"politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politicsnation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, the president tells republicans, get to work. today the president went to albany, new york where he unveiled a to-do list for congress. to push them to help homeowners refie answer that their mortgages. give tax cred it to small businesses. and put veterans back to work. >> i know this is an election year. but it's not an excuse for inaction. six months is plenty of time for dem krts and republicans to get together and do the right thing. taking steps that will spur additional job creation right now. just saying no to ideas that we know will help our economy isn't an option. there's too much at stake. each of these ideas on the list will help accelerate our economy and put people back to work. not in november, not next year,

but right now. >> get together and dot right thing. while the president talked about the need for democrats and republicans to work together, acceptate republicans late today blocked a bill to keep student loan interest rates from doubling. these are the republicans priority in 2012. instead of getting wealthy corporations to pay their interest rate plan, with higher taxes, republicans are willing to let poor student face huge bills and no surprise, they're blaming the president for their own filibuster. >> he's still blaming his predecessor. he got nearly everything he wanted for two years. he borrowed and spent trillions. he took over the student loan industry. he took over healthcare. he imposed his regulations. it's his economy now. the real enemy of recent college graduate is this president's economic policies. until democrats are willing to admit that, we'll keep falling behind.

>> they're not the only ones blaming the president, the willard mitt romney acts as if the republicans had nothing to do at all with what happened to the economy. >> the lessons of the last four years teaches a great deal about the next four years. the president's plea that we simply ignore the last four years, is actually his latest effort to escape responsibility for the failures of the last four years. his early attempt, as you recall, was it try and blame other. his predecessor, congress, the 1%, oil companies. failures were not caused by others. they were caused by wrong choices. >> governor romney, congress is responsible. republicans have blocked the president's efforts. senate republicans filibustered the president's jobs bill. they blocked the 9/11 first responders bill. house republicans demanded budget cuts before agreeing to

disaster relief. and house republicans pass willard mitt romney's favorite social program slasher. the ryan budget. which guts programs that help millions of americans while rewarding yet again the richest in the country. republicans have admitted they won't do anything to work with this president. >> your idol, as i've read anyway, was ronald reagan and he kproe pliesed. >> he he raised taxes. >> you did compromise. >> we found common ground. >> why don't you say -- you're afraid of the work. >> i reject the word. >> our top priority should be to deny president obama a second term. >> we know their game. deny, deny, deny. but the president is just heading forward.

>> the truth is is, the only way we can accelerate the job creation that takes place on a scale that is needed, is bold action from congress. democrats and republicans have to come together. and they have shown that they can do it. i mean, they did some important work. they passed tax cuts for workers. approved trade deals to open up new markets for american products. >> if we work together with common purpose, i've got no doubt we can keep moving this country forward and remine the world just why it is the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. thank you so much, everybody. god bless you. blood bless america. >> joining me now is shrubob sh. thank you for being here. >> i think it will be and i think we will hear a huge amount

about the ryan budget as we go on through this campaign. senior citizens or one of the groups where the president is having trouble, i think what the ryan budget does to medicare, which is basically to devastate it, leave mercy at the insurance companies. we are going to hear a lot about that. romney's big problem here, and it's a very large problem, is that he is totally holding out to the republican right wing. he is afraid of his right wing shadow. look what happened yesterday when somebody said, you know, the president aught to be tried for treason. >> he couldn't do what mccain did in 2008, which was grab the mic back from a lady who said something like that and said, i'm sorry, you're just wrong. so i think he is totally enthralled innes this folks and i think he will be held to account in the campaign. >> this weekend, the president said, that romney was a champion for the republican agenda. look at this. >> this time, they want even bigger tax cuts for the

