tv PBS News Hour PBS January 1, 2010 7:00pm-8:00pm EST
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captioning sponsed by macneil/hrer productions >> brown: good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. on this first day of the new year, a suicide boer killed dozenst a volleyball urnament in pakistan. >>uarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour night, the attackccurred in the northwest ibal region. we'll lookt the 2-front waagainst the taliban in afghanian and pakistan. >> brown: onhe economic front, it's good riddance to 2009 a some hopes and fears for 20.
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>> anybody who says that t rates dot have to go up is smoking something thatou probably can't do inost states. >> we're going to ha more foreclosures, 're going to have morjob losses. but i think that sloy but surely we' going to be climng out of this over the course of the year >> suarez: an enre report from ina on a state of the art eye care center that bieves in sharing costs anprofits. >> the patients are amg the rld's poorest people, rare ly -- e diseases. >> brown: plus the wkly analysis andew year's resoluons of mark shields and david brooks. that's all ahead on tonighs pbs newsho. major nding for e pbs newshour is prided by: >> what the world neednow is energy. the ener to get the economy humming again. the energy to tack challenges like climate change. what is that energy me from an energyompany? everay, chevron invests $6 million in peopl in ideas--
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and by the alfd p. sloan foundaon. supporting sence, technology, and improved economic performance and financia literacy in the st century. d with the ongoing support o these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possle by the corporaon for public broadsting. anby contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. thank you. >> brown: at least 75 ople were killed a suicide bomber at a sporting event in pakisn today. the tack took place in a village that had ford its own armeanti-taliban militia underscori the trouble pakistan hasad in stemming the violence. thbomber drove an suv packed with explosives intohe midst of a volleybaltournament on a field in northwestakistan. dozens of playerand spectators were killed and woded when the
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vecle exploded. more victims were also ared to be buried beneath rubble from thblast. it was o of the bloodiest attas in pakistan since the 2007 assassinationf former prime minister benaz bhutto. today's violenceame as the pakistani taliban aimed it was behind wednesday's scide bombing that kild seven americania employees at a base in afghanistan. the grousaid it had used a renegadeia operative to carry out the attack -- a claim that could not verified. e pakistani group said the attack was intended to damag the cis ability to launch miile strikes into pakistan. the s. has launched scores of such attacksnto the country's tribalegions over the past year and a half, attemptinto hit milint leaders. one, former pastani talin chief baitullamehsud, was killed in august. the afghan taliban has also claimed volvement in dnesday's deadly attack,
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sayinghat the bomber was a member of the afghan natiol army thafghan military denied that claim. in the meaime, at cia headquarters in viinia, the ency mourned the loss of fallen colleagues by flyg flags at half staff. >> this is a tremendous lossor e agency. the agency is a relatively sll organizaon, and its expertise in al qaeda is even a smler subset of at overall group. >> suaz: the ciaas declined to release informati about the victs. one of those kled has been idenfied by his father as harold brown junior of frfax, virginia. cia spokesman orge little said day, "there is much about th attack that isn'yet known, but th much is clear: the cia's resolve to pursue agessive counterterrism operations is greater than ever". for the cia and the u.s. military, the dual claims of involvement in wedsday's attack higight the complexity of a war in which insuent groupsre able to operate along the afghan-pakistan bord and easi move back and forth
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between the countries. for more on the creasing taliban olence in pakistan and ghanistan, we go to: thomasohnson, a research profesr at the naval postgraduate school in montey, california, whe he focuses on afghistan and central asia. d christine fair, an associate professor at gegetown university. both have traved and written tensively about the region. profsor fair, let me start with you. the attack on the amican base in av gabtand and now on the sporting evenin pakist are just to either side of troubled border, nothat far away from each other. are they this anyw relate >> the lasseveral weeks the u.s. has really been focusingheir unmanned aerial vehicle strikes, th drob strikes on an area in the tribal aas called noh waziristanhich is an importt area because is a stronghold of a previous
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ally of the u.s. cia ding the 80s. he is now one of those terrorist networkshich overlaps with e akon taliban, the pakistan taliban anal qaeda. whats interesting on the atta in the cia opateive -- op ratives in afanistan it seems strategic, aimed specificly to be able to deade our able to bomb noh waziristan. so in some strange sse theyre related if, in fact, it is true tt the pakistan taliban, ashey sa conducted this attack in afgnistan, i believe 's the first attack that the pakian taliban have actually conducted in afghistan. >> suarez:r. johnson, have the taliban afghanistan and pack twoeparate and distinct enties? >> i think that a ry important queson. and people have a deba concerning this. i think they are becoming closernd closer in recent months. d that would be very fearful. but in the past the pakistani talibawas quite different, much more ideaological than the ghan taliban. but one of our worst nightmaresi would suggest,
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is for two entities to merge. now i thk following up on chris, thathe hakan i-net work probably played aajor le in this hit at the chapman combat operati post. hakan i-net works very rong in the area of khost and th've operated there r many years with a number ofpectacular idea tacts and i think islso quite interesting both on decemb 31st and tay as reported by a numr of newspapers in the ited states, there has been additional dron attacks in nor waziristan where the hakan i-net work runs ovely. >> what is theelationship between the teo of drok attacks and the attacks by the taliban on amerin and civilian fces. >> i think exactly as m noted. we've be really focusing our one attacks on north waziristanecause that is the ground zero for the hakan i-net work. we're focusing thereecause the pasing sndis continue
