economic engine. there are some things that we must do. we must invest in education, invest in the safety net, invest in infrastructure, and have a workforce that can meet our needs. if you look at the landscape right now, this is a vital, absolutely critical piece of it. if we do not preserve and help to improve that are going to pay economic consequences in texas. thank you very much. [applause] >> first of all, as was noted, all of our speakers have very distinguished resumes and bios. you will find that in the packet in front of you. second, at the end of the remarks, they're may be a couple of questions to ask, but then we will turn to all of you. it should be cards on the table. then we will read some questions out. finally, in a literal change of direction, we will start with doctor murdock and ask you to proceed with your remarks and then go down the line. >> thank you. >> thank you. this gives me more protection. [laughter] >> am glad to be here. very nice things are being said about me here.

and economic future.you just do without even counting those collateral benefits, council of economic advisers is shortly going to be coming out with a report on this topic and the report finds that if you increase spend -- among other things if you increase spending, incar ration by $10 billion a year would result to net benefits to society that range from negative $8 billion to positive $1 billion. in contrast, increased spending on police, increased wages including through a higher minimum wage, increased education, all have positive net benefits in terms of just their impact on crime reduction. >> but can you give me a percent of gdp that criminal justice -- can you measure what the benefits of this would be? >> i can't give you -- i don't have a bottom line percent of gdp but can do very rigorously -- we do cost benefit all the time. we worked out very carefully if you spend an extra $10 billion in this area, you end up most likely worse off, not better off in terms of the cost of it. the other thing

i think all of us who believe that the benefit is economic leadership are profound, both in economic and geopolitical terms, apple work to do to make the case to people who have legitimate worries about an economy that has for decades now not necessarily provided the kind of opportunity to middle-class workers and their families that they want to have and have a right to expect. that's not all because of trade. i think trade has become one of the things that's easy to point to, but between globalization and technological change and income concentration, we have seen an awful lot of change in our country in the last 25 years. and i think if we address those root issues by having better education, more skills for the economy of the future, infrastructure that will make it easier to get to the jobs you need, if you don't live to the jobs that are available, the burden of getting the job is harder if you can't travel there because there is no mass transit or the road take two hours instead of 35, 40 minutes, it becomes a real hurdle to your own personal mobility. we have a lot of domesti

work; the critical drivers of economic progress.ut a system of mutual responsibility does not automatically enforce itself. it requires responsible american leadership. it also requires constant improvement to raise standards create better mechanisms to insure that countries keep their commitments, refrain from unfair competitive behavior and cooperate to confront new challenges. the rules-based system was a major reason that the global financial crisis never turned into a second great depression. the united states and other nations were able to coordinate efforts through the g20 and the imf to avoid the downward spiral of protectionism and predatory macroeconomic policies that characterized previous eras. the world's major chis -- the -- economies, the united states, the eurozone and china -- mobilized financial assistance to vulnerable parts of the global system. we've built on that cooperation in recent years to advance important u.s. goals including the imf's response to fiscal stress caused by the ebola epidemic in 2014 and its

policy at the national economic council and senior fellow at an economic studies and director of theilton project at brookings. along the way, including a doctorate from harvard and one from the london school of economics. he is been a visiting scholar at nyu's school of public service and a visiting lecturer at yale and columbia. in 2008, he was economic policy director for obama for america. earlier in the obama administration, he was the principal deputy director of the national economic council before being named to his current post in june 2014. with that, we will move to this morning's mechanic. we are on the record. please no live blogging or tweeting. no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway to give us time to listen to the guest. there is no embargo when the session ends. to help you resist the urge, we will e-mail several pictures of the session to all reporters here when the session ends. if you would like to ask questions, please do the traditional thing and send me a subtle, nonthreatening signal and i will call on one and all. i will start by offering our g

