and you're not seeing a rebirth despite president obama's attempts rhetorically of kind of laissez faire radical individualism. what you're saying is conservatives trying to grapple with the problems you face. how do you reform these programs, serve their purpose, to not go under in a way that is somehow consistent with a broader consensus for some sorts of limits on government, some sort of argument that allows for popular consensus to shape how our politics proceed. and i would argue that what president obama is arguing, is it oud tside of that. >> going to one point that you make, matt, and you and i have had this conversation a number of times. in point of fact, the characterization, obama's characterization of conservatives as being sort of radical laissez faire, you know, i got mine, you get yours. that's very much -- that is, in fact, very much in the spirit of t.r. in 1912. he was the first to utter that condemnation of conservative republicans in that year. and it was wildly unfair at the time. it was massively unfair at the time. right after the kansas speech, one of his friend

backlash from the 2008 economic collapse, the right wing has used the crisis to further advance laissez-faire economic policies. this is a little under an hour. >> good evening. i'm bradley graham, co-owner of politics and prose, and on behalf of the entire store staff, i'd like to welcome you this evening. this is the first author talk of the new year for us, and it marks the resumption of our regular author events, which were suspended for a few weeks during the holiday season. you can see from the overcrowding this evening we did not have a chance to grow the store over the holidays but we are considering all kinds of options, but we are really delighted to have such a large audience here tonight for this first event of january. the holiday season, i might just say a word about that. it was really very encouraging for us, particularly as new owners. we had sales well in excess of the previous december, and that's been true of a number of independent book stores around the country. of course, there are a number of challenges ahead with ebooks and online sales, but we're very encouraged and

it was not to reconsider but double them to go more energetically for the laissez-faire utopia. this is the moment where i drinkwater. [laughter] written into the script the social patterns of hard times are to be simple. impersonal and mechanical and the forces before you know, what people are at in the streets screaming for blood. the idylls of the past our targets of derision. we demand the government do something and rescue the victims. we look for insurance against further catastrophe and supervision to make sure it never happens again. that is how it went to 1937 a catastrophe comes and certain deeds will follow almost automatically. unemployment insurance will be extended again. massive investment with works and commissions will be named and agencies our set up to keep people from losing their house is to foreclosure. as the economy falls apart we will read discover it comes from a personal deprivation in those of the bottom will take action on their own behalf and union organizing may be a wave of strikes sweeping the country in response to the complete breakdown of the

it is to double down and work even more energetically for the laissez-faire utopia. here's the water. this is a moment where i drink water. [laughter] it's written into the script. the social patterns of hard times are supposed to be a simple thing, as impersonal and mechanical as the forces that shatter our fact grief and pay down the price of our stocks. the markets disintegrate, foreclosures began in before you know it, people are out in the streets screaming for blood. the idols of our past become targets of derision. we demand the government do something about it, that they punish the perps, rescued the dems. we look for insurance against further catastrophe and we look for stricter supervision of the economy to make sure it never happens again. or at least that's how it went in the 1930s. when the catastrophe becomes the depression taught as certain legislative seats will follow almost automatically in its wake. unemployment insurance will be extended, extended again. massive investment in public works. commissions will be named to investigate the causes of the

experienced the last two decades has been an adjunct failure, and that's free trade, tax cuts and a laissez-faire attitude. i think we need smart government policies to help support private sector entrepreneurship and competitors. >> next call, dale from arizona. thanks for hanging on. you're on with scott paul. >> caller: good morning. please give me a little time to speak because i always have a lot to say because i listen to cspan. that's the reason i have a lot to say. >> go ahead, sir. >> caller: i'm going to make some comparisons, such as 93% tax hike because we had to pay for the wars, and when jfk came in, there's a big hullaballoo from the republicans especially that tax rates had to come down. they did somewhat. but they've been on this crazy thing about tax cuts, you know? when you consider that in 1959, you know, that strike, the united steel workers manufacturing steel, making steel, i was a steel worker. not then, but i followed all this stuff. there was a climber for 3.5% wage increase over the contract, and i don't think that's too much. we need unions to represent people because

