young people who have been able to stay on their parents' plans. so we have seniors here who graduate and it may take a couple of months s ts to find or you're doing an internship or something that does not provide health care, you're going to be cover until you get that job that actually provides health insurance. so it provides the kind of protection you need. so that's the good news. we fought back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, we have laid the foundation for america's future growth. but here's the problem. there's been a long-term trend that has really been hitting middle class folks and folks trying to get into the middle class and that's been going on since before most of you were born. the economy increasingly has folks at the top doing really

well, but then middle class families, people who are struggling to get into the middle class, they're working harder, but their wages, their incomes aren't going up. we're a better country than that. in america, we do not believe in an economy just for the few. everybody should have a chance at success, everybody. and we believe our economy grows best not from the top down, but from the middle out, and from the bottom up. and we want to make sure that no matter, you know, where u you're born, what circumstances, how you started out, what you look like, what your last name is, who you love, it doesn't matter, you can succeed. that's what we believe. we believe that what matters is

the strength of our work ethic, and the scope of our dreams and our willingness to take responsibilities for ourselves, but also for others. that's what america's about. that's the promise that this country is built on. and for the sake of your generation, we got to make sure that that continues to be the case. that that's not just something we were nostalgic about, that that's something we project out into the future. so i laid out a four-part opportunity agenda, to make sure that everybody has a shot. and that starts with something i know graduating seniors are thinking about, more good jobs, paying good wages, jobs in high-tech and manufacturing and energy and innovation, and there are things we can do to create jobs, rebuilding you are inf

infrastructure sure this this country. closing the loopholes that don't create jobs so we're giving tax breaks to companies who create jobs right here in the united states. those are things we can do right now. opportunity means training more americans for the skills needed to fill those jobs. we got to make sure everybody's ready with the skills they need. not everybody is going to be lucky enough to be a wolverine and graduate from michigan, but everybody can get a good, solid base so they can have a job and career. opportunity means guaranteeing young people to a world class education, that's got to start with pre-k, all the way through higher education. and it means making college more affordable.

some of you may not know this, but we took on the student loan system, it took billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks to serve as middle men in the student loan process. we said why do we need the banks? we cut them out, we used the savings it generating -- we offered millions of students who are graduating a monthly cap at 10% of your income. that's something you need to talk to your counselors about, especially if you're going into teaching or social work or other professions, where, you know, it's a passion, but you're not going to -- you're not going to be an investment banker salary situation. you know, the -- so make sure you find out about this. you can cap, you know, i mean i

know -- got the contract coming up. so he doesn't have to worry about these things. but i'm saying later. i'm not telling him to leave. you know, i wasn't editorializing on that. my point is, we have got to make sure that everybody can afford to do things that may not pay huge sums of money, but are really valuable to society. and the good news is as more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. but we still got to do more work to rein in tuition costs, and we got to help more students who are trapped by student loan debt. because this country can't afford for students to be priced out of a higher education. everybody's got to be able to

afford it. and finally opportunity means rewarding the hard work of every american. not just some americans, every american. that means making sure that folks get paid equal for doing equal work. i do not want my daughters paying less than somebody else's sons for doing the same job. it mean s making sure that ther are decent benefits and at minimum, that every american has access to quality, affordable health insurance. it means paychecks and wages that allow you to support a family. all of which brings me back to this issue of the minimum wage, giving america a raise.

now raising the minimum wage is not going to solve all of our economic challenges. the majority of folks who work and get paid more than the minimum wage. as americans, we understand that some people will earn more than others. but here's one thing we do believe, nobody who works full-time should be raising their family in poverty, right? if you're working, if you're responsible, you should be able to pay the rent, pay the bills. but that's what's happening right now. all across the country, you can work full-time, on the minimum wage and still be in poverty. and that's why in the years since i first asked congress to raise the minimum wage, we have seen six states on their own pass laws to raise their minimum wage.