you will hear from the council on economic advisers. all of the agencies have been focusing on what can we do for this very important issue of reentry. reentry, as we all know, gets to the broader picture of criminal justice reform p last summer the president gave a speech where he focused on three buckets. the community, the courthouse and the cellblock. we have a collective responsibility and i know many of the advocates that are here together with the private sector have been focusing on improving our communities. it's everything from early childhood education to breaking the prison pipeline in the sexual assault to prison pipeline and ensuring that every child gets a fair shot. helping kids get that fair shot and follow a life free from crime. we have to improve our community and our courtroom. as you've been seen, there is bipartisan support for federal legislation that would reduce the mandatory minimum for nonviolent drug offenders. when people are incarcerated, they have everything from job training to counseling and substance a

and economic future. and if you just do , without even counting those collateral benefits, the council of economic advisers is surely going to be coming out with a report on that topic and the report finds that if you increase spending on incarceration by $10 billion a year , that would result in net benefits to society that range from -8 million to positive 1 billion. in contrast, increased spending on police , increased wages including through a higher minimum wage, increased education , all have positive net benefits in terms of just their impact on crime reduction. >> can you give me a percent of gdp of the criminal justice , can you measure what the benefits of this would be question? >> guest: i don't have a bottom line in terms of gdp but you can do very regular sleep and we do cost benefit all the time and we do regulatory and other budget analysis and we worked out very carefully if you spend an extra $10 billion in this area , you end up most likely worse off, not better off in terms of cost. th

our the philippines one president away from economic disaster? some big warning signals. >> employee violations of internal compliance -- according to people familiar with the matter the bank is investigating cases of improper expense report padding and moneylending to colleagues. the program led to the departure of several bankers in dubai in recent months, including at least three managing directors. michael pearson got a huge incentive and generate 15 -- in january 2015. a grant the company disclosed today for the first time would have given it ceo 2.2 5 million shares. if the valiant stocks reached him of $1200 between october 2019 and april 2020. are year's top prospects going to the rams, eagles, and chargers. the company is signing endorsement contracts with a whopping 15 members of the rookie nfl class. popularmour, the athletic apparel maker, has just .ne that is the bloomberg business flash. a controversial candidate in the philippine presidential race has made the peso it's worst-performing currency this month. the peso slumped 1.6 per

this is like the economic profession.hey had a brief moment of dust >> some do. >> of being humble, keeping the heads under the carpet for a bit. but within 20 minutes, they forgot about it and teaching the same rubbish to their students. amy: that is the former finance minister of greece yanis varoufakis speaking with m.i.t. professor emeritus noam chomsky earlier this week at the new york public library. we're going to go to break. when we come back, we're going to talk to professor yanis varoufakis about the refugee crisis, about why he thinks greece -- germany is doing this to greece and what does france have to do with it. and more about his new book called, "and the weak suffer what they must?: europe's crisis and america's economic future." we will be back with him in a moment. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i am in flagstaff, arizona, part of our 100 city tour. nermeen shaikh is in new york in the studios with yanis varoufakis, the former f

- only recently said leaving the eu would be an economic shock, and economic shocks depress economic activity. you said that, in a speech very recently in darford, that 400 pounds was being added to the cost of food of every household. but anybody listening to that might think, oh, what, if i leave the eu, then i might pick up 400 pounds of benefit. but as you yourself, once you were cross examined on it thoroughly, acknowledged that's not the case. >> but there would be a saving -- >> hold on. >> okay, go on. >> you maintained that figure would be lower. u

the root of many problems in africa are economic. continuing to be commodity exporters, importing goods that are quite expensive. the balance of trade, there is going to be poverty and underdevelopment, and discontent movementot of room for that nobody wants to make their influence felt. craig's next. the lady in the red jacket. >> can you hear me? >> i grew up as an embassy brat. my concern is the creeping militarization of u.s. presence in africa under the radar. base.ally we have one >> speak up. >> like that. am concerned about the creeping militarization for various reasons and why it is so under the radar. i only say that, because some troops who come to countries such as mali and claim they are building wells when they are --ually performing functions i'm just curious about that blurring of the lines. >> this is a big concern. writingple have been about the militarization of african-american policy. they used to be performed by usaid or they are jointly performed where there is a confined -- combined effort in some of these co