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to view the hakan net work as an al. so while the pakistanis e going south with their military operation io south waziristan they have demured ifot outright refused to take responsibility for hak i-net work and t leader of the taliban in afgnistan. so we have taken upon oursves to engage in the drone tacks to degrade the hakan i-net wo and that is item speculations rife, and i think to a considerab degree justifd that the effort to ta out this cia base near khost was actually specifically tgeted so that we would be draded in our ability to ctinue targeting the hakan i-ne work in noh waziristan. >> suarez: wtalk a lot out what is going on in afghanistan anwhat is going on in pakian. but to what exte is it just one big w now with just the ieresting fact of the borderhere? >> well, there has alws been a differentl between the pakiani and the afghan stb. like i sait is our worst ghtmares if they merge. but i thinit's open to
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queson. i findt very interesting. i've always suggested th you know the pakistani miliry has played a major role rently in south waziristan tt has been a strongld for the pakistani taliban. bui always suggested to ny people that i talked to that an dicator of how seous they were in attacking e afghan taliban was en they started to go after them in rth waziristan a this is an area hani controls. so i think it is vy problematic ifhese two organizations emerge, well as islamad. >> suarez: i asked about o g war because as you have mentioned haka is operate on botsides of the border. the unit states military operating on both sides the border with boots on the ground in ghanistan d drones in the air in pakistan. ist one big war? >> wel i actually view them somewhat differentl the pastan taliban in the same way the akan liban is not a coherent, vocal organizati. hakani affiliates with t
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talibabut is not really the taliban. he overlaps the alaeda, the ghan taliban and the pakistan taliban. even more so the paktan taliban is ao a network of networks so under e previous leader whwas actually killed in a dne strike in august t was really hd to argue that the organization o was a coherent as pele said. in fact ey were really clear in tir mission that they were going aftethe pakistani ste. and going after the armyor working with the united states. now the new leader masoud far more brutal ifne can imagine that thehaki mullah is vigorously anti-shi'a which is why under cki mew la. pakistan talib have gone afr these anti- -- these shi'a, vehemtly antihi'a. >> suarez:et's talk more about the brutality. cause now there seems to be an appetite, a willingneson the part of the taliban in pakisn to target and kill large numbers of civilians. shi'a as y mentioned but
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also the generalun of humanity in maetplaces. >>ut it's not new. th is the interesting thing. suicide bombings have be aroundn pakistan for a ile. what iinteresting about the pakiani taliban is that we always focus othe so-cled pash tune elements in the tribal areas, whais less appreciated ithey ve strong ties in the southern punjab and its there at the anti-shi'a militiasave been very robust it is not new, they have been there sincthe late 70searly 80ss and they were really pioers of these mass murders. largely with their anti-shi'a objective. and so what you have seen is the ttp is really rehing into these anti-shi'a mitia roots and they have demonstratedver several decades a complete wiingness to engage in outrightiolence. >> i have a point here i think is very intereing that moud who claimed the responsibility for attacat the base in khost also very close to hakani and i don'think it is
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unreasonable to thinthat hakani didn'outsource it to the pakistani talib. cause you know, masoud is actually one othe leading suicide planners in pakistan. >> suarez: a frequent feate of these latest stories have invved on the afghanistan side of th border, peoplen afghan uniforms. as suicideombers, suddenly turning around the guns and shooting at their fells, various guises ousing the cover of a uniformo leash an attack. what you can tl us. >> i thinkhis is very impoant. therwere reports a couple of years ago that anntire uckload of afghan national police uforms, were missg. hi been waiting as a nber of other analys for years to start tsee operations under the gue of as mp when they surgents were utilizing the unifor. thinwe have underestimated the degree to ich the taliban have infiltred the afghan national police a national army. let me give a st story. in kdahar this year i was
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told ba number of reliable sources at our interpreters at the ndahar aibase in kandahar had been iiltrated by the liban. and the taliban went to r interpreters and said wee not going to kill. what we want to knows every time pple are going out have a meeting into the dirict in kandahar province andther areas. so i think tt we have to reallytart to focus. i think the united states as was the alition has to start to foc on the infiltrati of the insurgents io both the afghan pole, the afghan nationalrmy and other elements. >> suarez: b quickly s ere any way of stopping that kind of operati. >> i d't think so the thing at is so shocking, we talked about this in the past. we areight years into this war and the linguists, the number of linguists weave in o inventory are so miniscule we are always going to be reliant upon this network of interprete who arthere for their own reons as well as our own. so ts is going to be a persistent source of insecurity especiay as
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turning over the secity to the afghans bemes such a priority under ts administration how can we psibly vet these people when we have few resourceand are under the prsure to produce them so quick. >> suarez: pfessor fair and johnson, thankou both. >> thankou. >> thank you. >> now for the other new >> brown: now, forhe other news of e day, here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. hari. >> sreenasan: december was the first month in the nearl7 year-long iraqar without a u.s. combat death. day, the top us commander in iraq army general ray ierno called it a significant milestone, a attributed that to the decline in vience. mewhile, the head of the us ceral command paid a new year's visit to americanroops in baghdad. genel david petraeus said the iraqi elections scduled for march 7, are of "enoous importance" the country's future. britain launched an immedie review of its current rport security measureafter the failedlane bombing over detroit. prime minister gdon brown said he is considering instling new technoloes like full-body scanners to screen ssengers.
