company, koch industries, which of course has received $89 million in corporate welfare from state and local governments alone, most since 2009. how's that for a culture of dependency? that's all for now. i'll see you tomorrow. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show." live from minnesota. i'm ready to go. let's get to work. >> the highest court in the land. the conservative justices of the court threw a bunpunch at organd labor. >> there is a cost to collective bargaining. >> i will end the government's favoritism towards unions. >> they get sweeter deals. >> this is legalized stealing. if you're allowed to force people into unions, force them to play. >> we're a target because we're a threat to unions. >> they are a political thuggary

operation. >> it's about union busting. >> i think things are going to work out just fine. >> good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. we start with breaking news at this hour. we're waiting for the president of the united states to begin his news conference following the conclusion of the united states africa summit. expected to cover a wide range of topics including u.s. companies investing billions of dollars in africa. when the president steps to the podium, the briefing room, we will bring his remarks to you live here. first, we start with the republican attack on labor. republicans are not giving up on their crusade for labor rights for working americans. one now promising a fallout a sa assault on the board.

this is just the latest pange i the radical playbook. cutting assistance to low income families. earlier we saw a conservative supreme court rule government employees can't be required to join unions. we see scott walker passing radical anti-union laws. 24 states have now passed right to work legislation. earlier this year, the right to work state of tennessee, we saw a prime example of the republican attacks on unions. tennessee senator bob corker intimidated workers at the local voks volkswagen plant. >> the officers a month ago fighting about fighting and combat and all those kinds of things. if that's the environment you want, uaw certainly is the people to choose. they can't help with the wages. you've got a facility thalt's te

most advanced environmentally sound facility in the world right here in chattanooga, it been it. what's this been? it's about one thing. it's about money and it'ses about the power. >> well, that lie after another lie worked. the plant voted against joining. meanwhile, corker's fellow senator from tennessee is picking up where that senator left off. just this week senator lamar alexander made clear he's planning an attack on the national labor relations board. the top republican on the senate labor committee said, quote, the tennessee ans i talk with are tired of washington bureaucrats telling them how to live their lives. pursuing some of the most misguided policies under this administration. so i guess we have to follow the way tennessee thinks, right? alexander made clear if republicans take the senate, they will roll back. for example, republicans can't stand the so-called what they

say is ambush election rule. which is in the process of being finalized right now by the board. the measure would speed up union elections in the workplace to occur as ten days after the petition is filed. democrats on the mlrb hope the rule will prevent intimidation of any workers in the workplace. it would hopefully end massive intimidation campaigns like the one we saw play out at the volkswagen plant earlier this year in tennessee. it's no surprise the other senator is now leading the charge. corker's been under enough heat this year. so business leaders complain this ambush rule would give employers -- would not give them enough time to discussion unionization with their employees. idea of intrusive? give me a break. ten days is time to discuss whether you want a voice in the workplace or not. republicans are complaining this measure would change the outcome of union votes.

>> it shortens the election time to as little as ten days. if you're in the company in question, you have a ten-day period before the election. the current mean average is 38 days. so i would argue this is being done not to make things more efficient but to change outcomes. and really, quite frankly, the outcoming desired here is to make the union position stronger. i expect the board not to take the agency and turn it into a political organization and try to create by rule making what you can't create by regulating. >> no, senator, you got it wrong, it's not about creating a political organization, it's about giving workers in your state of south carolina, which is a low-wage state, an opportunity at a better life and let them share in the wealth that they have helped owners create. the national labor relations board basically is doing their job. they are protecting the interest

of workers. that's why they were formed years ago. the republican pitch to their base right now before the midterm is really pretty simple. they're going to side with big business, as they always have. republicans are going to tell business owners and leaders that employees, well, they're just getting too much power and it will be a political organization. and of course we don't want to have them run your business. republicans are on an all-out assault to get rid of labor unions in this country. that is the headline to this story. the national labor relations board simply is standing in their way. republicans think it's a good strategy to attack workers and wage earners looking for a fair shake in the workplace. we'll find out this november if the american people are on the same page. does every worker in america deserve a voice in the workplace? and should every worker in america have a chance at a vote. what this is going to do this what they call ambush election

