oprah winfrey, sam walton, colin powell. jay-z. newt gingrich, elizabeth warren. why? what's that supposed to be? >> the structure of the book was difficult. it was crucial i get it right. to tell the story in a panoramic way but also intimately. i needed the main characters but i needed to show what was happening to the top of society, among the vip celebrities influencing parts of our cultures. from politics, there's newt gingrich who more than any other single figure, created the toxic atmosphere of the politics we're used to now in america. >> found this moment, not this specific moment, but the idea in your book and get you to comment on this. >> i help to pay in donations for conservation that the national zoo asks for. they're on permanent loan. and they'll grow to be much, much bigger, ten feet long. and the second thing was a local corporation, came to washington and i went out the fly down with the two dragons, i thought this was going to be one of the highlights of my career. and they were in the kind of bags you carry sneakers in. they were -- they were muc

oprah winfrey, sam walton, colin powell. jay-z. newt gingrich, elizabeth warren. why? what's that supposed to be? >> the structure of the book was difficult. it was crucial i get it right. to tell the story in a panoramic way but also intimately. i needed the main characters but i needed to show what was happening to the top of society, among the vip celebrities influencing parts of our cultures. from politics, there's newt gingrich who more than any other single figure, created the toxic atmosphere of the politics we're used to now in america. >> found this moment, not this specific moment, but the idea in your book and get you to comment on this.

. >> and other man you write about -- another man you write about is sam walton.and he had a dream of being a store owner will stop and owner of chain stores. he build walmarts into the worlds biggest retail -- world's biggest retail provider. he represents a particular kind of business. become as america has manufacturing has declined. walmart push prices down to the point where manufacturers could not meet its demands. walmart turns to china for its products and american manufacturers outsourced their work will stop walmarts is an economy in which wages and prices are low. it is a consumer economy. it is a cheap economy. it is the economy of small towns around the country. dean price and try to make it as an entrepreneur and was in direct competition with walmart. he found that he could not compete. the big box stores were waste to main street in the old town of the carillon that p mont -- carolina piedmont where he grew up. 30% ofwaltons are worth the american people. six waltons. >> they had the good luck of being his heirs. he built the company. on kelly's de

i also was interested in this recurring pattern that you see with gingrich, oprah, jay-z, sam walton, people who begin in very humble places and are not unlike the main characters, but to reinvent themselves as something new and find a new language and new idea that is riveting to americans. through that, they build an empire. they cannot stop building it. it is almost like an imperative for the corporation, you have to keep growing, even as a person or brand. eventually, a sort of decadence sets in where the language becomes a sort of parody of itself. i know longer seem to be producing something good. --y just continue to produce gingrich writes book after book, oprah is on the cover of every issue of her magazine -- they become celebrities we are familiar with who dominate our imaginations and in a way have come to replace the institutions that have faltered in this time. >> george packer intertwines the struggles of three americans whose american way of life has failed them, tonight at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a." >> next it is "washington journal." elise viebeck joins us to discuss th

sam walton was the founder. six heirs now worth $89.5 billion in 2010.e as the bottom 41.5% of the u.s. families combined according to josh bivens of the economic political institute that's $48.8 million households in total. that's households combined. those six walmart heirs are worth more than 100 million americans. >> almost half of the people living in this country. >> cenk: and then as eric pointed out fox news will go on the air and say oh, they'll go bankrupt, these poor walmart guys. they'll go bankrupt. if they pay a living wage. >> what can you do with that much money? >> one last point. so one other point they're not going to build these three stores. if this is such a catastrophe to their business models why are they keeping the other three stores open. if this is going to wipe them out, why are they not closing down all six stores. this is bullying and doesn't reflect what the implications on one of the world's largest companies. >> target, costco, this applies to them as well. none of them are closing up shop. and by the way, if you're a co

walmart is in a tizzy over the washington living wage demands, despite the heirs of founder sam waltony socking away almost $116 billion. you have to ask, how much is enough when no matter what you have is never enough? which brings us to mcdonald's. the fast food giant's new ceo don thompson was just awarded a pay package of nearly $14 million. now, perhaps that helps explain why mcdonald's has set up a website with visa, to show its full-time workers how to get by on the minimum wage it pays, which turns out to be a little over $1,100 a month. all you have to do, they say, is get a second job, and not spend any money on food because presumably you can live on the crumbs from don thompson's table. that's a lot of leftover chicken mcnuggets. clearly, the owners of capital are determined to wring even greater wealth from the sweat ofwoers, deepening our spin into economic inequality, until, and unless, in solidarity, those workers stand up like baldemar velasquez and demand a fair wage for a hard day's work. >>> as the world knows, trayvon martin was stalked and shot to death by an arme