for a lot of years it was thought that countries had to choose between economic growth and economic inclusion. now we know the truth. when wealth is increasingly concentrated among the few at the top, it's not only a moral challenge to us, but it actually drags down a country's growth potential. we need growth that is broad and lifts everybody up. we need tax policies that do right by working families. and those like me who support european unity and free trade also have a profound responsibility to champion strong protections for workers. a living wage and the right to organize and a strong safety net and a commitment to protect consumers in the environment upon which we all depend. if we really want to reduce inequality, we've got to make sure who everyone who works hard gets a fair shot, and that's especially true for young people like you with quality health care and good wages. and that includes, by the way, making sure that there's equal pay for equal work for women. [ applause ] the point is, we have to reform many of our economies, but the answer to reform is not to start cutting ours

three parts his economic strategy.he first, talked about strengthening education and training. the second talked about public programs to help people find from job to job with things like wage insurance unemployment insurance and the third part of the strategy he outlined in the make of the union was to sure that the economy was operating on a set of rules of road thatrules of the worked for consumers, worked for small businesses, and worked for workers, rather than being set p for, you know, the large companies. this last week, we took an important step to flesh out that hird part of the economic agenda as outlined in the state of the union, when the president issued an executive order instructing all the agencies to they could at what o to ingest more competition into the -- inject more competition into the economy. together with that order, the president weighed in on the proceeding at the fcc and asked fcc to open up set top oxes, something we all have sitting in our living room, 99% the cable box we rent from our

for a lot of years, it was thought that countries had to choose between economic growth and economic inclusion. now we know the truth -- when wealth is increasingly concentrated among the few at the top, it's not only a moral challenge to us but it actually drags down a country's growth potential. we need growth that is broad and lifts everybody up. we need tax policies that do right by working families. and those like me who support european unity and free trade also have a profound responsibility to champion strong protections for workers -- a living wage and the right to organize, and a strong safety net, and a commitment to protect consumers and the environment upon which we all depend. if we really want to reduce inequality, we've got to make sure everyone who works hard gets a fair shot -- and that's especially true for young people like you -- with education, and job training, and quality health care and good wages. and that includes, by the way, making sure that there's equal pay for equal work for women. [applause] the point is, we have to reform many of our economies. but t

the general implication of economic theory is that you do not actually want equal taxation of every economic activity and the reason is that our tax system will discourage economic activity. that's part of the cost of government. that's the way it goes. we want to discourage it as little as possible while raising the revenue as often as we can. so, we should decide to design theistsome with responsive activities in mind. it will be a system with dinchshs. but if we do it right, we will preserve as much as possible of the economic vibrancy of the country and the whole country will benefit and in particular american workers. >> chairman's back. thank you, dr. hines. >> chairman hatch, ranking member widen and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear today for business tax reform. the views are my own and should not be attributed to the tax policy center or the urban institute its board or its funders. they discourage domestic investment, place u.s.-based firm at a competitive disadvantage and have encouraged them to acrew over $2 trillion in overseas assets. and pass throu

there's probably a bias of economics in this room. explain why it's useful in providing rigor and cutting through some of the partisan politics. we can have the same ago bigs. do it in a smarter way. it's not about smartness on crime or toughness on crime. it's about being tougher. >> i think for someone like me, i didn't set out to become a criminal justice expert. this shows up in in all the things people say they care about in the economy. the labor force participation rate is not what people think it should be. this feeds into the inability of people who have records to get jobs and they drop out of the labor force. persistent poverty is an important issue for people to deal with you look inside it, what do you find? people who aren't working. families that don't stay together. you find single mothers trying to do this on their own. that's exactly the phenomena we see. they're stretched tremendously. you look inside of it, prison populations are a big chunk of that. you get the striking results, number one, you can make a lot of p

