, had been placed on and used it. so president putin here is effectively saying, wha well, if we were behind this, would we have been that unprofessional? of course not. russian intelligence agents are very professional. this is sloppy stuff. it's absurd to think that such an unprofessional act would have

been carried out by russian agents. >> schifrin:ou 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, butlso 2018 and what s say russia agenc is still doing this year. let's take a listen to his answer on that. >> ( translated ): i'd like to see the ins end concerning russia's intervention in some u.s. election and for the american political elites to calm down annally work things out amongst themselves so that like we say in oil markets, they reach some kind of ce olibrium and balan common sense and shared national interest. and i'd like that in the process of their own internal fight they don't pollute russian-american relations and negatively affect the rest of the world. >> schifrin: 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 he that they simply haven't gotten the results of

umproved relations that president promised back in 2016. >> yeah, that's right. if you think about , going back to helsinki when president putin met with president trump, president putin told the world that he actuallsupported president trump. he wanted president trump to win, i should say, in the election, becau trump promised better relations with the united states. so you ind ofnder, well, did he back the wrong horse, because in a was a result of president trump being s compromised by this investigation, the relationship with russia, the relationship with russia and the united states is in manyways perhaps much worse than it would have been had president trump not actually come int power. but when you ask president putin about that, he doesn't take thel bait, if you he doesn't -- he's not going to throw president trump under the bus. as far as president trump is concerned, this is a docratic

party inspired conspiracy. they're justpngry aresident trump for winning the election. he thinks president trump won the election fair and square, and byhihe way, heks that the democrats have it out for him and russia, as well. r he didn't give any... make any suggestilly that because things are not sort of coming, turning out as he was hoping in rms of russian-american relations, he blde it clear he wasn't going thme donald trump himself for that. >> schifrin: but he did have some criticism of president trump, and specifically of ast ement president trump made last week some first let's listen to that. g is is a statement of president trump speak the u.n. general assembly referring to the leading oilngrodu countries of opec, which is led by saudi arabia. >> we defend many of these nations for noting, and then they take advantage of us by giving us highoil prices. not good.

we want them to stop raising prices. we want them to start lowering prices. and they must contribute substantiay 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 oil prices, higher prices at the pump then just look in the mirror. >> ( translat ): 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 ons, 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 political 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 on president trump about bringing up european efforts to be sovereign and separate from the s to, not only attem create a military alliance in europe separate from nato, butin also economipendence from the u.s. take a listen to what putin said about that. >> ( translated ): not very long ago the president of francine, i he was speaking in new york, direc y 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 sal ch colossal mistake. undermining thdollar, they're undermining the faith in the dollar as the universal instrument. '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. they think they're so sustainable. there can be no negative consequences. but those come sooner or later. >> look, nic, here's my takeaway, this is president putin talking hi own book to a certain extent, that said, this was a very poited attack on the united states that will get a listening in europe. and what's intresting is that he did it by delivering some criticism of president trump, but mainlkeepingt generic and general and really talking about the wholef e united states. i think president putiright now feels confident.

he feels like he is in a position of strength, because a lot of the e.u. countries are wondering about u.s. policies, and he's definitely not going to go down without a fight. >> schifrin: ryan chilcote joining us from 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 power has declined in a significant, long lasting way? >> there may be something in that, yes. it's a different -- ian era of globalization and an era of technological evolution, it may be that workers and companies have internalized the idea that lots and lots of jobs can be done all around the world or ca be -- supplanted by

technology. .here 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 the, crisis we have seen a tremendous recovery in the labor market and the economy generally.r larce participation is back up to normal levels, in fact even indeed above normal levels. it doesn't mean that this strong

economy has reached every american. it has. we know there are demographics and this are regions anddu ries and individuals who have not, you know, have not be affected, haven't goten their jobs back, and so, you know, these big negati events are quite costly, like financial crisis some we've done really a helot of things over course of the last decade to try 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'rs g rates too slowly. they say growth is so strong and labor markets are so tight, inflation could take off. the other half of t worl doesn't want you to raise rates at all or as much as you are. they argue you are widening 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 right. but what makes you so sure?

>> so it sounds like we're doing something right. i'll talksabout the two ris y at you mentioned. move too quicnd we prematurely end the expansion and inflation never gets solidly back to%. and that's always a risk at this point in the cycle where the economy has been growing now for nine years.n it'ss tenth year of goa. the alternative risk is that we move too quickly too, slowly, sorry, and the economy overhoats. that canup 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 ng, long time after the financial crisis, the second risk wasn't a risk at all.we were far away from full employment and inflation was below target. so we kept ratesow for a long, long time. we kept them at zero for a long timelo and we had of advice to move more quickly and raise i'm very happy we didn't follow that advice. i think the country bene

workers and their families. so now we come to a situation where unemployment, as i mentione is close to a 20-year low, and headed lower by all accounts. ted the really extraordinarily accommodative low st rates that we needed when the economy was quite weak, we don't needan thosore. they're not appropriate anymore. we need interest rates to be grually, very gradually moving back toward normal. >> woodruff: pre as you've noted, he started out early on talking about how he believes the fed should remain independent, and he's been given credit for appointing high-quality nominees to the fed board, but he's also this summer, this past summere criticized td, the policy of raising rates. you write at off as just politics, oroes it put some kind of pressure on you, as the chairman of the fed, and does it harm the institution, because this is something presidents have rarely done?

