that tells you all you have to know about why the fellow in the sweater vest seems just perfect for this right wing jamboree. the perfectly turned out mitt romney looks more than ever like the empty suit. that is "hardball" for now, have a very happy valentine's day. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans welcome to "the ed show." tonight from new york. mitt romney is struggling in the polls in his home state of michigan? seems like the state hasn't forgotten that he was against the automobile loan that helped save the auto induce in big city like detroit. how can you be against jobs? be a republican. this is "the ed show" let's get to work. if you just write a check that you're going to see these companies go out of business ultimately. >> mitt romney is selling used cars in michigan and the people aren't buying it. richard wolfe has the latest. 15 days before your taxes go

up, the president was out hammering republicans today. >> pass the tax cut, extension of unemployment insurance. >> jan schakowski and jonathan alter will tell us where the payroll tax cut fight stands. scott walker and president obama are set to meet face-to-face in milwaukee tomorrow. we'll have a preview. and apple is launching an investigation into inhumane working conditions in chinese factories. >> i own an iphone when yie that i'm reminded of the children who put devices together. >> mike daisey's off broadway performance shines a light and he's here tonight. great to have you with us folks, mitt romney is desperate to win the upcoming michigan primary. but michigan isn't about to forget how mitt romney wanted to

deal with detroit back in 2008. romney is blanketing the air waves with a new ad portraying him as the favorite son of michigan and protector of the automobile industry. >> now i grew up in michigan it was exciting to be here, remember going to the detroit auto show with my dad. that was a big deal. how in the world did an industry and leaders and unions get in such a fix that they lost jobs, they lost their future? president obama did all these things the liberals wanted to do for years the fact you've got millions of americans out of work, home values collapsing, people in detroit are distressed i want to make michigan stronger and better. michigan has been my home, this is personal, i'm mitt romney i approve this message. >> holy smokes, when it comes to the recovery of the automobile industry, romney still refuses to give the president of the united states and the taxpayers any credit whatsoever. in an op-ed, he wrote this about the government auto loan.

instead of the free market doing what it does best we got a major taste of crony capitalism obama-style. easy to be confused. a month ago he was saying the auto loan bail-out succeeded because president obama took his advice. >> the president ultimately did what i suggested, going through a man abled bankruptcy process. i wrote an op-ed about. this. >> the advice was to let detroit go bankrupt. in 2008 the new york times op-efrnd he wrote this. you can kiss the american automobile industry goodbye. and demise will be virtually guaranteed. he wasn't shy back then about telling everyone how badly a government loan would fail. >> there is no question but if you write a check that you're going to see the companies go out of business ultimately instead we have to help the companies restructure, stay in business but restructure, shed the unnecessary costs, make them

competitive with the transplants and foreign cars, by virtue of doing that, make sure they stay in business long-term. >> let's get back where we exactly are. romney said a loan to the auto industry would put car companies out of business. that is what he said. he said the auto industry was eventually saved because the president took his advice? and now he says the loan was successful in spite of president obama's crony capitalism? my friends, here are the facts. >> chrysler increased sales by 26% last year. now, i don't know what the bain experience here is but 26% increase, that is not even good enough at bain? general motor sales up 13%. gm is the number one producer in the world. you mean to tell me as americans and as a man who wants to be president of the united states he's embarrassed to say that gm is number one? at producing vehicles? on the face of the earth?

talk about apologies. the companies have also added 115,000 jobs. think about how many homes were saved that mitt romney is driving by in his commercial. these are all good things for the people of michigan and for america. mitt romney's all wrong on the auto loan and he's suffering in his home state because of it. you know, mitt, why don't you try this angle when it comes to talking about the automobile loan. i would have had some differences on how they did it. but i'm not going to second-gits. the most important thing is the results and the auto industry is doing very well today. those aren't my words, those are straight from the republican governor of the state of michan. the republicans are in denial about what has happened here. maybe romney would be -- wouldn't be trailing rick santorum by some 15 points in michigan in his home state if he took a positive approach. say like well, there is 115

