who better to talk about all this is alan simpson and erston bowles. thank you for joining us, folks. >> it's a pleasure. >> great to be here. >> senator simpson, you have seen what's been going on these last few months. the house actually voted on the simpson bowles, and it went down, and paul ryan, the leader of the house on fiscal issues, i suppose, said that simpson-bowles was the wrong way to go because there weren't enough spending cuts, and there were too many tax increases. what was your reaction? that's your party. >> well, i think my party and i have different views of a lot of things. i guess i'm known as a rhino now, which means a republican in name only because i guess of social views, perhaps, or be it commonsense would be another one, which seems to escape members of our party. abortion is a horrible thing, but for heaven sakes, it's deeply intimate and personal decision and men legislatures shouldn't even try to vote on it. gay-lesbian issues. we're all human beings. we're all god's children. what is this? for heaven sakes, you have grov

now that's personal pricing. >>> and we are back with erskine bowles and alan simpson, the authors of simpson-bowles plan. a rare opportunity to have a conversation. senator simpson, i want to ask both of you, but i want to ask you what you think of president obama's embrace of your plan, or lack thereof. and i'm going to start by asking you -- just bare with me, because i talked to him in january, mostly will foreign policy, but i did ask him about simpson-bowles, and he probably got -- this got him more agitated than at any point in our conversation. and this is what he said. he said, "i've got to tell you, most of the people who say if you ask them what's in simpson-bowles, they couldn't tell you. first of all, i did embrace simpson-bowles. i'm the one who created the commission. if i hadn't pushed it, it wouldn't have happened because the congressional sponsors, including a whole bunch of republicans, walked away. the basic premise of simpson-bowles was we have to take a balanced approach in which we have spending cuts and we have revenue increases. and although i did not agree wi

alan simpson you are best.isagree in a land where everyone says, this guy is clear as a bell. >>> what is really behind the administration's probe of j.p. morgan. the judge knows and what he found out, we'll get to it. d ing in communities across the country. from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn... financing industries that are creating jobs in boston... providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community... and lending to ensure a north texas hospital continues to deliver quality care. . ities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. [ male announcer ] you get in the zone long before the race. get your head right. and focus. on race day you don't leave anything to chance. get set every morning with gillette fusion proglide. its microcomb guides hair for its thinner blades to cut close. ♪ great starts begin with gillette fusion proglide. ♪ >>. >> neil: investigating the investigation. f.b.i. launch ago probe in j.p. morgan huge trading. why the go

conference and we'll see you next year. [ applause ] >>> next, april papal with former senator alan simpson and philadelphia mayor michael nutter on congress and the federal budget. then a senate subcommittee hearing on financial institutions too big to fail. and the costs of hiv and aids medicines. >> this is c-span3. with politics and public affairs programming throughout the week and every weekend, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. get our schedule and see past programs on our websites. and join in the conversation on social media websites. >> when people are saying to him don't take the vice presidency, right now you are the most -- you are a powerful majority leader, don't take the vice presidency, you won't have any power, johnson says power is where power goes, meaning i can make power in any situation, and in his whole life, nothing in his life previously makes that seem like he's boasting, because that's exactly what he had done. all his life. >> sunday night, the conclusion of our conversation with robert caro, on the passage of power. volume four in the ye

it was alan simpson.was on fareed zakaria this weekend and talked about the rigid stance many republicans have taken refusing to raise revenue as part of a grand bargain to deal with the deficit and debt. >> raise taxes? >> let's take a listen. >> you can't cut spending your way out of this hole. you can't grow your way out of this hole and you can't tax your way out of this hole. so put that in your pipe and spoke it we tell these people. this is madness. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something. but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. >> now, i'm pretty sure he's talking about your pledge. what's your reaction? >> well, alan simpson hasn't been paying attention to american politics for maybe a decade. what he missed is that the ryan plan, which the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed, almost every republican voted for it, has strong support among republicans in the senate, brings the united states' spending down $6 trillion

i've known alan simpson for just over 50 years. i grew up in wyoming and heard all the stories when i was a kid and then i tried to do them myself and he helped me out of that whole. 18 years i worked for l and i was press secretary and then chief of staff responsible for all the sticks and then when he went to retire and went to harvard i went to the smithsonian and was in charge of government there for awhile and my wonderful wife rebecca who is right here. i'm telling you i couldn't have done this book without. she proved and she is amazing. so, we were tired and went overseas and did work with charities and people and came back and ended up on a sailboat and one day in 2005 the phone connected for some reason to some violent tower and it rang and it was al simpson and he said these guys want to write the story of my life, and they don't know me as well as you do. would you like to take a shot at it? and i said because a was a good life i said just a second i having trouble getting the cork out of this bottle of chardonnay. [lau