rule is going to stop the delays, it's going to stop the legal rangwrangling, it's going give an opportunity for employees in the workplace to speak and speak with strength. and get to the table and negotiate a fair wage. but of course the way it sounds right now, the republicans think that fairness is in the eyes of the owner, period. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, does this prove republicans are out to destroy unions in america? tax text a for yes, text b for no. let me bring in our guest. good to have you with us. here we go. this is -- the assault continues. how do you interpret when a united states senator says that this is going to be their mission if they get the senate and he says that the nlrb's

policies are intrusive and misguided? what's your reaction? >> once again, this tennessee senator, like his colleague, senator corker they don't read the law. the national labor relations act clearly says collective barringening is a public good. the public of the law is to promote bargaining rights. that is the fundamental purpose of it for 80 years. if lamar alexander and his colleagues have their way, we would have no collective bargaining rights whatsoever in this country. recently, a global labor organization ranked us 74th in the world and dropping. we have one out of eight workers in this country have bargaining rights. in tennessee, it's much lower. but they're never satisfied. they want to make sure there's no one standing who has rights on the job. >> if we can go back one administration, there were openings that were never filled on the national labor relations board. they tried to kill it previously by not putting people on the

board. >> they tried to use the rule of 60 in the senate. to make sure that no one on the board can be confirmed. all designed to make sure there would never be three democrats because there's always going to be two from the other party. it's not like it's a one-sided board to begin with. it takes years to adjudicate cases. the word thing is they forget for 80 million workers who have no collective bargaining, this is the only agency that exists for them. the only place they can go is the nlrb. >> of course lamar alexander hangs this on this administration which i think is terribly unfair because the nlrb has been around some 80 years.

all of a sudden, when the conservatives got power in the house, they started talking about getting rid of it. so this is a generational fight, no doubt about it. do you think republicans across the board are now signaling, let's just get rid of the nlrb completely and let's put all power with ownership and big business and have at it? >> yeah, that's basically what their platform said. eliminate collective bargaining. ignore that it's a public good. that it provides protection for everybody. they want to go back to 19th century capitalism. the koch brothers and the others who fund they, which is what they care about, their funding base, not their voting base, they believe that laissez-faire capitalism hands off free markets is all we need. the rest of us know that means no safety net no floor, and nothing for our children except, you know, the wealth that they achieve. >> well, i hope workers and wage

earners around this country understand when the republicans say something, when they say they're going to do something, they do it. we they say they're going o. when they say they're going to obstruct, that's what they do. when they say they're not going to raise minimum wage, they're not going to raise minimum wage. and if you've got a senator coming out saying that if they get the majority in the senate that they will take action against the nlrb and -- i mean, how much more evidence do we need? in that manner, mr. cohen, will this motivate the union base of america to do the foot soldiering that's going to be needed to win the house? >> yeah. absolutely. and to defend the majority in the senate, right, we have 55. the koch brothers and grover norquist, they're on the attack. this is a major part of their agenda, to wipe out any voice that has any ability to fund something different than what

they believe in. i'm hoping working americans, whether we have a union or not, understand what we do when we're under attack is stand up, fight back and work for a voice in our workplace, in our communities. >> all right. mr. cobe good to have you with us tonight. president of the communication workers of tamerica. now, the executive director of wisconsin jobs now. good to have you with us. we've seen the attack on labor in the state of wisconsin and there have been court rulings favorable to support the public employees losing their voice in the workplace and their power. is the gop attack on the nlrb political? >> absolutely. nobody knows that more than the state of wisconsin where governor walker has become literally the poster child for the movement to dismantle unions and to take away the rights of working people in this country. i think the real story here is this is happening because workers are winning. because after five strikes over the course of the last year,

