so the purchaser did to you they are not willing to continue those dealerships. >> the purchaser asked us to develop a strategy to have a competitive world-class dealer body. one of the issues that we had were the approximately 400 dealers who sold less than 50 cars per year, in terms of not being in our world-class specs are you telling us the task force did not tell you that these dealerships that sell fewer than 50 cars per year had to go? >> what i'm saying is that the task force advised us to develop a strategy to have a world-class dealer body properly sized and address what they considereconsider to be considered concerned in their march 30 findings on our viability plan. >> on page five of your testimony, you said and i quote we have not terminated any dealers. do you believe

treasury. >> yes, the purchaser is the largest shareholder is the u.s. treasury. >> and it goes on to say here in your comments to the court, among the dealerships that purchaser is not willing to continue, for example, are those approximately 400 dealers who sell fewer than 50 cars per yea and those approximately 250 dealers who sell fewer than 100 cars per year, approximately 630 other dealerships are not being continued because they are dealers who in whole or substantial parts of brands that are being discontinued. so the question i have is we have been trying to get to the bottom of who is dictating how many dealerships are allowed to go forward for general motors. you told me your under oath that it's the purchaser, i mean that's what you testified in the bankruptcy court, that it was the purchaser who made that decision. and that purchaser is the u.s. treasury. so doesn't that lead us back to the auto task force? making the decision that you're now having to implement. >> the a la mode under the automobile passport as we have gone through this pr

treasury. >> yes, the purchaser is the largest shareholder is the u.s.treasury. >> and it goes on to say here in your comments to the court, among the dealerships that purchaser is not willing to continue, for example, are those approximately 400 dealers who sell fewer than 50 cars per yea and those approximately 250 dealers who sell fewer than 100 cars per year, approximately 630 other dealerships are not being continued because they are dealers who in whole or substantial parts of brands that are being discontinued. so the question i have is we have been trying to get to the bottom of who is dictating how many dealerships are allowed to go forward for general motors. you told me your under oath that gn h@ @ @ @ @ @ @ haámbeaÃs4@ @ others. so the purchaser did to you they are not willing to continue those dealerships. >> the purchaser asked us to develop a strategy to have a competitive world-class dealer body. one of the issues that we had were the approximately 400 dealers who sold less than 50 cars per year, in terms of not being in our world-class

for these families, it could be used toward the purchase of a preowned car could make all the difference. there's a substantial inventory of preowned fuel efficient vehicles on dealer lots available for purchase. these will promote the goals of the program bill increasing the number of fuel efficient veebs on the road. it is important to remember that the livelihood of tens of thousands of americans depend on the used car market. used car sales outnumber new car sales three to one in the u.s. treating cars that meet the same fuel efficiency standards differently based on whether they are new or previously owned effectively picks winners and losers amongst the dealers. given the difficult economic situation faced by all americans, i do not believe it is wise or necessary to reward some americans while punishing others. if we were to expand this bill to include the purchase of previously owned vehicles, it would truly be a win-win as it helps the environment by encourage -- encourage more fuel efficient vehicles and helpese our dependence on foreign oil and provide another incentive to hel

asking for a letter from the government stating that bank of america was ordered to proceed with the purchase of merrill lynch. this is the linchpin of clarifying whether you were threatened by the fed or whether the fed was tough with you because you were threatening to be irresponsible. i want to direct your attention to an e-mail response from the fed's general council to chairman bernanke's e-mail which i previously disclosed. mr. chairman, says, i don't think it's necessary or appropriate for us to give lewis a letter along the lines he asked. first, we didn't order him to go forward. we simply explained our views and what the market reaction would be and left the decision to him. second, making hard decisions is what he gets paid for and only he has full information needed to make the decision so we shouldn't take him off the hook. by appearing to take the decision out of his hands. i'm entering this into the record. >> without objection. >> mr. lewis, is it still your testimony that you don't recall asking for a letter to absolve you of your responsibility for a acquiring merrill lynch

