ellen schultz. ( applause ) thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> jon: the book is called retirement heist. i did not think... and i've thought a lot about this financial crisis. i did not think there was another piece of information that i can learn that could still make me angry. thank you. >> any time. >> jon: thank you for letting me know i can still feel. this book is about how corporations have taken gigantic worker pension funds and just taken them. >> they've manageded to take the retirement plans for millions, 44 million people, and turn them into profit centers for the companies. now people are complaining that the plans are underfunded but they were fully funded. in fact there was a quarter trillion surplus as recently as ten years ago. >> jon: what would they do? you say the pension fund has a surplus. that means the company, the workers pay into it. there's a mandate that you have to fund these pensions. so they have a quarter trillion surplus. how did they drain that? w

on tonight ellen schultz, the author of the retirement heist which is a great flick. starring jack nicholson. i'm sorry. it's about pension funds maximizing their own profit. it's so far fetched. here's what i think happened. i think the tattoo guy put a hot girl on his leg, right? the tattoo guy (beep) and then you're like screw it. just throw a bobo-fet helmet on it. we'll call it even. that's what i think he did. get a tattoo of boba-fet as a woman. i don't believe that that was the original intent. i believe the original intent was like i love i dream of jeany. why don't you put her on my leg. they (beep) her face. i'll put a helmet on that. obviously we were off last week. so we have a lot to catch up. last we left off i believe rick perry's entrance into the "please don't make us vote for romney" republican race. perry before he ever uttered a word shot to the top of the field. unfortunately running for president does require a good deal of word uttering. which perry's done on four separate debate occasions. >> is it the mitt romney that was on the side of again

ellen schultz. ♪ music from mobile [ can opening ] baby: pshhhht!an open]ng [ soda pouri]g baby: wooosh! [ imitating soda pour ] baby:rapping/beatbox ] [ can opening ] teen: pshhhht! [ imitating can opening ] teen:rapping/beatbox ] friends: wow! [ can opening ] cee lo: pshhhht! [ imitating can opening ] ♪ be free and express yourself. ♪ ♪ do what comes naturally. cee lo: be yourself. be refreshing. be 7up.

ellen schultz. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: that's our show.

. >> and non book tv, ellen schultz argues many large companies and plundered employee pension plans. see also talked about the crisis this is created. this is just under an hour. >> some years back i went out to iowa to meet with a group of retired meatpackers. i don't know what your image of retired meatpackers is, but i suspect most people think there are a pretty tough lot. well, i went out to this family diner on the edge of town near bowling alley. the guys in their lives would get together every month so over the special. they would say a prayer. there would read off a list of the people who died that month if any, and they would get tips its setting, mostly social. one of the things that kept coming up with them was the struggle there were having because their health benefits had been cut. now, these were benefits they had been promised decades ago. to give you an example, one of the fellows there had started hat hormel meatpacking plant right out of high school in the 30's. like a lot of the guys there he left to go to the second world war, survived, and came back. he worked

let's give ellen schultz and.[applause] >> is there a nonfiction author a book you would like to see featured on booktv? send us an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org or tweet us at twitter.com/booktv. >> you have written several books on the topic of the civil war. what interested you in this topic? >> well, my interest in the civil war is somewhat mysterious to me. if you had told me many years ago when i was a girl that this was what i was going to study i would've said i hate you. i grew up in the vietnam era. i don't like any of this. i don't like this topic at all. but when i was a graduate student in american history i happen to take a class on the civil war and something forgot -- something about it clicked with me in that class, particularly decided that the complete absence, got women in the class. women didn't have any do with the civil war and the determined it would be my life's work. but, of course, i have branched out and have done many other things beside but that is where i started. >> who is joseph hold

. >> caller: i wanted to ask if michael would read the book by ellen schultz retirement highest and hopefullyo a film on it so that we can stop them from ripping off the seniors of america because what they're doing is ripping off the pensions and giving it to the executives a huge bonuses and salaries. >> guest: that's right. i mean the pension funds thatatr were decimated backed in 2009 crash, they have played with people's money played with people's money here in their casino in a very risky way. i think illegal. i don't know why this isn't being investigated. i don't understand why no one has been arrested from the crash of '08. and -- but i know there's a lot of anger percolating out there. i know a lot of senior citizens now don't have the security that they thought they would once have. i know a lot of workers don't have that. people certainly don't have job security. they don't know whether they're going to have a job next year or the year after that. so part of this is -- it keeps the population tightly wound, living on the edge, being in fear. and when people are afraid, they oftent