>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. > hap labor day weekend and thanks for joinining us for a look at business and finance in t region to it rebecca cooper is on assnment. republicans in tampa spent the week generating in the season for r putting mitt romney in the white house. federal reserve chairman ben bernan prop importance during a speech in wyoming. we will look at those topicics during our roundtable segment. first, comings and g goings at reagan national l airport.

the vivirgin americaca flit is now serving san francisco. it would be easy enough to overlook if washington were just anotherr city anreagan national just another airport, bubut they are e not. they are making the west coast trip thanks to a speci waiver exempting the flight from a special seset of rules. there are only about 20 of those daily exceptions tohe 1200- mile rule.e. i spoke with the virgin america president and ceo aboardhe first bridge a and american airlines to land at washington rarankin. -- reagan. it marks the start of the virgin america service into reagan national airport. thank you for being on “washington business report" with us. >>e have a flown into dulles airport for a number of years. but reagan national is a little bit different -- the access to the capital, the access to k street all the poly makers.

we thought it was important have links to the policymakers in washington. >> d.c. can be kind of a button downtown they like to say. virgin americas not a buttons down airline. has this hip reputation. talking about what you are hoping to bring to th washington, d.c. market. >> first of all, i think people just like the product we have. have lights and television, -- we have live television, which is important for people keeping up wi-fi on the airplane. ter 15 minutes they are out of washington and can do whateverhey want and have a good time on our plan. >> do you in addition a larger presence out of -- i would imagine you want more service coming in and out of here. >> because we are going to san francisco, these are slot- restricted perimeter slots we

are dealing with it every opportunity we get to expand out of the west coast, we take it. >> one of the questions analysts have about virgin america is that the expansion is the biggest in the industry, but you are not making mon yet. do you still believe we will be profitable in 201012? >> we aree still shooting r profitability in 20s well. -- 2012. you have to get to a certain skill in the airline industry, some of the benefitsrevenue side, or you risk being irrelevant and slowly withering away. we decided we will go for it and we will start making money. >> as part of that, there is talk about an ipo. you guys have a plan. some analysts are questioning if the virgin america will be here to stay. do you believe this is the airline of choice for people 10,

15, 20 years down the line? >> absolutely. number one, financials are strong. we have a strong balance sheet. the question of whether we will be or not really isn't a question in our mind. the second is that people are voting with their feet. we've not only had an impact on how people fly, but how our competitors are providing service. now you have everyone moving towards wi-fi video because the american people have said we should have better quality air service. we think we are on the front edge of that. >> cabin lighting and things are becoming a must-haves. how you going to elevate t the virgin america service? >> that is a great pat on the backo our folksks that everyone is moving towards mood lighting. we are not sitting back.

we have the most advanced in- flight entertainment system right now. we are getting ready to put an even better one in starting next year. it is part of what silicon valley is about, part of the innovation economy in n the bay area. you never sit back and are satisfied. you are always pushing forward. >> the virgin america is one of e airlines that american airlines was talked about being interested in a potential merger. do you have any interest in merging with another airline or is that just flatterering to hear that one of these legacy carriers thinks that might be a nice perring? > -- pairing? >> i might have been disappointed if we were left out of the big airlines they were identifying. but our focus is o organic growth. >the culture we have could not survive in a big airline. >> you spent a lot of time in america coming up the ranks. they are struggling to find their way, out of bankruptcy. what you foresee as far as --

before see as far as the health of the overall industry? >> the industry is as healthy as it has ever been, and as a matter of fact, ifif you look at fuel prices s rightow the bank or at some histocal highs -- they are at some historical highs but the last t profit timemes for the airline industry were when we had unnaturally low oil prices, in the late 1990's or early 20's, and the bubble economy in the late 1990's. this the first time i've had, i would say, average economic growth and high fuel prices with the industry being pfitable. that animals of the industry are as good as they have ever been paid -- the fundamentals of the industry are as good as they have ever been. airlrlines are able to invest in their product and give people the seice they deserved. >> you said you'd wait on the

deliveryry of your power plants in the middle of nenext year before you expand again. -- delivery of your plants and the middle of this year before you expand again. >> right now we are comfortable with our level of seice out of dulles. if an opportunity to grow out of reagan comes we will find the aircraft to do that. >> thank you for joini us on “washington business report." best of luck. in other economic news, marylanand politicians are up in arms because of a decision by thehe u.s. treasy department of 450 jobs from prince george's county to west virginia. the agenency says the move results from a a merger of the treasuryy departnt and the bureau of public debt, has a facility in west virnia. “washinington business report" quotes sharon baker is saying that the move will i increase the disparity between the number of workers s who live the county and the number of js inside prince george's county.