wealthiest americans. this time they want even deeper cuts to things like medication, research and technology. >> republicans in congress found the nominee for president who promised to rubber stamp this agenda if he gets the chance. >> now joan, the more the president can tie him to that agenda, rubber stamp, blocking student interest rates billed today that really is going to cause student an average of $1,000 or more if it passes the house. the more he does that, does that not politically help the president? >> oh, it absolutely helps the president politically, reverend, al. >> i think we can all be proud that president in the last few months has really begun to, after a long time trying to comprise and god bless him, he tried, he reached out, he tried to reach a grand bar on all the things we saw in the first two

and half years, he realized that all they wanted to do was defeat him. he is now putting forward his own agenda for the future and is doubling done on education and is talking about science and talking about helping student with their loan burden. we need to do more than even we are doing. but the interest rate cut is a big step and i think he's really putting forward the vision of parallel vision of america that if you can't get the republicans to come along, he is going to sell it to the american people and he is going to make people optimistic that if we invest in our future. we can have the kind of country that we had in the 50s and 60s we we were growing the middle class, based on government spending. no one talks about that. the president is beginning to talk about that. we are going to have two very stark choices. and mitt romney is stuck with the ryan budget. but i don't get the feeling that he feels stuck. you know, i think he has doubled down on this. i think this is what he wants. he is going forward. let's have a great election with two very stark choices. >> joan may be right, bob.

because romney said that the president is moving the economy side ways. look at this, whatever that means. >> he is asking us to look only at the years ahead, to consider how much better his policies will make things down the road. but in our hearts we know. as much as we would like it believe him, we know that america is going in the wrong direction. not forward, but side ways. or worse. >> not forward but side ways. >> or worse. >> what does that mean? >> it is a speech writer's line that somebody gave him. he is going out there and saying. the fact is, the president i think can make a very strong case. and will make a strong case, that he inherited a complete disaster. >> right. >> and that he did a number of things to help turn that around. we are not where we need to be but we are heading in the right direction. the problem with romney is

romney-nomices, have all been tried in britain, europe, france, as they have a double dip recession as they cut and cut and cut. what these folks have done, it's ideology for them, they are picking billion airs over bachelors degrees for kids trying to go to college. and it is political calculation for them. they want recession. they want things to get as bad as they can because they think it is their only route to the white house, and it is. >> but joan at the same time he says the economy is going side ways, he admits it is getting better. watch this. >> how do you answer the president's argument that the economy is getting better in a general election campaign if you yourself are saying that it is getting better? >> well of course it is betting better. the economy always gets better after recession. there is always a recuroverreco >> i believe the economy is coming back. we will see. there are ups and downs. i think it is finally coming back. >> bob says this romney-nomics.

i call it romney-itis. every january it is getting better. now it is going side ways. but we're not hearing a policy laid out plan that says, a, b, c, d, this is what i propose to deal with the problems. he voted for the ryan plan, which does not deal with the problems. and really slashes a lot of programs for middle class and poor americans. >> well, right. and this motion, reverend al, that president got everything he wanted for the last tw years, is so preposterous, as you pointed out. when we go back to 2009 when the president's stimulus did pull the economy out of the ditch, he knew and his people knew, basically deep down, that it wasn't going to be quite large enough. but it was as large as they could get through congress that point. they needed republican votes so they compromise, threw a lot of tax cuts in it. it did prevent a depression.

mark standee, mon john mccain's economic adviser said that, so we know it helped. but it wouldn't be larger and we couldn't o go back from more because of the republican party. so yes, their prescription is to drive the economy into another ditch so they can help people will be miserable and scared and reject the current leadership. we're going to hope that doesn't happen. >> bob, you ran some presidential campaigns. and i think they planned on the economy doing worse than it is and maybe we are left with no theme. so how do you call it now? six months to the election. what do you see happening? >> i think the president will win and in fact, i don't pay much attention to these national gallup tracking polls and the other national tracking polls. because if you look state by state in these battle ground states, the president is doing very well. i think that's where all of the energy is going to go. there's one other thing helping here, and it is not just the economy. it is romney. watching him tonight, as you

unspool the reels, reminded me of what a friend of mine, hollywood legend said, about a really bad movie. he said, the audience just doesn't believe it. romney is something that i think the audience, the american people, he is someone that we're just not going to believe. >> bob shrum and joan walsh, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, rick santorum finally endorses mitt romney. late at night, in an e-mail. what the latest show of support says about the presumtive republican nominee. and we'll talk to north carolina governor bef purdue who is waging a one woman campaign against gop extremism. and the state's new anti-gay initiative on the ballot today. plus, nobel prize winning economist paul krugman says the solution to our financial crisis is in reach and incredibly

