predicted up and down the east coast. if you're seen the graphics package, we're a fan of colors, but not in this particular instance. dangerous ice and wind. tornado watches and warnings down south. this system has it all and it could not come at a worse time. nearly 39 million americans are preparing to hit the roads for the thanksgiving holiday. only problem is, old man winter decided he's coming to dinner as well. if you know "the cycle", you also know we go big or go home. we've got you covered on any angle. gabe gutierrez is at hartsfield-jackson where we're seeing ground stops already. sara is in chicago, living up to its title of the windy city. let's start with you, gabe. >> we've been getting a lot of rain throughout the morning. a whole lot of rain. the good news is temperatures have been hovering about the upper 30s. no ice. throughout the morning we haven't seen a delay or

cancellation, nothing like we've seen at dfw the past several days. in the past hour or so, there have been a few delays starting to pick up in the big departure board. one flight to jacksonville, delayed about three hours, another to raleigh durham delayed about an hour. flightawa flightaware.com has atlanta has been averaging 25 minute delays right now. also, as the system moves into the east coast, it could have big implications. this is the busiest airport with 63 million passengers here each year. again, a lot of heavy rain here throughout the day. delays are starting to pile up out here. back to you in new york. >> gabe gutierrez in atlanta. thank you for that. let's head north to o'hare in chicago. sara is there. so we know it is cold. is that the only problem there, sara? >> krystal, atlanta may have the rain but up here in chicago we've got nothing. we've got clear skies and lines

that are moving pretty smoothly through security right now. this is the tsa line in the american airline terminal. this is about the longest that it has been all day. we've got a couple of delays on the board. a few cancellations but nothing major at that point, of course just like in all of the airports in the nation, all eyes on the weather in the east as we wait to see what that rain, sleet and snow is going to do and how it's going to affect us here. we've got to remember that so many passengers, tens and thousands of connect through o'hare. whatever happens through the country ripples through this airport. we have 3 million people traveling across the nation and the busiest days of travel are going to be tomorrow and sunday. you're going to want to leave a little extra time if you're traveling on those days. it's probably a good idea if you're not traveling, leave a few extra minutes in your schedule. >> we will keep that in mind. thank you so much for that.

we'll also keep watching the system as people start their thanksgiving travel. see you soon. cycling now, the crowd is ready for president obama at dreamworks animation in glendale, california. company's owned by one of the top fundraisers but industry has created 4100 jobs in the past month alone. nbc's peter alexander is traveling with the president. this is being billed as an economic speech. do you think he'll probably touch on immigration as well? >> reporter: yeah, he has touched on immigration as he did yesterday in san francisco and across the west coast. this is a critical issue. they have made it clear that the immigration isn't just about the southern border but all borders in the u.s. need to invite people around the world to come here as entrepreneurs to help with people in here and hollywood. the founder who has been touring the president around over the course the last hour or so. they ran into steve martin, the

comedian and jim parsons, of course the star of "big bang theory." president will likely speak about immigration but most importantly about the economy. dream works alone added about 50% new jobs since january of 2008. a lot of people say he's coming here because of a friend of his, the white house insists this is also a place that is a good example for other americans to see as well. seven fundraisers, two stops and the president gets stuck in same weather as everyone else. >> west coast doesn't seem like such a bad place to be right now. peter alexander, thank you so much. >> let's bring in josh barrow, politics editor at business insider. josh, obviously the president trying to focus on something other than health care. yesterday focuses on immigration, today a little bit of immigration, lot on the

economy. do you think american people will be able to focus on anything other than health care until the implementation goes a bit more smoothly? >> i think health care will remain the dominant political issue domesticically until we get into december and january when the continuing resolution that's keeping the government open runs out on january 15th. >> fun, fun, fun. >> so, we're hearing from republican leaders in congress that they don't want another shutdown, they don't think we're going to have one. they said that before the last shutdown. it's possible that will draw attention. before that, health care is the most important economic issue that the president really has a lot of direct control over. there are other important issues in the economy but the president can give speeches, can't do a lot day to day that affects job creation. we can ask him about he's working on day to day, what's going on with health care website, what's going on with health insurance premiums, how can the rollout be improved? >> but you can't separate economic issues and immigration