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we have a report from ul davies of indendent television news. >>eporter: some may feel its an invasion of priva, technology thacan see under your clothes. but the itish government appears to be the late to decide its an acceptab price to pay if stops a potential suicide bomber. this system which has been successfully trial at manchester cld soon be a fixte at all of britain's airports. in a stateme gordon brown sa, the detroit plot thankfully failed. but it has been another wakep call. he added there was now a nd to enhance airpt security systems beyond the traditional meares. full body scners have already been introduced at american airports. here a member of airport sta demonstrates how concealed apon can be spotted. in this case i a knife but e same technology can also ot explosives that may not alert conventional mal dectors.
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>> -- it give addional security and not t -- but the te defense is property -- to identify those o could pose a threat ttheir fellow passgers. >>e have to start to look atommon sense secuty. we neeto profile passengers. we need to treat pple differently. whenou arrive at the parp, -- airpor you should know how are yogoing to be screed. >> in fact in fact erica has admitted conventional security and profiling should hav highlighted the reat posed by 23ear old umar farouk abdulmuttalab. prime ministerrown also called r an international summit to be held later thisonth in london, how to counter owing radicalization in yeme the wod welcomed in 2010 today. pope benedict used his traditionanew year's day adess to urge people to change their lifestyles order to helpave the environment. in pasadena, california, thousands of peopllined the streets to wch the rose parade. and it was a day for college football with fiveajor bowl games ing played across the country. with the start othe new year,
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long and varied list of new laws were implemend in states across the country. >> 3, 2, 1 - happy new year! >> sreenivas: revelers across the countrwelcomed the new ar last night, and this morning, they welcomedn a new set of ste laws which took effect at midnight. ny of the laws targeted publ health: inalifornia, restaunts can no longer serve foodith more than half a gram of trans fat per serng. persally i like the fact that there'not gonna be smoking. >> sreenasan: in north carolina state steeped in its tobacco heritagea smoking ban inestaurants and bs goes into eect tomorrow. >> ielieve in freedoms and i believe choices so, um, for me to say you can't this but you cado that, i just don't think that's the way we erate here. >> sreivasan: state legislatures he new laws will keep the country's roa safer in 2010 with oregon, illois and new hampshire banng drivers from sending tt messages wle behind the wheel. 18 other statehave similar laws.
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new hampshe also replaced their vil union law with a law allowing gay marriage. >>ou are married. >> sreenivasan: linda murp and her partner aramong the 16 couples who made it offici outse the statehouse in concord at 12: this morning. >> indescrible, amazing, the best feeli ever. >> senivasan: in washington, dc, lawmakers are atteting to decrease wte. >> i tnk it's a great idea. they should have done th a long timago. >> sreenivan: shoppers who took home their puhases in astic bags last year now hav to pay 5 cents f each one or use their own reusle bags. >> it's pretty goo but they shouldave gave us a little bit more notice. i mean, sometimes people fort to bring a b with them. i know i do. >> sreenivasan: it's t first major cityn the country to impose such a surcrge. the fees wilgo to a fund to ean up the city's anacostia river. >> ultimately everody has to pay for that, as the cittrolls anbrings the garbage out. so, i actually think is really smarto do this.
