sense of all of this earlier i spoke to milou innocent she is foreign policy analyst for the cato institute she came to our studio and we talked about her thoughts on whether the current animosity against a former friend in this case libya was different or just par for the course for u.s. foreign policy as her take. certainly recurring pattern we've seen this not only just during the arab spring and since nine eleven but all it's actually just all the way throughout the cold war and in fact this particular situation is very reminiscent of how the united states are trying to court the taliban regime in afghanistan during the one nine hundred ninety s. for unocal tipline deal through central asia and of course the taliban wasn't privy to that they didn't really understand what exactly the west was doing because we were both condemning the regime and then through a sort of covert channels trying to operate with them and trying to sort of secure various oil natural gas arrangements with the regime and this is sort of again what we see now in libya so this is a recurring theme and it sort of exp

that make more sense of all of this in a sense is he or she is foreign policy analyst for the cato institute i want to talk about all of these different aspects of what's going on. this is not really new if you look back the u.s. back has the mubarak for thirty years that also backed leaders in pakistan nicaragua there is a long history of this so i want to get your take do you think that this is something new this first friendship you know now animosity toward libya toward the dictator in libya is something different or is this sort of just like it's always been that certainly a recurring pattern or we've seen this not only just during the arab spring and since nine eleven but all actually just all the way throughout the cold war and in fact this particular situation is very reminiscent of how the united states certainly tried to court patel of energy and effort in a standard in one thousand ninety's for unocal pipeline deal through central asia and of course the taliban wasn't privy to that they didn't really understand what exactly the west was doing because we were both condemning the re

host: michael tanner, the senior fellow at cato institute. the republicans on your screen into the democrats as well. one is james cliburn in his 10th term. yburn.v let's hear what he has to say about negotiations to medicare and medicaid. >> it is to make sure that as we y this country as antr nation that we also protect those men and women who gave so much to bring us where we are and make sure that they have some dignity as they live out their lives with the assistance of medicare, medicaid, as well as their children and grandchildren, who must have opportunities to have a good life in this great country of ours. that has been the hallmark. host: what does that tell you about the prospect of a deal to tackle entitlements? guest: i am not enthusiastic about the chances that this committee will come up with anything. committees in washington have a history of not reaching agreement. i do not see why this one would be any different. .hese are not mavericks i think you will get $1.20 trillion. those to not go into effect until 2013, after the

the gathering storm and in washington we crossed again you mitchell he's a senior fellow at the cato institute all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want to very much encourage it but first let's look at the fed's recent meeting extraction hole. in the end his lack of an announcement that there would be further quantitative easing was so close and there was something in it for almost everyone if they can't tell us specifically what it's going to do because it doesn't know specifically what's going to happen so the more specific the fed makes a promise the more liable the fed is have to go they have to go back later and change it because it promised us something that it can't deliver on the questions behind any further action by the world's most important central bank remain and will dominate economic discussion for months to come can we do more well it's what happens if it doesn't most of the economic policies that support group boost economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank. there is still the right spread view that th

american people out in the dark about their government actions once again a joint venture of the cato institute explained the issue and an earlier interview on our program. it means that you know the statute may say one thing but you have no idea how in practice the courts decided that should be interpreted how what's the decided if i really means and you know we have senators being asked to vote on something and even they and certainly the general public don't we don't really understand well sadly that's exactly what happened senators voted on the bill and they passed it but ron wyden and mark udall both asked congress to reconsider because the provisions of the bill are so secretive that no details have been released however after the requests to reconsider both the attorney general and director of national intelligence have decided to keep it all a secret and that includes it one of the most contentious elements called the business record provision which allows organizations like the f.b.i. to obtain personal records and other tangible things whatever that means now sadly after dedicating mo

and now from the cato institute, it has notice materialized but you say "just wait."e not. >>guest: we have a lot of money in the world that need as place to go and if investors think they have a reasonable chance of getting paid back they will be happy to lend you money and will not depend or demand much interest from you, they simply want to as your previous guest indicated, they want to preserve capital, what investors don't want to do, they don't want to lend money to italy and spain and countries like that unless they are pretty sure the germans or other taxpayer is becoming its up. >>neil: i wonder whether we are re-entering either a recession or this time, something where there is a buyer and borrower revolt? >>guest: well, we do have two problems: a big long term debt and deficit problem caused by overspending in washington that began under bush and i am not just going after obama and, also, a problem of sluggish, weak growth. we have not had the historical bounce back, and the two problems are related. the economy is weak because of all the overspending. when