last week connecticut became the first state in the country to raise its minimum wage to $10.10, congratulations, connecticut. we got more states and counties and cities that are working to raise their minimum wage as we speak. that means adam and jeff who are trying to raise it here in michigan. we're proud of them. stand up, guys. come on. there they are. see, i used to be in the state legislature, so i was kind of partial to -- but raising wages is not just a job for organizers, it's not just a job for elected officials. it's also a job for business. it was here in michigan, 100 years ago, that henry ford

announced he was doubling his workers wages. and at the time, some of his fellow business leaders thought he had lost his mind. but henry ford understood it was going to be good for business. not only did it boost productstivity, not only did it reduce turnover, not only did it make employees more loyal to the company. but it meant that the workers could afford to buy the cars they were building. so you were building -- so by bay paying your workers more, you were building your own markets for your products. and hugely successful companies today, like costco, they take the same approach. it's not just big businesses, it's small businesses too. in my state of the union address, i called on more business leaders to boost their wages, give their employees a

fair wage. small ones like an ice cream parlor in georgia, to a pizza rhea in st. louis, they have all said it's the right thing to do. recently the gap decided to raise its base wages, and that benefits about 65,000 workers in the united states. and it led me to go shopping at the gap. some of you may have seen the very attractive sweaters that i purchased for my daughters. they have not worn them yet. so if they're listening, make me feel good, just wear it one time. now zingermans does not have as many workers as the gap, obviously. but they try to do right by each and every one of them. you know, you got some big businesses who go to washington to lobby for special treatment for themselves, so one of

zingerman's owners, paul saginaw, flew to d.c. to lobby for his workers, to lobby for better treatment for workers through a higher minimum wage. that's the kind of folks who are running zingerman's. then afterwards, he held a sandwich summit here in ann arbor to help build support for michigan's minimum wage going up. paul's point is simple, fair wages and higher profits are not mutually exclusive, they can go hand in hanged. that's what henry ford understood. and paul zingerman opened his doors 32 years ago last month, but he and business owners like him believe that higher wages are good for the bottom line. i happen to believe the same thing, so, you know, i have decided several months ago that

the federal government should follow their lead. and so i issued an executive ofrd. that requires federal contractors, folks who are doing business with the government, to pay their employees on new contracts a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. it's the right thing to do. and i'm determined to do my part, to lift wages, improve take home pay any way you can. if you cook our troops meals, if you wash their dishes, your country should pay you a living wage. here's the challenge, what zingerman's can do on its own, what even i can do as the head of the executive branch of the federal government, that doesn't reach everybody. if we're going to do right by our fellow americans, we need

congress to get on board. we have got to have congress to get on board u we have to get state legislators to get on board. because even though we're bringing manufacturing jobs back to america, we're creating more good paying jobs in education and health care, there's always going to be folks who do critical work, who bust their tails every day, airport workers, restaurant workers and m hospital workers and retail salespeople who deserve an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. they're doing necessary jobs, they should be able to make a living. so right now there is a bill before congress that would boost america's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, it's easy to remember $10.10. it would help lift wages for 28

million americans, including a million people right here in michigan. it would lift millions of people out of poverty right away. it would help millions more work their way out of poverty, right away. you know, it wouldn't require any new taxes, doesn't require new spending, doesn't require new bureaucracy, but what it would do is help those families and give businesses more customers with more money to spend and it would help grow the economy for everybody. so you would think this would be a no-brainer. politically, you would think that folks would be rushing to do this. nearly three in four americans support raising the minimum wage. nearly three in four. here's the problem. republicans in congress, not republicans out in america, because some of them get paid the minimum wage, so they want

to see a raise. republicans in congress don't want to vote to raise it at all. in fact, some want to just scrap the minimum wage. one house republican said it's outlived its usefulness. that's what he said. no, don't boo, organize. so that's what you need to do. because they may not hear the boos, u but they can read a petition and they can see votes. you've got some republicans saying we shouldn't raise the minimum wage because -- they said this -- because, well, it just helps young people. now first of all, i think it's pretty good to help young people. i don't know what's wrong with helping young people.

folks who say that, next thing you know, they'll say get off my lawn. i think it's okay to help young people. but, the fact is, most people who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are not teenagers taking on their first job. the average age of folks getting paid the minimum wage is 35. a majority of lower wage jobs are held by women. many of them work full-time, often to support a family. and, by the way, what's wrong with helping young people get ahead? you know, mira puts herself through college on a base wage of less than $3 an hour, because she's working in a restaurant. she works hard. she does.