reform. that's an area with massive positives impact on the economy, fairly quickly. 11 million folks suddenly make more money, they pay more in income tax and become even better consumers than they already are. 75% of them will now pay a lot more in revenue. that is an area that we can very quickly see a great economic bump. >> i think there's that and also another component of comprehensive immigration reform, increase, it makes sense the president is talking this up in california, they have a lot of immigrants all over the socioeconomic sector and particularly in the tech industry. we can bring more people from abroad into the u.s. to start businesses, to perform high productivity roles within businesses and get more economic growth. those immigrants are especially valuable for the federal budget because they pay a lot in taxes relative to what they consume in

government services. also the idea we train these young talented people just to send them away to be our competition somewhere else around the world. this is something that president obama touched on yesterday. let's take a listen. >> i met the other day with the ceos of some america's biggest companies. the thing they wanted to talk about was the fact we invite the brightest minds from around the world to study here, many of them enrolled in the university of california system. and then we don't invite them to stay. we send them home to create new jobs and start businesses someplace else. we're training our own competition. >> josh, this is an argument that a number of republicans would also agree with. no doubt probably make the same sort of statement today. >> this is nominally an area of bipartisan agreement, you see both republicans and democrats talking up the importance of high skill immigration. it looks kind of similar to the politics of trade, right? the reason we're resistant to

letting more high xal immigrants in, if you work as a software engineer or doctor, that's going to compete down by wages because we'll have people willing to come work for less money. if you're a person who uses software, which is to say if you're anybody, allowing the people in not only produces better products but leads to lower prices. i think it would be great if congress could reach some sort of agreement on this and more broadly on immigration but the politics of immigration are so strange where you have a number of things where people say they are in agreement yet congress won't actually move on doing anything. >> the other big, of course, obama care news, the decision by the supreme court to hear a big case challenging obama care or affordable care act as a violation of religious freedom. religious freedom is something a lot of people care about. when you dig into the case, it's about the religious freedom of corporations to override the decision of individual american. cycle viewers may remember we

talked about this at length a couple of weeks ago. before we get into the details in the coming weeks when we have oral argument, i want to ask about the politics of legal challenges to the affordable care act. i have a theory that the legal challenges both the original one they lost and this one are actually worse for critics of the act than just focusing on pt substance of the policy itself. >> i don't know about that. i think this issue has tripped up republicans because whenever republicans talk about contraception, they sound like they hate contraception as a practice and people get the idea they want to vet it. the fairly narrow policy question on which they are fighting whether businesses should be obligated to provide health plans that pay for 100% of contraception coverage, is a valid policy question and one does not have to be disadvantageous for rpz. we've had a lot of these discussions about to what extent the rights of corporations extend through the rightsholder

right to individual to free speech to use corporate entities and conduct that free speech. we'll see that question again about religious rights. i don't know which way the court will rule, but i think the republicans have a decent political point where they are saying, look, this is another way in which obama care uses individuals and corporations as extensions of public policy and forces them to do things as an instrument to the government -- >> when you say it that way, it does sound persuasive. the problem with that argument, of course, is that there's individual employees there who under our system get health care through the business. if you go down the road of saying, well, hey, the business or employer or the management doesn't like something so they don't have to provide it, where does that end. do they say we don't believe in health care at all? we don't have to pay for any of it. >> josh, would you say to that?

the logical outgrowth is maybe i have a legitimate religious objection to paying women the same amount as men or elevating them to status of manager as opposed to men. where does it end if you're allowing corporations to assert they have particular religious beliefs? >> i think it's a difficult question. we're balancing two interests here. one is allowing people to act noornz with religious belief and owning a business can be a part of somebody's every day life. on the other hand ensuring individuals are protected. we've designed this system where employers, spend hundreds and billions of dollars a year for subsidies and those businesses are being used as an instrument to public policy and have been used since world war ii when we created this policy of a tax exemption for employer provided

health insurance. if i was designing the system from scratch, i wouldn't have employer provided health care but use an alternative structure to get health insurance plans directly in people's hands without involving employers and let companies focus on paying wages to attract and retain workers but this is the system we have now and we have to figure out how to balance it. >> your proposal makes a lot of sense. it would create more disruption in the health care market, why they didn't go in that direction. josh, stay with us. we're going to squeeze in a quick break as we continue to wait for the president to take the stage at dream works out west. we'll bring you these remarks live as we dream of california weather. before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard

better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you.

so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app.

welcome back, we're here with a special spin as we wait for the president to speak. josh barro remains with us. reminding us what the president is doing out there. he was in los angeles, did policy meetings, met with the family of the tsa agent who was killed in that attack earlier this month. pivot now no this dreamworks, basically a tour and policy session sitting down with industry executives, according to variety, it's expected that chris daud will be there and barry meyer we've seen in the screen moments ago, some of the president's chit-chat, elbow bump with steve martin. >> you have to elbow bump with steve martin.