we need more nations to contribute economic asis the answer to iraq.o it can stabilize liberated areas and break the cycle of violent extremism so that isil cannot come back. these terrorists are doing everything in their power to strike our cities and kill our citizens. so we need to do everything in our power to stop them. and that includes closing gaps so terrorists can't pull off attacks like those in paris and brussels. which brings me to one other point, the europeans like americans cherish your privacy. and many are skeptical about governments collecting and sharing information for good reason. that's skepticism that is healthy. germans remember e their history of government surveillance. so do americans, by the way. particularly those who were fighting on behalf of civil rights. so it's part of our democracy to make sure our governments are accountable. but i want to say this to you young people who value their privacy and spend a lot of time on their phones, the threat of terrorism is real. and the united states that i've worked to reform the

a growing season can turn from it economic gain to an economic loss overnight.hange in the weather, product prices, labor supply or our customers needs can have an extreme, often unforeseen impact on our business. the agricultural, the agriculture industry has many uncertainties. taxes should not be one of them. taxes influence how we invest in our business. tax rates affect the equipment we buy and when we buy it. the type of crops we grow and our hiring and labor decisions. when there is uncertainty with taxes, we are unable to invest with confidence in our business. the present tax code is one of the ways congress can help ensure that farms like mine can be positioned to grow. congress has already and acted some changes that will have a positive impact on the farming sector. in december 2015, they permanently extend the small-business expensing limitation and phaseout amounts of section 179. prior to being made permanent, the amount allowed to be expensed was unknown and needed investments were delayed. in addition, hundreds of purchases needed to be recorded

they're the engine of economic growth. we have a plan to reinvigorate the community banks, lower the tax rate for individuals and corporations and reduce the regulations. now it sometimes takes people longer to get a building permit than it took the allieds to beat the germans. >> i hard you say your first vote would be to kill high-speed rail. >> absolutely. take that money and put it in water projects, strategic use of desalization. >> let's talk more about the economy, income inequality which is a big issue. california has one of the worst income inequality issues here of all states in united states. how did it get that way? >>? part because we haven't had strong economic growth. if you look at the last 15 years, median income has been flat. the proposals or policies out of the white house has been geared toward wall street which is inefficieective for main street. the key is economic growth. between 1950 and 2000, 3.5% growth. today because growth is below 2%, it's going up much slower. >> but going up fast for the top

that is awful and economics. that is bad economics. when a recession, when consumer demand is down from income is down -- a lot of businesses are in a position in that the only way they can stay in business is temporary pay cuts because wages are 80% or 90% of our total costs. so if they go to the workers and say, we will show you the books even, we can survive unless we have a temporary pay cut. when things get better, we will pay competitive wages again. hoover pressured them to do the opposite. was recently the agenda of labor unions that he was promoting. he was a massive public works spender and a massive tax biggest or, among the tax increases were under hoover to pay for public works. he implemented the farm cartel, the policy to pay farmers to not grow food because that would cause higher prices for food, which would help farmers. we still have these programs today. maybe some of you would remember a couple of years ago the great american farmer sam donaldson having received i think it was $2 million for not raising sheep on hi

economic data.ng economic sales into spending data. a mixed bag. the figures were encouraging, and prime minister abe is frontloading spending. will that help? >> the economic data was retail sales and household spending adjusted for leap year. they both fell. the economy is really struggling to rebound after contracting last quarter. this gets back to one of the criticisms of abenomics. even though we have seen the yen weaken and corporate profits increase, we have not seen those benefits trickle down into the real economy. budget and load the spend money up front to stimulate the economy. i want to increase the sales tax next year. they would do that, barring a lehman type of the. want to increase salaries for child care workers. a big issue with getting women in the workforce is that there are not enough childcare facilities. he is reiterating a lot of things they have been speaking about for two years. have to see if the policies allocate enough money and if the policies are effect is. to see if

i believe that stabilizing people economically promotes, and i'm to not particularly