in terms of the purchase of black rock that was a part of your merrill lynch merger, it's my understanding that black rock now valued over $1.3 trillion. and that they've just received 5 no-bid contracts from the federal reserve, among them managing troubled subprime mortgages in the freddie mac and fannie mae portfolios. the people of the united states have through the fed have propped up fanny and freddie to the tune of $200 billion. for the record, can you provide the contract that black rock has with the fed, particularly the one regarding the management of fannie mae and freddie mac's port fort yoes? >> i don't know if i can. we don't run black rock. we have two or three seats on the board, but don't have a ceo or chairman and he doesn't report to anyone in bank of america -- >> you own 49.9%. isn't that a strange relationship. >> we don't own 51%. that would be the difference. >> do you know how much black rock will earn from that contract with the federal reserve to manage fannie and freddie papers. >> no, i don't. >> let me mention, "new york times" wrote the following, can a compa

report on the effects that waivers of the buy america act for the purchase of h.i.v. test kits under the president's emergency plan for aids relief, pepfar, have had on american manufacturers. pepfar, as we know, is one of the largest and most successful foreign assistance programs of our country. and it was re-authorized just last year for an astounding $48 billion over the next five years. expanding access for testing is a vital and core component of pepfar, both in terms of prevention and treatment. and in some cases the purchase of test kits manufactured outside of the outside has been deemed a more cost-effective and efficient means by which to expand testing and access to testing. still some have expressed concern about the impact that those waivers may be having on united states-based manufacturers and questioned whether the purchase of these test kits manufactured abroad really has increased access to testing. thus, an evaluation of this nature may be an appropriate exercise, particularly as the pepfar program scales up to transition from an emergency program t

are you concerned that the risk of the fed purchases will outweigh the benefits? and that's first question. the second question would be this. the fed has said that they will buy up to a maximum of $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities. do you plan to go up to that limit and if so, by when? >> on the first issue, i'm not sure about the correctness of that calculation. because we have a mix of securities, not just ones we purchased recently. but it is not our anticipation to be selling those off on the

the purchase of resources to build the wind turbines to the wind company can take care of the -- the division the tax credit is based on the resources needed to build these. i will concede that the wind is free and some of it is blowing hot in my direction. [laughter] >> there are a lot of numbers being thrown around. you guys are claiming credit for summer jobs that will not be there in three years. >> know. -- no. you should ask as many questions as you want but if the jury gives you a question about -- but if jared is you a question about how one job = two jobs. he gave you the formula for part-time and full-time jobs. >> excuse me. would you then concede that that job will not be there in three years? >> will i concede that the summer drought will not be there in the fall? yes, i would concede. i think jared answered your question. send in the transcript. -- send him the transcript. >> if korea its have to do this, is that a red line? >> i am not part of the attempt for that. >> i have heard some whispers that the president's speech on thursday could help things breed is that the

does this all the time, they combine the purchasing power of the v.a. to purchase for veterans across the nation. yet we don't let individual do that we don't let a small business with only 20 employees do this. that wall placed by insurance companies and by the government leads to higher costs. we ought to allow business to do the same thing the federal government does and use that as a mechanism to drive down costs substantially. mr. kent: -- mr. kirk: one thing you mentioned is the need for public health. that puts forward a critical point missing in the debate. we know of the uninsured, 44.7 million, of the uninsured, 14.7 million are already eligible for public coverage. as we have found -- mr. dent: that's medicaid and schip. mr. kirk: that's right. as we found in the state of massachusetts, when a mandate that everyone has to buy health insurance is put forward, what they have generally found is that a technical and legal solution is not adequate. they thought by putting a health insurance signup machine at the entrance of every emergency room at

in addition, the treasury purchases the preferred stock, and both the treasury and the fed also schedule, are also scheduled to purchase trillions of dollars worth of gse debt and mortgage-backed securities as of may 29th, treasury has purchased $167 billion of gse ombs under the authority act of 2008. and the cbo estimates in march that the gse's title of perk will cost $384 billion. the fed currently holds $81 billion of gse debt and $507 billion of agency mbs. on march 18th, the fed announced its purchase of agency mbss will total $5 billion by the end of the year. also they have issued a credit facility for both gses to provide liquidity. mr. chairman, in conclusion, the magnitude of the gse bailout demands the full engagement of the future of the gses and congress must work to develop a new model for housing finance. some like treasury secretary hank paulson or former secretary paulson have endorsed a public utility model. others, myself included, have proposed shrinking and privateizing the gses. whatever the gse's ultimate fate, we can all agree that the gses cannot continue befor