fast food workers have had a major victory. when the nlrb's general counsel gave the direction. this is going to have huge p percussi percussions. that's why they're attacking workers with a renewed vigilance. >> this ground swell effort, this grassroots effort, as workers have gotten out and talked about organization and been out protesting, you think that this has really had an effect and this is what is pushing republicans to go after the nlrb? >> absolutely. we see workers winning across the country. they're winning living wage fights. they're winning the opportunity to have the voice heard on the job. here you have the gop digging in their heels, once again recognizing how completely out of touch they are with the american public. people in this country want the opportunity to work hard.

they want the opportunity to earn a fair wage. and they want the opportunity to have a voice on the job. and that is why, you know, the nlrb is so incredibly important, to give workers that opportunity. the gop wants to attack it because they're scared of the workers. >> what would a working environment in america look like when those 80 million workers he was talking about don't even have the nlrb? if the republicans were successful in wiping out the nlrb. >> i think it's clear. it's what million are facing every day. we have to remember what's so powerful about what's happening at the nlrb is workers are being informed of their rights. that's why this is so important. but i think we're not going to have to figure that out. as you said, they have to get through an election in november in order to make this a reality.

the real challenge for all of this is what are we going to do to take back our country and to make sure that this is the land of opportunity, the land where anybody who works hard has a fair shot at the american dream? it's up to each and every one of us. weem been out on the doors every day since may talking to workers, talking to members of our community. even in the midst of governor walker's suppression. it's up to us as individuals to take back our country and ensure working people have a fair shot. nobody can do it. not the nlrb, not congress. they can't do it without us, without us fighting to elect the right people who will stand up for working people. >> how close is that race going to be? mary burke against the sitting governor, scott walker? >> it's incredibly close. right now, they're within a point of each other. the margin of error.

every vote is going to count. that's why you see the wisconsin gop trying to suppress votes, trying to pass laws that make it difficult for folks in our community to register. our organization is on the ground. we're going door to door. we're making sure people have the tools that they need. as an issue on the ballot so people can go out in wisconsin in november and vote to support raising the minuimum wage. we know if we get out there, if every single person participates, that we can take back our state. >> jennifer, good to have you with us tonight here on "the ed show." remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us. like us on facebook. we are just moments away from president obama speaking from

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what is happening? time for the trenders. keep in touch with us on twitter at the ed show. and have we got ed and like us on facebook. you can get my podcast. it's free. you can access it 24/7. it's fresh every day. the ed show social media nation has decided and we're reporting here are today's top trenders voting on by you. >> you play ball like a girl! >> the number three trender, balling. >> the nba's reigning champs have hired the league's first full-time female assistant coach. >> is that job something you've always dreamed of? >> a game known for shattering back boards.

becky hammon is shattering the nba's glass ceiling. >> new assistant coach spurs conversation. >> popovich praised her basketball iq. >> she understands the game of basketball whether it's men or women playing. >> not once did he mention her gender. >> have the courage to follow your dreams. >> number two trender, mind the gap. >> pretty dramatic. a scene in perth in western australia. >> a man fell in the gap between the plane and the platform. >> you better watch your step, junior. >> aussie commuters jumped to action. >> the gap was so tight, the man couldn't pull his leg out to free himself. >> the operator got the passengers to actually tilt the train. >> 50 people all pitch in, men, women, children. >> it took two pushes and he was out. >> it's really heart warming, an incident like this where everyone pitched in. >> the train left just 15 minutes behind schedule, taking

the volunteer rescue squad back to their day jobs. ♪ hello good-bye i'm late i'm late i'm late ♪ >> hot air. >> climate change should be a top priority when 75% of your constituents live near the coast. >> for our environment, we need long-term solutions. >> rick scott's environmental plan ignores climate change. >> water projects over the next ten years. >> our natural resources. >> florida is going to be plagued with flooding, coastal erosions. >> the heat index of an increase between 8 and 15% in the next 100 years. >> i'm not a scientist. >> we care about our climate here. we care about keeping our florida beautiful. >> joining us tonight, the chairman of the broward county democratic party and the dnc executive board member. mitch, you know, when i saw this story come out, i thought, this

