open looking at him before and after he got his budget cut from a general, as we go to homestead, florida. one more call on open phones. good morning, rep. caller: i think we are headed for a worst depression, war with iran and north korea, and possible famine and a fuel shortage. that is all have to say. host: coming up we will talk about the state of the u.s. auto industry on the wake of general motors and chrysler bankruptcy. we will talk to dave mccurdy, president and ceo of the alliance of automobile manufacturers. right back with your thoughts as well. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> how c-span funded? >> private donations? >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> public television? >> i don't know where the money comes from. >> contributions from donors. >> how c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies greeted c-span as a public service, a private business initiative, no government mandate, no government money. >> with the federally mandated transition to digital television coming next w

government to confer opportunities through the transcontinent railway, the land-grant colleges, the homestead act instead of a washington-knows-best command-and-control federal government. it's been our tradition for allowing decentralization of a federal government. it has given us the best colleges and universities and a standard of living that produces 25% of all the money in the world for just 5% of the people in the world, the americans who live here. unfortunately, the wisdom that secretary duncan expressed seems to lie almost exclusively in the department of education in this administration. it's an oasis of common sense. because at an astonishing rate, almost everything else in washington seems to be that washington knows best. i was visited by a european auto executive the other day who said to me jokingly, well, i'm glat d to be in america's new automotive headquarters, washington, d.c. well, it's also becom becoming america's banking center. it is becoming america's insurance center. unfortunately, even in education washington, d.c., is now about to become americans' student loan c