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>> sreenivasan: hundredsf other ate laws including an end to dog racg in massachusetts and a baon selling toguns in arkansas also took effect. those are some of the day'main stories. i'll be backt the end of the program with a preview of wh you'll find tonit on the newshour website. t for now back to jeff. >> brown: and still to come the newshour: ste-of-the-art health care r india's poor. plus mark shieldand david brooks. that followsour economic look back and ahead wch ray conducteon new year's eve. >> 2009 ben with fears ever a second eat depression. mpanies on the brink of collapse and unprecedented government interntion. home forecloseures evtually topped 4 million. unemploynt soared too. as of november 10% of americans were jobless. in march, the stocmarket slumped to 12-year low onlyo rise 61% by the end of the year amid hints of economic recover here ttake stock of it all
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e david wessel, economics editor of "the wall reet journal," he's author the book "in fed we trust" i whiche tracked the federal reserve's response to th financial crisis. jim ellis, assistant naging editor of blockberg "busins week" magazine and cathy chsoff, bloger for cbs moneywatchlso author the book "investing 101"men and cathy, giv where we started the year, how do things look to you now? >> well, things are lookin better, given how bad they were. that's prey easy to say. i actually think that is will be a slow recover year. it's not -- we'rnot out of the wos. wee going to have more foreclosures. we're going to have more job losses. but i think that slowly bu surely wre going to be clbing out of this over thcourse of the year. >> suarez:im ellis, we heard a lot of stern leures about things that were overvalue and guess by now a lot of that excess value has en stpped out of houses, of stocks.
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if we are in a rovery, is it on more secure foundation then the old economy had before last ar? >> well, it'definitely on a mo secure foundation simply becse asset valus haveropped a lot. but at doesn't mean that it's going to necessily be a vigorous recovery. one of the things that a l of peoplare getting confused about is that the stock market iestor has sort of -- ty have drunk the co aid, they think okay, know where things are headed. they decidedo go ahead and push up both the dow and s&p by more th 60% since the march lows. th's great. the problem that there are leading indicar. what they are sayi is things are not just gointo go to hell the way you thought ey were. so therefo we're going to buy stocks forhe long haul. the problem is that ey are probably six to eighmonths ahead of the economy. and so for the nex for most of the xt year and really in to 21 we're going to see a ptty feeble recove. at is going to be a
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problem for the oba administtion and it is going to ba problem for a lot of investors who about dyear are going to wonder ether they got ahead of thgame. >> suarez: david wesesly, agree wi that, a leading indicator bumaybe way out ahd of where the economy really is? >> i think we'll learn in e next year whether the stocmarket comes down to meet t economy or the economgoes up to meet the ock market. stocks do te to rise befo an economy recovers. ey are reflecting a pretty good rebound ang the banks and amg some industrial companies. th're able to sell more stuff now and they have cu costs and laid off lot of workers so that isll going to the bottom line. a big questiont seems to me is whether the onomy can achievwhat ben bernanke theed chairman called escape philophy wh the government begins to witraw some of its pport. thats the big question for 2010. >> suarez: you have ent recent mons trying to figure out wheer all the inrventions of the government into thsort of girders and jots, the structure of the financial system worked.
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how does it lo now? >> wel it looks like they made a lot of mistakes but i think they got the big things basically right. the financial stem is far stronger tod than it was a ye ago. the big banks have paid back a lot of the mey that the taayers gave them. some of them are en able to raise over a hured billion dollars of prite capital which is a good thing. the usual measures that yo look at to so whetr investors and lenders are trusting each other, have rushed close to rmal. sohe financial system as a whole isn better shape, th the exception of a few big ones like gmacthe car loan outfiwhich is still sucking federal capitain. and course many small and midsized bks that have hu portfolios of commercial reaestate. >> suarez: cathy chrisoff doeshat help the financial sector trick down to the kitchen table economics, t back of the energy figuring that people are doing they balce their check bo and pay their bills? >> it absolutely does.
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but the dividual consumer has beenaving themselves over theourse of the last year. and what y've seen in this miseble economy is people getting their financial ac tother. people paying down the debts. building up serves, emergey funds. slowing do on spending because ey had to. and why we're beginng to sethe signs of recovery now is becse the consumer sector is in better shape in dramaticay better shape than they were a year ag >>oes that mean jim ellis that the recovery by definition haso be slow because people are going t be more caious about the way they spe money and not going to spend money the don't have? >> well, ihink it's going to have to bslow simply because i'm not rtain it is really as strong it appears on the surface we've got to recnize that one reason t economy is in the passable shape thait is in nois because it is
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a huge amount of stimulus added to it by central ban here in thu.s. and around e world. i meanhe fed and other governnt agencies alone ve pumped in about $8.2 trillion ieither amount th they have spent, loaned or guaraeed so sort -- to sort of resuscitate the financial system that is unpresdent that is an azing amount of stimulus that unfortunaly is going to have to srt coming out. and that means over the next year or two ben bernankend his cohos at the european centrabank, at the bank of england, are going thave to look for wa to pull some of th liquidity out of the stem. the danger is that if you pull it out toquickly, you risk spping the recovery at we're seeing now. e recovery that isn't that strongut it is a rekoferp. and ifou actually take too long to get it out, however, it leaves a loof money slauing around the system, easy money that is gng to fu other bubbles. next te it won't be housing, who knows what it will be you about it wl be a bule that they are going
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to have to quash. they are gng to have to spend the next year lookg for a way to do delicate surgery toehe move that without hurting the ecomy furthe >> suarez: let'salk a little bit abo how that happen because during this ar we learned it to listen to conversations about the federal reserve, creing liquidity orithdrawing liquidity. at's the mechanism if you are gog to take out the trillion dlars that you put in, how do youo that? do y go to the bank and ask foit back? >> well, yes, in a sense t d has lots of tools it can use to te money out of the system it can sell secitys to bks, the banks give the cash to e fed and it not available r lending. and ey're coming up with wfangled securities as they experiment with gting rey for what they call the exit strategy. but i really think that's a ways off. i don't expect t fed to be draing credit or raising interest rates unt the end of theear at theoonest. becae the economy is, as jim said, still prty fragile. >> it would have to surprisingly strong,
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strong than anticipated before the fed srted to turn the spigot and drn some of the money out. >> srez: cathy, doou worry out the exposure of not only the feral reserve but the fedel government to a this stimulus and intervtion ? yeah, i think th's our next b worry. the cause the last recession was thathe consumerector got overinbted and could not actuly pay on all the bills that they habuilt up over time. and you know, weave worked through the pastear of people getting in a tter spot. but nothe govement is borrowing at an unsustnable rate and unlessomething happens like we raise taxes or we inflate, it's going to b very difficult forll that debt to be paid back and think that is a true danger. if you rai taxes, you can't raise taxes justn wealthy people bause there aren't eugh of them. and you need lot of extra moy.