>> you know, my focus is essentially on controlling the controllable. and that's... we control what wo [laughter] what we do at the fed. you know, this is... to anyone who has known our institutio over time, this is just who we are and i think who we'll always be. we're a group who are quite removed from the political process, and we look at the besh king, we look at the data very carefully. we try to get desperate views, try to come to a consensus, and try to do the right thing. we're insulated from poli cycles because our terms run, they don't run continuously ore it's the sycle as elections, and we try do the right things fo the medium and longer term for the country. i think that's why a lot of people want to work at the fed, because there is tremendous satisfaction. we don't let other things distract us and we're jusgoing to focus on those jobs that have

-- that's always how we will be. >> woodruff: did you have a communication privately after the president made those comments? >> no. >> woodruff: you said we have been hearing a rising chorus of concerns from businesses around the country about tariffs. what exacg?y are you hear >> people are concerned about rising material costs and tariffs and the loss of marets 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 impornt to the way the global economy works. we've been hearing concern about that. you don't see anytehing in numbers. maybe you wouldn't expect to yet but we don't see the tech any slower growth or any lower investment or lor hiring or any of the effects that might flow from morcee rtainty on the part of business. >> woodruff: what keeps you n awake ht, if anything when it comes to this economy and the world economy? >> basicay everything. you know, nobody wants a central banker who sleeps well, rig? [laughter] what good is that you know, i... if we get...

getting monetaryolicy right is so important for the public and s we all of us who work at the fed think thise thing we think about all the time. we have to gethe motary policy right. the benefits of doing that are b vead for the country. and, you know, the world is fulk of rs. many things can go wrong and i probably lose sleep over different things every night. >> woodruff: do you worry... how mucho you worthat 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 problems we had. you know, i think there's -- we detect measures of manual instability d -- we't detect measures of financial instability at this time. they're in theoderate range in the view of my staff, my view. so it will be a cyber attack, ae globnt, those are the kind

of things, or maybe it will surprise us and look exactlyon like the las but we don't really see the kind of buildup of risks in the finalnc markets or let alone in the banking system where we see much higher capital and less risk ing taken noosm meanwhile, we're in goldilocks time. >> yourrds, not mine. >> woodruff: chairman jay, poweank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the flowaters are still receding from hurricane florence and the damage, which could total well over $20 billion, is still being assessed. theflooding was e r worse than nds from this storm. and it's prompted a larger conversation once agout what could happen to other coastal cities. th's the focus of miles o'brien's report tonight for our weekly segmentn the "leading ge" of science, technology and health.

>> reporter: in miami, it's not a matter of if, but rather when the big one will h. so at florida international universi, they have built a wall of wind to buttress their defenses. >> so, here is the intake. >> 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. r orter: ionnis zisis is an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineerg department. here they build scale models and subject them to hurricane force winds. it has shown them how buildings fail, and how they can be built to endure a sustained barrage. >> we need to understand how these structures are going to respond to extreme event. everything that es into the building codes and the wind standards is a result of research. >> reporter: hurricane andrew was a pivotal 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. la we are at a much better compared to 1992 or even the '90s. so, the building codes that are enforced today are much more strict. r >>orter: but today in south florida, engineers and emergency plannersre increasingly worried about the threat from water. susy torriente is the chief resilience officer for the city of miami beach. >> the lessons learned from after andrew created the south florida building code really for wind, and that was adopted to the florida building code. how do we actually start looking at flooding and sea level rise and look at our building code and start to add more measures in there for adaptation for that? so i think that's something that

we can learn from the past ande bring it into esent. >> reporter: miami beach is a seven square mile barrier island that sits low between biscayne 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 tid of the year, the city must also contend with serious flooding beneath blue skies and sunshine. so they are in the midst of building 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 steaigher as sea level rises.

they are not designed to ptect 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 frelunch here.so say the pumps are dangerously concentrating runoff pollution. henry briceño is a research professor at f.i.u. >> we do monitoring in the biscayne bay mostly to see what is in the water, that's we do. te>> reporter: he and his use sophisticated 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 quali. 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 water

was foul. n all thded was a human nose. >> that smell is like a rotten g, it's very strong. that's hydrogen sulfide, and that sll is from bacteria. >> reporter: be glad you can't smell it. and the outflo from the pumps are even worse. for briceño the pollution h problem is intertwined we 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 atlantis and that the whole thing is going to get flooded. >> reporter: the idea that this city is inexorably on its way ti be a real life version of the mythical underwater city is not a new one. in 1958, the "bell science hou"" broadcast a film called the" unchained goddess" directed by no less than frank capra.

>> our atmosphere ems to be getting warmer. this is bad? well it's been calculated a fe degrees rise in the earth's temperature would melt the polarized caps. reporter: it explained the science of global warming, its consequences, including sea level rise, and offered this depiction of the future. >> tourists in glass bottom bo drowned towers of miami through 150 feet of tropical water. >> reporter: today that cartoon ru showing signs of coming harold wanless is a professor in the dertment of geography and regional studies at the university of miami. he walks past a series of maps where current selevel rise projections are laid over the florida peninsula. >> you can see, by six feet, miami and broward county, fo lauderdale are now a little ridge with channels betwn 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 through it very, very, very, very rapidly.r: >> report an excavation pit on the campus of the university, wanless showed us what the entire region is built on: a geologic sievef limestone. >> as sea lel continues to se, in the same way the inwater disappears, the seawater will just come up. >> reporter: so the hard seawalls and structures 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 bay, it is evident people are moving in the opposite 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, generaill sit. it will be fitted out with stout doublelazed windows. he says features like this are now common for his wealthycl nts. you guys really have thought of everything. ng>> there is always somet else to do, but we try to get as one as possible. >> reporter: how long is this house going to be a safe house to live in do you think? >> this will be a safeouse 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 literally.e for the pbhour, 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, n d why their discovery matters. that and more isr web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening.l for al 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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