so she would be making it easier for your generation to gain a foothold on the ladder of opportunity, we shouldn't be making it harder. the truth is the republicans refusal so far to raise the minimum wage is pretty consistent with their general world view, which says basically, you're on your own, government doesn't have a role to play in making sure that the market place is working for everybody. you know, just yesterday, republicans in congress put forward a budget for the country that i believe would shrink opportunity for your generation. it starts by giving a massive tax cut to house holds making more than $1 million a year, the very folks who benefitted the most over the last 20 years from this economy that is benefiting people at the top. then so they don't blow a hole in the deficit, they would have to raise taxes on middle class families with kids, then they would force deep cuts to the

investments that help our economy grow like research in emergencies, and education and job training. when they put these budgets together, they don't tell you exactly what they cut, because they know you wouldn't like it. so you have to kind of do the math. but if they cut everything they're talking about, within a few years, 170,000 kids would get cut from early childhood education, and new moms would be cut off from funding to help them get free food. funding for thousands of special education teachers would be cut off. if they wanted to make smaller cuts in any one of these areas, they would have to make bigger cuts in others. it even puts pell grants, which makes it harder for students to pay for a college education. now to give them credit, they do have one original idea, which is

to repeal obama care. because they haven't tried that 50 times. so -- 50 times they have tried to do that. so that means they would take away health care coverage not only for 7 million americans who have done the right thing, signed up, bought health care for their families, but also the young people that are able to stay on their parents' plan. the republicans don't like that. and their budget guts the rules we put in place to protect middle class families from the financial crisis like the one we just endured.

this should be familiar because it was their economic plan in the 2008 campaign, it was their economic plan in 2010. it's like groundhog day, except it's not funny. if they tried -- if they tried to sell this sandwich at zingerman's they would have to call it the citizstink burger o mean wi trktch.

they're not -- we reduce or eliminate the safety net for the poor and the sick, and we cut food stamps and we cut medicaid and question let banks and polluters and credit card companies and insurers do only what's best for their bottom line, without consideration to the rest of us. somehow the economy will boom and jobs and prosperity will trickle down to everybody. when i say it that way, i know it sounds like i'm exaggerating, except i'm not. this is their theory, they're pretty unabashed about it. and it's 234089 a new theory, they have held it for decades through good times and bad. they were making the same arguments against fdr when he was set s up social security. and it does create opportunity for a handful of people who are doing really, really well.

but we believe in opportunities for everybody, more jobs for everybody, more -- and savings you can retire on, and health care you can count on, that's what opportunity for all means. that's what it means. now, next week, members of congress have a fresh chance to show which side they're on. they're going get a yes or no vote on raising the miniumum wage, all across this country, and they have to make a clear choice, talk the talk about hard working american family, or walk the walk and actually value hard working american families. you've got a choice, you can give america the shaft, or you

can give it a raise. here in michigan m, your representatives, john dingle and john conyers and garry peters i they are already on board. but every american deserves to know wherae artheir elected representative stands. when you go back for spring break -- did that already happen, spring break? everybody's all, yeah. i hope you had a good time. but if you have the chance to talk to a congressman who's not supporting it, you need to ask him, do you support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. then if they say yes, then you should say thank you, because elected officials do not hear that very often. when they do the right thing, you should reward them.

you're welcome. thank you. now if they say no, you shouldn't yell at them. be polite, ask them why not? ask them to reconsider. tell them to join the rest of the country. for once, instead of just saying no, say yes. it's time for $10.10. it's time to give america a raise. as i'm looking out at all of you, i'm reminded of four years ago delivering the commencement address at michigan university. and i said, our democracy, it's always been noisy, it's always been messy. we have big arguments. but in the end, we have always had the ability to look past our differences and our disagreements and forge a common future. and we have got common values,

hard work, responsibility, pursuing your individual dreams. what the argument right now is about, is whether we also affirm the values that make sure we're giving everybody a chance. making sure our fellow citizens can also pursue their dreams, that we're not just looking out for ourselves all the time, but we're also looking out for the person next to you. that's also what america's about. that's what we have to do again. we have got more jobs to create, we got more kids to educate, we got more clean energy to create, we got more troops to bring home, we got an immigration system we got to fix, we got to build the middle class, we have got to give opportunity to everybody who strives for it. black, latino, native american, gay, straight, without a disability u folks in the city, folks outside the borders of the

city, everybody's got a chance. america's a place for everybody, that's what we're fighting for, that's what i need you to go out there and talk about. thank you, god bless you. i am crystal ball, and cycling now, president obama putting maximum pressure to raise the federal minimum wage. invoking the memory of henry ford who doubled wages, saying it would be good for business with gm's own employees could afford to buy a car. the most recent being connecticut, which will soon have the highest minimum wage in the country, at 10.10 an hour, the exact amount president obama is in fact calling for. he wants congress to finish the job and give a raise to more than 28 million americans, including nearly $3 million in

michigan. white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president and joins us now. kristen? >> reporter: good afternoon, crystal, i have to say this speech wasn't just about the minimum wage, it felt like a campaign speech for 2014, touting the fact that more than 7 million people have signed up for health insurance, taking direct aim at republicans for trying to repeal the law more than 50 times, saying that it's like groundhog day, only it's not funny. but you're absolutely right, the main issue today was the minimum wage, president obama calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage, he wants it to go to 10.10 per hour. democrats, the president see this as a winning issue in 2014. he chose michigan as a backdrop for a couple of reasons.