at germany dominating totally economic discussions any lost economic sovereignty, it is a ,ery compellingase particularly to young people losing their jobs, it is an economic case there that is much stronger. >> they are not losing their lives. the idea of binding together the countries of europe economically, so they do not start killing each other as they did so many times for so many centuries, lies that nonsense? >> many of the forces have changed the world. the u.n. in the united nations, attitudes toward war have changed dramatically. the distrust the capacity of war has changed dramatically. think everynk, i bit of integration helps, so i do not want to say it did not have any effect, but if i do a thought experiment, to me, one of the things that is most dangerous right now is the weak economy that is giving rise to party,like the neo-nazi in greece that is because of the euro. thethe mismanagement of euro. >> and mismanagement of the euro is giving rise to the divisions in europe and we have not seen for a long time. canwrong economic policies be very dangerous. >> very quickly,

the civil rights movement of the 1960's was also an economic movement. during the 1960's and the 1970's, there was some progress in closing the racial wealth gap, but then during the reagan years of the 1980's, that gap exploded. from 1984 to 2009, the wealth gap between black families and white families tripled. think about what that means. f things weren't already bad enough by then, the crash of 2008 made them worse. the housing collapse destroyed trillions of dollars in family wealth across this country, but the crash hit african-american families like a punch in the gut. because middle-class black families' wealth was disproportionately concentrated in homeownership, these families were hit harder by the housing collapse, but they also got hit harder because of discriminatory lending practices. and i just want to say that again and underline it. discriminatory lending practices in the 21st century. we're not talking about a long time ago. we're talking about now in this country. recently, several big banks and other mortgage lenders paid hundreds of

the root of many of the problems in africa is economic. to beountries continued commodity exporters an expert in capital goods and manufactured goods that are quite expensive. -- and a lot of discontent, and a thatf room for movements nobody wants really to make their influence felt. >> next, the lady in the red jacket and upfront here. >> can you hear me? rat.n up an embassy my concern is the creeping militarization of the u.s. in africa under the radar. i guess we have one base in djibouti. i'm concerned about the creeping u.s. presence in africa for various reasons and why that is so to the reason -- the radar, given that djibouti is the big base. but in fact, almost every country has a presence. some of theecause troops who are in their cities, who come to country such as ali and say they are building wealth when they are doing other functions. elizabeth: that is a big concern. many people have been writing about the militarization of africa. it is kind of a combined effort, combined counterterrorism effort in some of these countries w

by economic grants? pres.ohamud: they are doing that by providing certain infrastructure that stimulates the economy like improving the irrigation system and improving the roads. supporting the agricultural extension. these kinds of small micro projects are right now getting from somalia. sellinglso waiting on the idea of the investment in somalia, not necessarily yesterday or the day before, but today there are some other places in the world where somalia has presented the economic opportunities and investment opportunities that exist in some ali. charlie: a columnist in "the new york times" said, if obama would like to make an lasting investment, he must make science, technology, and education a central focus. you agree with that? pres. mohamud: yes, i do agree. charlie: how do you do it? pres. mohamud: yesterday we had a long discussion with the u.s. was and one popular topic supporting the education of somalia, in terms of overhauling the whole system for long-term engagement. education is what makes -- wh

for a lot of years it was thought that countries had to choose between economic growth and economic inclusionw the truth, when wealth is increasingly concentrated among the few at the top, it's not only a moral challenge to us but it actually drags down a country's growth potential. we need growth that is broad and lifts everybody up. we need tax policies that do right by working families. those like me who support european unity and free trade also have a profound responsibility to champion strong protections for workers, a living wage, a right to organize, a commitment to protect consumers and the environment upon which we all depend. if we really want to reduce inequality, we got to make sure that everyone who works hard gets a fair shot and that's especially true with people like you, with education, quality health care and good wages and that includes makering sure that there's equal pay for equal work for women. [ applause ] the point is we have to reform many of our economies but the answer is not to cut ourselves from each other. it's rather, to work together. and this brings me back