>> put the elbows -- >> as peter alexander was telling us -- sure, wait for the president. >> really cool, guys. >> as peter alexander was mentioning the other thing they want to do is point to an industry, dreamworks has grown in jobs over 50% since 2008. >> you guys did a jinx. >> up about .6% total which is better than some industries and the jobs pay more. on the other hand it's not all good news, there's one group trying to do a respectful or silent protest which is different than what we saw yesterday. but they are wearing green shirts and solidarity for the outsourcing and that's something that has hit a lot of american industry, film industry more creative and has creative capital in l.a. but they are battling the same problems. the president will give a speech

and do that huddle with the media -- >> that's right. it allows him to say under my leadership this is a company that exemplifies job growth. they've grown 50% since 2008. i think that is a win for him to speak there. it's also important to point out his good friend is the chief executive of dreamworks, who he just met with a few moments ago, his first stop. and katzenberg was a early supporter of the president with deep pockets, some are calling the speech political payback. the decision by the white house to put the presidential spotlight on this company under it is scores how many well top campaign donors have fared despite the earlier pledge to temper the influence of wealthy interest on the system. others say it's a real opportunity to talk about jobs. it's important though to mention the fact that business and politics are totally intertwinned today. >> but what is the payback?

>> right, we're going to give a speech at dreamworks. >> is it the words? >> a great company, beautiful location. i don't think it's anything nef fair yus. >> i think that's a great pay back forgiving you a load of cash to your campaign. >> where else are you going to go in l.a., dreamworks, it's not a big -- >> i want to bring in josh barro on this. is this something that we should even care about? >> i don't think the speech itself is payback. there are definitely intertwined interests, the administration has been broadly supportive of what the film industry and other content producing industries have been looking for in terms of tightening copyrighting protections, which can actually make it more difficult for us to negotiate those agreements because we're trying to trade

with countries like china that sometimes infringe on intellectual property from the u.s. how much we protect those industries reflects how much wealth we create by opening trade up more broadly. but the film industry, most of its political activities at the state and local level. they have the opportunity for enormous subsidies, 30 to 35% tax rebate on the expenses that you spend producing a film here. >> can they extract speeches? >> well the speech is the least of it. but it's nice to see the president talking at a company and industry that's actually a growth area in the u.s. the president is so focused on manufacturing and manufacturing is great but not the future of the u.s. economy in the way the administration often talks about it. they are out in california, do stuff with the tech industry and do stuff with the film industry where the u.s. is still the global leader. these are areas where we're going to need to grow jobs and enterprises over the coming years in order to maintain

economic growth in the united states. >> that's right. the knowledge economy, that sort of creative economy focusing on today, that is the future of our future in terms of high paying jobs. the piece we're still not seeing and really have no path to is how this sort of broad general working public is going to be able to earn middle class wages again. manufacturing sector is not probably ever going to be what it was before. been replaced largely with low paying service jobs. there are no really -- we have no real vision on how we goatet a place where the broad service sector can provide people with a healthy middle class lifestyle. >> it's not grim as you put it. we've seen a hollowing out and they've been replaced with highway jobs. some people are moving up the scale and we need education reform to allow more people to move up rather than moving down.

i would also say broadly, we can focus on what can we do for this specific industry or that specific industry. the reason job growth is weak, we have low overall demand in the economy which is discouraging all kinds of businesses from investing. reason wage growth is low because we have a slack labor market. why would they pay employees more when they don't have to fill positions. that's why we need broad fiscal policies to encourage employment and industry by industry level things will more or less fix themselves. it's good to have initiatives that are good for specific industries but it's an overall economic thing. >> something the president talks about and will probably talk about it today. we're going to take a quick break and see if we can catch up with the president's remarks on the other side stay with us. ♪ ♪

you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. this saturday is small business saturday. get out and shop small.

we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness if you qualify, and new car replacement, standard with our auto policies. so call liberty mutual at... today. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart.

