first, robert putnam has a unique take on the look of religion in society called " american graves." and that a conversation with nassim taleb. it is a look at what caused the global financial crisis. his book is called "the bed of procrustes." coming out right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> nationwide is on your side >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- tavis: robert putnam is the professor of public policy at harvard and he is also a best- selling author with books like "bowling alone." his latest is called "american grace." >

nee with puc to secure the use of twoz adjacent vacant propertis oní& putnam street. to take control of them and% additional parking for the market, and in exchange,q maintain them and include them in the market site that we would manage. weñm would welcome your assiste with that. qtÑwe already are working on an update of policies and procedures with the new market éqmanager. we have already reached out to uc-@uÑdavis and uc-berkeley. there are some relevant classes refresh the training program for our staff. ÷p÷we have done best practicesq, research, if you will, through the california association ofç>Ñ farmers' markets, through discussions with other markets. that. we also had a productive relationship with the is here today. if you want to hear from him will be here to answeruó questions. this showsy these time periods, and into the future,tfu which is something tt you have to keep on doing. we plan to do the first y)zretraining before the end ofe calendar year. market, without any outstanding jj dph is slated] return this saturday to the farmers' market. they we

i happen to be using putnam, and their diversified income trust, which is an interesting way to get at the fixed income asset allocation. >> susan: you have two stocks you want to tell us about. you think investors would do well by them. tell us why you like n.i.i.holdings, tradinging on the nasdaq? >> my theme, ever since the fourth quarter of 2001, emerging and frontier markets are going to be were the growth is. when per capita incomes rise, people spend more money. n.i.i. holdings is a play on south america and the rollout there. they had announced a cable deal with televisa in mexico, and the deal got called off, and the shares fell 10 points in a day. we still think it's a fairly cheap stock with good growth. >> susan: and tell us quickly about sinus energy, here on the big board. why do you like that one? >> i think we're going to get a colder than expected winter with the building la niÑa weather pattern and more volcanic ash in the atmosphere. you combine that with what happened off the florida coast, i think it ensures the viability of the alberta tarsands. this has the best

one of the good news stories of the year was the publication of a book called "american grace" byob putnam of harvard, david campbell of notre dame, where they found that americans -- first of all, there is an enormous amount of charity that comes out of the religious community in america and that people connected to religious institutions seem to have more of a proclivity toward doing that, and that there is a kind of built-in religious tolerance in the country because of our religious diversity. it was actually a very optimistic book about the nature orelion in america, and i ink m's piece kind of underscored that. >> kevin, social issues -- don't ask don't tell was repealed, proposition 8 i don't know where that stands, maybe you do. talk about those a little bit. >> it was a significant year for the gay movement in all of its various forms. gay and lesbian soldiers will now be able to serve in the military openly. on the marriage front, you had a federal court strike down calornia's n onay rriage, and i think the most significant and often overlooked part of that ruling was that the ju

putnam, author of "bowling alone," what's the theory of your book? >> guest: well, my theory is that connecting with other people has great value for us personally and for our communities. i use the term social capital in the book to refer to the fact that social networks have value. they have value for the people who are in them. most people in america, for example, get their jobs through them. you know, i did--i did and most people do. i don't mean that in a nepotistic sense. i just mean we--we learn about jobs through--through social connections. and there are many other values to us personally from our social connections. there are positive effects on health from connecting with other people. but social connections also have value for people who are not directly in the networks. if you live in a neighborhood where people know one another, for example, as i do, that holds down the crime rate in the neighborhood, even for people who don't themselves go to the barbecues in the neighborhood; that is, the general effects of social capital, of social c

putnam, ill., bill, republican line. caller: you keep throwing the constitution into this. where do the insurance company stand as far as free market? they are still private companies. if i decide to charge five -- for my hamburger and the guy across the street only charges -- charge $5 for my hamburger and the guy across the street on the charges $1, that is my prerogative. how can you mandate need to provide that for you? -- mandate, m me to provide that for you? it is still a free market, for- profit business. if you do not want that, then decide on something else, but that is the wave is right now. -- the way it is right now. guest: is the thing about the health insurance industry right now. they are not about profit. there about excessive, extreme profit. and these days they are not even about providing health care. in most of the markets in the united states, there is not any competition or any choice whatsoever. we do not have a choice. we do not have competition in the insurance market. we are not having to choose -- we are having to choose from one bad insurance pl

presidential library foundation carry on behalf of my foundation colleagues, and the library director tom putnamf like to thank you for coming this evening. i encourage all of you if you are not already to become members of the library. i also encourage you to go to our website at jfklibarary.org to learn more about upcoming forums, the exhibits and activities surrounding the 50th anniversary of president kennedy's inauguration. particular thanks to the friends and institutions that make the forum as possible, think of america, the lead sponsor of the library for some serious. as well as boston capital, will institute and boston foundation along with our media sponsors of the "boston globe" wbur. the forums will be broadcast on wbur and fi wgbh network. today's discussion is a timely one. the united states senate is currently pondering the the new s.t.a.r.t. to become the product of the first arms negotiations with russia and nearly a decade. at the moment it is unclear whether or not there will be a vote on the ratification of the treaty during the so-called lame-duck session. let me just parap

kennedy presidential library foundation and on behalf of my colleagues and the director, tom putnam, thank all of you for coming this evening. we count on your support and i encourage you to become a member of the library. please visit our web site, jfklibrary.org for more information. i would like to express particular thanks to the friends and institutions that make these forums possible. bank of america, our lead sponsor of the kennedy library forum series, boston capital, the lowell institute and the boston foundation, along with our media sponsors, "the boston globe," wbur. we are honored to have with us tonight retired supreme court justices sandra day o'connor and david souter. they are here to discuss their shared passion, the importance of civic education. justice david souter recalls that when he was a boy, he learned the lessons of democracy and the functions of the three branches of government at new england town meetings. he's called those meetings the most radical exercise of american democracy that you can find. it didn't matter if someone or rich or poor, young or old