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north carolina republicans have been pushing one extreme bill after another. photo id, abortion restrictions, cuts to education. but one leader is standing in their way. and fighting for what's right. she's democratic gov o nor bev perdue. and she joins us live, next. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going.

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welcome back to "politicsnation." it is election day in north carolina. votere decide if the state should become the 31st with a constitutional amendment that says marriage should be between a man and a woman. it has been hotly contested with spending by both sides topping $3 million. it's a lot of money to ban same-sex marriage. especially since it's already been banned. that's right. the state already banned gay marriage in 1996. and this amendment doesn't just reban it, it also rurts civil unions and domestic partnerships for straight couples as well as for gay ones. one of the most vocal opponent of the amendment has been democratic governor bev perdue, who called it bad for families in an ad released last month.

but unfortunately, it is just the latest extreme proposal she's had to fight back against. republicans of north carolina have been on a right wing thrill ride since taking over the state legislature in 2010. but governor purdue has vetoed a record 16 bills to protect the people in her state. bills with new abortion restrictions. a voter id bill. and a budget that slashed education spending and defunded planned parenthood. and while some republicans were able to override some of the vetoes, perdue is still fighting back. joining me live from raleigh, north carolina, is the woman herself, democratic governor bev perdue. thank you for joining me today. first off, let's talk about amendment one. polls closing in just a little over an hour. why should people vote no on this amendment, governor?

>> because it is a bad amendment for north carolina's economy. it changes our brand. sounds like from our intro that you know a lot about what is going on in our state. this is not about gay marriage, it is about what you said. intruding on civil unions, domestic partnerships. it hurts children's healthcare plan, hurts domestic violence. i had an e-mail from a friend in car saying, i'm sitting here watching what is happening in north carolina. we have been progressive. we're proud of what we have become in the last 50 years. this is one more attempt by republican extremism, to tear down the fabric after great state. >> isn't it true that many people voting were not clear on all of the dimensions of this bill thinking this was only about same-sex marriage and don't understand the other component and there is already a law banning same-sex marriage in the state. >> that's the whole issue.

that's why $3 million have been spent on both sides. we already have a law. we don't need this ban. and it is just wrong for a constitution to give away liberties rather than ensure liberties. that's what constitutions are about, protecting our rights, not taking them away. the rhetoric is very divisive. it is an intrusion. i found in the last 18 months that this new republican extreme majority want it continue to intrude not just in our schools classrooms but in our bedrooms. and this is another example. first they were after planned parenthood and choice and now they are after domestic unions. >> former president bill clinton lent his voice to an anti-amendment one robo call going on around the state. let me play that for you. >> i'm calling to urge you to vote against amendment 1 on tuesday, may 8th. if it passes, it won't change north carolina's law on the marriage. the real effect is not to keep the traditional marriage, it has already done that. the real effect will be to hurt

families and drive away jobs. north carolina can do better. >> but at the same time, evangelist billy graham ran a full page ad in 14 newspapers across the state urging people to vote for the amendment. it read at 39 i never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage. the bible is clear, god's definition of marriage is between a man and woman. i want it urge my fellow north carolinians to vote for this marriage amendment on tuesday, may 8th. which clearly doesn't really say what the entire amendment is about, governor. >> al, i have great respect for billy graham. he is a personal friend of my family, my husband and i. we love him and love what we has done for america. but on this issue, it is not clearly told in his letter, this advertisement. this is not about gay marriage. this is about civil rights for individuals. and we already have that law on the books. it is absolutely unnecessary and