we continue to wait on the president at dreamworks studio in california and we'll go to that as soon as it happens. the other big story is weather and travel. with many stranded passengers can attest to, traveling during the holidays can be a bit of a nightmare. rain, snow and wind turning that turkey trot into a turkey slog. at least we've got planes and trains and automobiles to get to grandma's our next guest is using an older form of transportation, his feet. he had just completed the first leg of a 21,000 mile 7-year journey to see the world at the pace of our ancestors by walking. he started in january and he will walk all the way to argentina, estimated date of arrival, the year 2020. along the way he's kron keling his adventures for national geographic and it is the cover

story on this month's issue. paul joins us from jordan, a beautiful country that i happen to be with my own family. paul, thank you for joining us. let's start -- >> aw. >> you call -- >> there's a picture of my family on the screen. you call what you're doing slow journalism. what inspired this trek for you? >> i think a career in fast journalism and industrial journalism, just pouring out so much information that the public can't consume it. the idea was to slow myself down and then therefore slow the story telling down to about three miles per hour, a walking pace. >> wow, and on that slow walk, you describe going through some amazing and challenging areas. i want to read from your article, you say water is gold in the triangle of ethiopia, one of the hottest deserts in the world, walking for three days near the western xarp of the

rift, only find one mir ak house pool of rain water to ease our camel's thirst. >> it's a hot waterless place to move through. i was moving with people who were experts. i was not traveling alone. i was walking with local path, so i couldn't have been in better hands. while a lot of people focus on the physical hardship, i like to think of it as journey of the mind about storytelling. >> what would normally take us two hours to travel on a puddle jumper, you have decided to walk on foot over the last year or so. and you've lived and breathed difficult culture and met, i'm sure so many incredibly interesting people. what have you found that all have in common? >> well, 99 to 100% of our human experience is in common. we are all families and parents

worry about their children's education, young men and women worry about jobs. whether this is a pasttoural community or big cities in saudi arabia with high tech companies. i think part of the purpose of this long journey is to do exact what you're suggesting, string together a bead of stories that show how much we have in common across the world. >> paul, what's the most dangerous situation you've walked into so far? >> i've been asked that before and i'm hard pressed. i don't want to make this sound like a picnic, it's fiphysicall demanding to walk 25 miles a day through a different variety of landscapes but the thing that struck me so far is how easy it's been. again, i have to give credit to the people i'm traveling with. i'm always accompanied by local people, again often nomads, because i'm not in -- this isn't my journey, this is everybody's journey, i bring local people

around to help interpret the local landscape. it's been amazingly easy and seems natural and normal. >> paul, one of the things i've done long distance running and found it gives me sort of a greater spiritual sense and better perspective on life. have you found that with your long walks that you have, a sort of better perspective on the world and life and the universe? >> yeah, krystal, i agree. i think moving and using our body the way they are designed to be moved, we're 200,000-year-old species and we're walking machines designed to move about 3 miles an hour. when you use your body like that over extended periods of time, you do go into a meditative state. i've been walking on the high pilgrim roads to mecca in the western part of saudi arabia. moving along the coastlines, it just feels good and feels

normal. doesn't feel extreme or radical at all. >> fascinating stuff. paul, thank you so much and good luck on your journey. >> thank you for having me on. >> we're still waiting on the president and we'll have that as "the cycle" rolls on. ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours

and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® is different than pills. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once-a-day, any time, and comes in a pen. and the needle is thin. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza® is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza® has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza® is not insulin.

do not take victoza® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include: swelling of face, lips, tongue, or throat, fainting or dizziness, very rapid heartbeat, problems breathing or swallowing, severe rash or itching. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza®, including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), which may be fatal. stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems.

if your pill isn't giving you the control you need ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. really comes from i think the unstated philosophical experience, it was a view of life which evolved to deal with the extraordinary conditions of their lives. particularly in the last 20 years, has been living in the most extraordinary and marginal relation to american life. >> that was normal mailer, big ee ego, big ideas and big books and appetite. he changed literature by writing

about himself that has kind of become common in his wake. he was recently linked with kanye. mailer won two pulitzers and gave 20 extensive interviews to the next guess who used him as a basis for a biography, jay michael lennon, welcome sir. simple question. who was normal mailer? >> he was a man who was defined by his incredible ambition. he -- from the time he was a very young man, 17 years old at harvard, he decided he was going to be the great american novelist. he never gave up on that ambition over the last 60 years. >> both his writings and the way he lived his life were sexist