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you inplace -- inflate, the pain is felt by absolutely every human being. and it's felt more dramatically by the people who can least afford i >> show do you pain its -- painlesslyemove that exposure, l that money at has been extended as credit? >> you can'to it painssly. that's the problem. i mean you -- we got into a big problem and we tried t buy our y out of it. and there will be pain one way or anoer. i amctually hoping as, you know, as much as this wi hurt me peonally i'm actually hoping that tax rates will rise a bit because otherwise i ink thprospect of inflation is pretty dmatic and pretty devastating. >>uarez: jim ellis are you woied about inflation. >> i'm worriedbout inflation though i still think that that is a little way off. t it has to be an issue simply because there is so much you know, public bt out there.
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if you looat it now, i mean i guess.s. public debt is up at about 7.7 trillion dolrs. nothat's a big number and to put it in perspective, ye okay it was only about 6.5. and re importantly, two years ago, the average pub lit -- public debt outstanding was ly about $5 trillion. so in other words, that public debt has go up by about 50% in just two year what we've done is store of made a giantommitment to ourselves and our ildren d grandchildren that we're going to he to soak up. so anybody who says it tha tax rates don't have to go up is sming something that yoprobably can't do in mosttates. i mean something igoing to have to ppen. will you he to raise taxes. you are also gng to have to show some fiscal scipline which actually is more difcult than raising taxes. and we're going to he to hope that you know mr. bernanke a company and his counterparts at othe central banks are going to be as smart and as aggresve as they've been
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over the last coup years actually stopping the crisis. >> suare so david, just as families have be repairing their balae sheets, governments ve to do the same. >> absutely. you can worry o much about this at a time like is it is a lite bit like complaing that the fire departmentsed too much water to put out the firin yo house. but as we go, as theconomy gets better,ome big decisions are gointo have to be made in washington. i don't think it's alloing to be tax incrses. some of it is gointo be changes in spending, raisi the retirement age or othe things in other words, to avoid a situation whe ther we layer some of debt on our children th they live less well thawe do. or our creditorsmany of them foreign, the chine for instance grow tireof lending money and the dollar fls and interest rates rise >> thank you a and happy new ye. >> tha you, you are weome. >> happy newear. >> thank you. >> brown: now a go news story from the past year it's about a sucssful effort in iia to bring sight to millions of poor people wh suffer from eye sease. special corrpondent fred de
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sam lazaro repts. >> this is the largest eyecare center in e world. e surgical facilities are asodern, the error rate as low as anyplace america. the big difference heris that its pients are among the world's poorest peop who raly get treated for eye diseas. globally, 45 milon people have prentable or reversible blindness. 12 milon are in india alone where the extreme sun and genetics a bramd -- blamed. many people lose the sight and lilihood by their early '50s. their businessuccess and social mission have long de it a model in public alth textbooks. 20ears ago this much younger reporter camto the ancient mple city of mothere where aravind was founded. by dr. v. heetired from a government
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hospital in 1976 andet out to tackle what he called disablg cataract blindness. >> nothing disabled a man like cataract and or eyight. >> aravind itself s a very small operation whenr. v stard it with 11 beds and four doctors, the from his n family. thidea was simple. they would serve patients who cod pay. the profit was afford ee care to the many more pele without couldn afford even the bus fa . though aravinset out to find patients throh reening camps in rural areas. groups likthe lion's chroup provided buses to brg those to the hospita ere they entered a brisk assembly le. the business role model wa mcdonald's or americanhain stores in genera >> iamerica you have models, whether it isears tools or mcdonald's mburger, you are able to
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open chain of shops. >> just go to hihere, he was hiing here and sitting there and talking out donald's. >> dr. v diein 2005 but his offices left untouched as a shrine hill. his phew manages a system that has growno five regional hospitals and 25 satellite clinics. is was the first one. >> thiis a 32-year-old spital. we areeeing about 1,500 to 2,000 patients day. >> each pays about $1 for doctor'sointa point. that hel fund more patients who gnext door to a ee eye hospital. there is not much profit margin so a heavy volume of paying patients tisfy patien and efficiency is critical. >> we ll it a clinic scoring shee >> dr. aravindho has an mba from the uversity of michiganas continuous productivity reportst his fingertips.