the cato institute gave only four governors in the country an a grade i'm one. and the other three are not running for president. taking spending from historic lie highs to historic lows, health care reform the right way, public employee compensation reform before it was cool and popular, done the list. everything that republicans are -- down the list, everything that republicanses are talking about i've done, i don't flap my jaw saying maybe i will do it some day, i've done it undifficult circumstances in minnesota. i've been in the battle, i got a few battle scars like everybody does. by record is one of the best, maybe the best of any in in the country. >> chris: let's talk about the downgrade of our credit rating. s&p blames political gridlock in both parties. you say that you don't support the compromise that after weeks and weeks of negotiating all sides came up with. if the problem is gridlock, wouldn't president pawlenty be part of the problem? >> absolutely not. i have a of getting things done. i never had a republican legislature fully in my state. yet

the cato institute gave only four governors in the country an a grade i'm one. and the other three are not running for president. taking spending from historic lie highs to historic lows, health care reform the right way, public employee compensation reform before it was cool and popular, done the list. everything that republicans are -- down the list, everything that republicanses are talking about i've done, i don't flap my jaw saying maybe i will do it some day, i've done it undifficult circumstances in minnesota. i've been in the battle, i got a few battle scars like everybody does. by record is one of the best, maybe the best of any in in the country. >> chris: let's talk about the downgrade of our credit rating. s&p blames political gridlock in both parties. you say that you don't support the compromise that after weeks and weeks of negotiating all sides came up with. if the problem is gridlock, wouldn't president pawlenty be part of the problem? >> absolutely not. i have a of getting things done. i never had a republican legislature fully in my state. yet

cato institute gave only four governors in america an "a" grid i was one. the other three running or thinking about running. i -- i had the first government shutdown in 150 years. we did put together a package where i balanced the budget every time in minnesota i was governor. my last budget ended june 30th, this year with a surplus. i regretted the cigarette fee. the courts later held it to be fee. i was a decrease in revenues. my record of leadership in minnesota cutting spending, from historic highs to historic lows. balancing the budget every time. doing health care reform the right way stands in contrast to barack obama. he should cancel his cape cod vacation call congress back into session and get to work on this. barack obama is missing in action. he should have the kind of leadership i had when i was governor of the state. >> next to representative bachmann. you were in the minnesota state legislature, at the time. you said you opposed the tax. in the end you voted for it. now you promise never to raise taxes. why would you compromise then, but not

act and go to blogs and speak with people like julie sanchez from the cato institute because these are people that are specializing in this type of privacy and security information that is affecting all of us and we have no idea. i think honestly, some of our legislators don't know what they're writing laws about. i think it's too complex for them to understand which is even scarier. >> you've been very strong about saying you're an american. and -- but you work for a russian network and your mom is in the duma. did your mom americanize when she came here? >> she did not. >> you know the publicity mr. putin gets, that the country is less open than it used to be. how do you track all this? are you, first and mother post -- foremost an american through and through, a believer in american democracy or do you wish we did some of the things they did in russia? >> i'm an american through and through, of course i believe in american democracy. this is the country where is educated and grew up. this is what i know. which is why i take such a vested interest in talking about the problems and br

cato institute gave only four governors in america an "a" grid i was one.e other agree aren't running the other three are not thinking about running. i had the first government shutdown in 150 years. we did put together a package, i pal withed the budget every time -- i balanced the budget every time i was governor. ended this year with a surplus. i did agree to the cigarette fee, i regretted that. the courts later held it to be a fee. nonetheless, it was an increase in revenues. we didn't even need it. my record of leadership in minnesota, cutting spendinging from historic highs to historic lows. balancing the budget every time. doing health care reform the right way. stands in contrast to barack obama. he should cancel his cape cod vacation, call the congress back and get to work on this. barack obama is missing in action. he should have the kind of leadership i had when i was governor of the state. >> next representative bachmann this is a question about that cigarette tax increase. you were in the minnesota state legislature, at the time. you said you o

cato institute gave only four governors in america an "a" grid i was one.the other agree aren't running the other three are not thinking about running. i had the first government shutdown in 150 years. we did put together a package, i pal withed the budget every time -- i balanced the budget every time i was governor. ended this year with a surplus. i did agree to the cigarette fee, i regretted that. the courts later held it to be a fee. nonetheless, it was an increase in revenues. we didn't even need it. my record of leadership in minnesota, cutting spendinging from historic highs to historic lows. balancing the budget every time. doing health care reform the right way. stands in contrast to barack obama. he should cancel his cape cod vacation, call the congress back and get to work on this. barack obama is missing in action. he should have the kind of leadership i had when i was governor of the state. >> next representative bachmann this is a question about that cigarette tax increase. you were in the minnesota state legislature, at the time. you said you