and anti-feminist. this was a man who stabbed his wife. he was notorious fill anderror and has been described as a family guy. help us understand his relationship with the opposite sex? >> mailer was raised as an only child by a large family of extended family of aunts and older female cousins. they doted on him and spoiled him to death. he was a terrifically spoiled child and grew up feeling that women loved him, that they had no doubts about his being handsome or bright or being the apple of everybody's eye. so he was always very surprised when he got into all of the spats he did with the woman's liberation movement. he thought he could say almost anything about women that he wanted to that came to him in the spur of the moment and he would be forgiven. he was terrifically wrong about that and said very, very stupid things and he ended up becoming

the pinata of the women's movement. even to this day, there is a lot of residual dislike of mailer by women. he didn't hate women at all -- >> you wouldn't call him a sexist? >> i think he did a lot of sexist things in his '60s and 70s, made a lot of sexist remarks but i thnk he paid for them and regretted them in later life. he spent 20 years after '70s trying to live down that reputation of being a sexist. >> you talk about him being across purposes at the women's movement and he was a key narrator and participated in the anti-war movement. i want to read from one of the famous passages, one marched on the pentagon because, because the reasons became so many and so curious and vague, that there was no need to talk about it. this was a new generation different from five previous

generations, believed in technology more than any before it and tribal knowledge and radicalism was in the hate for authority. the authority was the manifest evil. how did his writings interact with that nationwide anti-war movement? >> well, mailer came from a generation of people like susan, writers who could speak to the nation. when those writers of that generation spoke, the nation listened. we may not see a generation like that for a long time again. he felt he had an obligation to speak about the war in vietnam, which he opposed probably as strongly as anybody in the country. he was very successful in draum tiesing the split in the american mind over the war in vietnam. i think that book he wrote, the armies of the night was a turning point in the war against

the war. it was after that time that dissent turned into resistance and mailer's book and mailer's involvement with some of the other anti-war people, left -- that was a last time a writer really had that kind of influence in american society. >> of course the foundation of mailer's social power, they were speaking about comes from his power as a writer. you worked with him a great book about writing. talk to us about mailer's process and how he was as a writer? >> mailer tried to listen to his own conscious, called it his navigator and felt he was getting signals from the unconscious, sometimes very faint as if coming from a radio station at the south pole. if he listened to this inner voice, it would guide him. he was dropping projects and going on to new projects when he heard a train whistle over the hill he decided he had to jump

that train and try something new. he was a relentless innovator as far as his writing. he was always trying new things. if you read his first five novels, you would think they were written by five different people. because of his constant experimentation. he was also very emotional, worked double shifts and produced 44 books. by the time he was 20 years old, already written two novels, 30 short stories about a half million words. he was a great party animal but at the same time when he worked he really worked. >> incredible career, thank you very much. the president is running a little late. but we're hearing he'll start at 3:45 eastern time. we're going to listen in next. ♪ by the end of december, we'll be delivering ♪ ♪ through 12 blizzards blowing ♪ 8 front yards blinding ♪ 6 snowballs flying ♪ 5 packages addressed by toddlers ♪

♪ that's a q ♪ 4 lightning bolts ♪ 3 creepy gnomes ♪ 2 angry geese ♪ and a giant blow-up snowman ♪ that kind of freaks me out [ beep ] [ female announcer ] no one delivers the holidays like the u.s. postal service. priority mail flat rate is more reliable than ever. and with improved tracking up to 11 scans, you can even watch us get it there. ♪ you can even watch us get it there. life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. an important message for americans eligible

an important message for for medicare. the annual enrollment period is now open. now is the time to find the coverage that's right for you ...at the right price.

the way to do that is to explore your options. you can spend hours doing that yourself ... or you can call healthmarkets, and let us do the legwork for you - with no cost or obligation. we'll search a variety of plans from nationally recognized companies to find the coverage that's the best fit for you, at a price that fits your budget. and we'll do it at no charge to you. you can talk to us over the phone ... or meet with a local licensed representative in person. why pay a penny more than you have to for an insurance policy? in the past 3 years alone, healthmarkets insurance agency has enrolled americans in more than 1.1 million insurance polices ... put our free service to work for you at no charge. [knock] no one was at home, but on the kitchen table sat three insurance policies.

the first had lots of coverage. the second, only a little. but the third was... just right! bear: hi! yeah, we love visitors. that's why we moved to a secluded house in the middle of the wilderness. just the right coverage at just the right price. coverage checker from progressive. virginia state senator krooe deeds, his son gus deeds was evaluated and discharged from a virginia hospital because he apparently did not have enough beds. 24 hours later gus was dead. early reports indicated he committed suicide after attacks his father with a knife that nearly killed him. it would be easy to blame the hospital but the blame lies with the system. the most recent data shows more than 45 million americans were suffering from mental illness.

