mr. james carville, is there really a middle class? it looks like we have the rich and we have the port. i have not seen the middle class in existence for some time. i am not clear. guest: that is a great question. i will say a few yards and turn it over to my colleague. you do, but it is not what it used to be. stan, explain how we define middle class and what we say it means. guest: we go through defining it. you are asking the right question. we think it is an aspiration, and identity, what people believe about hard work being rewarded. that is what you are saying. if people are not -- hard work is not being rewarded. people are building up college debt. if we talk to people in the polling, 10 years ago 75% thought there was a decent chance for you to do well, given the hard work. that has dropped 50% now. there is a major drop in confidence that hard work is rewarded. if people believe they are on the edge and slipping. when they ask -- when they are asked are you middle-class, they say they used to be or their parents were. they a

mr. carville. >> that would be a first for him. >>> so far so good for metro rail riders this morning. >> workers are trying to make sure things will run smoothly. delia has more. >> reporter: good morning. some happy faces as folks are heading to their destinations, coming up from the trains obviously no problems during their commute. what is most unsettling is the fact that metro still hasn't figured out what caused these glitches. over the weekend because metro couldn't get to the bottom of the problem after the first blockout saturday afternoon the computer system crashed a second time 12 hours later. 44 trains were affected, no passengers hurt though. metro says radio communication with train operators remain and the system to keep trains from a safe distance from each other was also intact. they and the riders need some answers. >> it is very disturbing. i don't recall this has ever happened before. customers have a right to relibel. the glitch that happened works against people want to go use metro and that is a bad thing. >> we'll definitely get to the bottom of it. actually we ta

mr. james carville.i don't know where you got your views of women, until i hear some sort of retraction, i don't think that i'm interested in your book. >> guest: i guess you'll be one of the people not buy myook and good luck to ou. h leflou e a conflict untracked consensus that they have to pay more taxes to address the challenge and the rich have to pay a share because they can afford it and it is the right thing to d fer eiinerate de ie co sse. this goes back to the earlier point with grover norquist and americans for tax reform. >> guest: i'm justryg tell you wt e rey he a significant part of it as republicans. they have to raise taxes. they're the only ones who can afford it. you can listen to the people on these cal. 75% of those polled say that we should be raising taxes as part of this. >> host: and in today's wall street journal, you and stan greenberg right that he 2 isadf f truck hitting someone suffering from pneumonia. you he won the state in a post-world war ii america, we grew arica and t

mr. james carville, is there really a middle class? it looks like what we have now is we have the rich and then we have the poor. i don't remember the middle class being in existence for some time now. so i'm not really clear. guest: that's a good question. i'm going to say a few words and turn it over to my colleagues dr. greeneberg who's thought about this idea. we do. it's just not what it used to be. stan, why don't you tell our caller, help explain to our caller what -- how we define middle class and what we say it means. guest: and we go through in this book, defining it, but you're absolutely asking the right question, because in the end we think it's an aspiration, an identity that some people believe about hard work being rewarded. it's exactly what you're saying. hard work is not being rewarded, people are building up college debt. college used to be the way you moved from one generation to the next, get better and better, and if you talk to people now, not just talk to people in our focus groups, in the polls, you know, ten

mr. james carville joins us for the interview. thank you for being here. >> i'm glad to be here, rachel. >> you were saying when we were playing the clip that issues like the student loan thing resonate with people more than people think they do. you think the beltway doesn't think issues like that resonate? >> i don't think they do. they understand that romney would be letting the banks make more money. stekdly, when you talk about the middle class and how do you regrow the middle class and bring it back, education is at the forefront. they understand that. i grew up, that was the ticket to prosperity. if you got an education, you knew it was going to pay for itself. that was the best investment you could make. now, not so sure. we find out the kids have more dent than the education is worth and we have to change that, and this kind of thing, i think this is a good issue. a good political issue. i think it will resonate with people and i think they'll understand it. i really do. >> one of the things you write about in the new boo

so everything gets recycled in carville. later mrs. patriarch's bed and breakfast becomes an episcopal church called st. andres

so everything gets recycled in carville. later mrs. patriarch's bed and breakfast becomes an episcopal church called st. andrew's by the sea. so here it is in that incarnation. in the back there's a shed there. that's the sunday school, it says. you can see the fence. it was necessary to sort of fight the sand and keep it at bay. it's another pretty famous house on the great highway. it looks sort of like a mechanist myian temple or something. it kept being boxy and then growing. it's in the center here. it was made up of about four or five cars, actually. you could see people had different takes on it. some people liked to keep their cars very exposed and open. kind of have that old sutro land quality to it. so people could see it was a car. and others really rushed to shingle over or hide the caffers -- cars inside the architecture. this is the house on 40th avenue you see he has two cars. then he builds a more conventional little cabin on the right. again, it was sort of like you're showing off the cars. you don't necessarily need t

mr. james carville is there really a middle-class? looks like we have the rich and poor. i don't remember the middle class being in existence for some time now. so i am not really clear. does he go i will say a few words and turn it over to -- guest: i will say a few words and turn it over to my colleague. we do, but it is not what it used to be. explain to our caller how we define middle-class and what we say it means. guest: we go through in this book defining it. you ask every question. and and we think it is an aspiration, and an identity, people believe in hard work being rewarded. but hard work is not being rewarded. people are building up -- if you talk to people now, not just talk to people in our focus groups, and the poles and -- 10 years ago, 75% thought there was a decent chance for you to do well given hard work. a major drop in confidence. people do believe they are on the edge and slipping. we ask the question, are you middle-class? they will say, i used to be, or my parents are, but there is a sense of slipping them. you are right. they talk about just the

mr. biden was at the convention in houston. after that, house leaders preview next week's agenda. >> tomorrow morning, our guests include james carvilletan greenberg to talk about their new book "it's the middle class, stupid." then challenging the constitutionality of the dodd- franc law. and then you can call in with your questions about the new report on children. our guests are edward and kristin more. washington journal is live on c- span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> this weekend, on book tv, growing up in the shadows and secrets of the weaponry facility, kristin iverson looks at the effects on the environment and the people saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. then peter collier on the life of jean kirkpatrick. >> carter, in her opinion, was mcgovern with a magnolia accent. and she saw the dominoes start to fall during this time. by 1979, she was in full-fledged opposition to carter and what she saw carterism, that appeasement. and in 1979, she saw the fall of the shock and the fall of nicaragua and some less reading experiences for her and people like her. >> sunday night at 9:00 p.m. and then at 10:00 p.m., anthony wofford --