monitor things like the protect ip act and that's why i go to blogs and speak to people from the cato institute because these are the people that are specializing in that type of privacy security information that is affecting all of us and we just have no idea and i think that some of our alreadies don't know what they're actually write laws about. i think it's too complex for them to understand which is even scarier. >> you've been very strong about saying you are an american. >> yes. >> and but you work for a russian television network but your mom's in the duma. did she ever americanize when she came here? did she becomes a citizen? >> no. >> how do you as you look back, you know what a lot of the publicity that mr. putin gets in this country that the country is less open than it used to be and all that. how do you track all this? are you first and foremost an american through and through, a believer in american democracy? or do you wish that we did some of the things they did in president busha? >> i'm an american through and through. of course i believe in american democracy. this is the c

host: dan mitchell of the cato institute. we will turn to foreign aid funds. dan glickman, now chairman of the center for u.s. global leadership. he will be joining us. here's an update from c-span radio. >> craig fugate in remarks today says his agency will have enough money to aid those flooded from their homes by hurricane irene. he downplayed suggestions that congress will not a corporate emergency response funding without corresponding budget cuts. he said the machinations of congress will not affect his agency's mission. all but one community, off by flooding has been reached by ground crews. the vermont national guard has been airdropping ready-to-eat meals and watert to three of the stranded communities. president obama is set to talk about a federal highway bill that will protect about 1 million jobs. the house is considering a six- year bill. the senate proposal would cost $109 billion. congress returns to work next week. live coverage on c-span2. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> it by night's surprise you that we see good t

the cato institute, they and a number of conservative groups have said this is the way to control government spending. people ask where the jobs plan is. we think that's the problem. washington is in the way and history proves this to be true. as spending grows, jobs on main street shrink. they have the last 40 years. here is a chart that shows from 1981 until 2001. we shrunk government and we grew 37 million new jobs in america. when we spend more as a nation, 2001, the 9/11 attacks, congross ess shrank and you can see the spike. we have 2.5 fewer millino jobs today. the answer is not more stimulus, bailouts, or spending but the opposite. shrink government. this shows you the path to get government shrunk down to a size we can afford over time. this is projected spending under the map act. regardless of whether that happens or not, we need laws to constrain and put guardrails around this. the map fact done right and put in place to continually monitors the right way to shrink the size of government over time and keep it affordable again. we have some other stuff. let's stop the power point

jeff myrons is senior fellow at the cato institute. jeff, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: is the white house right on this point? >> i understand why they're saying that. i think they would almost guarantee that we'd have one, but if we listen to most other economists, a large fraction of them are quite concerned we might have a double dip. five of the nine members of the committee that determines when recessions start and stop said just a few days ago said they thought there was at least a 50/50 chance. since they're the people that define it, that's pretty scary. bill: lawrence summers was the top economic adviser. he now works at harvard, as you know. he wrote this yesterday, the economy has at least a one in three chance of falling back in recession. so he's at 33% now if nothing new is done to raise demand and spur growth. he used to advise this white house. is he right. >> >> well, his forecast sounds very similar to the other people, some of whom are his harvard colleagues, and is very consistent with private forecasters and economists across the country. so e

cato institute gave only four governors in america an "a" grid i was one.the other agree aren't running the other three are not thinking about running. i had the first government shutdown in 150 years. we did put together a package, i pal withed the budget every time -- i balanced the budget every time i was governor. ended this year with a surplus. i did agree to the cigarette fee, i regretted that. the courts later held it to be a fee. nonetheless, it was an increase in revenues. we didn't even need it. my record of leadership in minnesota, cutting spendinging from historic highs to historic lows. balancing the budget every time. doing health care reform the right way. stands in contrast to barack obama. he should cancel his cape cod vacation, call the congress back and get to work on this. barack obama is missing in action. he should have the kind of leadership i had when i was governor of the state. >> next representative bachmann this is a question about that cigarette tax increase. you were in the minnesota state legislature, at the time. you said you

