joseph stiglitz is a nobel prize winning economist and columbia university professor and he's pushing for a rethinking of the global economic framework in the wake of the financial crisis now he's come with other economic and policy leaders to the historic bretton woods where decades ago a conference here led to the formation of the international monetary fund and named the u.s. dollar as the reserve currency and they've gathered to rethink some of those very policies he joins us now to tell us more about it i want to thank you so much for joining us professor now you've written recently about the increasing disparity between rich and poor in the united states and you've even compared these conditions to what led to the other us we've seen in the middle east so what do you think are the factors that led to this and what do you think the consequences will be with. the increase in the concentration of income in wealth. united states there's been enormous. happen in the last couple decades is almost a quarter of the income goes to the upper one percent around forty percent but you measur

that they can do at this point because you know people such as nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz say hey q.e. two didn't work that money didn't go where it was supposed to it went overseas that liquidity went places where you can get a higher return on your investment so why would you do more quantitative easing when it hasn't worked. right so i would actually argue that it has worked and that if you look at how prices respond in the market to more quantitative easing to. how the currency markets responded every time quantitative easing has been tried it succeeded in lowering the yield on treasury and fixated on lowering the value of the dollar to things which which need to happen are necessary and sufficient conditions for it you can see working so that it actually has a number of options disposable it does cut the just three house to the rate that the federal reserve paid today i'm holding excess reserves at the at the fed. it does also use language in a more vigorous way to promise to hold rates a look at the euro two point two five percent through the middle of two thousand a

more talk about the need for a new global reserve but he spoke to nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz on the eve of the bretton woods conference in april this year and his words now seem more relevant than ever.

there's a lot of wealth there's a lot of what in the united states and i want to play you what joseph stiglitz and also both economists said about both the income disparity in this country and also the belief in the american dream that maybe next year will not so aware of that we play those those sound bites but it's america was a country that sort of stood stayed together historically with great unity on the glue that we all figured if we work hard we play by the rules we do better than our parents so they would do better than their parents and our kids would do better than ours. in the last. couple decades is twenty four almost a quarter of all that income goes to the upper one percent. right forty percent bringing you measure of the will goes to the one percent and in the bottom fifty percent control two point five percent of the lot so in the u.s. there is this idea of american dream and of achieving it doing better than your parents like you didn't u.k. but the statistics don't support that that doesn't exist in the united states anymore there are lies damn lies and statistics we should n

dollar as a reserve currency and bric countries of course talking about that and get eyes like joseph stiglitz but it does this because do you think that this debt debate will factor ended a conversation and that will mean that a lot. look i don't see it let's see what happens in the next g. twenty meeting for instance after the chinese are being very cautious about it for instance be have not antagonize the i.m.f. directly they could have put their own candidate for the i.m.f. through three months ago in fact when like god the winds will be jig she managed to convince the chinese.

for more on the factors at play, i am joined by justice giglets -- by joseph siglitz -- stiglitz from columbia university. the see the kind of policies american needs to reverse the unemployment rate? >> obama has some ideas that i think will make a difference. i think the republican candidates will make a difference, but for the worse. it is amazing how people have forgotten what happened from 2000 through 2008, when the country ran huge deficits, created a bubble, and the years of dealing with the consequences of the bubble created after 2001. what is needed right now is to stimulate the economy with investments in education, technology, and infrastructure. the u.s. government can borrow at close to a zero interest rate. the return on those investments, especially since we have under invested for the last decade, are very high. the result of higher return investments is more jobs to date and lower deficits tomorrow. >> yet you have in america and europe politicians across the board saying what we must not do is have any more spending at all, no more momentum. we have christine lagar

joseph stiglitz will analyze the amount of debt holding companies have. this is live at the dierkson building. >> we will -- i will do an opening statement. the questions and answers may be a little more free flowing. i'll probably ask you to respond to each other's assertions and statements and observations. all four of you are highly respected in these fields and have thought a lot about this and reflected a lot about this. it should be an interesting discussion for an hour or so. the recent debate that we just concluded is fixated on the national debt but it was more than just the national debt we should be worried about. too many people in washington seem to be forgotten about the debt that put us in this deep recession and cost this country and almost everyone in it so much and that's the debt of the financial sector. c.b.o. estimates the entire cost of rescuing our failing banking system, the bailouts, the decreased tax revenues, new spending programs in response to the troubled economy and interest payments will cost our nation some $8.6 trillion,

joseph stiglitz. born in gary, indiana, in 14943. he taught at princeton, stanford and m.i.t. he is now university professor at columbia and chairs the committee on global thought. he was awarded the nobel prize in economics 10 years ago for his analysis of symmetric information. he had a 1995 report on the intergovernmental program on climate change and shares the 2007 nobel peace prize. served as chair from 19945-1997 and became chief economist and senior vice president of the world bank. thank you for joining us. professor of finance at boston college. he had the bad judgment to leave ohio state university. currently he consults for the world bank and is a senior fellow. previously he consulted with numerous agencies including the i.m.f. and federal reserve system. he has consulted for the congressional budget office, the joint economic committee and the technology assessment, when we had one, the u.s. congress. eugene ludwig is financial officer of the leading consulting firm for financial companies worldwide. he was vice chair and senior control officer of banker's trust

joseph stiglitz born in gary indiana in 1943 started stanford m.i.t. and was drummond professor -- he is now university press are at columbia and chair of columbia's committee on global thought and co-founder and executive director of initiative for policy dialogue there and was awarded the nobel prize in economics 10 years ago for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information. he was lead author of the 1995 report on the intergovernmental panel on climate change that and shared the 2007 nobel peace prize. mr. stiglitz was a member of the advisers in the clinton years and served as chair from 1995 to 1997 and became chief economist and senior vice president of the world bank from 97 to 2000. thank you for joining us. edwards edward kane is professor of finance at boston college where he held the edward reese chair of economics at ohio state university and had the bad judgment to lead. currently he consults with the world bank is a senior fellow at at the federal deposit insurance corporation for financial research. he has consulted for the congre

joseph stiglitz, born in gary, indiana in 1943, was professor at oxford.not awe university of the columbia and chair of the global thought, koa-funder of the csh koa founder there and awarded the nobel prize with information and lead author of the ?if intergovernmental panel on climate change that shared the 2007 nobel peace prize. he was a member of the advisers in the early clinton years serving as chair from ?aif to 1997 and was chief economist and senior vice president of the world bank from 1997 to 2000. thank you for joining us. edward kane, professor of boston college, economics of ohio state university with the bad judgment to leave. he consults for the world bank and in the senator for financial research. he consulted for numerous agency including components of the federal reserve system. he's consulted for the congressional budget office, and office of technology assessment when we had one in the u.s. congress. eugene ludwig is chief executive officer of prom story financial group. prior to founding that company, he was officer of bankers trust,