we need to take a quick break but when we return, the “washington biness report" takes up the top business topics that camout of when we switched to

fios, we got better tv, better phone better internet. it was like somebody like took our computer, shook all the junk out of it. we're actually getting more for our money with fios. [ male announcer ] it's time to get more for your money. upgrade to verizon fios internet, tv and phone with our best price online. just $84.99 a month guaranteed for one year with no annual contract. there's at least three computers. [ girl 1 ] a tablet. couple of gaming systems. we could all be running at the same time. we do not notice any dips. [ male announcer ] get tv rated #1 in customer satisfaction. and get the school year off to a great start with america's fastest, most consistent and most reliable internet. internet is absolutely imperative for school nowadays. look up this write an essay on that. my life is greatly improved because of fios. [ male announcer ] move up to fios today for just $84.99 a month for a year. with no annual ctract, there's no reason to wait. you should totally get fios.

[ male announcer ] visit verizon.com/hotprice. that's verizon.com/hotprice. contact the e verizon ceer for customers with disabilities at 800-974-600006 tty/v. welcome to the vue you deserve. welcome to life on fios. ♪ ♪ >> republicans at the tampa convention paia lot of attention to the e economy and business and t the nion that mitt romney will do a better job on those frontthan president obama. romney made severaral references to business and the economy during his acceptance speech thursday night. >> by 2020, north america will be energy independence by takining full advantage of our oil, coal gas, nuclearar, and renebles. we will make trade wor f for

america by forging new trade agreements. when nations cheat, there will be unmistakable conseqnces.. i will begin my presidency with the jobs tour. presidenobama began hisith an apolology tour. america, he says, has dictateted to other nations. no, mr. president americaca's freeee of the nation's from dictators. >> he s betray agreements and jobs on his agenda. we will start with our “washington business report" roundtables, peter morici of the univsity o of maryland, and kate andersrsen brower, white house repoer for bloloomberg. relar guests at “washington business report." i thought was a pretty y good mitt romney speech thursday night. the ans he talked abobout have anchance of working?g? >> absolutely. it on trade, we have a huge decit, the reason mr. bernanke cannot get the economy

going. if you don't fix the trade deficit, you don't fifix the american economy. mr. obama promised d to do someing about that on the stumump in 2008 and he has not delivered. >> when it talalks about creating 12 million jobs, the obama campaign comes back and says that 12 millio jobs would be created and whyhy -- anyway. it is hard to forecast, i think that people wewere looking for really solid policy descriptions from romney. i am not sure how specificic he really got. usually th cvention speeches about demonizing him, right? the question is, did that set -- about humanizing him, right the question is, did that side wo? i thinit did. >> a candidate who hashe name mittbot -- he did appear to be a real pson -- >> that's the point, hes ever

a person, to say he is not is just ridiculous media propaganda pitt it ilike to sing that ama is just ininterested in redistribution and class warfafare. i am not saying that our viewers should vote for him, but ideas time to give them a hard look.k. -- it is time to give the man a hard look. >> i think he was appealiling to women and hispananics because he passed a c conservative e state e -- >> absolutely. nbc's republican w war onomen -- no, it is a media's war on reason. slow nonsense. "the best they you had was the day you u votefor o obama" -- ththat was a clear play for democratats. > they are repackckaging the reagan question "are you better

today than four years agogo?" during the early reagann yearsrs unemployment peaked at 10.7% it was a tougher problem. they convincnced the country they have bigger problems than moses in the desert -- >> whether it is moses in the desert or a sll debty proroblem -- >> small debt problem?? >>oth candidates are goingng to lay out fairly difft erent vivision for the future ahead -- >> neitheride can do anyththing out the deficit til the economy stararts growiwing. if you start cutting the deficit dramatically at a time l like this, you get the outcome you had in gree and spainin. the onomy is collapsingg out to

you stimulate the economy? if they did something about the tradade deficit, that would make monetary policy mu more effective and bring more tax revenues and permit to start cuts in spending. >> paul ryan was intereststing talking about simpson-bowles critical o of the president not adopting the policies. one of the things th was strange about that was that ryan hihimself was on ththe committee and was not supportive of it. there is a lot of finger- pointing on both sides, and of course criticism tt the president has not done enough to reach out t republicans after what h happened last summer. the white house is saying that they have ied, and john boehehner they --- >> as a prominent economist in wawashington this administration is blind to facts and deaf to reason -- >> how you really feel?