that's nearly 20% of u.s. adults and numbers keep growing. at the same time, the number at psychiatric hospitals has been steady declining and sequester cuts squeezed those in need and helped people trying to get them. joining us now national reporter susie kim who covered this extensively. in the latest piece, you write in major us cities bed shortages have been forced -- one tried to commit her son in 2011 was told lr no beds available and he killed himself days later. what is the root of the problem? beds are part of it. >> dealing with what we're talking about, the mental healthy system for decades now, we've been trying transition from the state run psychiatric awards but the problem is the

replacements haven't been adequate. basically, both sides, everyone can agree that we don't want to institutionalize people who don't need to be there, that maybe having these big state-run mental health is not the best approach. when you take those things away and don't adequately fund the alternative, which is what we saw happen last week in virginia. >> suzy, a piece of this seems like -- abby just shared the story of the woman's whose mentally disturbed son committed suicide and we have heard of those who have tried to get them help somewhere and been unsuccessful because that person was not willing to go on their own. have we gone too far in the direction of allowing mentally ill people to direct their own fate? that was part of the thing with gus deeds, they tried to have him commitment, had a four-hour window to find a bed and that window expired and he was left without any care.

is that a piece of this problem outside of budget cuts? >> it's definitely one piece of this mental health care system that's been under scrutiny. what are known as civil commitment laws and variousry from state to state. this is a really critical question because it balances individual liberty and freedom with the security for the person themselves as well as their loved ones and larger communities. under virginia law, he was ordered to be involuntarily committed but there's a provision that says if there's no bed for him to go to within the four-hour period, then he must be released. so there's a debate as to whether we need to extend this window of time, maybe we can change the provision, but it's definitely something to which there's not necessarily a simple answer and also a little bit -- you can't sort of jump the gun and said if we did this, maybe it wouldn't have happened. >> when you look at a lot of these issues, the gun control debate, well, if we did more

with mental health that would be important. when we have the sequester debate, we hear, well, here's the actual reality we're creating with long-term cuts when we need more support. what do you think politically is the wall or separation here from those realities and stories actually translating into some action? >> i think the problem honest hi is we wait until there is a tremendous horrific tragedy to act. in virginia, for instance, after the virginia tech massacre, there was a ton of funding poured into the state, $42 million. then over the next couple of years because of the recession and strain on state budgets, almost that exact same amount was cut. there's an issue in which we almost focus a little bit too much, connecting problems and tie them up and too much with individual tragedies rather than booking as the systemic problem, the fact there are lots of stories and tragedies of a

smaller scare that we never hear about that happen every day. there's a need to broaden the scope and realize it's not just something that happens, a horrible event in the news but the families and people around us in our own communities. >> is affordable care act going to help us deal with the mental health issues we're seeing by expanding access to coverage. >> that is one major argument that the medicaid expansion, terry mcauliffe, the governor elect of virginia, that was his major piece of reform he was going to do. bring medicaid expansion to virginia, including access to mental health care. i think that access issues, particularly in rural areas like the area where creigh deeds and his family were living. >> the president is being

introduced. let's take a listen. >> when you think of a smart, talented great leader, they are able to have a strong point of view and admit when they make mistakes and admit when very, v actually do that well. where they can hold true and stay true to their values. and also at the same time not be rigid. so here we are today. and i think about this president and what he has stayed focused on since he was elected. growing this economy, which went through a very bad spell, and creating jobs in this country. and where are we? in the last 44 months, 7.8 million jobs have been created. 7.8 million. but i go full circle in my story. full circle. there are no high-fives. there are no victory laps. and i think that what he will say to us, and i look forward to hearing, is that there is still a lot of work to be done.

so with that, it is my great honor and privilege to introduce the president of the united states. hello, everybody! it is good to be in l.a.! it is coldner d.c. at the moment. colder in chicago. and 70-degree weather is something to be thankful for. and it is great to be at dreamworks animation. i would like to work here. i have asked jeffrey. the only concern i had was, the lights were kind of dim in the

offices. and i'm pretty sure i'd fall asleep. but there is a natural connection between me and dreamworks. i don't know if you know this, but my ears were one of the inspirations for shrek. it's true. true story. melody was being very modest when she said she had a front-row seat. melody was one of my earliest supporters back when nobody could pronounce my name. and her and john rogers at ariel capital helped to co chair some of my first fund raisers, and they would have to drag some straggly group in, and listen to a senator who had a lot of ideas.