let me walk you through the decision to purchase merrill lynch. we made the decision in september of 2008. we did so because we saw the potential benefits i just described. we did so without any promise or expectation of governmental support. in-december i was advised merrill lynch raised forecasted losses and recontacted the federal reserve to inform them we had concerns about closing the transaction. as a matter of contract law, this can propel to consummate a deal. federal and treasury reserve asked tus to delay action and expressed significant concerns about the systemic consequences and the risk to bank of america. we explore government support. we both were aware the the system was in fragile condition and a collapse could hasten the crisis. bank of america concluded that proceeding with action with governmental support was the better course. this made sense for bank of america and shareholders. it made sense for the marks. i believe committed people with good intentions in the private sector and the government were desperately hard in late 2

are outstripping the purchases. global recession to worsen, that is according to the world bank. that is why we are asking whether or not there are mixed signals in the economy. and the front page story in the "new york times" focusing on the situation in iran. i ran's most powerful oversight committee announcing that the number of votes recorded in all 50 cities exceeded the number of eligible voters by 3 million. this tarnishes any election that set off the most sustained challenge to iran's leadership and 30 years. even as the powerful guardian council of knowledge to irregularities in the election. he insisted the overall food was valid. we will be talking more about this would john mccain -- he insisted the overall vote was valid. we will be talking with john mccain and bob schieffer. more on the economy as we look at gm, ford and chrysler and the bailout. and this had mine from the " arizona republic" some people are set to survive hard times. the situation in the state's also the budget year will start with a

are you concerned that the risk of the fed purchases will outweigh the benefits? and that's first question. the second question would be this. the fed has said that they will buy up to a maximum of $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities. do you plan to go up to that limit and if so, by when? >> on the first issue, i'm not sure about the correctness of that calculation. because we have a mix of securities, not just ones we purchased recently. but it is not our anticipation to be selling those off on the market in the near term. right now we are financing those mbs which pay cues upon of s co 4% or so using funds which cost us one-fourth of 1%. there is a substantial flow of revenue that will come in that will upset losses that might occur down the road. so we're pretty comfortable. obviously there is issues there. we're pretty comfortable that -- that this will be providing revenue to the treasury. that being said, i think that the first order -- first question is trying to get this economy moving again, and since we took very aggressive actions in the march

the way i feel about health care i think every person should have the opportunity to purchase health re. the american taxpayers spend a heck of a lot of money providing insurance for congressman, to the house and senate, other government employees, and so i think that every american should have the same opportunity that our lawmakers have. i think in universal health insurance were there would be different plans are policies, a person could choose, and the premiums paid by individuals should be based on their income. for example, since people pay for government employees, if a center pay is, his premium is five% of his gross income, then everybody who wants -- what a senator pays, everyone who wants to participate in a public auction, at bthey should pay 5%f their gross income also. host: let's go to a republican line. caller: no matter what we do it will not do any good because when you go to the hospital you have people who cannot afford. we have people who came into our country illegally who have gotten free medical. i think that is the problem. we have enough and our own country w

funding, which we finally did and we are still here today, we would need the help. 70% of the dealers purchasedcars, 30% hadn't and mike quote was something like if you don't buy the cars today, we liquidate, we are gone. if we buy the cars and stay in business at least we have a shot at getting to the end of this and getting money. it's like a bucket brigade and everybody's got a bucket. 70 of you -- >> destin present is fine. >> those of us in the brigade will know which ones are in and which ones aren't, using the peer pressure of all loveless recognizing who is there. absolutely i am a dealer body amount would never threaten a dealer. you can ask anybody in the united states i would never use that pressure, and i promise you under any oath that there was never an aspect, and if you ask the people that did not get approved to go forward, they both equally either bought cars or didn't and that is why we were so insistent on the redistribution program to make sure any dealer that cars would be reimbursed. we added incentives. we had the best sales in february after that, we had a retail month