for one, the minimum wage is higher in this state, it's 7.40 here, compared to the national average which is 7.25. but the main reason is political, republicans and democrats want to hold on to the senate. and this state has one of the fiercest senate races with representative gary peters, he's the democrat by the way, he's facing off against terry lynne land. he's hoping to gaining some momentum from this issue, as are other democrats who are facing tough battles throughout the country. that's president obama's main mission here, but of course, he also called on congress to increase the minimum wage, something that seems like it's going to be very difficult. president obama's plan would eliminate cost for consumers and

eliminate jobs. 59 of opposition to this on capitol hill. as of right now, it's more of a politically strong issue than it is a pretty cliz realistic usual. >> now let's bring in times washington bureau chief, michael shearer and ericaaa kanut. paul ryan's budget figured prominently in this speech. i think democrats think this is a real liability for the republicans? >> he's used ill successfully before, he used it -- minimum wage is also pulling well, he mentioned three quarters of the country are in favor of it. if asked if it would change their vote in 2014, 50% saying yes and 50% saying no. so it's one of the issues he can

grab on to it. i think he oversells what an increase in the minimum wage would do. there is a job loss that would come along with it, says the bco, a big increase would go to people who are not in poverty. the minimum wage is sort of a clumsy tool to deal with some of these issues, but it's a tool he has to club republicans going into the elections. >> erica, it did indeed sound like a campaign speech there, but not oall of the the dems ar signing on to tom harkins bill. susan collins has an alternate plan that would raise the minimum wage by a smaller amount. perhaps -- i don't understand why they would need any coverage, 72% of the folks out there support raising the minimum wage, including a majority of republicans.

what do the dems in the senate want to push this thing hard and continue trying to message that democrats are the defenders of the working class and the republicans are the defenders of the wealthy? >> absolutely, i think it's a really important issue for democrats. i think it's an identity and values issue. it highlights who we are and what we stand for. we believe that hard work should not live in poverty. and women should have -- 2/3 of the people who earn minimum wage are women. this racing the minimum wage would close the gender pay gap by 5% just right off the bat right there. i think it's a very important thing, i don't think that senators should run away from this, they should embrace it. it's a clear contrast it draws between republicans and democrats. the majority of these guys are very clear that they do not support this in in way at all.

at the etched of the day, what the minimum wage could do, because it's such a strong identifier for democrats could help drive out turnout and help drive out the activists and the grass roots. it could also keep harry reid in the senate majority office and it. >> obama hit on that saying there's a big difference between house republicans are of the and the majority of the country is at. the minimum wage is something that the majority of americans support, even republicans. a new quinnipiac poll, nearly half of registered voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports raising the minimum wage. and then the question is, is this issue alone enough to motivate people to get to the polls and vote? it's my sense that democrats need to frame this around fairness if it's going to be a winning issue in 2014 as obama talked about.

>> it does need to be framed around fairness. it needs to be framed around women -- 72% of the workers that do tipped minimum wage jobs, those who are making $2 and relying on tips to making up the difference are women. so i think they really need to talk about that, there are more women than there are men in the country and women are the largest number of voters in this country. women voters make the difference in most elections. so really talking about economic fairness for women is a really good way to articulate this in a way that voters will understand, particularly that important group of women. >> yeah. >> michael, what do you see as the president's key objective here? i i assume he feels like the house is unlikely to poosz a wage increase. is this about getting states to raise the minimum wage, is this

really just about having a campaign issue in 2014 or is he really holding out hope that you might get a minimum wage increase in this congress? >> i think you're right, he's pressuring the states, he's pressuring private companies, you heard him in the speech right now. there's one thing that was decidive in 2008, and in 2012. that's that wages have been flat since 2000. the american people are furious at the fact that for most of them their wages haven't gone up and they feel more squeezed every year than they did the year before. there hasn't been a political solution to that and there hasn't been an economic solution to that. and obama has been better at -- he doesn't have the power or i think arguably really the plan to change it. there's bigger forces at work here in keeping american wages down. but that's the battle field that they want to fight the 2014 election on. they want to force everybody

back on the issue that polls say americans care about most, which is the economy and what their own income is. >> and the minimum wage is the issue where republicans are on staff with on overwhelming number of americans. and up next, the death toll rising from two natural disasters and what officials are now staying about malaysia flight 370. shaping up to be a very busy afternoon. we roll on for wednesday april 23. [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma --

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live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪ let's turn now to the news cycle. tsunami warnings have been lifted from hawaii to chile's coast in the wake of that earth quake that hit chile last night. some fishing boats even washed ashore. there was also a smaller quake in panama today, all of them including southern california

have only increased the chatter by seismologists that the big one is still to come. the after math of another natural disaster is still gripping us a week and a half later. the mudslide in washington state. searchers recovered another body today upping the death toll to 29. reseeding floodwaters have made conditions slightly better for searchers trying to reach other victims. >> reporter: there's still 20 people who are unaccounted for, but research and rescue teams are having a difficult time getting to some spots on the debris field because of high water, and this morning, we're learning that the possibility of flooding from mountain runoff is something that rescuers are having to take into consideration. >> in some spots the mud is 80 feet deep. and search teams are trying to avoid suching anything that could be termed toxic sludge. another grilling from congress today, this time in a senate subcommittee hearing. mary barra took full

responsibility for the automaker ignoring faulty switches, even though she was not in charge at the time. one engineer accused of lying about the problem under oath. >> he lied. he said he didn't know anything about it. in a culture of cover-up that allowed an engineer at general motorss to lie under oath, repeatedly. >> i can't turn back the clock, as soon as i learned about the problem, we acted without hesitation. we told the world we had a problem that needed to be fixed. we did so because whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now and in the future. >> at least 13 people have died investigate of the defect in nearly 3 dozen crashes. an internal company investigation is also under way. >> on a much lighter note, the joke was on millions of --

obviously that was a joke. the chicken was literally was a spinning chicken. he watched it for more than half the time before realizing it was an april fool's joke. but hundreds of users of reviewed are still posted on the netflix website. >> i love the bacon one, that's good. >> back now to a very busy news day and the latest on the mystery that has gripped the world for 26 days now. the search for the missing malaysia flight 370. the search area covers some 85,000 square miles, but fog, thunderstorms and reduced visibility continues to -- families of passengers met privately with malaysian investigators. they say the malaysian government has not been keeping them up to date and they were

not even allowed to ask questions. >> to have a loved one disappear in such circumstances, in such mysterious circumstances is just devastating, and it must be almost unbearable for those families and i can fully understand why so many of them are just so desperately anxious and so desperately unhappy. and this is why we need to give them the reassurance that we will not rest here in australia until we have done everything we reasonably can to get to the bottom of this. >> nbc's ian williams is in perth, australia where the malaysian prime minister is stet to meet with the search teams. >> reporter: the malaysian prime minister arrived in perth tonight. he'll be meeting his australian counter part. he'll get the details on the

search that involved nine ships and ten aircraft from different nations. a private plane belonging to film director peter jackson has joined the search, as has a british submarine, but as of yet, there it's been no sign of wreckage from flight 370. now a u.s. pinger locator, which they hope can help locate the black box is on its way out to the search area, but won't get there until friday. and it's unlikely that can be deployed until they have massively narrowed the search area, which means finding some sort of debris. officials have australia and malaysia, though, have been playing down expectations. the former defense force chief here in australia has said it could take a very long time to locate wreckage, that they have very little information to go

on. and today in lumpur--it could remain a mystery forever. back to you. >> nbc's ian williams, thank you. let's bring in aviation analyst johncox, he's a former airline captain. malaysia's inspector general who's running the criminal probe has cleared all passengers but says this could go on for years, saying, quote, investigations may go on and on and on, saying we have to clear every little thing. he says he may never know the real cause for this incident. even cargo and food service on the plane are being investigated for sabotage. but interestingly, the pilot and co-pilot haven't been officially cleared yet. will it be years before we get

answers? >> we are going get some answers, each new piece of evidence is going to give us a little bit more of the overall picture. in the end, i believe we will solve it. if you look back in history, we have solved every other case of a jet liner disappearing, but it's going to take time, this is unprecedented. >> we noted peter jackson's airplane is joining the search, is that what we're going to see more of, private actors in this search? >> we have seen an ongoing and growing number of assets brought in from different companies and now private individuals so. the focus of the world remains on finding malaysian 370. that's something that we have not seen this level of international cooperation before. as the world stays focused, i think others a pets will come, they may come from other individuals as well as

countries. >> still so many questions. john cox, thank you so much. our own pete williams will tell us what it means for you and your vote. that is up next. bluk