>> our company was founded by one of the greatest entrepreneurs, sam walton started the five and 10. we just utter 50th anniversary, built one of of the greatest stories in american business. that spirit is alive and the company today that it is what we encourage all across the business. we seek out people who want to grow their business with us. partnerships with companies and municipalities that want to do interesting and unique things. one of my favorite quotes from sam was, swim upstream. not complying with the conventional wisdom. there is an opportunity the other way. that is a comp -- that is how we are made up from a dna perspective. that is what the country is. this country is about opportunity and energy and entrepreneurs, individuals trying to make their lives better and their communities while they are doing that. know you do this. you have a strong believe that entrepreneurship contributes to social cohesion. >> this is such a gorgeous question i love this. as president obama talked about about this great country being a nation of doers. is abouteurship hopefulness and o

walmart started by sam walton has grown so large as to make it very difficult for today's entrepreneurse against it. but the business was born in a competitive marketplace, and that's the same environment, not the halls of government, in which walmart should have to justified its continued success. in other words, if consumers believe that walmart destroys more jobs than it creates, or that walmart causes its own employees to require public assistance, or makes it impossible for mom and pop businesses to compete on main street, they should vote with their wallets. walmart is nothing without the consumers who support it. but the solution is not for government to single out an american business, any american business, for punitive treatment. d.c. mayor vincent gray should use his power and veto the bill. i personally don't like the way these box stores homogenize all of our home towns. when each has a walmart, a rite aid, mcdonald's and starbucks, they lose their individual identity. but the market should sort that out. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation"

i also was interested in the current pattern that you see with gingrich, oprah z, and sam walton. people who begin and humble laces and are not unlike the main characters. they sort of reinvent themselves as something new and find a which is a new idea that is riveting. through that, they built an empire. and they cannot stop building did. they dislike an imperative. you have to keep growing. -- it is like an imperative. eventually, it's order decadence sets in where the language becomes the parody of itself. they no longer seem to be producing something good. continue to produce. gingrich urges continued to write a book after book. oprah winfrey is on the cover of every magazine of her -- is on the cover of every of her magazine. it does come to replace the institution that has faltered in this time. >> george packer intertwines the lives of three americans. that's tonight at 8:00 on "q&a." is scheduled to meet to discuss proposed changes to the filibuster of executive nominees. democrats said republicans are using the filibuster to block many upper the obama's nominees. these in

good people who really begin -- sam walton. people who really begin in humble places and are not like the main characters, dean, tammy, but who reinvent themselves as something new and find a new language and a new idea that is riveting to americans. and through that, they build an empire. and they can't stop the ling it. it is almost like an imperative -- can't stop building it. it's almost like imperative. eventually, a sort of decadence sets in where the language becomes a kind of parody of itself and they no longer seem to be producing something good. they just continue to produce. gingrich just keeps writing book after book. opera is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. so they become the celebrities that we are now familiar with who are just dominating our imaginations in a way that have come to replace the institutions that have faltered in this time. >> george packer intertwines the struggles of three americans whose american way of life has failed them sunday at 8:00 on c-span's "q and a &a."man -- "q ben berna

was interested in this recurring pattern you see with opera and newt gingrich and semel and -- sam walton. people didn't -- people begin in humble places. themselves as something new and find a a newand idea -- and find language and idea. through that, they build an empire. they cannot stop building it aired it is like it is an apparent it. you have to keep growing. as a person, as a brand, you have to keep growing. eventually, a decadence sits in with the language becomes a parody of itself during they no longer seem to be producing something good. --e continue to produce gingrich keeps writing book after book. opera is on every issue of her magazine. they become celebrities where from here with, who dominate our imaginations anyway -- and have come to replace the institutions who have faltered. >> george packer intertwines the struggles of three americans &a.day at 8:00 on c-span's q >> some insist upon the idea that women could not predict the role in entering into the white house, but i found one observer who commented at the 186 or oh election that started with mr. lincoln when he wa

was interested in this recurring pattern which you see with gingrich, which you see rah, jay-z, sam walton -- people who begin in humble places. they are not unlike the main characters, but they sort of reinvent themselves as something new and find a new language and riveting tohat is americans. and through that, they build an empire. and they can't shop building it. almost like an imperative, like a corporation. you have to keep growing. as a person, as a brand, you have to keep growing. but eventually a decadence sets and where the language becomes kind of a parody of itself. they no longer seem to be producing something good. they just continue to produce. gingrich just keeps writing book after book. the cover of every issue of her magazine. so, they become celebrities that we are now familiar with, we just dominate our imaginations. and in a way, have come to replace the institutions that have faltered. intertwines the struggles of three americans whose american way of life has ailed them, sunday at 8:00 p.m. on the stand's "q&a." that garminem was did not understand -- that was his bl