is just a big curve ball to the voters. he's never shown any interest at all in climate change or anything environmentally whatsoever. this is -- i don't know, i think this is a desperation pitch. how do you view it? >> well, i think you're exactly right. in 2010 when he ran for the first time, he was a climate denialer. now he still is, but he's kind of hiding out. and trying to avoid it by saying i'm not a scientist. as i talked about it before. but he is the governor. a couple things have dictated why he's in hiding. he realizes florida is a peninsula. he also realizes something else. the insurers that have to insure homes and commercial buildings on the coast in florida are raising their rates dramatically. or they're pulling out of the

market entirely. this isn't a political decision, this is an actuarial decision. there's one other reason he's hiding out. that's what i call monetary geography. that means specifically most of the hope homes on coast, wheth miami beach north through ft. lauderdale, palm beach, up through the coast, are very expensive housing. you live on the water, it's more money. who lives on these multimillion-dollar estates? people with a lot of money. rich folks generally. and they're mostly republican. well, they're squawking because they're saying, my property's in danger, my taxes, my values are going through the sky and you're doing nothing but hiding. he's afraid of losing them while still kowtowing to the tea party and being a denier. >> so this whole thing is really being spearheaded by what's

unfolding in the insurance industry? i mean, the insurance industry, as you say, from an actuarial standpoint, is taking a look at what their losses are going to be if somebody doesn't do something about the environment. so here companiy comes rick sco concerned about big business, concerned about what his base and fund-raising is going to be, so he better come up with an environmental plan. is that how it's coming down? >> yes, exactly. and the joke of that is, his environmental plan is to say i'm going to protect the florida keys and i'm going to protect other areas, but those are the very places that are susceptible to climate change. and rising seas. so he's saying that on one hand. in fact, a report came out he issued and never said a word, never used the phrase global warming. because he has to epcoup the tea party folks happy. while still kind hiding on the denial side. he's come up with a political answer/nonanswer. >> so this is environmental-light is what it

is. he can't say "climate change." he can't say "global warming" because he's going to infuriate one party. on the other hand, he has to take care of an industry that has really done the numbers. i mean, it seems to me that the insurance industry is a believer in climate change and at least they certainly don't want to take the risk. on the coastal state of florida. how does charlie crist play into this? what does he return with? what is his position on this? >> well, he himself has said that, you know, he is a believer in climate change and indeed when he was the governor of florida previously, he had made some very well received progressive comments and even in the acquisition of land, environmentally sensitive areas, to buy the land, because in this case u.s. sugar was dumping a lot of overflow in effect and jeopardizing the everglades. he's had a pretty positive

record even when he was governor previously. >> well, about the sugar industry, got some flack about some hunting trip he took with u.s. sugar's lodge. a big donor to scott, has been a big donor to scott but when you consider the phosphorus pollution the sugar industry has caused in the everglades allegedly what does this say about his political and environmental intentions? >> well, he took this political junket and his defense was, oh, i didn't spend taxpayer money because i took my own private jet. but what's interesting is he then appointed one of the vice presidents of this ranch in texas to one of the most sensitive boards to the environment in florida, south florida water management

district. because of its effect on the everglades. so he did that. he also did something else. what he did was he decided to tell u.s. shug, hey, you have a economic responsibility to restore the everglades and the places polluted by your own admission, to restore it to its national habitat. i'm going to save you millions and millions of dollars so you don't have to do that. and of course this was based on a constitutional amendment in florida that said they're responsible for environmental land. i guess the trip was well worth it for u.s. sugar. >> the guy is amazing at covering his tracks, there's no question about it. we'll follow the story in florida. it is interesting. coming up, michele bachmann has come up with another brilliant way to fix the crisis at the border. plus, big businesses are starting to realize that underpaying their employees -- well that has an effect on the economy too. up next, taking your questions.