this kind of disinformation permeated the fabric of north carolina. >> let me tirn to other bills you have vetoes. some overwritten by republicans. but one permanently stopped was the voter id bill. something that we talk about a lot on this show. republicans tried but failed to override your veto. that was a great victory, wasn't it? >> it was a great victory. but it is not over until it's over, al. you no he that. they are coming back next thursday and i imagine there will be another attempt to override the veto. this is extremism. where in the world did we come to an america where we try to keep people from voting. in north carolina, a person in a nursing home couldn't vote. the vote would disenfranchise a million people in the state. i just voted myself early. i had to tell my -- i today tell my agrees, say who i was, sign an affidavit swearing that i was who i said ways. we have a process in place to

prosecute people who lie. that is not a problem in north carolina. >> it is an problem, governor? >> no, it hadn't been a problem. there are very few case of voter fraud reported. the press is very clear about that. this is another attempt to intimidate folks coming to poll and vote. >> governor, it is not a problem and you say it'll disenfranchise a million people in north carolina. >> absolutely. >> they attempted to override it once, unsuccessfully. you say they are coming back. why is it so important to them, do you think, that they are keeping this going when it is an problem? what's their real motive? >> al, motive is simple. they don't want a million people showing up next november. they didn't want those people showing up today and we sustained the veto. right now we are fine on primary day. but this is great. this would be great for romney and the whole republican ticket. let's keep these folks at home because the majority of people, we believe, will vote

democratic. a lot of people that are older, don't have a a voter id, don't have a federal or state license. >> governor, thank you for your time and service. >> thank you, al. come to north carolina and visit us. >> i sure will. coming up, rick santorum offers a full endorse many of willard for president. in 13th paragraph of a press release. how is that for being you a sportive. a whopper after claim about attack ad he is running against president obama and other democrats. well bust that one wide open, next. [ male announcer ] this is the land of giants.

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it's pop quiz time here on "politicsnation." pretty simple test. we play an ad and you at home say if it's political or not. let's get right to the first ad. roll it. >> preezy of the united steezy. obama! obama! >>. so what do you think, folks?

was this a political ad? if you said yes, you are correct. it was indeed a political ad. pretty obvious one there. let's try another one. roll it. >> president obama's administration restricted oil production in the gulf. limited development of american oil shale. and obama personally lobbied to kill a pipeline bringing oil from canada. the president's playing politics. tell president obama, bad energy policies mean energy prices we can't afford. >> so how about that? was it a a political ad? if you said yes, you're wrong. that was not a political ad. weird, right? how is an ad that attackes a politician not political? because karl rove said so. seriously. he founded both the groups that made both ads. and decided one group is political and the other isn't. the second ad made by rove's crossroads gps is described as

an issue ad. so why the difference? it all comes down to money. rove's issues group has filed its first tax forms with the irs. and is filed as nonprofit organization. to do that, is arguing ads attacking candidates aren't political but issue-based. the huffington post reports that the nonprofit group, like this, is supposed to promote social welfare. how do attack ads promote social welfare? but issue based nonprofit don't have to disclose their donors while political organizations do. so when a mystery donor gave $10 million to crossroads gps to run anti-obama ads, rove didn't have to say who gave the money. did rove think we wouldn't call him out for this shady move? nice try, but we gotcha. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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we're back on "politicsnation" with gop's weak attempt to rally behind willard mitt romney. the latest endorsement comes from his former rival rick santorum. wait, you missed it? that's because it happened under the cover of night. last night. at 11:00, to be exact. nearly a month after suspending his campaign. rick santorum sent a 16-paragraph e-mail to supporters, formally endorsing willard. but it is not like any endorse many i've ever seen before. in the third paragraph santorum tells supporters quote, it was completely impossible for me to even consider an endorsement until after meeting with romney. in the seventh paragraph he said, quote, our policy prescriptions differed. in the 12th paragraph he says, governor romney and i have some differences. and he goes on to say, i had concerns about governor romney