different ways to skin a cat and i would have skinned it differently. well no, that wouldn't have been good, he has the dog story out there leave the cat out of it. that is not good advice. maybe he should say it's good add jobs in america, good people are still in their homes and glad to see gm number one and sales going through the roof but i would have done it differently. that is all he had to do. the obama administration and american people stepped forward and saved this industry. no question about it. mitt romney turned his back on his home state, and he wants to know why he's trailing by 15 points in his home state. you see, his advice was to walk. president obama guts told him to stand with the workers. but look where we are right now. we have the republican party supposedly a guy supposed to have this thing wrapped up a long time ago, he's out there bad-mouthing economic success in his own home state! how do you think independent voters in michigan are going to feel when they see mitt romney saying this, that, this, that

when it comes to the automobile industry? look, this was good for america and i would hate to see this country now evolve into a conversation where that's bad when we add jobs, bad when we save homes. i noticed that he picked on the unions in that commercial. mr. romney, i'd like you to be very open and honest about what the unions have actually done to save the automobile industry in detroit and other parts of the rust belt. they took a haircut. they took a big haircut. the wages they have right now aren't anywhere near what they used to be because they wanted to see it succeed. they also took hits in health care and pension. it's a little different on that assembly line than it was years ago. the american workers have stepped up in a big, big way. and it's unfortunate the republican party is saying that adding jobs is a bad thing in the automobile industry because they didn't do it the republican way.

yeah. the bain way. give me a break. you want to know why the guy is getting his butt kicked in his home state? he's not honest. he's not honest with the economic facts of what is happening with the economy, and you can just see the jealousy drip off him in the commercials. he would be a horrible candidate at the didn't have a bunch of money to spend on tv ads. if it was santorum and romney standing there with nothing but what they believe in, romney would be out to lunch big time and he wouldn't know how to pay for it. speaking of paying for stuff, think about this, the automobile loan is being paid back. it's fiscally responsible and the republicans are against that, too? get your cell phones out want to know what you think, tonight's question would a loss in michigan effectively end mitt romney's campaign. a for yes, b for no to 622639. go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com, we'll bring you the results later in the show.

joining me now is congressman gary peters of michigan. good to have you with us tonight, appreciate your time. >> always a pleasure to be with you, ed. >> i want to take you back to what was written today, we know what was written by mitt romney in 2008 as we just showed it to you but he still is at it. he says today instead of the free market doing what it does best, we got a major taste of crony capitalism obama-style. what is your response to that? >> he doesn't know what he's talking about and for getting a lot of history about what was happening back in 2009, as chrysler and general motors were heading toward bankruptcy, there simply wasn't private capital available to get out of the bankruptcy. mitt romney says he should have gont to the private markets. wall street was frozen, we got through this debacle on wall street, greed went wild, markets collapsed, there wasn't money available, particularly in the billions of dollars necessary for both chrysler and general motors. in fact i sat in the board room when mr. nardelli, the ceo of

chrysler, congressman if we don't have federal loans we won't have the money necessary to get through bankruptcy and restructure the private markets are simply not there for us, i'm going to be forced to liquidate the company. and if mr. romney had his way, that what is would have happened. they would have liquidated, with that hundreds of thousands of jobs would have been lost in michigan and across the country, not just the two major companies but all the suppliers that supply parts to those major companies. >> there is any down side to what has transpired in the automobile industry, look at the other side of the spectrum, what the republicans are talking about. where is the down side, i'm looking for it? >> i don't see the down side, ed. we saved critical industry, all about american manufacturing, these are great middle class jobs that are being saved as a result of that. jobs are being added. i was just at a meeting in michigan earlier in the week, ed, i had auto suppliers telling

me they are in a situation right now they can't find enough people, enough engineers, they are hiring people and they can't find enough people. two years ago, those same companies were laying off people. now they are in the position where they're hiring and looking for more. this is a great success story, we have to remind everybody of the success story about president obama taking a risk, he took heat to make this decision, but it was the right decision and it's always right to bet on the american workers because every time they will do it especially the men and women of the uaw who made sacrifices and now building world class cars, in my district they are building car that general motors thought they could only build profitably in china, that is the chevy sonic, being built in michigan with uaw labor and being made at a profit. it's a great american success story. >> your colleague, bill hyzinga is a romney supporter, but he said something interesting about