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thanks for all the questions. this is our ask ed segment. our first question comes from michael. do you think rand paul's stunt with the immigration activists will hurt him in the polls? first, i don't think it was a stunt. i think it was just an honest reaction. and i think the republicans have lost all credibility when it comes to immigration reform. they don't know what they want. and they don't want anything basically is what it comes down to. they can't speak with a truthful tongue when it comes to immigration because they really don't want any kind of reform. they want cheap labor. they don't want to walk future workers right in the democratic camp. this is about future demographics. i think rand paul has serious problems withs with activists a

the board. next question, do you think democrats will turn out in huge numbers in the fall and surprise the pundits? the republicans think so. look at how much money they're spending on trying to sun press t suppress the vote. you have obstruction, suppression, activism. i think act ivism is going to wn out. will go against the tide of history. stick around. rapid response panel next. stocks finished with slight gains today. the s&p, finished flat. the nasdaq gaining two. the trade deficit narrowed in june due to a decline in petroleum imports. sprint hammered today after the company ended its pursuit of t mobile. t mobile shares also fell. lastly, sources tell cnbc, bank

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welcome back. income inequality is holding back the united states economy. that's the analysis. a new report by standards and poors rating service says extreme income inequality, extreme income inequality, is a drag on the long-run economic growth of this country. what have we been talking about on the ed show for years? s&p reduced its ten-year u.s. growth forecast to a 2.5% rate. now, president obama inherited the mess from george w. bush in

a bad economy and the criminals on wall street no doubt. when the economy was at its worst in march of 2009, we were slashing what, over 800,000 jobs in a single month. we were losing more than 26,000 jobs a day. that's called being in the toilet. there was a panic on wall street as the dow jones bottomed out at 6,600. did you jump in them? despite what republicans think, president obama has brought our economy back from the brink of collapse. stimulus package, automobile recovery, you name it. but big business has yet to get on board. this chart here on the ed show, we've made it famous, it's the vulture chart, it illustrates how the top earns are moving ahead of the majority of workers in this country. all good for the top 2%. the rising concentration of income contributed to why s&p's cutting its growth estimates for the economy. it's about disposable income that americans don't have like they used to have. along with the gap widening in

income inequality over the last ten years. look at the cost of gas. food and health care. it's all gone up. wages have remained stagnant. one of the recommendations the s&p makes is in its report. it says this, balancing along with spending in the areas of education, health care and infrastructure, s&p also is suggesting effective investments in health and education promote durable growth and equality. how about strengthening the labor forces' capacity to cope. and of course the households at or below the poverty line would help bolster government balance sheets and likely improve credit conditions in this country. it's a big business. as it's called out indirectly by the s&p as i read it, it needs to get on board and work to close the gap. how do we do it? should we do it? joining me now in our rapid response panel, bruce bartlett,

former reagan and george h.w. bush policy adviser. also, dr. lafer, a former reagan economic adviser. i want to hear, just clean state what both of you gentlemen think about the report. >> i think it's very credible. i think what they show is the income distribute has become more unequal. what they also said in that article, which i thought was also of note, is this is the worst recovery from a trough in over 50 years. and, you know, i would reverse the process there, ed. i think it's really the income distribution is caused by the slow recovery rather than the slow recovery is caused by the income distribution. and if we had faster growth, the poor, the minority, the disenfranchised, all those people who aren't earning income, they are the ones who have been hurt the most and they're the ones who aren't spending and getting this thing back on track. >> doctor, you have a fundamental disagreement with the way we have rebuilt the