[laughte >> theyy don't talk to critics pit they tal-- they y don't talk too critics. they talk amongst themselves. that is one of the reasonse need at change in policy. >> there is a question about whether we get t post- conventi bump. will the romney and ryan speeches result in a bump in th poll numbers? from a horsese race standpoint, it is neck and neck right now. >> bloomberg did an interview with reince priebus who said that he was expecting an invisibleump. polls have not been dodone since romney spoke, , so it will be hard to tell. i think thahat because the conventions are so close to togetherthat bump coululd be very shohort-lived. obama comes in a few days later. if the conventions were fuher apart t -- >> there is always a bump.

the question is, does it stick? we saw a carefully choreograpaphed efforts at establishingng and presenting the brand of the republicanan party like cadillac. just like a cadillac, i don'tt think it is purchasable by 51% ofof the populion. i don't think we saw a wiwinning team this week. >> we have news about ben bernanke, and peter is not shy about his opinion. first, tre is the hot minute. >> you have heard the old saying all politics is local. what could be more l local than your pocketbook? take a look at which candidate best serves our interests as you vote in november. when tip o'ill quintet that phrase, he was reminded political candidatesnd that vovoters are most interested in where candidates stand on the everyday issues, issues that impact them dirtly that same

logic can apply to you in the business of government. you might nt to o read the republican national committee platform that politico just posted. if you are a small business, take a look at the associated press' interesting compason of the presidential candidadates' posisition on smallusiness contracting. finally, when evaluating a local candididates, take a look at if they serve on a congressional committee important to your business. links to articles in this sesegment t can bebe found at

>> welcome back. we have a a few more mininutesitith

kate andersen brower and peter momorici. i want to talk about ben bernanke's commen on iday in wming, where he dropped a pretty big tent that he would like to do more, perhaps as early as the next meeting in september. isis there more to do? >> not really. mortge r rates are at record lo. putting more l liquidity in the system will not help a lot. we have already y had th. coitions in eururope -- a lot of it comes from there, pushing down the market. my feeling i tt it is over and the's not a lot that monetary policy can do. >> the argument is tt theob market's weakness has beea result of a cyical problems, nonot necessarily systemic. do you believe that, that this is a cyclical issue? >> is the trip to visit china and traded on oil -- $600 billion togetherth primary reason that there is notnough demand and the.s. econom is

tanking. has just abousaid ass much, and me is barack oma at tie -- and s so has barack obama at titimes. eveven romney talks about doing business, but it gets further into his campaign, he listens morend more e to his economimic advisers and hee decides he's not up to it. >> romney has said he would t reappoint bernanke and would look to someone like glenn hubbard or john taylor. hubbard is one of his enomic advisers. it wl bintereing to see if bernanke will last in this will. >> glenn hubbard h a long record about being against doing tradade with china, and if you don't toto trade with china, you don't get t cows that had barr -- co back in the barn. >> the p president did a type of inrvieiew he has not done before, an "ask me anynything" with reddit. a very hip waof communicating with youounger

voters, which they have b been trying to do a week. he went to charlottesville and did a college tour. it was a way of humananizing himself, like romney. he was asked, who is your favorite basketball playeyer -- it was mimichael jordan to t news t of thenterview was that he favored a constuonal amendment to b basicically overturned citizens united, which made it easier for corporationand unions to donate huge amounts of moneyey in ads. romney's restore our future has 89.7 million, ameran crossroads, 200 million. prioritities usa, the president''s super pa iss having a lot of trouble raising money. it is a way to appeal to voters who think that citizezens united is a trible decision. but the idedea of actually having a constitutional amemendment is a

whole otheball of wax. >> he has bebeen subjecto a totorrent of criticism last two years, and overtime, he hahas become more severe personaly. if mr. romney or two all of a sudden make himself a teddy bear instead of a k ken doll, he would have p problems. hence, this effort to sosoften hisis image. thconstitutional on issue -- the idea of a constitutional amendment to orturn cititizens united -- >> it is of freedom of speec issue -- >> it i not goi to happen. it is ridiculous. it is a waste of time ebate the impossible to the president should be more responsible with his rhetoric. >> we will come back and explain our labor daday weekend number -- the number

>> our number of f the week, two is the average number of years spent at a job by 18-to-30-year- old before they move onto another company. workers in the millennial generation prefer to work of organizations with fewer than 100 employees. we arere going t to have to move on because we areut of time. we will be back next week.