the candidate. about romney he said "it would not able to win the michigan primary" is this really going to be the thorn in his side in michigan if he doesn't come to grips with how positive this has been? it would seem to me the independent voters are going to be honest brokers when it comes to what is economically good now you have a chance of seeing mitt romney losing to rick santorum in michigan. >> i think it would be a devastating blow. here is a man who says he was raised in michigan, has michigan values, he understands the auto industry and yet when the auto industry really needed help, he wasn't there. in fact he said let the auto industry go bankrupt, let it disappear, if the government supports this industry, it would be a mistake. he was proven wrong, and had he been president at the time, it would have been catastrophic, not just for my state but the whole country.

>> congressman gary peters, great to have you with us tonight, thanks so much. >> appreciate it ed. answer the question at the bottom of the screen, share thoughts on twitter. president barack obama had republicans on the ropes, they agreed to pass the payroll tax cut. jan schakowski will join me on that. later the president and wisconsin governor scott walker will meet in milwaukee tomorrow. john nichols is here to preview walker's jan brewer moment, stay with us. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points

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coming up republicans caved on the payroll tax cut but are democrats letting them off the hook too easy? congress woman schakowski and jonathan alter will join me. pressure from consumers, has apple investigating labor practices as -- at its factories overseas. mike daisey who visited the

plant will join me later to tell us the story. share thoughts on twitter #edshow. we're right back. [ male announcer ] what if y was thought up and built and run to save people money? what if that company was born online, with tools and apps to make people feel like geniuses? and what if that company was now backed by the stability and reliability of allstate? well, what if that company was esurance and this wasn't just a bunch of hypothetical questions? could be cool-ish. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call.

let me start with a quick public service announcement for all the gentlemen out there. today is valentine's day. do not forget. >> welcome back to "the ed show." president obama did he forget something in the past? different story. he has reason to be happy w, said they would extend the payroll tax cut without offsets. the president has kept up the

offensive. >> congress needs to extend that tax cut, along with vital insurance lifelines for folks who lost their jobs during this recession. and they need to do it now, without drama, and without delay. >> house democratic leader nancy pelosi said the party would support the republican plan for a stand alone payroll tax cut extension. but at this hour, congress is nearing a deal on all of it. a potential deal would include up to 75 weeks of unemployment benefits for the hardest hit states. extension of 63 weeks for the other states. house republicans had wanted to cut benefits to 59 weeks. joining me tonight is jan schakowski of illinois, congress woman great to have you with us, what can you tell us about a pending deal where the numbers sound pretty good? >> so far, so good, ed. we're waiting to hear that the deal gets signed, seal and delivered, because just

extending the payroll tax is not enough. we obviously need to help those people that if we don't act by the end of the month, they will have no visible means of support. people who lost their job, mainly no fault of their own. >> what about the medicare issue, where are we on that, is this part of the potential deal tonight? >> i'm hoping when they say the whole deal is being worked on, they mean also paying the doctors reimbursement for their medicare patients up to the amount that they need in order to keep accepting medicare patients. we cannot have lots and lots of seniors going to doctors and finding out nope, sorry, we won't take you anymore. this is very important. those are the three pieces, the payroll tax extension of unemployment, and what we call the doc-fix, making sure doctors get sufficiently paid. >> the rank and file, the republican leadership shocked the rank and file by going this

distance should we say, as the election nears, are republican leaders trying to move more to the center? really this is a totally different attitude than what we saw at the end of last year. >> don't you think, ed, partly because they are getting the message that the american people want something to happen, they want to get these things done and don't want to see any more obstruction on the part of the republicans? that is what i'm thinking that they must be reading some polls or actually hearing from constituents get going here, stop stopping things. >> jan schakowski, great to have you with us. >> thank you, ed. turn to jonathan alter, msnbc political analyst and columnist for bloomberg view, this is a big win for the president if it falls this way? >> it is because it will help the economy get better. if you look at his political