then you have the commission cochaired by alan simpson. he doesn't pay any attention to that. and how about romney. well, what's romney could work your? which is the one we will know? the answer to your question, in my opinion, is that the primary process has moved the republican nominee so far to the right that he will have to make a sharp you turn. a persuasive one besides a sharp one. >> muchness and other programs online apple tv.org. university of virginia professor risa goluboff talks about her book, "the lost promise of civil rights." the interview is part of book tv's college series. it is just over 10 minutes. the book is "the lost promise of civil rights" and it is by risa goluboff. professor goluboff, what is the civil rights section? >> the civil rights section is a unit of the government that was created in 1939 in the united states, just before world war ii. when it was created, it was part of the department of justice, and then it was created, it was thought to be -- it's charge was to protect individual rights, fundamental individual rights. but people were not

alan simpson is 80 years old. he's the simpson of simpson-bowles.of the most passionate and entertaining speakers today. >> how many contractors do you have in the defense department? well, it's quite a range. well, what is it? between a million and 10 million. that is a hell of a range. obamacare, call it elvis presley care, i don't care care. where do you get your health care? is it free? there will be hair and blood and eyeballs all over the floor. how do you get that, reading the reader's digest, i guess.

alan simpson is 80 years old. he's the simpson of simpson-bowles.of the most passionate and entertaining speakers today. >> how many contractors do you have in the defense department? well, it's quite a range. well, what is it? between a million and 10 million. that is a hell of a range. obamacare, call it elvis presley care, i don't care care. where do you get your health care? is it free? there will be hair and blood and eyeballs all over the floor. how do you get that, reading the reader's digest, i guess. anyway, that's it. >> even the guy who used to be the youngest guy in the room but isn't so young anymore showed up. bill clinton he gave a great speech. he is 65, but he's spending towards bipartisan solutions. so look, here's the bottom line, it shows americans do care and older people do care a lot. tom brokaw was there, my mentor. they care. they're trying to change the country for the better. let's do a debt deal. >>> tonight, how the mighty have fallen. john edwards' corruption trial. can his daughter save him from a prison sentence? i'll

alan simpson says that is crazy to do in politics. why? because you cannot govern zero or six down at the table and i faint you remember their republic 10 primary candidates were asked would you agreed to $1 of taxes for revenue or $10 of cuts? not one would agree. they all took the pledge. that blocks of governing. why did they do it? imagine democrats taking the same pledge we will not agreed to $1 of benefit cuts. why do they do that? it drives a stake in the ground and caters to the base. it is a great campaigning profit -- practice if that continues it would be the death of democracy. even the tea party supporters their representative that you agree with most would you agreed to the tax increase to avert a crisis? it is not the american public that is driving this. is really the people taking the promises. i will never compromise my principles. >> over freer that grover norquist would run us candidate against them. also on social issues like abortion also same-sex marriage. >> marriage is sticky that was taken in the primary i will be

then a panel with alan simpson and michael nutter on congress and the federal budget. >>> and later aearing on designating some financial institutions too big to fail. >>> tomorrow night, marco rubio is the keynote speaker at a south carolina republican party fundraiser. other speakers include south carolina governor nicki hailey and lindsey graham and jim demi demint. 8:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow on c-span. >>> even though job opportunities are scarce in this economy, it's not for nothing that you have spent this time preparing. you don't determine a man's greatness by his talent or wealth as the world does, by rather what it takes to discourage him. america needs your talent and skill. >> don't accept somebody else's construction of the way it ought to be. it's up to you to right wrongs. it's up to you to point out injustice. it's up to you to hold the system accountable. and sometimes upended entirely. it's up to you to stand up and to be heard, to march, to organize, to vote. don't be content to just sit back and watch. >> president obama and mitt romney delivered commencement addre

secretary timothy geithner, house budget committee chair paul ryan, house speaker john boehner, alan simpson, and what i heard from awful them is a bipartisan call for action and alarm. >> the next into years could be the most consequential two years we see in washington and have seen in the last 50 or 60 years. >> and interest rates will go up so fast you won't be able to catch your breath. >> how much? how much are they going snup some wall street investors, the most bearish, say americans could relive the late '70s, early '80s. one investor told me he's mauking big bets in the treasury market, 17% for a mortgage. that may be incredibly dire, but it's happened before. debt on debt on debt means interest on interest on interest. so we did the numbers. current projections from the cbo say the u.s. will spend, prepare yourself for this one, $624 billion in interest in ten years. we will spend more on interest than on medicaid in six. this is absolutely not okay. i interviewed speaker boehner and asked him whether armageddon is avoidable. >> we all know social security, medicare, medicaid, the

through the regular appropriations process, we haven't even talked about what erskine bowles and alan simpson calls the tax loopholes. 1.1 trillion been every year, every year, ever to get rid of the tax loopholes that are in the books we would not only do twice as much as bowles-simpson state, but we would deal with a lot of the imbalance we have in our tax code. a lot of those breaks people have become accustomed to selectively got away to do things so we don't disorient the american family. but you can do a number of things without having to do violence to the american family's ability to do what my parents did, let me become the first my family to get a college degree. >> do you agree with you that many republicans have which is a lack of spending discipline we have seen in recent years had its origins in the bush administration, that there just was insufficient concern to the long-term cost things like medicare, prescription drugs? >> yeah, i know, i think that's accurate. if you look back at the time period, 2001 on after 9/11, particularly i think it was a sense in this town that more