if you want to read more go to the cato institute website and -- but i also want to say drug courts are not the answer. drug courts there's some wonderful drug courts are doing wonderful work but with addiction and illness that we need the criminal justice coercion -- you know, go to our website and drug courts are not the angeles and what you'll see is that when you look hard at drug courts you see they're not producing the results that are claimed for them. there's no reason -- when you're dealing with drug addiction and when you know that one of the nature of addiction is that people relapse, people fall off the wagon, whatever it might be, the notion that those people then have to be incarcerated to get clean, whereas, if you're dealing with something else, you don't deal with it that way, heroin addicts routinely say the toughest drug to quit is cigarettes. 50% of all smokers now have quit cigarettes and they did it without the criminal justice system being involved. they did it without being coerced into massive treatment programs. they did it because of taxation and regulation an

if we will get reaction from daniel mitchell of the cato institute on tomorrows "washington journal"sman dan glickman of the global leadership. he will talk about the federal budget. after that, james cantor of the center for ocean studies about weather forecasting and hurricane irene as well as climatology. "washington journal" here on c- span. live coverage gets under way at 10:00 a.m. eastern of the u.s. chamber of commerce. >> next, and conversation with brigadier-general cosentino about afghanistan. barbara slave and hosted the council. -- barbara slavin hosted the council. >> good afternoon. on behalf of our president and the director of our south asian center, i would like to welcome you to what will be very interesting discussion this afternoon. the south asia center, which was launched in 2009, has quickly become a central forum for policy makers, members of congress, and both european and south asian leaders. the center focuses on the greater south asia region, which includes the gulf, iran, afghanistan, and central asia. the center's establishment in the last two years has

the cato institute and citizens against government have weighed p as aport of the ma way to control spendingblem. we think washington is in the way of its recovery, and history proves us to be true. as government spending rose, johbs along main street shrink. the opposite is true as well. here is the chart that shows from 1981 when president reagan started to shrink the size of government, to 2001, we shrunk government severely late, and during that time we grew 37 million new jobs in america. when we started spending more as a nation, 2001, you can tell where the attacks of 9/11, the war in iraq and afghanistan, the last four years you can see the spike. as government has grown, we have 2.5 million fewer jobs today. the answer to grow this economy is not more stimulus, not war bailouts, not more spending from washington, it is the opposite, get our financial house in order and shrink government. the map shows you the glide path that we put in place to get government shrunk down to the size we can afford overtime. -- over time. and this is a change, the spending the way it is projected to go

it would be great if the heritage foundation and the cato institute, ron paul, the tea party could convince most, the constitutional limits focus on security, but that's probably an unlikely thing to happen. so my second conclusion, recommendation, as individuals and families you need to prepare for these disasters. had their own means of being able to survive. the prepper movement is big in the united states but it's getting bigger all the time. there's a sales of bumpers have been growing in the united states as you read in the paper this year. their survival communities in the united states. and you two should prepare for surviving the kind of post-collapse environment described in "rohan nation," reinventing america after the collapse. thank you. [applause] >> so we're going to open it up to our panel for questions, if you just wish and and/or recognize you. and then if you would wait for the mic phone and announced your name and affiliation, that would be great but i just want to add to put points. this is a dynamic problem, right, because her infrastructure and technology is changing

the cato institute, which is a strong government watchdog group, and citizens against government wasteer of conservative groups have weighed in support as the way to actually control spending going forward. this is why we're doing it. people often ask, "republicans, where is your jobs plan? where is your government jobs plan?" we believe that is the problem. we think washington is in the way. history proves us to be true. as federal government spending rose, jobs along main street shrink. they do for every decade in the last 40 years. but the opposite is true as well. here's the chart that shows from 1981 when president reagan started to shrink the size of government, through 2001. we shrunk the government fairly significantly, and during that time, we grew 37 million new jobs in america. but when we started spending more as a nation -- 2001, you can tell where the attacks of 9/11, the war in iraq and afghanistan -- congress started to lower its deficit and shrink it. you can see the spike. as government has grown, we have 2.5 fewer million jobs today -- 2.5 million fewer jobs today. t

it would be great if cato institute, ron paul and the tea party could convince folks to obey the constitutional limits, focus on security, but that's probably an unlikely thing to happen. so my second conclusion/recommendation is as individuals and families you need to prepare for these disasters, have your own means of being able to survive these. the prepper movement is big in the united states, it's getting bigger all the time, and there's sales of bunkers that have been growing in the united states as you read in the paper this year, there's survival communities being formed in the united states, and be you, too, should prepare for surviving the kind of postcollapse environment described in the rohan nation: reinventing america after the collapse. thank you. [applause] >> so we're going to open it up to our panel for questions. if you'd just raise your hand, and i'll recognize you. and then if you would wait for the microphone and announce your name and affiliation, that'd be great. i just wanted to add two very quick points because if you're not depressed enough -- [laughter] so, you know,