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>>his how many -- >> paties are promised a coleted appointment in two urs and a brochure detailing wh they can expect >> the registratn takes about fi minutes. restration takes about ten mite, the a pointment about ten minute. this is like a patient bill of rights. >> exactly so they understandhat is ppening. >> the repution is drawing patien from farther and rther away . >> whater you say, everyone says good to mothereyitnesses it is the onlyeason 55-year-old kg was coaxed out of a three-year depression at began when cataracts staed cloudi his vision. he becamcompletely blind three months ago. >> he and his wife ended a two day ain journey to get here. >> i was a sportsman. i used to swim. after thcataracts i can no longer move around. i t stuck at home and i started eating. then a leg injury madee
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even more immobi. hi problems ing overweight and i developed high bod pressure. >> by 9:00 the morni after arriving here heas being prepared for surge. already zens of patients had gone ahead ohim . >> the doctor ansurgeons in several oth operating theatres were firswork the route, mostly cataract cases. the more compl ones like glaucoma and coral surgery would come later . >> i'm seeing e farbt for the firstime in the or. somebody hasone a thorough workup of the tient. and any challengincases theyhowed to me earlier. so we e able to identify those that need extra atntion, it is segregated from the pool . >> his hyptension and obesity sing extra risk. >>e have a margin of safety of five to ten minutes to get t surgery done.
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>> about ten nvous minutes later the ctor had removed a partularly tough athery cataract. >> the cataract s a little obstinatbut otherwise things wt on well. when you see himomorrow will you see a different man more confide. >> by the enof this day the doctor a his collgues did aut 300 rgeries. about half of them freof charge. increasingly, however, patits are seen outside the hospital. telemedicine cnects doctors to satellite cnics and toy's eye camps offer much more onsite from eyeglasses lenses to digal scans. near this ca a satellite truck beamed high solution ages to doctors at the hospital. it is a especial useful in diagnosing india's grong problem ofiabetes related eye disease. technology has iroved care and it's also brout down costs, notablyorth intraocular lenseshich are implanted ring cataract suery.
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they used to be imported aravind begamaking its own intraocular lenses in the early 1990s it ud to cost betwee$50 and $100. today they are madin this factory for asittle as $2 a piece. the lensare exported to 12 --120 countries and the own 8% of the glob market in intraocar lenses. whetr it's supplies are people, the goal is be self-sufficient. aravind now has exnsive training programs for rent medil graduates and claims thousands ofidlevel ophalmic professionals, mostly wom from rrounding rural communities. me 250 hospitals across india and other countries have adopted the methods. th person manages the teaching facilities. >> in this institu we train ornizations to beco more efficient . we complely give our
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intelltual property. theypen up our systems, processes, how mh we charge the patientand our records. >> it was set by his uncle. the ctor was single, never took a salary. in fact he mortgaged his home to art the hospital and coaxed or inspired 34 members of hisxtended familyo work here, arting in 197 with his sister and her husband. both left surgical careers inmerica to work here for about $2a month. >> today oh my godwe are very, very happy. in fact , at that time in the '80se were not happyven though dr. v wasappy, in family le. you know, like me d my husband, two children was not easy for us. we couldt even buy a -- at th time we didn't apprecia his far vision.