prospects, he needs a good economy in the latter part of 2012. now, the republicans before this point were kind of thinking politically why do we want to help the president and why do anything for the economy, because that might help the president? why get people more money to spend at the mall which will generate economic activity if that might help the president. but now as the congress woman just suggested, they are feeling the political heat at home. they went home at christmas and heard from constituents, enough of the monkey business, get down to real business. >> this is so unlike them, to give up unemployment benefits. they were railing on the unemployed. >> they were in single digits in their popularity it's a political loser for all of 2011 they were so intoxicated with their victory in 2010 they were not paying attention to basic political brass tacks. unemployment compensation. doc-fix, these are extremely

popular in republican as well as democratic districts. >> liberals were upset with the president extending the bush tax cuts last year. what a difference, he is scoring better with independents. >> he's securing his base. he's not having any primary opposition, which everybody takes for granted but that doesn't always happen with an incumbent president. and now he's beginning to reach out to independents, the democrats had a big problem with independents because so many fewer voted in 2010 they tend to be more conservative. it's important not to get ahead of ourselves, there are eight or ten more turns and twists in the road before this election and i sense a little bit of cockiness now in conversation with

democrats, they think we'll have the best candidate they will have the weaker candidate. i would caution them against it. as someone who has covered a lot of elections. >> they have to fight voter suppression, this is no time to get a little bit too cocky. >> and billionaires can pour in hundreds of millions of dollars. because they will buy ads more expensive, the television stations will give the billionaires doing the hate ads against obama, they will get all the big air time before the election, which will be a big factor. >> great to have you with us. >> next up, the story of mitt romney's dog. i know it's out there, since there is protests about dogs, we'll do the story. later romney versus santorum, it's heating up. it's benefitting president obama. richard wolfe joins me, stay with us we're right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." 30 years ago mitt romney strapped his dog to the roof of his car for a 12 hour ride. the westminster kennel club is holding the dog show in madison square garden. a group of dogs, a group called "dogs against romney" showed up outside the arena to protest the man currently trailing rick

santorum in the polls. i guess you could call this a dog-gone man protest. mitt romney has never denied the story. he has been laughing it off since he has been running for president in 2007. >> back in 1983, you took your irish setter on a 12 hour road trip tied to the roof of your car. >> no, no, not quite like that. >> let me finish in a kennel. >> yes, yes. >> i have a yellow lab named winston, i would no sooner put him in a kennel on the roof of a car than my children. question, what were you thinking? >> this is a completely air-tight kennel, and mounted on the top of the car, he climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself. >> so does that mean he would do it again? romney's dog enjoyed himself so much in that kennel he crapped all over himself in the crate and all the way back in the back of the windshield of the car. the bad news for mitt romney is

this story is now officially in the pop culture bloodstream "saturday night live" picked it up over the weekend. >> i wouldn't want to be rick santorum with all the pressure and expectations and attention and so on, be more popular with the party's base thanld the other candidates, no thank you. baron knows what i'm talking about. isn't that right? [ dog barking ] >> he does this with me. good dog. oh, good dog. [ dog barking ] >> i guess it's tough passing yourself off as a dog lover protecting the fat cats. mitt i'm with the protesting pooches, you got to let your dog right inside. hello, wisconsin!

the president returns to the badger state tomorrow, this time he has a meeting with governor scott walker. john nichols of the nation and chris larson are here with the latest. rick santorum keeps surging, and this time he has back-up. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. >> richard wolfee has the latest on the race. >> mike daisey is pressuring apple to improve the conditions in their chinese factories. >> i met workers 13 years old, i met workers 12. do you really think apple -- >> he's here tonight. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save!

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the president will tour masterlock, a manufacturing company he highlighted during the state of the union for bringing 100 jobs back from china. an interesting stop for the president. for a number of reasons scandal-ridden governor scott walker plans to meet the president on the tar mcand tour the plant with him. this might be walker's "jan brewer "moment. governor walker bragged how he schooled the president of the united states on labor rights during his cpac speech in washington. >> because i'm sure that the president of the united states is not getting his talking points from the big government union bosses in washington. i think hannity ran that quote 50 times that night that is the last we heard from the president. i think the reason why is because the facts are clear.