with economic growth?wo scenarios where they might underperform, or you might expect them to. one is if they are in a stained rally in general. -- one is if they are in a sustained rally in general. also, you are right. if there is a big bursting growth, the premium for the stability might in fact give way as companies that are more cyclically sensitive to benefit. francine: i want to talk about price to perfection. the flip side of it is something you do not want to be investing in. with aa conversation venture capitalist, and he was saying that everything is overvalued. do you push against that, seth? seth: i am not sure that everything is overvalued today. if you look at the stock market in general, when you consider the quality of earnings in general -- and there are some parts of the market where this is not true -- but overall, we think the quality of earnings and the interest rate basically mean that stocks are not terribly overvalued at today's prices. the cost of capital is low. company balance sh

looking at the economic vitality the south has, that could help keep the mullahs in power. they want it that way. there's a built-in contradiction of opening your country to the world and at the same time trying to keep close control and so they may lose that and over the midterm to longer term then you could see iran moving more into the actions of a responsible nation and not just a revolutionary cause as is written into their constitution. but as revealed in the recent interview of jeff goldberg president obama is a very different sort of president seeing the actions in a different light and certainly some people in the administration have a remarkable act to absolve themselves of responsibility for anything. i would just say that for a sitting u.s. president to see our allies as free loaders is nuts. and you know what? what's happening, i was telling dr. hamre upstairs, i was working out one morning, i was on my machine and i saw this goldberg article come across. i hit my print button, got back and was working out and i was going through my e-mails and i started readin

>> i'm a conservative who believes in free markets and economic growth. >> and who are you supporting? you haven't decided. you haven't decided between mr. trump, mr. cruz, those are your two leading candidates, right. gotten the most votes. stuart: if i thought that hillary clinton or bernie sanders would give me strong economic growth and less government, i'd vote for them in a heartbeat. >> then you should vote for hillary clinton. if you look at growth based on when she was first lady under the clinton administration, we had the greatest economic expansion. stuart: she was-- >> in the history of our country. stuart: she was more the last eight years. >> and the greatest economy of our time in the united states was in the clinton administration, you should jump on the that band wagon quick and in a hurry, my friend. stuart: by golly, congressman,

let me start with some of the economic concerns and address them with the economic facts and the economic argument. some of my colleagues may not know this, but mexico is our third largest trading partner, and for some states like the state of texas, like the state of new mexico, like the state of arizona, like the state of california, mexico represents our number one trading partner. for many other states, deeper into the interior, mexico represents our second largest trading partner. but the volume of trade between our two countries is unlike any other even among our top trading partner, china. for with mexico, for every dollar of import value that we bring into this country from mexico, 40 cents of that dollar were value that originated here in the united states. components, manufactured goods, that were built here in america by americans, by u.s. citizens, that were exported to mexico for final assembly and manufacture before reimportation in the united states. it's why with mexico, when we export to mexico, we win. when we import from mexico, we win. and that volume of trade between

the eu is not about economics. it is not about economics, it is not about the eurozone. , with my way of looking at the world, what is happening to the idea of human rights, what is happening to the idea of self-government, what is happening to the idea of democratic accountability and the developments against all those things that are feetaching with little cat in the eu is much more important than whether the eu is economically a good thing or bad thing. i think it is basically a bad thing, but, you know, the economics part is part. , youu understand the eu understand it is not about economics. nothese 28 countries will become a partner -- you did not mention nato. firstly, as todd was of the eurozone transparency come as you say, it is not really about economics, it is about policy. a political project come about centralization of political power. said, thet thatcher idea of creating a european super state is the greatest folly of the modern era. thatcher's part of argument against the european union in more rec