. >>> alan simpson sends a letter to seniors. out at the senior alliance for proposals on social security callsing them drive he'llel said what a wretched group of seniors to use the faces of people were trying to save while the greedy geezers use them as a fool for a nefarious bunch of crap. >> amdie sandberg was surprised to be there. >> you're look and thinking what has he accomplished? he didn't even go to harvard. well to you i say this. i didn't even apply to harvard! okay? because i knew i wouldn't get in. [ male announcer ] if paula ebert had her way, she would help her child. deoxyribonucleic acid. he knew that. [ male announcer ] with everything. go! goooo! no. no no no no no. mommy's here [ male announcer ] but that kind of love is...frowned upon. so instead she gives him new capri sun super-v. so he gets more of what he needs... without all the "her" he doesn't think he needs. with one combined serving of fruits and vegetables. new capri sun super-v. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ pull on those gardening gloves. and let's see how colorful

. >>> former senator and budget straight talker alan simpson penned a harsh letter to the californiaiance for retired americans. politeco got their hands on the copy. >> what a wret whiched group of seniors you must be to use the faces of the very people we are trying to save while the greedy geezers use them as a front. you must feel some sense of shame for shoveling this bull. >> the head of the alliance called the comments mean-spirit and maintained increasing the retirement age would be unfair. listen closely to this. >>> that passion drove him to make more significant advances for lgbt americans than any other president who came before him. >> do you recognizing that voice? jane lynch. >>> if you read only one thing this morning, check out how students at mit solved one of the great conundrums of every dinner table. how do you get the ketchup out of the bot dell, it's on our facebook page. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year

that's alan simpson

and somebody like alan simpson rightly says that that's crazy to do in politics, to promise that you're never going to do x and stand on principle. why is it? because you don't, you can't govern, you can't sit down at the table and make any deals. and i think you all remember when the republican primary candidates when there was still many be of them were asked, okay, would you agree to $1 in increased taxes for revenue for $10 of cuts in goth -- government spending, and not one of them would agree to that. they had all taken the norquist pledge, and that just really blocks not just compromise, it blocks governing. so why do they do it? well, the dream of every partisan, and democrats, imagine -- if you're a republican, imagine democrats taking the same pledge, we will not agree to $1 in, um, benefits cuts. not $1 to med care, medicaid -- medicare, medicaid, any entitlement cut. and why do they do it? because it really drives a stake in the ground, it's inspiring to the true believers, and it really caters to the base. so it's a great campaigning tactic, but i would go as far as saying

erskine bowles and alan simpson, senator conrad served on their committee, came before the budget committee of which i am the ranking member, and told us this nation, both of them, a signed statement from them, this nation has never faced a more predictable financial crisis. in other words, the course we are on today is unsustainable. they told us that. they told us it could happen as soon as within two years, and that was over a year ago that they made that testimony. we are in the danger zone financially, and i know a lot of people would like to say it's not so, but it is so. look at this chart. this chart shows the total debt of the euro zone, including the u.k., britain and the united states. our debt exceeds that of the euro zone. we had a larger debt than they do, and president bush, who my good friend, senator conrad, who is such a fine person, noted, presided over a period in which our debt increased and it did increase. the largest debt president bush ever had was $480 billion in one year, which was too large. president obama has never had a budget that's less than $1,200,000,000,0

. >> and former senator alan simpson, some money, who as well is outspoken, slamming the republicansss when it comes to dealing with the country's debt. >> you can't cut spending your way out of this hole, you can't grow your way out of this hole, and you can't tax your way out of the hole. so put that in your pipe and smoke it we feel these people. this is madness. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something, but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise, and you learn to compromise an issue without compromising yourself. show me a guy who won't compromise and i'll show you a guy with rock for brains. >> paul, has anybody listened to simpson? every single one of them gets a laugh because it is just so colorful, the language, and that's typical simpson there. is anybody going to listen to him before the election? i mean, really? are they going to look and say, you know what? we actually need to compromise and get some things done? >> unfortunately probably not because compromise -- simply was on the debt commission and the d