>> quoting hannity? there is a good source. did you ask him about bin laden, scott? that is a different story. i doubt walker has the guts to say the same things to the president face-to-face, the same time president obama has a golden opportunity. tomorrow is the first anniversary of 3,000 protesting in the wisconsin capital and 20,000 on the grounds. when the president goes do masterlock i want him to talk about more than just in-sourcing manufacturing jobs. i want the president to speak about the importance of education, which walker has cut by almost a billion dollars in wisconsin. the president needs to explain how masterlock is making money with working folk that are union employees. i want the president to talk about how government can help companies who keep jobs in america. this is a swing state stop for the president. i hope he makes the most of it and brings the house down. i'm joined by john nichols, washington correspondent for

"the nation" magazine and author of "uprising." it is about what transformed and transpired in wisconsin over the last year, is it not? >> it is a book that starts a year ago and comes to today and celebrates what i think is the most transformational movement i've seen certainly in my life as a reporter. >> the president making his first trip since all of this, good, bad, indifferent, what do you think? >> i think the timing is interesting, isn't it? he's coming on the one year anniversary of the first large demonstration at the capital. and that won't go unnoted. he will also be speaking to an audience at masterlock, united auto workers local 469. it's growing, membership is going up. and so he has a message for them but i do hope that he takes off

on where you were talking about. unions have been battered in wisconsin they haven't heard and executive come in and say they are good, they are useful. governor walker hasn't done that i hope president obama takes an opportunity to at the very least say "thanks" to the union workers for sticking it out for their company. he's in a state they are making massive cuts, if he's for worker rights, actually scott walker politically is totally opposite from president obama. how is this conversation going to go on the tarmac? >> walker is a politician, career politician, i can't believe that he will lose this opportunity. i think what he will try to do is be as nice to the president, get his arm around him get a photograph because scott walker is polling at 5%, he would love to be photographed with president.

>> let's bring in senator chris larson, good to have you with us tonight. what do you make of the president's visit to the masterlock facility tomorrow bringing jobs back from china? >> well i think it's a fantastic message for wisconsin and for all the country. i think masterlock embodies the american spirit, making an american product with union work. they have in-sourced the jobs back from china. it tells the story of what we like to see from manufacturing not just here but across country i can see why president obama wants to highlight this as a contrast and wanted to see this move forward across the country we are excited to have him. >> other companies like briggs@stratton left wisconsin, what do you want to hear from the president tomorrow? >> i think it's important to say we're looking to build middle class jobs, working class jobs, and making sure we have a

pathway to do that. and i think highlighting companies that are doing just that, like masterlock is the key way to do it. not companies that are looking to say where can i save a dollar by cutting workers right, by cutting the union and by shipping jobs overseas. as a lot of tax breaks do of saying we want to make sure we're investing properly in our country, in our state, and highlighting that i hope that message is taken to the people and to scott walker and to republicans in the house and move forward with that. >> you think he should say to walker how is that recall thing working out for you? i tell you what, president obama has a sense of humor, you never know what he will say in that regard. he's a jolly kind of guy when he visits with folks. but here is the thing. this is a governor who turned down stimulus money that would have put in a rail system in the state that would have created a lot of jobs. a governor who had his budget

passed and you have lost jobs every month since that budget has passed. how aggressive should president obama be? >> yeah, it's a tale of two leaders here, you have the president where we've seen 23 consecutive months of job growth in our country, compared to a governor who has seen six consecutive months of job losses. you've seen a president who is willing to work with the working man, willing to work with unions and you have a governor who is striking him down and trying to work against him and not willing to collaborate. it's a huge contrast. what is really interesting, though, ed, i think the thing that they both have in common is that they both really motivate the progressive base. president obama got everybody going in 2008, and now in 2012, governor walker has gotten the progressive base going in wisconsin. >> john nichols, chris larson, great to have you with us tonight. the significance of the visit one year ago to the day of the protest is more than

interesting. great to have you with us tonight, thanks. a new super pac is going after romney on his pro-life credentials romney will have to move farther to the right. richard wolffe joins me after this.

