and sam katz, documentarian. >> good morning and happy valentine's day. >> thank you. you too. governor wolf proposes a new state budget while the state doesn't really have one in place right now. now, the democrat is required to present a new spending plan, and he did so, despite the irony of what was happening. wolf wants more education spending, higher taxes. blamed the republicans for the mess. republicans, who control the legislature, say their constituents don't want to pay higher taxes and are irate at wolf's tone. and school districts across the state are starting to realize how long this has been and are getting furious about the gridlock and about not having the money they need to operate. another person who may be furious about this? sam katz. what do you think, sam? >> well, i'm not quite furious, but i would say this. this is very emblematic of where we are today in government. through reapportionment and through districting of various legislative districts, we've created districts which are not subject to competition. and in order to retain your seat, you have to

sam katz. what do you think, sam? >> well, i'm not quite furious, but i would say this.his is very emblematic of where we are today in government. through reapportionment and through districting of various legislative districts, we've created districts which are not subject to competition. and in order to retain your seat, you have to play to your base, and often, whether that's the democratic base or the republican base, that makes it very difficult to find compromise. and we are not finding any compromise here. governor wolf doubled down on his budget, and i'm continually amazed that an m.i.t. phd has a difficult time counting to 103 and 26, which is what you need to get a budget passed. wolf may be right about everything he wants to do, and his principles may be right. but he has to be able to pass a budget. and we're headed towards illinois. the state of pennsylvania is headed in the same direction financially from a credit-rating standpoint and from a national-perception standpoint as one of those states that doesn't work. >> val, you talk to republicans. you run th

on this side, we've got columnist christine flowers, attorney ajay raju, and documentarian sam katz.e've divided up the subjects. let's jump in. we'll start with larry taking a look at education. we all talk about the problems -- the budget holes, the poor test scores, the failing infrastructure, the violence. where do we begin to turn it around? >> well, this might sound counterintuitive, but i think we could learn something from, of all places, cuba and fidel castro. in 1960, fidel castro and che guevara made 1961 the year of education. they had an illiteracy rate of 27%, which is ours, as well. and within a year, they dropped it to 4%. how'd they do it? they had the political will to attack adult literacy. and they closed the schools. brigades of teachers and students went out into peasant fields, taught reading, taught writing. and within a year, it was turned around. and not only that, but today, cuba has the greatest literacy statistics in the world. and i talked to michael nutter's the director of the mayoral commission on literacy, and she said, "we could do that here. we hav

and sam katz, documentarian. >> good morning and happy valentine's day. >> thank you. you too.nor wolf proposes a new state budget while the state doesn't really have one in place right now. now, the democrat is required to present a new spending plan, and he did so, despite the irony of what was happening. wolf wants more education spending, higher taxes. blamed the republicans for the mess. republicans, who control the legislature, say their

on this side, we've got columnist christine flowers, attorney ajay raju, and documentarian sam katz. divided up the subjects. let's jump in. we'll start with larry taking a look at education. we all talk about the problems -- the budget holes, the poor test scores, the failing infrastructure, the violence. where do we begin to turn it around? >> well, this might sound counterintuitive, but i think we could learn something from, of all places, cuba and fidel castro. in 1960, fidel castro and