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>> god bss you. >> god bless m god bless -- >> she says the satisfaction of seeg patients restored to full lis makes up for anmaterial depriization l vow over the years salarys have improved r 2920 dtors and other staff. >> the children e starting school on the fit so i want to get going . >> we'll give you some dar glasses ju like a hollywooactor. >> each one of 27 miion patients who have been treated hereand 3.4 million who have had surgery. surgery thatow costs just a few dollars morehan a meal at mcdonald's. >> brown: filly tonight: the alysis of shields and brooks syndicated columst mark shlds and new york times lumnist david brooks. happy new year, first. >> happy new yr. >> reporter: fl out all
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week from attempted airlin bombing, david, hodid the obama adminiration handle th. >> not so we. to me the whole reaction was overwrought. we havall these geniuss who are post hocthat they could ve figured out if they were inlace. hysteria calng for janet nap all tono's head,- nap all tano's heang, calling fothis person's head. the a alone captures four times much data per day as exists in the lrary of congress they do a pretty good joof reducing the risk of terrort attacks. occasionally sebody gets throug that is going to inevitably happen. we should ha a steady, leveheaded response that is the sign of aesilient nation. we don't have it. we have the last week peop going into semi hysteria. nobody has covered themselves in with glory. >> reporter: n a serious country,. >> thais a serious charge. i doi mean the point david
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makes about , the nsa information which is fr timeas much as the line -- library of congress is justrom cell phones and wireless. so it is a remarkablamount of informaon to be ocessed but i think there is cause for conrn, no doubabout it. there s been partisan overaching. excessive and indefensib. but at the same me, there wereigns. the were warnings here. and wee supposed to have 8 years later me sense of commication. i think thpresident recognizes tt. the present, there is a stemic failure. he is accepting accountability his administration. and i think it is rious. d i think it is something that has to -- -- addressed. >> i would just y they haven't achied the right balae. the untry i think is
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reacting in overwrought >> who hasn't a chiefed. the obama administration beuse they respond to what thcountry wants. the first line of spin is everything is fine, that is what janetap allo and robert gibbs said. everything is fine, the system worked. they realized that wast flying so they wt to the other exeme and said it is tolly unacceptable. the oper reaction should se to me to be listen, we get st of what gets rough. there aralways go stock things that get through. 've successfully degrade the amount, even of mebody getshrough can do because they have toesort to this ineffient means of trying to blow up an airpne. but folks th is going to happ. and let's keep o head about this and let's not g crazy over this. i so i thought the obama administtion had gone from one extremwithout finding balance. >> what about thopposition fingerinting. >> i will be hpy to address the opposition do think there is no queson that secretary nap all tano's answer was an attempt,isguided, inept to asre people who were
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traveling over chrisas that it s going to be safe. ich was a legitimate intention but not a sensib assessme of the situation. ani do think that what we are seeing as a result of this is we're still silos. we're still in smoke stacks as f as intelligence is concerned. we did have 9/11 recommendations that did require the director o naonal intelligence coordinate all thi i mean there were ilures atach level, i mean whether the ste department on the visa, all the way alg the line. the cia on information, whether th was going to be a real problem. we had specific informatio i think there is cause for concern. i thinthe president has shown restraint. i mean i really do. he insisted at he wouldn't do anying until the facts are there.
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but he addressing as a serious prlem. >> y think he got it ghtness. >> i dthink he did get it right. and david's point is a always thoughtful. >> but wrong. >> no, andsually about 85% of the time as far as the other side is ncerned. the senator om south carolina comesn for special treatment in thi new year's seaso this ia man who has held up the appointmentf the director of the transportion safety administraon which is charged withirport safety and heays for one person, and that is that hwants to t om this man, to extracfrom him a guarantee that employees of thtsa will not be able to collectively bargain. and i meant's based on some no nothingness that
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says the union bses will interfe with the safety of the country. now th is a man who is a graduate of the university of tennessee. has a masters in busines from cmson. 50 years old on 9/11. to go ino save after the tw towers were leveled, trapped and rrified, 343 new york fefighters walked in the jaws of death and e fires of hell and every one of tm was a dues ying union member. i mean the fact that somow he associatethat these peop are not public servants, not interested in publ safety is probably partisanship of the naowest and most unforgivg nature. >> i don't want defend -- i think most nominees and this nomee should be left through. that said i can't hidey jaundiced attitude toward the tsa. i think mostf what they do is pure serity theatre and a jobs proam and that the stuff they dhave very little aect on our securi. the stuff that actuay helps us is invisible an stuff we can't s. the stuff about ke off your shoesnd the
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toothpaste a all that stuff, think is designed to make us feel od. and the idea that they would reond to this latest attack by ping the silly things that have to do or pontially have to do is again a sign ofear and not sign of that we are lling to accept risks. there are risks in traveli these daysnd we're willing to accept that. and then just to the o person we haven't mentiod is dk cheney. >> rig. >> so to bring him u >> ain, the idea to me this is endemic in the nature of this kind of warfare. we're going to have failes. because you n't predict thfuture. the idea tt it was as dick cheney said, theesult of some ideaolocal failure is al silly. >> he said the president was trying to prend we are not war was the waye put it. >> this president who ch the consternation of his base and histrongest pporters will have tripled e number of american troopsn afghanistan, will have doubled the amount spent in supportr aid of the democratic country of pastan, hardly somebody
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who habeen indifferent to it. and i mean dick cheney would do well heed the counsel his alleged superior, the man who put hion the ticket, george w. sh who when asked to criticize president ama says i owe him my silence. and compared to dick chene george bush ought to be on mt. rushmore. he looks more like that every passing ek. >> if wery to look forward now,ow do these events and the new things you just talked aut, the counterterrorism, the intelligence problems that have noween reraised, how does that colicate the presidt's agenda going rward? >> well,o me the one lesson is we wl never get out of paying attentioto the islamix -- islamic extremists, thisill just be an issue that will pop up infghanistan there pop up here at home. >> and i suspect the big story, one of the bi stories of thiyear will be iran cause it's just huge what is hapning over there, whe we have a regime that has lost legitimacy, tt
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knows it has lost legiticy and is in pursuit of nlear weapons, the dissoing 6 the regime, ing after nucleaweapons, these things will occupy us fo the next several years so, it is just one me lesson. we thi we can put it behind us,ove on to health care and enomics and all that stuff. we just can't. >> this week we got new player, yeme >> we did get a new pler in yemennd i think it prably complicates , certnly upon us to close gain ton mow. 926 th108 detainees there are yemeni. complicates. >> well, makest more difficult, sps. bui do think that in all of thesere important if t urgent but what has to cupy and preoccupy this president is what preoccupies the country. and that is the economy, going into 2010. we've just bn through a year of bitter partisan rancor. it wasn't an election year now we are into an electio year.
