been turned down yet, except in myanmar. we had 36-some helicopters, part of a coalition effort in the bay of bengal. we were able to fly into and arrington, but we could have done so much more. that is the one example i can think of where we were told no thanks. in every other situation, countries -- we remain the indispensable partner. we want to be humble about this. we want to be invited to the best. in invitation tendered is an invitation received, and that works both ways. the second part of your question was -- oh, yeah. thank you. joint lessons learned. you bet. lessons observed are not necessarily lessons learned. so when we do have these exercises and we have cultural and language opportunities, shall we say, we want to try to get down to a couple of really big hidden items that countries in young men and young women and old men and women can understand, embrace, and six is necessary or pursue its desirable. so lessons learned is a great big ticket item. lessons observed -- volumes and volumes -- all of us have see

me and more is not going to -- for myanmar. myanmar is not going to inspect this ship. should, and the interest of national security if we know, and we have intelligence capabilityç, that a north koren ship is carrying technology or weapons systems that could endanger the national security of the u.s., then we should aboard those ships. host: this morning in the "new york times" they say the news from afghanistan is grim and they're talking about the failing forces within the country and say that the taliban must be confronted head on to turn around the war. afghans must begin to trust their own government more than they either fear or trust the extremists. guest: the situation in afghanistan is very rough and that is why we have -- and i agree with the president. he instituted a policy where we send to significantly more troops. there's a question as to whether there will be even 10,000 more cent this year. we just change the command structure and the commanders. there will be increases and -- increasing casualties, unfortunately. as we move south, i am happy to say t

me and more is not going to -- for myanmar. myanmar is not going to inspect this ship.should, and the interest of national security if we know, and we have intelligence capabilityç, that a north koren ship is carrying technology or weapons systems that could endanger the national security of the u.s., then we should aboard those ships. host: this morning in the "new york times" they say the news from afghanistan is grim and they're talking about the failing forces within the country and say that the taliban must be confronted head on to turn

when we went to burma, myanmar, we do not think we would get there, but we did. when to offer humanitarian aid since its rigid insistence, and they essentially turned us down. the tragedy. we visited 27 countries. unmistakable, unrelenting been in discussions, not just with them but with senior officials of fruit -- senior officials in the commercial partners in the commercial interests, everywhere we go, unmistakable thing. you, the u.s., are the indispensable partner. we deny necessarily want you with us every minute everyday in our country, on our soil, in our water, or in the air overhead, but we would like you nearby. we want you to be able to come when we need you. we want our young men and women to go to school with you, preferably in the united states. and we like our young men and women to go to school there. there is the indian military academy, and no one person and sets up for the great reasons of the success he enjoyed with our responsibility as a partnership, absolutely essential to their readiness, we have got to be out there. presence, you cannot

this is not myanmar in isolation that can keep aung san suu kyi and people like cuher completely isolated. anecdotally, i have had reports, even as late as today, that we are seeing signs of solidarity. we already have stories up on stories of members of the security forces who, after their shift, go home and dressed in civilian clothes and rejoin people on the street. five hours ago they were there with their clubs. this is happening under our eyes. we have to see how the dynamics carry out. but the sustenance of the movement is imperatively a vital and pivotal. >> you said you were in close contact with military intelligence. >> not just military intelligence, but various apparatus within the system. i cannot define in detail. >> you are saying that you're talking to members of military intelligence and they are currently making plans to either step down or leave the country? >> two groups -- those with the regime that are anticipating every scenario of survivability of the system with their plan -- we can guess what that will become all but massive repression to complete silence the ma

interestingly we got to burma and myanmar and offered humanitarian assistance and they essentially turned us down which is a tragedy. at any rate, 27 countries we visited an unmistakable, un relenting theme but with senior defense officials, senior government officials and commercial partners and commercial interests everywhere we go. unmistakable theme. you, the united states of america, are the indispensable partner. we don't necessarily want you with us every minute of every day in our country, on our soil, in our water or in the air overhead, but we'd like you nearby. we want you to be able to come when we need you. we want to exercise operate -- we want our young men and women to go to school with you. preferably in the united states, and we like our young men and women to go to school there. admiral walt doran attended the indian military academy years ago and he still cites that as one of the great reasons for the success he enjoyed in our particular air responsibility. so partnership, absolutely essential. readiness, we've got to be out there, presence, you can't do it virtually.

it is not just my luxury, pleasure but we haven't been turned down yet except in myanmar burma. we offered humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. we had 36-some helicopters in thailand and four ships as part of a coalition effort in the bay of bengal. we were able to fly out of rangoon but we could have done so much more so that's the one example i could think of where we were told no thanks. in every other -- in every other situation countries -- i go back to where i was a little while ago. we remain the indispensable partner. now we don't want to say this with chutzpah. we want to be humble about this. we want to be invited to the best of my knowledge and recall, we have always -- an invitation tendered is one received. and that works both ways and the second part of your question was -- [inaudible] >> oh, yeah, thank you, joint lessons learned, you bet. here's an interesting, again, semantics, lessons observed aren't necessarily lessons learned. [laughter] >> so when we do have these exercises and we have cultural and language opportunities, shall we say, we want and tr

well, this ship that we're talking about or at least one of 'em is headed for myanmar. they're not going to inspect the ship and among other things it could refuel and head towards iran or head towards another unfriendly country. so we should in the interest of national security if we know -- and we have intelligence capability -- that a north korean ship is carrying technology or weapons or systems that could endanger the national security of the united states of america, then we should board those ships. >> host: let me ask you about another foreign policy issue. this morning "the new york times" say the news from afghanistan is grim, they're talking about the failing forces from within the country and saying that the taliban must be confronted head on to turn around the war. ordinary afghans must begin to trust their own

it could explain to me why we are so passive about myanmar when we claim to be so upset -- people whoppress other peoples and it has to do with our public debt. i'm not sure you can see these slides. where do i press to make them go, nancy? it take high tech, too. this one here. okay. so i begin with a slide that i take from the medical index. you can google that yourself. and what it does is something i like that take the premium an employer pays for a family plus the employees' contribution to that premium and add the out-of-pocket spending of the family to get sort of a total average bill of health spending for a typical american family of four averaged over i believe the database of at least 10 million families so this is a very interesting number, and that grew from, i think, i can't read it but i remember something like 8114 to something like 16,700 now. and it will be 18,000 next year at 8%. and the average compound growth rate was 8.7%. now, the trendline in massachusetts is even above that. so a rule of thumb is it doubled. health spending for an average american family tends