but not necessarily any realistic prospects to win. and she went through a lot of ups and downs with me and my career. and is just a great, great friend. so i want to thank her publicly for -- all the support that she has given us. we've got some folks here fighting for the people of southern california every single day. and just want to acknowledge them. we've got the mayor of glendale, dave weaver. we've got three of your outstanding members of congress, brad sherman, adam schiff, karen bass, all doing a great job. i want to thank all of you for being here, and i want to thank your ceo, jeffrey katzenberg, for inviting me.

jeffrey, like melody, has been a friend and a supporter through thick and thin, and i think his place in the entertainment industry is legendary. i don't need to puff him up too much. he has a sense -- healthy sense of self. but he is a great friend. and somebody whose counsel and advice i value. and i'm incredibly grateful to be here at this wonderful institution that he helped to build. and i've come here today, because this is one of america's economic engines. not just dream works, but this whole cluster of companies that generations have grown up knowing. disney and warner and universal and others.

when you think about it, what finance is to new york, what the auto industry is to the midwest, what technology is to northern california, entertainment is to this part of the country. and most of us have spent a lot of time thinking about our favorite movies or tv shows. but we don't often think about the entire infrastructure and industry behind the scenes. hundreds of thousands of middle class jobs. they're not always on the marquis, jobs for electricians and carpenters and sound mixers and makeup artists and designers and animators. depend on this incredible industry here in southernelca. southern california. entertainment is one of america's biggest exports. and every day you sell a product that's made in america to the rest of the world. every time somebody buys movie

tickets or dvds or distribution rights to a film, some of that money goes back to the local economy right here. and, believe it or not, entertainment is part of our american diplomacy. it's part of what makes us exceptional. part of what makes us such a world power. you can go anywhere on the planet, and you'll see a kid wearing a madagascar t-shirt. you can see "may the force be with you." they know what you're talking about. hundreds of millions of people may never set foot in the united states, but thanks to you, they experienced a small part of what makes our country special. they have learned something about our values. we have shaped a world culture knew you. and the stories that we tell

transmit values and ideals about tolerance and diversity and overcoming adversity. and creativity that are part of our dna. and as a consequence of what you've done, you helped shape the world culture. in a way that has made the world better. they might not know the gettysburg address, but if they're watching some old movie, maybe "guess who's coming to dinner" or "the mary tyler moore show" or "will & grace" or "modern family," they have a seat towards our march towards progress. and young people in countries around the world suddenly make a connection and have an affinity to people who don't look like

them, and maybe originally they might have been fearful of, and suddenly say oh, this person is like me, which is one of the powers of art. but that's what you transmit. and that is a remarkable legacy. it's also a big responsibility. when it comes to issues like gun violence, we've got to make sure that we're not glorifying it, because the stories you tell shape our children's outlook in their lives. earlier this year, leaders from this town sat down with vice president biden to talk about what hollywood could do to help keep our kids safe. this is in the wake of sandy hook. and those conversations need to continue. the stories we tell matter. and you tell stories more powerfully than anybody else on the earth. but i want to make clear, even as we think long and hard about the messages we send, we should never waiver from our commitment

to the freedom that allows us to tell those stories so well. protecting our first amendment rights are vital to who we are. and it's also good business. because in the global race for jobs and industries, the thing we do better than anybody else is creativity. that's something that can't be copied. it's one of the reasons why even with new markets and new technologies, there's still no better place to make movies and television and music than right here in the united states. entertainment is one of the bright spots of our economy. the gap between what we can do and what other countries can do is enormous. yeah, that's worth cheering for. and that means we've got to do

what it takes to make sure this industry and every great american industry keeps that competitive edge. so that more folks can find career paths like many of you have. and get good, middle class jobs that allow you to support a family and get ahead. nothing is more important than that right now. and as melody mentioned, when i came into office, we were going through a severe crisis. five years later, america has largely fought our way back. we have made the tough choices required. not just to help the economy recover, but to rebuild it on a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth. we refocuseded on manufacturing and exports. and today our businesses sell more goods and services made in this country and the rest of the world than ever before. our manufacturers are adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s, led by an american auto industry that's come roaring back. american cars are really good now.