. >> i studied economics at columbia business school. my question would be, the political effect of the economic increase of the past years. and the association of governors and the clinton campaign recently, my question would be, so at this point, the decision-making process will do more political and less technical, as we have seen in the u.s. supreme court. fareed: ben, do you want to take that? it is interesting. i think you had 30 senators vote against your confirmation, the highest ever. and janet, you had roughly 30 people vote against you. has the fed become more politicized? mr. bernanke: well i sit here next to paul volcker, the fed has always had little pressures at various times. the fed is trying to do the right thing. and sometimes the right thing is not what everybody agrees on. so, yeah, i understand that there is political pressure out there. many people aren't happy with the economy. obviously, they were very unhappy with the economy a few years ago. i think all the fed can do is try to do the right thing for the econom

impact, economic effects of these rules.but there are some who suggest that when it is a joint rulemaking, that cost-benefit analysis is not required. what's your take on that? and have you had, you all had pushback from the other agencies you have had to develop rules with on that specific issue? how do you do without? >> of course you are right. we have security law required that we consider among other things efficiency composition and capital formation which is unique to the sec. there are instances where we will do a joint rule most often with the banking regulators, and ours will be the only economic analysis. there is one we are involved with now where speech is the analysis that you do, is that used in the promulgation of calm in the process speak with yes. as it affects a registrants. the rule republic it affects also -- >> so the banking regulator don't do that? >> i believe that's correct. i don't know what to do inside but they are not required to put an economic analysis out with a rule text for public comment.

he has failed to come up with a real economic policies.bility to reach out across the aisle to get stuff done. constant antibusiness rhetoric. take a look at these numbers. we saw our economy grew. just one half a percent. easily turned negative. the fed has kept rates low for a record amount of time. let me ask you, if you are a retiree living on a fixed income, what are you supposed to do? you cannot live off of interest rates this low. if you are in investor, you need to put this money to work. double-digit yields. they are so enticing. they are so sexy. the fundamentals are not good. people did not accept that. hopefully they will understand economic policy a little bit that are. that is today's intel. hitting epidemic status in florida. a much further reach in the northern part of the country than previously believed. that is next. ♪ i'm only in my 60's. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan.

talks about his economic policies. contribution to economic thought in the u.s., and how it's had an impact even today. one of the things he did was sort of question laissez-faire attitudes of adam smith and really stressed that the government needed to be able to tax. and that the government needed to spend money. he said power without revenue was a bubble. i'm not sure what that means, but i think it's really important. he also stressed that the u.s. needed a manufacturing base, so we could compete with other markets. david: in the markets and finance section, you will get snowbirds, folks who live in canada been on vacation property here in the u.s. a huge percentage of vacation homeowners from overseas and the +u.s. are in fact, canadian. that is starting to change. ellen: you not understand the candidate is cold and florida's warm. it's been a natural place for canadians to invest and have second homes. now, the real estate market in florida is getting kind of soft. and the canadians desire to sell and take their

politics and economics.he first time that we really realized there is a meltdown of america's middle class. in 5, 10, 15 years, what does that do to u.s. world dynamics? sri: i think you are absolutely correct. we have the first instance where the middle class is seriously affected. that is affecting the politics of united states. you see that on the democratic and republican friends -- fronts in the form of bernie sanders and donald trump. they are standing for the value of lower and middle class investors. you said what does it do for the u.s. standing? it's used to see the u.s. going a certain way, that will be seriously affected by this change. you have more movement. you have this erecting of the wall on the southern border, all of that comes from middle-class frustration. tom: when we come back, middle-class the creation -- middle-class frustration. what we know as a political debate will continue. look for "all due respect," for political insight. they do that each night, tonight is beyond important w

the economic and finance ministers meet. so another typical thing about the eu that kind of muddies the waters, it's one institution. there are ten basically completely separate formations. another important thing about the council is that the council of ministers is and both/and institution. the members of the council both represent their governments but they also act as members of a super national institution, a super national eu institution. that is distinct from their governments and to which they belong in a much closer way than they would belong to committees in any other international organization. so this brings a lot of lack of clarity to the council of ministers. lack of clarity again, it's typical of the eu. it further muddies the waters of democratic accountability. then we have the european parliament. it's not really a parliament. it doesn't do much things that most national parliaments do. it doesn't have the power to levee taxes, for example. most importantly, the european parliament does not draft legislatio