alan greenspan called him a republican alice rivlin. he behaved that way. he reinforced the things she had said and once that happened and then the next director followed him and did pretty much the same thing then they were off and running in the sense one to create a culture you sustain it over 15 years now it is pretty well ingrained. >> host: has the cbo been used as a political football? >> guest: absolutely. the one thing you can say about organizations that produce information is you cannot make any better use that information or interpret that accurately. whoever is to could be a supporter or component of a particular policy could clear the use this cbo cost estimate to say this is a bad or good policy and that certainly happened with the clinton health care reform 1993 and 1994 cbo come up with the estimate that said the clinton health care reform rather than saving money that they said would actually cost money was one of many aspects that someone could look at two judges that was a good or bad reform but they grab on to that particular conclusion

is led by one of brookings' great luminaries who certainly needs no introduction on this stage, alice rivlinank you, alice, for coming today. and one of our other scholars, gary burtless, who's produced one of the papers which i'd recommend that you'd read. our own klaus kleinfeld, ceo of alcoa, and a very special guest, andrew liveris of dow. thank you very much for coming, and i know we're all looking forward to your panel. [background sounds] >> good morning. we're going to hear a lot today about ideas for strategies for making the u.s. economy more competitive and creating more jobs. but we have to start from where we are. and where we are is a difficult spot as all of you know. we have to start from a realistic look at why the economy is struggling, why do we have 8.5% unemployment and be a lot higher -- and a lot higher number if you include all the people who are either looking for work and have gotten discouraged or who have a job but would like a better job or to work more hours. and why has unemployment stayed so high for so long, what is standing in the way of a more rapid recover

>> i think alice rivlin once did some work on this and i think there is a lot of activity. could run them at the federal level or devolve them to the state and local level and provide federal funding. there is a lot to be said for the devolution where the local area decides where a street should be or a park or somebody from washington. and you could create more accountability and efficient management and metrics and the application of metrics. so it is devolution with federal funding. >> next i want to turn to shirley jackson, who is the -- who has actually many roles. she is a unique perspective on state and local development as a president of a major research universi university, to her service on the president's council of advisors on science and technology and co-chair of one of governor cuomo's economic development councils in the city of new york. could you talk about your views on the elements that comprise an innovation ecosystem that we have talked about and how cities and states fit into that. >> i thought i would just talk about what is the evolved view what key

this is led by former white house budget director, alice rivlin. >> good morning.'re here today about ideas for strategies of making the u.s. economy more competitive and creating more jobs. we have to start from where we are. where we are is a difficult spot as all of us know. we have to start from a realistic look at why the economy is struggling. why do we have 8.5% unemployment and a lot higher number if you include all of the people who are either looking for work and have gotten discouraged or who have a job, but would like a better job or would like to work more hours. why has unemployment stayed so high for so long? what is standing in the way of a more rapid recovery? the job of this panel is to focus on why we are where we are and where we might be going. one thing that you may be very glad of is you're not going to hear any political here, no references to all the fault of the democrats or all the fault of the republicans. you'll hear no politics, but sober analysis of what the situation is and what can be done. that's not to say it won't be controversia

executive dupont bloomberg and the first discussion is led by former white house budget director alice rivlin. >> we are going to hear a lot today about ideas for strategies for making the u.s. economy more competitive and creating more jobs but we have to start somewhere we are. and where we are is a difficult spot as all of you know what a realistic look at how the economy is struggling. why do we have 8.5% unemployment at a lot higher number as you include all the people who are who are looking for work and have gotten discouraged and to work more hours how do they stay so long? what is standing in the way of a more rapid recovery so good job of this panel is to focus on why we are where we are and where we might be doing one thing you may be very glad of is you are not going to hear any political blame game. no references it's all the fault of the democrats it's all the fault of the republicans you'll hear no politics but sober analysis of what the situation is and what can be done him but it's not controversial. it's an uncertain situation and you'll hear different views of what is happe

>> oh, i think it's a lot about, alice rivlin once did some work on this if i'm ever cricketer i think there's a lot of opportunity. you have a choice, a lot of activities that you can either run them through the federal level or you can evolve them down to the state and local level and provide federal funding for them. i think there's a lot to be said for the devolution idea. that we didn't have neighborho neighborhood, localities decide where a bridge to be or where street should be or where roads should be or where manufacturing, where an industrial park should be as opposed summit in washington who doesn't know the area. and we can also i think create more accountability and more efficient management and more metrics and application of it to do so for. i think it's devolution with federal funding. >> okay, next i wanted to turn to, thank you, bob, the shirley jackson, actually has many roles. she is a very unique perspective on state and local development, both as president of a major research university, through her service on the presidents council, advisors advisors on science a

this is with alice rivlin. she moderated this first panel at the brookings institution. it is about an hour. >> and good morning. we will hear a lot today about ideas for strategies for making the u.s. economy more competitive and creating more jobs. but we have to start from where we are. and where we are is a difficult spot, as all of you know. we have to start from a realistic look at why the economy is struggling, why do we have 8.5% unemployment, and a lot higher number if you include all the people who are either looking for work and have gotten discouraged or who have a job but would like a better job and work more hours. and why has an unemployment stayed so high for so long? what is standing in the way of a more rapid recovery? the job of this panel is to focus on why we are where we are and where we might be going. one thing that you may be very glad of is that you will not hear any political blame game today. you will hear no references to "it is all the fault of the democrats'"/"id is all the fault of the republicans." you will hear none of that. you'll hear