up next, mitt romney lawns which an ad blitz in eight states. pacs are fighting back with ads of their own. richard wolffe joins knee. mike daisey has been telling the world about the conditions at the foxcon plant in china. apple is looking into labor practices. mike joins me later in the show. tweet us using #edshow. we're right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney is vulnerable and conservatives are ready to pile on. romney has plenty of money to keep fighting.

romney super pacs now extending the air war to at least eight states holding upcoming contests including the big one, michigan. anonymous romney aide told po politico will hit santorum hard. romney is trying to stress his conservative credentials telling an audience he vetoed an embryo bill as governor. >> there was a provision that said life would no longer be determined as having begun at conception but said i am plantation and the idea there was that would allow for embryo cloning and farming, i vetoed that. >> a new pro-life super pac has a different idea of romney's position on abortion. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and devote and dedicated to honoring >> a new pro-life super pac has a different idea of romney's position on abortion. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and devote and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. >> nationally syndicated talk show host steve deace, pro life super pac is formed to finish

off mitt romney. santorum holds a slight lead, the fourth national poll to give santorum the lead. let's turn to msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. what will turn it around for mitt romney is it the negative ads, will he turn it around from south carolina to florida, can he do damage control with super pac ads? >> he has to win michigan and win big. the numbers a couple weeks ago had a 15 point lead, now that is gone. if you look at the national polls, he's not faring any better than rick santorum, maybe by a point or two, not substancely better in the head-to-head with president obama. remember, electability was the cornerstoenl of his argument. now the economy is getting

better, people feel more positive, there is a long way to go, those numbers are working against mitt romney just when he needs the most, so he has to win in michigan not clear he can run the same playbook against santorum he won against gingrich with, which is the whole washington corruption insider dealing. the new romney super pac ad calls santorum a big spender. when he was senator, with the pork barrel ear marks and all that stuff. is that going to work? >> republicans have not shown a great distaste for ear marks, politicians, lobbyists, that kind of messaging hasn't gone down well with republicans. they don't like out of control spending, when it's associated with this president and with democrats. their own spending, their own ear marks, they have no problem with that, mitch mcconnell has not lost any ground being the biggest pro poe nenlt of ear marks out there. so yes, they changed their tune because of the tea party none of that continued forward. and really it's down to a

partisan difference they don't like democrat spending, republican spending is fine. >> obviously, in michigan the automobile story is a big one, saved a lot of jobs, and it's going to be there for a while and president is polling better right now on the economy because it's making progress. here you have mitt romney well on the record, all over the place on the automobile issue. is this going to hurt him in michigan and what if he doesn't win michigan, richard, how tough is the landscape going to be post-michigan? >> he's con torting himself in a pretzel trying to explain away that new york times op-ed when he said there should be no bail out and detroit should go bust. by the way that op-ed made a big argument where the government should spend money, he said alternative energy, the kind of things he's railing against when it comes to cylindra. he's trying to justify what he did before. it won't work in michigan. he will lose conservative voters. michigan propels him in super tuesday.

he needs this one. he is the son of michigan he grew up there, if he loses, the media turns hard on him. >> thanks, richard wolffe. in the big finish tonight, customer outrage, that is what it is, customer outrage forcing e beautiful than a covergirl? two covergirls.