fighting against obamacare. then finally, as if it may be 23 if his supporters made it this far, in the 13th paragraph santorum finally says, quote, he has my endorse many. wow, this is the worst endorse many for romney we've seen since the last endorsement. >> this is not a choice between romney and reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftest president in american history. >> now compare all of this to how romney himself endorsed the man who beat him back in 2008. >> i am honored today to give my full support to john mccain for candidacy of the president of the united states. today i'm asking for my delegates to vote for senator mccain at the convention. this is a country able to lead our country in a dangerous hour. >> with me is nbc political analyst and author of "revival

for the struggle for survival in the obama white house" and maria teresa kumar executive director 6 votes latino and msnbc contributor. thanks to you both for being here. let me start with you, richard. some really grudging endorsements. is there any real love for romney at all in the gop? >> can you blame these people? look, they had tens of millions of dollars dumped on their head and there is bad feelings at the end of it. remember santorum's endorsement of romney in 2008 was rammed down his throat by mitt romney all the way down the end of that primary contest. bad feelings are going to be there. really the weight is on the endorsy, not the endorser, to be gracious here and bring the party together. hillary clinton in 2008 did not particularly give a gracious speech when the now president had gotten enough delegates it take the nomination. she talked about the cracked ceiling and it sound like she

wanted it fight on. but when it came to convention time, she was in the fold. that's because there is a lot of outreach that has gone on. we haven't seen romney do that. >> now maria, do you think in the end this will matter much? do you think that it is significant? what do you think? >> i think it is pretty significant. the fact that subject heading just said governor romney that santorum sent out says it all. do you really want to click on that e-mail and read it more? i don't think so. i think what it says is that recognizing that a lot offis key points in the gallup poll is that he is no n doubt of winning against barack obama. he needs that enthusiasm to close within the republican party and santorum is one wst few people that can rally the troops around the tea party and the evangelicals. he is just not delivering pip i think what richard said is absolutely right. romney shows his own leadership within his own party and start bringing the trips together or make sure they are lining up

behind him. >> lot of other political news today, including a big republican gaff on romney's immigration views. his position. now today, the rnc coordinator and romney's immigration stance says, i think as a candidate to my understanding, that he is still deciding what his position on immigration is. richard? >> that's the person who is doing outreach to the latino community. it would be funny if these weren't actually serious issues. i'm trying not to be too amused. but honestly, how pathetic is it? he's been campaigning for the last several years. his actual position is this concept called self deportation, which means making life so awful for immigrant, whether they are legal or illegal that everyone just wants to leave.

but in any case, it doesn't make sense because he doesn't know how to tap back from the extreme position. please make a decision. if you are running for commander-in-chief, make a position. have a position. then the outreach people can do outreach. >> he add very straight forward position during the primaries. let's play what he said about immigration. >> so if you don't deport them, how do you send them home? >> the answer is self deportation. people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here. they don't have legal documentation it allow them to work here. >> maybe his coordinator didn't know about self deportation. >> or the fact he is not -- or the fact he is against the dream act, which is the simplest form of passing some comprehensive immigration reform or the fact he has strange bed fellows such as russell pierce, architect behind the arizona law that said russell pierce saying that mitt romney's immigration policy was identical to his.

and a pokesperson for the romney campaign. can you go down the list of folks that are clear on what romney's position is. that he himself stated. i think they are trying, again, to dot etch-a-sketch and reposition him and realign him to go after the latino vote. as i think as richard said and you said, reverend, it is too late. we have too much documentation to prove otherwise. >> going to need that etcha stech. >> let me have it. >> plan b is something in february that romney denounced. let me play for you willard on plan b. >> the same administration said that churches, and the institutiones this run, such as schools and let's say adoption agencies, hospitals, that they have to provide for their employees free of charge. contraceptives, morning after pills. and other words abortive pills and the like, at no cost.