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>> the freedom of speech is being upheld. you all have the freedom to right write what you want to write, donors should be able to give what they striking down another limit on money and politics. the white house is also, quote, disappointed in the decision. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams joins u ut with the details and impact. >> good afternoon. what the supreme court said in this 5 to 4 ruling said it went back to the 1970s the supreme court has long held that giving money is form of speech. you can't limit what you can give in total unless you can give a good reason. and if court said under the old law, the one it struck down the person could give a maximum to nine members of congress but not to ten. where is the justification for that. it doesn't do to try to prevent something quid pro quo. and that giving to lots of

candidates doesn't make that problem any worse. the senator said yes it does. the more you allow big money in politics, the more you drown out small voices. so there was lots of debate whether whether there was sufficient reason to limit it. you can still give maximum of the $2600 to any candidate. >> all right. peat williams, thank you very much. while the supreme court opened the door to more spending and politics, the battle over spending is just heating up. expect to hear one word quite a bit, debt. and yet despite the country's record debt total right now, about 17.5 trillion t year to

year deficit is actually falling at a record pace. this year projected to be less than half what it was 2009. but this year a america's fiscal constitution, argues our current federal debt is out of control and we've lost fiscal discipline. here at the table with us, bill white. now a senior adviser at the global financial visor firm lazard. in 2003 we cut taxes when we went to war. adding 2.3 trillion dollars to the debt. >> absolutely. and the reason we did that on all those years is we felt that if we were going to ask men and women to sacrifice their lives for our country we might as well ask the civilians to sacrifice something to prevent the debt from accumulating afterwards. and we had bond drives. in in the 2001 to 3 period it's

wanted to shield the cost of war from the american people. u but it's never good in any administration to disguise the cost of people. >> you're saying this is a financial problem. what i see is lending the money cheeply to other governments. not just u.s. united kingdom and japan. they don't seem worried in future rises of the interest rate or the inflation. in japan, the country marketed on a big -- aren't the financial markets tellsing us not to worry about this now in and worrying about debt later. >> no, they're telling us they are not too worried about defaulting on the debt is what they are telling us. and the dollar in particular is a great global currency as well as the yen. but what is going to happen and you will see the projections in the president's budget, is that interest is going to increase

from 415 billion dollars this fiscal year to over $900 billion after 2020. and where is that coming out? we see it in the budget numbers. that rising interest cost and isomerizing medical expectatins squeezes out other important factors. >> bill, one of the myths you seek to dispel in this book is the idea that balancing budgets hurts the economy. you argue it doesn't hurt the economy. buttide a id'd ask you are all of the balancing the budget created equal in seems to me in for example paul ryan's pujt budget. so cutting taxesen. but then cutting spending from peopling who really rely on it and are spending more income. is a lot more difficult to handle than say raising taxing

on those who can afford it. >> the truth of the matter is i think the size of the deficit has a little less impact on growth than many economists think. growth right now is driven by the age of the working age population. which has slowed down now that we have a baby boomers refiring. and increasing opportunity of the work force. we can boost things like immigration reform and things that invest in people to get the productivity up. but borrowing more money as opposed to taxing or spending more money at the margin doesn't effect growth that much historically. ryan's budget -- do you mind if i mention something about? it reminds me of st. augustine's prayer when i was young: oh lord make me chaste but not today. that we could borrow, spend half a trillion more than the revenue

produce birthday i the tax code. and then he says that he is against deficits and wants to balance the budget. and he proposes over a long period of time that we will scale back the commitment to sustaining the medicare program. well, what i'd say is, i respect somebody like -- remember old ron paul in that campaign? where they say okay i'm for smaller government. let's cut back the size of pentagon. and if somebody wants to cut back medicare, why don't you do it tomorrow and see what the voters have to say about it. >> senator bill white. thank you for your time. now with alex wagner is up next. let me get this straight... [ female voice ] yes? lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose.

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after hitting a healthcare milestone, president obama turns his game face to the fight over the minimum wage. it's wednesday, april 2nd. this is now. >> the president is already shifting the focus to the economy today. >> pushing another important domestic issue for democrats. >> time for 10.10. >> wants double his workers wages saying it would be good for business. >> the minimum wage has not kept pace one, with inflation. nor has it kept pace with worker productivity. >> the president might have an extra spring in his step. >> by the way 7.1 million americans have now sign you had up for coverage. >> what republican don't understand is if you r