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in the big finish tonight, customer outrage, that is what [ male announcer ] what if an entire car insurance company

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and what if that company was now backed by the stability and reliability of allstate? well, what if that company was esurance and this wasn't just a bunch of hypothetical questions? could be cool-ish. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call. in the big finish tonight, customer outrage, that is what it is, customer outrage forcing one of the biggest companies in the world to crack down on labor violations at the overseas factories. you know the story about apple? apple is a huge company, they have announced that an audit by a third party organization at factories where it's products are made, iphones, ipads are assembled in china. suppliers will give the auditors what they say unrestriked access. since 2007, violations include

excessive overtime, under-age workers, improper hazardous waste disposal and falsified records. there have been more than 200 worker injuries, and more than 20 deaths from accidents and suicides. an unnamed apple executive told the new york times customers care more about a new iphone than working conditions in china. but customers started caring when the labor abuses became public. one of the people respond i believe for exposing this story is mike daisey. he is an author, and monologuist who traveled to china and witnessed the working conditions at the foxcon factory. >> i do know that in my first two hours of my first day at that gate, i met workers who were 14 years old. i met workers who were 13 years

old. i met workers who were 12. do you really think apple doesn't know? >> we are joined tonight mike daisey, great to have you with us. monologue called "the agony and the ecstasy of steve jobs" it's performed at the public theater in new york city for 18 months you have been doing this, 19 cities across the world. first of all, i'm intrigued, congratulations. i have not seen your performance but you come to us tonight with absolute rave reviews. i've talked to people who have seen you and you just sit down at the desk and tell what you saw in china and i'm intrigued what motivated to you do that? >> i always loved technology, i have loved apple, actually, i loved the devices and i knew a lot about them i'm kind of a tech geek i realized that i didn't actually know, i knew how

to take it apart but i didn't know how it had been made and i started researching it and a lot of the stories that are coming out now, human rights groups have been reporting on them for the better part of a decade. none of this is controversial. this is how things are done across the electronics industry, so i felt compelled to go to china and dig in the story. >> and you went there in 2010, correct? >> yes. >> what did you see? >> i saw all the things that everyone has been reporting on. i saw under-age workers, i talked to workers who were 13, 14, 15 years old. i met people whose hands have been destroyed from doing the same motion again and again on the line, carpal tunnel on a scale you could hardly imagine. >> making apple products. >> making products across the electronics industry. all electronics are made in this fashion. >> did you get steve jobs attention? oh yes, yes, people that came to see the show, 70,000 i would give them his e-mail

address and many of them would write to him. every once in a while he would respond and they would forward those to me. >> what was the most interesting e-mail you saw from steve jobs once you went to apple and started the presentation, what, 18 months ago? what was the most interesting email on this issue about under age workers and the way they were being treated? >> across the spectrum he gave a lot of responses but one that sticks with me is that he someone wrote to him about the excessive hours, how people work over 100 hours a week, they work incredible hours until driven in the ground. they were advocating for reasonable work week, like our work week of 40 hours. and steve jobs wrote back one line e-mail saying "i work a lot more than 40 hours." >> what do the people get paid in china? what does apple pay them? this is all about cheap labor, isn't it? >> cheap labor is the engine that fuels this entire enterprise.

it should be said that there is a different standard of living and one of the reasons that all this industry goes to the area. that said, it's still true the amount people are being paid is low enough that they feel like they need to work, that incredibly excessive amount of overtime and practically required to do it until they drive themselves into the ground. >> what is your response to the unnamed apple executive who told the new york times american people don't care about the working conditions in china, they want a real good piece of equipment? >> that is not true. i think we're seeing that. i think we all have blinded ourselves for a long time to how manufacturing is in china. the truth is these conditions exist across manufacturing in china, we don't want to look at them. when we get called to attention, people react. >> what do you make of apple's sudden shift on this issue? they say they will have an audit go in there, an auditor go in

there, how does that hit you? >> i'm glad to see them starteding to react. the last thing apple did is tim cook sent an e-mail saying how furious he was with the new york times story even though he couldn't contest the charges in it. good to see them reacting. at the same time, i have real questions about the ability of the fla to be independent of apple, when they receive so much money from apple and the other corporate members in them. >> unions are not legal in china. >> that's correct. >> moving forward, what more are you going to do, will you continue your presentation as a monologuity here in new york, what are the future plans? >> we will -- this week we're releasing the text of the monologue online and under an open license, anyone in the world who wants to perform the show in any way, they want to film it, put it on youtube, do it in their communities, can do it anywhere wherever they want free of charge. >> where do they find that? >> my website, mike daisey.com. >> congratul