we will hear from the former co- chair of the president's deficit committee alan simpson. this is hosted by the peter peterson foundation. this is 55 minutes. [applause] >> hello, everyone. why don't we take our seats now? all right. i am glad you are right next to me. this is the first time i've ever invited you. >> i did not hear that. >> i do want to begin with you. i have been here -- i have heard the last couple of speakers. i have been interviewing a lot of people on the budget issues. it made me think. he must feel like the pope these days. -- you must feel like people these days. everyone feels the need to kiss the ring of simpson-bowles even if they do not adhere to everything you laid out. what i would like to do is have you talk a little bit about what you are hearing when you go out into the country and tried to lay the groundwork for support. what you're hearing back from people of what they expect, what they want, what they need, and what they understand. >> thanks to pete peterson and michael for this. this is a great forum. i am always glad to show up. i ne

then you have a commission cochaired by alan simpson on the deficit and national debt. doesn't pay any attention to that. and how about romney? well, which romney is going to appear? which etch-a-sketch will we now? how will we reset it? the answer to your question in my opinion is that the primary process has moved republicans this romney so far to the right he is going to have to make a sharp u-turn. .. might be curious if you have any thoughts. i thought about this on what is going to happen down the road with health care and i think that's very dependent upon the election of the president and the house and the senate and a double barrel part of this is what are your thoughts about where they're going to go in terms of the republican house and congress and the democratic senate which is very tenuous in terms of its members and you could turn over in this election and if so what will that have if obama is reelected on the future of health care is going to bethn regardless of what the supremest court.th >> my sense is that the supreme court followed the conventional wi

erskine bowles and alan simpson senator conrad served on their committee, came before the budget committeewhich i am the ranking member, and told us this nation, both of them, a signed statement from them, this nation has never faced a more predictable financial crisis. in other words the course we are on today is unsustainable. they told us that. they told us it could happen as soon as within two years and that was over a year ago that they made that testimony. we are in the danger zone financially, and i know a lot of people would like to say it's not so, but it is so. look at this chart. this chart shows the total debt of the euro zone, including the u.k. britain and the united states. our debt exceeds that of the euro zone. we had a larger debt than they do and president bush, who my good friend, senator conrad, who is such a fine person, noted presided over a period in which our debt increased and it did increase. the largest debt president bush ever had was $480 billion in one year which was too large. president obama has never had a budget that's less than $1,200,000,000,000 des. ne

the chairman of the commission was -- it was cochaired by erskine bowles and senator alan simpson. and they painted a pretty bleak picture for our country. and more than a year and a half has gone by since they paintinged that picture and it's gotten worse, not better. i really expected at the state of the union that year that the president would have painted the same bleak picture that he'd been handed by the deficit commission. it's scary. it's now scarier. but he didn't. instead, he gave us another stimulus budget. i think if he would have painted the bleak picture in the state of the union that was handed to him by the deficit commission, if he would have painted that same picture, not placed a solution out there, painted the picture so america would understand where we are with the debt and the deficit, if he would have dong that -- if he would have done that he could have come out with a budget that was parallel to what simpson-bowles had and i think we would have had a solution over a year ago. we have a nearly $16 trillion debt and it keeps growing. it's unaffordable and we

alan greenspan today said the u.s. should allow markets to heal. he went on to speak about the federal reserve's role in policy. he also was critical of president obama's obama for not embracing the simpson-bowles proposal. >> we have one of the highlights of our day. he does not need any introduction. alan greenspan joining. this is moderated by my colleague tom kean. tom is the host of "bloomberg surveillance." a closeso the host of surveillance midday." thank you for this. the stage is yours. thank you for the time. we will have some time for questions from our audience. take it away. >> let me starts in the wonderful conversations we have had. let me quote from the bible. page 483. i suspect it is likely to restore policy sanity, we will first have to trudge their economic and political minefield before we act decisively. there are many fields. it is corrosive. >> i said that four years ago. i guess i can still say that. there is something very unusual going on in the political system. it is quite correct. there is a huge divide between republicans and democrats. if you are looking for the caucuses they are all basically single distributions with nothing in the middle. it struck me t

erskine bowles and alan simpson, senator conrad served on their committee, came before the budget committee of which i am the ranking member, and told us this nation, both of them, a signed statement from them, this nation has never faced a more predictable financial crisis. in other words, the course we are on today is unsustainable. they told us that. they told us it could happen as soon as within two years, and that was over a year ago that they made that testimony. we are in the danger zone financially, and i know a lot of people would like to say it's not so, but it is so. look at this chart. this chart shows the total debt of the euro zone, including the u.k., britain and the united states. our debt exceeds that of the euro zone. we had a larger debt than they do, and president bush, who my good friend, senator conrad, who is such a fine person, noted, presided over a period in which our debt increased and it did increase. the largest debt president bush ever had was $480 billion in one year, which was too large. president obama has never had a budget that's less than $1,200,000,000,0