>> now, richard, he is squarely against to against it, but now we find out he is attending a $50,000 a plate fund-raiser next week with plan b maker phil frost whose chairman of teva pharmaceuticals, a company that makes contraceptives like plan b. think progress.com comes out with this today, how do you oppose can k07b tra september ifs but attend a fund-raiser where the chairman of the company that makes them, raising money for you? little hypocritical richard? >> look, he is palling around with plan b. the republicans want it make an argument in 2008 that you could judge a candidate, in that case, barack obama, by the company he was keeping at certain points of his career. in this campaign, mitt romney's got a problem about what he stands for. and for as long as his private

meetings, the money that he is raising, don't stack up to his public comments, he is going it face this perennial question which is, what do you support? what do you stand for? so it is not just hypocrisy, it is what is the real mitt romney? what is his real agenda here? and he is not really answering it by confusing the picture in this way. >> maria, does he need santorum and others to help him keep the conservatives in line or can he win without them? >> i mean, he definitely needs santorum. i think is perhaps the only time that progress and santorum might be aligned in the sense that they don't know or really trust mitt romney's judgement when it comes to contraception and the fact that, that basically the endorsement from santorum came so late at night is because santorum is quietly itching saying, i hope he doesn't win, so i can run in 2016. >> thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> thank you. >> coming up, nobel prize

winning economy paul krugman says fixing this economic crisis is almost incredibly easy. his solution, straight ahead. plus, the republican governor of maine tells the unemployed to quote, get off the couch and get a job. the latest attack in the gop war on the poor. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies

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folks one more note about the romney's endorsement. they sound like kids that can't play together. we have listed some of new york's finest young actors to give us a dramatic reading on how this endorsement process has gone. >> hey, kids, guess who's coming to the party? mitt romney. isn't that fun? s. >> he doesn't share. >> he's a meany. >> but he's a flip-flopper. >> he keeps all the delegates for himself. >> did you hear what he did to his dog? >> but he's going to be the nominee, don't you have anything nice to say? >> no, ewww, he has cooties. >> he's a poopy pants. >> obamacare was his idea. >> don't you want to endorse mitt romney? >> no way! >> no!

>> ewwwwwww! >> come on, if you want to go to the big play date in tampa, you're going to have to make nice with willard. >> well, i guess i like him. >> he's okay. >> better than that other guy, i guess. >> is that really the best can you do? >> fine, i endorse him. there. i said it. >> are you happy now? >> great, i'm so proud of you. >> but he's in reagan. >> what was that? >> nothing. >> and a child shall lead thee. maybe the gop would be better off. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything.

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were the idea of willard mitt romney. massive tax cuts that magically pay for themselves. severe budget cuts that act as a cure-all to everything. luckily for me, i'm joined onset tonight by someone who spent his life trying it make sense of all of this and speak the truth. with me now is noble prize winning economist paul krugman. he is a columnist for the new york times and author of the new book "end this depression now." mr. krugman, thank you for your time tonight, coming on the show. quite an honor for us. >> good to be on. >> you write in your book, quote, in the great depression, leaders had an excuse. nobody really understood what was happening. or how to fix it. today's leaders don't have that excuse. we have both the knowledge and tools to end this suffering. ending this depression should be, could be, almost incredibly easy.