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where yoreally see the gles come off. so i do think that you kw, if unemployment is at 7., the firsof october, or 1 is going to make the difference ithis administration's abilityo ve allies in congress to support its programs >> you think tt is what he do going forward, he focuses more on e economy and jo. >> yeah, the question is what can he do. because there iso money left ove but i do think thehave ne some things which have not gotten the cret they ve deserved. one, education. the ngle most successful thing 's done is race to the top of his edution program which is kick f reform that will get train workers thought will take a long time. the second thing is to really give a lot of mon to basic scientific search which theye done. again it is not quick fix. it will noget you jobs tomorrow b down the road, in a countryhat mark has pointed out in pasweeks that where t country is really depressed about t long-terprospects, are we in decline, these are e things that wi make a difference in the long-ter and so hope he does what
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he sms to be doing, cusing on these fundamental long-term economic issues, not mor fizz to try to smulate some short tm bump. >> you know, last week w sat here and we looked a the last year and yoboth were pretty down oamerican politics i want to ve a chance here, new year's resolution what wod you like to see happen, what is your n year's resoluti for american politics gng forward? >> i think recognition on alour parts that the vast jority of people who are in public officehether elected or nonected are there for publicervice and not for private gain. and would like to see our leadership a our citizenry. recognize that will rors saidt best. is a gre country but you can'live in it for nothing it does reire our involvement, ourommitment, our sponsibility, educating oursves as active and comtted citizens. and you kn, rather than walking away fm it, i would say get enjed to it. >> you think that s been lost.
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>> i thinkhe idea of publ service as a noble calling which many of us grew up th is unfortunately lo. >> just toak owe on that, i'm always reminded when i talk to liticians which unfortunately i do lot, theye actually in it for the right reasons. the life ielf is kind of crpy. a t of travel, a lot of fund-rsing, a lot of really unpleasant uff. th wouldn't do it unless th really thought they were doing sometng good for the country so they e in it for the right reasons. ey happen to be trapped in the stem, which they hate. >> something happeadd long the way. >> it is t system itself, not the individuals. it is the emotional motivationwithin the system which creates polarization. and to me the biissue which theyill have to deal with startinin the coming year is the long-term fisc situation. and how theyo that when they're at loggerhds is a mystery to me. but paying our debts, getting the country on fiscal stable road is st a gigantic issue tt threats to crush the cotry. >> all right, happnew year. >> thank you. >> thankou.
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>> suarez: again, the major developments of thday: a suicide boer in pakistan killed at leas75 people when helew up his vehicle at a sportingvent. no gup has yet claimed responsibili in the blast. the pakistani taliban d claim responsiiity for wednesday's attack on a cia base in afghanistan that kild seven cia employee and deceer was the first month in the nearly sen year-long iraqar without a us combat death. the newshour ialways online hari sreenivasann our newsroom. previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: on pl solman's makingense page. we asked leading economistto make pdictions for 2010 and reflect on conventional sdoms that may be wrong. plus, on theundown, there's more from the wall seet journal's dad wessel on the economic year ahea al there, you can find out what stories the newour's foreign afirs beat will be watching in the neyear. and there's more on tharavind e clinics read a reporter's notebook andatch fred de sam zaro's online report about t partnership thatelped the hospits grow.
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all that and more is on r web site, newsur.pbs.org. jeff. >> brown: and that the newshour foronight. i'm ffrey brown. suarez: and i'm ray suarez "washington we" can be seen lar this evening on most pbs stions. we'll seyou on-line and ain here monday evening. ve a nice weekend. happy new year thk you and good night. major funding fothe pbs newshour is provided by:
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and with the ongoing supportf these institutns and foundation an.. this program w made possible byhe corporation for blic broadcasting. and by ctributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thk you. captioning sponsor by macneil/lehrer productio caioned by mediaccess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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