economy and brought these jobs back into it. >> yes, i do. >> you don't think we've done it the right way. okay, bruce, what do you think of that? >> first of all, the s&p report is about a long-term trend issue. the problem of increasing inequality's been going on for decades. it's been caused partly by the outsized gains of the ultrawealthy but also the stagment incomes of the modestly well to do. wages have been -- real wages have been stagnant for decades. and people simply don't have the money to spend. and what the standard & poor's report is saying is this is a recipe for what is called a secular stagnation. they're saying that, look, the wealthy are already spending about as much as they possibly can. they're not constrained in that way. and so when they get additional income, they just put it into

saving. where as the modestly well to do cannot increase their spending because they don't have the income to spend. so we have a lack of consumption that is holding back economic growth. >> what about that, mr. laffer? i know you're a supply side guy. i'm not. i believe in putting money in worker's pockets. you know, the basis of conservativism in this country right now is supply side economics. i'm an investment guy. i believe you invest in workers. we have the best worker. we're going to get the best products. the free market will grow from there. as opposed to have a bunch of supply on the market made cheaply. but i want to -- how can you make the case -- how do conservatives make the case that stagnant wages are going to make our economy better? >> see, i don't think they are. i couldn't agree much more with you. i mean, we need more education. we need higher wages. we need all of that. the question is, how do you get

it? you know, to me, you can't love jobs and hate job creators. what we really need to do is make it a pro-growth environment the way bill clinton did, the way kennedy did, the way reagan did. then you'll get the distribution of income coming back. you'll find the wages going up. when you have a company that has one job opening and there are 15 applicants, it's hard to get higher wages. but if you have a company of 15 appli nt cants -- 15 jobs and o applicant, you've got to pay the guy more. >> the wages have been stagnant under the bush years, under the obama years. under clinton. under bush 41. we've had a run of stagnant wage, as opposed to expenses for average families in this country. and so how can our economy get better if we don't have the investment coming on the other side? >> let me say, you have the stagnant wages, that's true. but what you have here is "w"

was as bad a president as obama, my view. all these people left the labor force, ed. they're not looking for work anymore. their wages are zero. we need to bring them back into the process and get this going. you don't do it with higher minimum wages and higher taxes. >> minimum wage has never hurt the american economy before. i can't hear, someone -- okay. >> that's probably true, ed, i mean -- >> go ahead. >> can you hear me? >> yes, go ahead, sir. >> you're probably correct, they've raised the minimum wage during boom periods when it wasn't effective and that's fine. now when you have bad times now, i mean, look at some of these inner city areas where you have the employment to population ratios of teenagers just disastrous. they've been unemployed, not working. ways going to happen to those people as we go forward? that's the real tragedy going on

here. they aren't buying goods either. >> great to have you with us. i appreciate your time. we'll talk more of this in the coming days. on the road to the call to cut pay for employees. talk about a real story out of kentucky, coming up, stay with us. anufacturers a day shut down in america. there's no reason we can't manufacture in the united states. here at timbuk2, we make more than 70,000 custom bags a year, right here in san francisco. we knew we needed to grow internationally, we also knew that it was much more complicated to deal with. i can't imagine having executed what we've executed without having citi side by side with us. their global expertise was critical to our international expansion into asia, into europe and into canada. so today, a customer can walk into our store in singapore,

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and in pretenders tonight. michele bachmann in an anti-immigrant tirade. rattled off her idea for border security. >> we built a real fence along the entire border. it needs to be well lit. it feed needs to have surveill. needs to have border guards on either side. we need to have then boats where there are waterways. that needs to be pass controlled 24/7. if anyone can somehow get into the united states, they have to

be adjudicated on the spot and deported on the spot. >> so she wants to take our border guards and put them on border guards and put them on the other side? her list is just shy of mote and alligator. next, the queen of obscene. with her new plan for immigration reform. a 100% tax rate. >> what i believe we should do is have a 100% tax on remittances. the money that illegal aliens send to other countries. this truly is a war again the american people. and if we don't act like it and take this border seriously, we're going to have more criminal gains. >> bachmann's new ploy, withholding 100% of their wages could be interpreted as slavery. i didn't say it.