so what's the solution? >> right now, the state and local government rehire school teachers, firefighters, police officers, that they've laid off. we got out of the great depression with a large spending program, otherwise known as world war ii. or the buildup to world war ii. but the point is to have government spend while the private sector is repairing damage from the bubble years. right now it is easy. easiest thing in the world. because we had government cuts totally wrong headed government cuts the past three years. layoff the school school teachers pb layoff firefighters, police officers. get that money back. start filling the potholes that have been accumulating from deferred maintenance and we would be most of the way back it full employment almost before you know it. >> so austerity isn't the answer, spending is. >> spending isn't always the answer. but when you are in the depression, which we are, spend sgt answer. austerity. we just had a giant experiment

performed on europe and the people of the out. we know the answer. this is a disaster. >> now, yesterday mitt romney took credit for the auto bailout. take a listen. let me show you. >> the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government help. and frankly, that finally what president did. he finally took them through bankruptcy. that was the right course. i argued for it from the very beginning. the uaw and president that delayed the idea of bankruptcy. i pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy and finally when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet. so i will take a lot of credit for fact that this industry has come back. >> am i missing something here? >> he was always against it. the missing element there was, everybody agreed, you would have bankruptcy. the question was, who will provide the financing. because nobody at that point was going to provide the financing you needed just to ep coot things operating. so keep the companies operating. keep the industry up and

running. the government had to do it. when push came to shove, romney said no, i'm against that np now he is claiming credit for the policy that if up to him wouldn't have been followed. >> a new report shows there's been way pour private sector jobs under democratic presidents. if you look at the last four presidents alone, george h.w. bush created 1.5 jobs, clinton over 20 million. george w. bush lost 600,000. obama has just about broken even. what does this tell us? >> it is telling you first of thault claimed republican -- they claim they know how to run the economy. history says no. it just hasn't been true. administration after administration, republicans do worse than the corresponding democrat. the big drain on the economy right now is not the story of the obama scaring the private sector. the story is cut backs on public employment. if we had created public sector

jobs as fast as george w. bush did, instead of cutting back, we would be a million and half more people working in the public sector. working 2.5 million or 3 million more. we would be out of depression if we hadn't had the government cut backs. >> you have written extensively, and i read you, every week. twice a week bp you write a lot about income and equality. and over the past 30 years, we have seen the top 1% grow their income by 275% while the bottom has seen much, much less growth. how much of the growing gap can be blamed on political organizations. >> it works both way possess. a lot of the political polarization comes from equaility. the 1% bought themselves a party and that why the parties are so far apart right new. the political stuff is part of it. we used to have strong unions. they were part after reasonable amount of equality.

minimum wage is not kept up with earnings. that's political. deregulation of the financial industry, a lot of super high incomes come from financial wheeling and dealing made possible because we dismantled a new deal of your protections. i'm not saying it is all of it but a lot of it is political. two countries, we have had by far the greatest increase in income equal pipt we had the most sharp right ward swing. the other country sha shadows us part of the way is margaret thatcher's britain. so it is political. >> paul krugman, thank you for your time tonight. the new book, ahave it right here, "the end of depression now." tang it from me, a must-read. we'll be right back. [ morgan ] when you cheer,

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republicans are trying a new approach to have their way with the economy. their attacks on the president are failing.

so they're pinning it directly on the unemployed. yes, you heard right. just this weekend maine governor paul la page told people to get off their couches and get a job. >> there is such a thing as a free lunch. but you're picking up the tab. the welfare program is can balancizing the rest of state power. to all you able people out there, get off the couch and get yourself a job. >> get off the couch. really, governor? do you honestly think it's that easy to find work? he is not alone. north carolina representative virginia fox is blaming college graduates for having student loan debt. >> i have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they gradate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt. because there's no reason for that.

i remind folks all the time that the declaration of independence says, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. you don't sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap. >> you just keep telling yourself that, congresswoman. of course we can't forget our old friend herm yan cain. he doesn't understand why you're not already rich. >> don't blame wall street. don't blame the big banks. if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself. >> what's worse, this comes while the unemploymeed are alrey struggling. this year california's benefits are set to expire for nearly 100,000 people. and as of march, there are still more than three job seekers for every one job opening. people are out looking to work. people are struggling to put their families in a way that they can survive or at least li