. >>> up next on booktv, "after words" with guest host, author nomi prins. this week this american life contributor jake halpern and his latest book "bad paper chasing dead from wall street to the underworld." it tells the story of a bank executive and a former bank robber going into business together to collect unpaid bank debts by often on questionable means. the program is about one hour. >> hello and welcome. i'm nomi prins here today with jake halpern, the author of the fascinating and horrifying new book speed "bad paper" chasing dead from wall street to the underground." this book is incredible and so there's your story. and i think that they really mirror each other. this takes place in buffalo new york and you are from there are and you? >> guest: my dad and his wife still live there and i go back fairly often. it's kind of how i find my way into this world. >> host: you talk about a particular and of many unsavory characters that are scrambling to make their own peace of the world and often have prison records and have been regulars and so forth. t

i'm nomi prins and i'm here today with jake halpern the author of a fascinating and horrifying new book "bad paper" chasing debt from wall street to the underworld. welcome. >> guest: thanks for having me. >> host: thank you. this book is incredible and so is your story. i think that to really mirror each other. it takes place in buffalo new york, a lot of it. you are from there, aren't you? >> guest: that's right. i grew up there and my dad and his wife still live there. i go back there fairly often and it's how i found my way into this world. >> host: you talk about many unsavory characters that are traveling to make their own peace of the world that often have prison records ended than drug dealers and so forth. there's a fella named jimmy that comes out here that seems to be one of the main characters of this nonfiction story. can you talk to me a little bit about how you connect it with him? >> guest: the way this got started was i talked my mom a few years back and she told me she was hounded by a debt collector. she's that i don't owe the money that he saying oh but i think i'm g

knows, we support universal sufferage and believe in open society with highest possible degree of auto nomys should respect china's sovereignty, no one will allow those illegal act that's violate public order, that's the situation in the united states and the same situation in hong kong. >>im mam the number of posts se has kwaquad rupled since the st of the protest. it is now almost 5:00 a.m. thursday in hong kong where resident's are gearing up for a new day of demonstrations faced with the ultimatum will hong kong's chief executive resign, if not what happens next. thank you for joining me jamie. on a huge, it's a huge breaking news day, but in terms of gio politics, i'm not store there's a bigger story in terms of potentially changing the pacific landscape. what do you think happens between hong kong and beijing, specifically. there seems to be two different reactions. >> and two different stories. the story of the protest yooers claiming the rights that was turned to them in 2007. china is responding not to hong kong's crisis but thinking of the crack down on the constitutionalist. so f

preserving jobs this that industry will not move west to any great nomy degree. what initiatives or policies do you think should be implemented to promote job growth in west virginia as well as across the nation. mr. yenchingins. >> the progressive budget cut the military $900 billion. we ought to keep talking about this. you know what? the best jobs bill in west virginia, the best jobs action in west virginia would again to get this administration off of our backs. ery time a question like was asked, well, what's the future after coal? it makes me think i'm not going to get baited into the idea that coal is over. nick rahall may think it's a slump, which is when he turned his back on a a coal miner in logan when the coal miner said why did you support obama twice and nick rahall said he is a democrat and turned and walked away from him. i'm telling you, what we need to do is get west virginia back to work. we need to get our coal miners back to work. i'm bringing the hatfields and mccoy trail system back to west virginia. i believe in tourism. i believe in manuf

recovering from the crisis of 008 was our first order of busine business, but i also said that truly nomyouldn't be healthy until we reverse the erosionger and profound of middle class jobs and incomes. so, here is our challenge. we are creating more jobs at a steady pace. recovering housing market, revitalized manufacturing sector two things are critical to middle class success and seeing modest growth. that has gotten the economy rolling again despite the fact the economy of many other countries around the world are softening. americans we measure our success by something more than a jobs report. the asure it by whether jobs provide meaningful work and give people a sense of purpose allow folks to take care of their families and too many hours s work too many will too little to show for it. ob growth could be so much faster and waepblgs could be -- wages could be going up faster we made better decisions going forward with the help of congress. task now at the heart of the momentum that is real and make sure that we accelerate that momentum, that grows and jobs grow and wages grow. that

preserving jobs this that industry will not move west to any great nomy degree. what initiatives or policies do you think should be implemented to promote job growth in west virginia as well as across the nation. mr. yenchingins. >> the progressive budget cut the military $900 billion. we ought to keep talking about this. you know what? the best jobs bill in west virginia, the best jobs action in west virginia would again to get this administration off of our backs. ery time a question like was asked, well, what's the future after coal? it makes me think i'm not going to get baited into the idea that coal is over. nick rahall may think it's a slump, which is when he turned his back on a a coal miner in logan when the coal miner said why did you support obama twice and nick rahall said he is a democrat and turned and walked away from him. i'm telling you, what we need to do is get west virginia back to work. we need to get our coal miners back to work. i'm bringing the hatfields and mccoy trail system back to west virginia. i believe in tourism. i believe in manuf

when left -- what left as the devastating ant nomies -- i can never say that -- >> of modern human thought those basic positions about reality that are simultaneously necessary and contradictory, the framers would easily have recognized did not st. paul voice the same ant emni in romans 7? i have the desire to do what is good butically not carry it out. and so i find this law work when i want to do good evil is right there with me. for thousands of years the idea of natural law played a dominant role in both philosophy and history. cisero, jussty stories favorite among the ancient writers, say its validity is the unevirsle, it is immuteable and internal. calvin cool lidge approved similar sentiments in a wonderful speech to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the declaration of independence. he lamented that most who clamor for reform are sincere but ill informed. were they more knowledgeable they would realize that it was spiritual not material and the founders influenced by a great spiritual development who required a great moral power. only the exercise of god's providence seemed adequat

ro i think the core fight is the one we have been having nomy.olitically about economic distribution and the role of the government as a redistribute or and protector of poor and middle-class interests. it is not a fight we are done having, but to put it bluntly, it bluntly, it's sort of the where's my growth, where's my piece of the economy. that's going to be the key question. >> you think wage amelioration th is going to be decentralized. >> i think the two are closely connected. there is a real logic to the left and the rights ways of thinking about the role of government in our economy and there is a real difference in where the left thinks in terms of managing large institutions.o . d it sees society as a set of systems that are disordered ande require better organization. it is a coherent argument. i don't agree with that but it'p not a crazy argument. the right seems to feel that the role of government is not to manage the sides, but to create the space in which the sides cad flourish. and that looks like chaos, and it is in many ways. th