. >> look, david, i could give you a classic laissez-faire capitalist answer, on the one hand, i could say we follow the laws, leave us alone. i don't think that fits today. it doesn't fit overall. i think first and foremost what we owe everybody is to compete and win in every corner of the world. first and foremost, invest in technology, invest in people. take our products, gain market share, fight hard against, you know, all of our global competitors. and probably all three of us -- i don't really have american competitors anymore. all my competitors are german, japanese, chinese. we're kind of like after a hundred years the last man standing in the world we're in. so i'm kind of, love us or hate us, i'm your guy. that's -- so win, number one. but i think, look -- i just think there's got to be a cognizance of how important jobs are. it's just all three of us, none of us were born in our job. we all worked our way up through our various companies and the pride people have when they have a job, the respect they have for each other when they have a job, and the notion that jobs are pre

it's fairly obvious that you're not going to have complete sort of libertarian laissez faire. you're not going to have a very strong central state. americans are distrustful of both of those methods in some ways. and most of the problems we're now facing particularly on the economy transcend our own capacity to address them in our own national borders. and so, you know, something that would address the economic conditions today would have to be looking towards more global solutions in some ways. and that didn't come into play at all here. but i think ultimately, this was a fantastic address to rally obama's base in many ways. i think he did that. he's wrapped up his policy in fairness, and the bipartisan at one point belief in progressive ideas. but the idea of a new new nationalism or what's next, i think, is a long way off. and i don't think this address that obama gave was in any way intended to do that. i think that's the work of social reformers on the left to actually convince people that either stronger government action can enhance their own life opportunities, produce

you talk about laissez-faire capitalism with no regulation leading to the depression.acted the glass-steagall act was separated the investment banks from the commercial banks. when phil gramm took that firewall down, that's when we began to have our problems with the banking system. if we enacted glass-steagall again, that would at least help solve some of the banking problems. it is not all just corruption. these are deliberate attempts by certain individuals to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. that is not class warfare. that's an actual fact. host: go ahead, gideon rose. guest: there's a certain amount of truth to that. i'm not the world's greatest expert on financial reforms and which should be done and how much glass-steagall's loss contributed to the policies. i am not entirely sure. it is certainly true that we need policies directed towards the overall economy. let's just say that the democrats bear their share of the blame, as well. there are very kind -- there are various entitlements that are very costly. long-term debt is an issue for economic compe

you can never, every be laissez faire about this at all. >> undercover agents get involved with wannabeerrorists. the desense is, my guy would never have done this if not egged on by federal officials. >> if the subject is predisposed, then they move forward. the guy went ant got a gun, did surveillance. they're overt acts. it will be litigated in court. frankly, the fbi's been very good at this and very successful. that's what we want them to do. we want them to be very proactive. >> somebody is doing something right. no attacks on american soil since 9/11. thank for coming in. >>> for more on the latest headlines, let's go to ron claiborne. >>> good morning, everyone. president obama is set to sign a bill to extend the payroll a tax cut through the end of the year. congress overwhelmingly approved the legislation. for the average american, about 80 bucks more in a paycheck every month. it also extends unemployment benefits. >>> and new jersey's governor chris christie has vetoed a gay marriage bill. he wants the bameasure on the ballot in november. the same kind of law passed in maryl

but not being coerced by anybody, being free leads many libertarians to a very purest absolutist laissez-faire philosophy. there should little or no government regulation of business. in fact, very little government. and the musician who buckley -- i'm using this as metaphorically the editor that buckley recruited for national review who was kind of the leader of the libertarian philosophy within national review was a fellow named frank ma-mayer that government has two legitimate functions just two. one is to protect citizen says against violent assaults, whether it's invasion from abroad or criminals domestically. and to adjudicate conflicts, have a court system, particularly, to adjudicate conflicts but particularly commercial conflicts so the economy can keep humming along and nothing else. government should be -- should be very small, very weak. neoconservatism, that term didn't exist back in 1955. but ideas that we've come to call neoconservative were starting up. what do i mean by neoconservatism? well, years leader, irving crystal gave us the famous pithy description. he said a neoconse

you can never, ever be laissez faire about this at all. >> since 9/11, we have seen a lot of cases likehis. where fbi agents, undercover agents get involved with wannabe terrorists. the defense from the defense attorney is, my guy would never have done this if not egged on by federal officials. what is the pushback to that? >> these cases follow a timeline. if the subject is predisposed, that will come forward. there were overt acts. the guy went and got a gun, did surveillance. they're overt acts. it will be litigated in court. frankly, the fbi's been very good at this and very successful. that's what we want them to do. we want them to be very proactive. >> somebody is doing something right. no attacks since 9/11 -- on american soil. thank for coming in. we appreciate your expertise. >>> for more on the latest headlines, let's go to ron claiborne. ron, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, dan. good morning, everyone. >>> president obama is set to sign a bill to extend the payroll tax cuts for tens of millions of americans through the end of this year. in a rare display of bipa