to the point of exploitation is what our country stand for, she can keep on pretending. i'm so proud, like, it's just amazing.

welcome back to the ed show. this is the story for folks who take a shower after work. you've heard the story many times on the ed show. executive pay goes through the roof, work and families deal with stagnant wages year after year. the not come gap, well, it's widening. republicans in congress refuse

to take action, to do what? minimum wage. we have heard of ikea, gap and costco who have taken matters into their own habnds and raise their wages. one man from kentucky is confronting income and equality in his own backyard with a single selfish act. dr. raymond burse, this gentleman was set to be paid almost there are 350,000 a year while the school searches for a permanent replacement. then burse asked for a $90,000 pay cut. now you might be wondering why an executive asked for 25% pay cut. well, mr. bur s.e. is using that money to improve the powerly pay of university employees currently making minimum wage. as a result of burse's pay cut,

24,000 t 24,000 -- excuse me. a total of 24 kentucky state university employees will go from making 7.25 an hour to 10.25 an hour. he also will take cuts any time minimum wage employees are hired on his watch. he said, if i thought i would ask them to really be committed and ask them to give their all, i should be doing something in return. i thought it was important. we think it's terrific. joining me now is james peterson, msnbc contributor and lehigh university professor. there's a lot of different ways to fight income in equality. i think this is truly an example of leadership. that if we were to do this as a governmental body, the economy would change. we know the economy is going to change for 24 of those employees at kentucky state university.

what do you make of that? >> it's a great feel-good story, ed, for all the reasons you articulated at the beginning of the story. the income in equality. the need for models like this. and let's make it also clear that when he is interim president, when he steps out of position, this will become permanent. university pay will be $10.25 an hour. that is fantastic. and charity is never a substitute for social justice, right? we ultimately need structural changes to balance out the income and equality spanning gaps over the years. we need to get the federal wage to be at the same level the kentucky university has. >> i think we have to follow kentucky state university to see what this does to their bottom line. is this going to hurt the university? is the university fwoing to -- not going to -- going to deliver

its function? we've heard the republican and conservative argument all along, we can't pay people because it is bad for business. i'm interested to see if this is bad for kentucky university. >> this is poppycock. the employees will have more disposable income. obviously not to scale, but it will improve the micro economies of those directed impacted. and the quality of life of workers of that university will be improved, so the quality of life of those that good to university and work there, will be improved. there is no suggestion that getting to a living wage will be disrupted. when you put the income in the pockets of the people that spend their money, that's working class, they spend their money and it is completely against logic that we haven't made minimum wage $10 across the

board. >> since it is kentucky state university, i would imagine that the state legislature in kentucky or state board of higher education, the structure of the authority that they have over higher education, probably is going to take a close look at what's unfolding here. and who knows, this could end up going on to other campuses as well. we should point out there are nine public university presidents and 42 private school presidents make over $1 million a year. what about the low-wage workers at those schools? what will happen? what can be done to help the low wage workers if congress doesn't act? what do you think? >> we need more models that are just like this. and we need to understand that there's been privatization within the university systems. so the sort of outsourcing food services, and outsourcing book stores, creates the space for university presidents to make that kind of money. university presidents are very,

very talented people. but that does not on cure the income and equality, even in the micro systems. it must be addressed in this way. >> well, what we have seen is a person in authority that's made a decision and addressed income and equality. >> great model. great model. >> you bet. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" starts now. good evening, rev. >> good evening. thank you for tuning in. we are waiting on a news conference from president obama as the historic first ever u.s. africa summit draws to a close. the president, running about an hour late right now, but expected to start shortly. we'll bring it to you live when it happens. of course, some of this focus on foreign pollty. but some domestic issues surfaced earlier today. it happened when first lady michelle obama and former first lady lauraus