i was interested in the recurring pattern you see with newt gingrich, oprah, jay-z, sam walton.ple begin in humble places and not unlike the main characters but sort of reinvent themselves as something new and find a new language and idea that is proving to americans. through that, they build an empire. they cannot stop building it. it is almost like an imperative with a corporation that you have to keep growing. as a person and a brand you have to keep growing. eventually, a sort of decadence sets in where the language becomes a parody of itself. they no longer seem to be producing something good. they just continue to produce. newt gingrich keeps writing a book after book. oprah is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. they become a celebrity as we are familiar with who dominate our imaginations and in a way have come to replace the institutions that have faltered in this time. >> he intertwines the struggle of three americans whose american way of life has failed them on sunday at 8:00. >> someone touched upon the idea that women could not entering intorole the white h

was interested in this recurring pattern which you see with gingrich, you see with oprah, jay-z sam waltonpeople who really began in very humble flaces and are not unlike the main places, dean, tammy, but who sort of reinvent selvthem as something new and find a new language and a new idea that is riveting to americans. and through that they build an empire. and they can't stop building it. there's almost like an imperative like with a corporation you have to keep growing, even as a person, as a brand you have to keep growing. but sort of a deck dance sets in where the language becomes a kind of parity of itself and they no longer seem to be producing something good. they just continue to produce. gingrich just keeps writing book after book. oprah is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. so they become the celebrities that we are now familiar with who are just dominate our imaginations and in a way have come to replace the institutions that have faltered n this period of time. host: on the screen joining us from new york is mark ginsberg former middle east adviser to president carte

i also was interested in the recurring pattern that you see with opera and jc and sam walton, people who really began in very humble places and they are not unlike the main ones that reinvent themselves as something new and finding new language that is riveting to americans. through that, they build an empire and they cannot stop that. it is almost like you have to keep growing as a person or a brand. eventually it sort of sets in order becomes a parody of itself and in the longer seem to be producing something good. they just continue to produce book after book. oprah is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. so they become this celebrity that we are familiar with, those that dominate our imaginations in a way that come to replace institutions that have faltered in its period of time. >> george packer talks about free americans whose american way of life has failed on sunday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2 "q&a." >> now a house homeland security hearing on the boston marathon bombings and the domestic counterterrorism efforts are among the witnesses include rudy giuliani and director

i also was interested in this recurring pattern which you see and oprah and with jay-z and sam walton. begin very eally humble places and are not unlike characters, but who reinvent themselves as something new and find a new idea that is new riveting to americans. hrough that they build an empire. and they can't stop building it. almost like imperative like with a corporation you have to keep growing. as a person or brand you have to going but then the language becomes a parody and they no to be producing something good. they are just continuing to produce. gingrich writes book after book. oprah is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. so, they become the celebrities hat we are familiar with who are dominating our imaginations and in a way have come to the institutions that have faltered in this period of time. intertwines the struggles of three americans whose american way of life has tonight at 8:00 on "q&a." senators have been invited to a meeting monday at 6:00 p.m. in chamber.senate they will discuss changes to senate rules for filibusters. same issue came up in 2005 when

this recurring pattern which you see with gingrich and you see with oprah and you see with jc and sam walton. people who really begin in very humble places and are not unlike the main characters but to sort of reinvent themselves as something new and find a new language and a new idea that is riveting to americans. through that they build an empire and they can't stop doling it. it's almost like an imperative with the corporation. you have to keep growing even as a person. as a brand you have to keep growing but eventually sort of decadence that then where the language becomes a parody in itself and they no longer seem to produce something good. they just continue to produce. gingrich just keeps writing book after book. oprah was on the cover of every issue of her magazine and so they become the celebrities that we are now familiar with who are just dominating our imaginations and in a way have come to replace the institutions that have faltered in this period of time. now his senate foreign relations committee confirmation hearings for several state department nominees. among the nominees f

interested in this recurring pattern, which you see with gingrich, with oprah, with jay-z, with sam waltonpeople who begin in humble places and are not unlike the main characters, but who sort of reinvent themselves as something new, and find a new language and a new idea that is riveting to americans. through that, they build an empire, and they cannot stop building it. it is almost an imperative, like a corporation. as a person, as a brand, you have to keep growing. eventually, a sort of evidence sets in, where the language becomes a. the of itself, and they no longer seem to be producing something good. gingrich keeps writing book after book. opera is on the cover of every issue of her magazine. they become the celebrities we are now familiar with. ,hey dominate our imaginations and in a way have come to replace the institutions that have faltered. intertwines the struggles of three americans whose american way of life has failed them, sunday at 8:00. click senate majority leader harry reid says he has the 51 votes needed to change senate rules on the filibuster. democrats say republica