>> you know, look, david, i could give you a classic laissez-faire capitalist answer it say on one hand i could say, we follow the laws, leave us alone. >> right. >> i don't think that word fits today. it doesn't fit the zeitgeist of the age. it doesn't fit overall. first and foremost what we owe everybody to compete and win in every corner of the world. first and foremost invest in technology, invest in people. take our products. gain market share. fight hard against, you know all of our global competitors and probably all three of us, i don't really have american competitors anymore. all my competitors are german, japanese, chinese. we're kind of like after 100 years the last man standing in the world we're in. so, you know, i'm kind of love us or hate us, i'm your guy, you know. and that's, you know, so win, number one. but i think look, i just think there's got to be a cagney sans how important jobs are. all three of us, none of us were born in our job. we all worked our way up, you know, through our various companies and the pride people have when they have a job, the respect they

. >> i have to ask this, zanny, because "the economist" is a laissez faire magazine supported the bailouti'm guessing you wrote that editorial. >> we supported it with heavy heart. in hindsight, i think we were right to support it. in ordinary times, i completely agree with you. the government should not get involved in bailing out particular sectors. the only reason to do it if there is a broad systemic threat to the economy. think where we were at the beginning of 2009. global the global economy was shrinking at its fastest pace since the 1930s. we were in the middle of the worst financial crisis in 80 years. what would have happened if these companies had been pushed into bankruptcy? normally when credit markets -- when you're in bankruptcy, you get fresh funds. you get fresh funds to help you restructure. the credit markets were completely closed. there was no way to get that money unless it came from the government. so the alternative was liquidating gm, having a ripple effect on the supply chain, and i see you shaking your head. having a huge ripple effect at a time when the economy

among those friends, the laissez-faire, libertarian chairman of the federal reserve, alan greenspan, the right-wing republican senator from texas, phil gramm, who once called wall street "a holy place," and later would become a high priest at the global banking giant, ubs, and the democratic secretary of the treasury, robert rubin, former co-chair of goldman sachs and tireless advocate of taking down glass-steagall. in the weeks before its repeal rubin left government to join, are you ready for this, citigroup's board, the very financial giant made possible by glass-steagall's elimination. and so it was -- the fix was in, the path was cleared all the way to the top. >> sandy called his friend the president last night and invited me to join in on the conversation and we had a good talk. so the president was in fact told last evening about what was going to happen. >> you got that, i'm sure. wall street was telling the president of the united states what was going to happen. within two years, glass-steagall was deader than a doornail. with the stroke of a pen, president, bill clinton,

you accept the idea of old laissez-faire arguments have to be put aside?> i think like jeff and i'm sure jim will agree i think the context of the question is completely wrong. i have open border competition and this is the most open border country out there so the ideals of free trade which jim can speak about have to stand. so why are you making markets based on false dimensions? i'm competing like jeff said, with people who are subsidized around the world. companies are competing like countries. they're creating incentives. singapore, thailand, mexico, want what we have but germanies do it too. my home country of australia does it too. look at r&d tax credits. we know it is not a level playing field. we know where you like ge is unique in america. dow is unique in america. boeing is unique in america. we compete globally. so we need the type of government that doesn't give us a zero-sum game answer by bringing us back to the country. the world is where we're competing. every job we create in the world we create jobs back here, another myth that we have

>> you know, look, david, i could give you a classic laissez-faire capitalist answer it say on one hand i could say, we follow the laws, leave us alone. >> right. >> i don't think that word fits today. it doesn't fit the zeitgeist of the age. it doesn't fit overall. first and foremost what we owe everybody to compete and win in every corner of the world. first and foremost invest in technology, invest in people. take our products. gain market share. fight hard against, you know all of our global competitors and probably all three of us, i don't really have american competitors anymore. all my competitors are german, japanese, chinese. we're kind of like after 100 years the last man standing in the world we're in. so, you know, i'm kind of love us or hate us, i'm your guy, you know. and that's, you know, so win, number one. but i think look, i just think there's got to be a cagney sans how important jobs are. all three of us, none of us were born in our job. we all worked our way up, you know, through our various companies and the pride people have when they have a job, the respect they

>> you know, david, i could give you a classic laissez-faire capital enters, on one hand i could sayfollow the laws, leave us alone. i don't think that fits today but it doesn't fit. it just doesn't fit over all. i think first and foremost what we owe everybody is to compete and win in every corner of the world. so first and foremost, invest in technology, investing people, take our products, gained market share, fight hard against, you know, all of our global competitors, and probably all three of us, you know, i don't even have american competitors anymore. all of my competitors are german, japanese, chinese. we're kind of like after one of years the last man standing in the world we are in. so, you know, i am kind of love us or hate us, i'm your guy. and so win, number one. but i think look, i just think there's got to be a cognizance of how important jobs are. you know, it's just, all three of us, none of us were born in our job. we all worked our way up through our various companies, and the pride people have when they have a job, the respect they have for each other when they h

laissez fair ay attitude. host: you are on the line with scott paul. me littlelease give bealet time because i have a lot to say, because i listened to c- span. 93% corporate tax rate after the war because we had to pay for the bouwars. when j.f.k. came in, there was a big a people from the republicans especially that tax rates had to come down and they did somewhat. but they have been on this crazy thing about tax cuts. when you consider that in 1959 the united steelworkers strike, i was a steelworker not then, and i follow all this stuff, there was clamor for 3.5% wage increase over the contract. i don't think that is too much. we need unions to represent people because people are the ones that create wealth. companies do not create wealth. they move wealth around. what we've seen in the recent past is special in the last 12 years is that wealth has been moved to a stock. over 2 billion people. with that is good for them in the long run and very bad for us in the long run. in the media, people suffer here. let's make another comparison. when this eco

policies the are not playing the rules we have and are not fair to be so how does our capitalism and laissez-faire economy evolves as well if we feel we can learn something from germany's's alignment from education, universities, are in the and with china is doing and infrastructure as well so i would like to see what we learn and how we have to resist as a result to get on stock with american manufacturing? >> i would echo that and say i think in the short term the innovation is going to happen in the cities and a lesser extent as the former mayor i can take some credit but it is why do we get more business people like greg to run the office and how we get more of the risky reward thoughts that go through the decision making and get that extend to need lifetime public service as well but we are going to see the innovation short term in the cities and to a lesser extent the states and the big changes have to happen and the federal level. >> a year from now we need to have said the table, all of us here. any business that may affect treynor this fonts' can occur after the next election so that's th

laissez-faire regulation has had its problems. but the response has been overkill.ething like dodd-frank, which was 848 pages long when it first came out and has now proliferated into thousands of questions it seems like. every bank, every financial institution is weighed down with dealing with bureaucracy. you look at the new health care reform which going to increase the number of official categories of illness and injury to from 18,000 to 140,000. you look at the environmental protection agency which makes a decision, gets reversed and there's challenges. ever are i time i talk to a business person there's a concern that the regulatory environment is killing at least 0 some extent the traditional risk-taking appetite and ability to take big bets that's made america great in the past. >> matthew every single person says look at how well corporations are doing right now. and they use that as a way to say that these, the corporate managers are lying about whether they're being impacted by it. they're just sort of, there's never a good time for regulation in a corpor

mitt romney is very laissez faire when it comes to the foreclosure issue, right?bout let the marketplace work, let investors comes in and buy the homes that have been foreclosed on, let renters come and rent the houses. there are conservatives who say we actually need government help. so i think this is going to be an issue aside from all the other issues. >> show him the poll and he'll chang his position. >> that's a good defense. >> that's a conservative defense. >> on that point, though, part of the problem with president obama, his housing policies have not worked thus far. it very well might be a wash there. but he's trying. >> at least he's talking about it. >> i want to get to candy crowley in washington, d.c. >> how are you? >> i'm exhausted from breaking up the fighting. help me out here. >> do your ears hurt? listen, in terms what newt gingrich does, he has to focus on just the plate. arizona could well be very good for newt gingrich so i wouldn't leave that out of the mix. but in general the gingrich campaign has always felt super tuesday was their chan