in fact black rock's assets on our larger with the purchase of lashingly's than the federal reserve system itself. black rock although not bank is getting too big to fail perhaps? is black rock favoritism an example of how we should be rebuilding our financial system? paul krugman thinks not. i wish to place his editorial in the record tonight in which he states in short, mr. obama has a clear vision of what went wrong. but aside from regulating shadow banking, no small thing to be sure, his plan basically punts on the question of how to keep it from happening all over again, pushing the hard decisions off to future regulators. now is not the time to punt. it's the time for reform. the time has been not as ripe since roosevelt. we really need a president who will lead and

that traded in risk itself, lenders and real estate professionals who sidestepped the practice, homeowners, whose purchases exceeded their pocketbooks. the rest is central in this crisis, much of what led to the financial meltdown was the result of a failure to properly invest -- assess the risks, risks to investors, risk to home owners and the economy at large. there are those who intended to defraud others. in part, the sub prime lending crisis they have been more a matter of greed. the prevailing thought process seems to be that everyone is making money, why should we miss the boat? when it did, some tried to patch the holes with tape, and bail out the water with dixie cups. the fbi plays a role in addressing this crisis. we do so with two distinct ways. first, we are investigating those with criminal responsibility, four aspects of the current crisis. second, we are using intelligence to prevent new threats on the horizon. in this way, we can better promote and help the growth of the economy. we start by talking about mortgage fraud. we are currently investigating more than 2400 mortgage fraud matters,

the federal reserve is creating inflation concerns through its massive asset purchase program. the fed plans to purchase $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, $200 billion in freddie mac and fannie mae debt, and $300 billion in treasury bills this year. since not enough people apparently want to buy the treasury bills at lower interest rates the federal reserve is stepping in and buying them in an attempt to keep the rate done. so far, the fed has purchased $481 billion in mortgage-backed securities, $130 billion in treasuries. the intense of the program is to reduce the treasury yields and interest rates but some say it may be backfire. a "forbes".co forbes.com articls could have a different impact, could actually cause inflation rather than -- and even cause a rise in treasury bond yields. this is what he said: -- quote -- "this can become counterproductive to the extent that you stoke inflation fears and you get an inflation-risk premium built in to the bond yields, you can't ease that away. you do have to be careful and more measured than that." in other words, when

you downloaded, there is a 9.1 cents for the purchase, and the song can become a hit and suddenly you're on the radio and generating performance in come from radio play. if the jets synchronized to a commercial, or forgets synchronize and a film or television show, there will be different ways that performance in come can be earned from that. we have some challenges. currently, one of our big issues is that when you download a piece of music in the u.s., like other territories around the world, there isn't performance income for download. you get a mechanical if you download a song, but if you download a tv show or a film, the composer does not get a mechanical, and the composer does not get any performance. the blood made their living composing for film and tv are really very concerned about this. this is one of the legislative priorities as both the performing rights organizations collect performance and come in the u.s.. they're very concerned about it. they're going to be looking for potentially legislative solutions, and there is also on appeal because this is the result of a court

earlier today i was pleased to announce $34.4 million additional funding for the purchase of new metro cars. this was the last installment in the three-year $104 million commitment. however, only a steady measured stream of funding will help make the investments needed to reassure the commuters, locals and tourists, families and all americans who ride metro that the system is as safe as it can possibly be and reliable. i find it unacceptable that the transit system in our nation's capital does not have enough resources to improve safety and update the infrastructure. while we may not no the cause of the collision for some time, it shined a spotlight on the dire node for improvements in upgrades to the metro's infer treasure. again, on behalf of all colleagues i extend deep oath sympathies to all those affected by the horrific accidents and families of loved ones and those killed. i hope my colleagues will join together, working with the virginia senators and maryland senators to ensure that this body does everything it can to make sure that a similar tragedy is never repeated. madam pr

>> the treasury was involved as a purchaser but they were not involved in individual decisions on what the exact number should be. >> so you will knowledge that that decision was a decision you make, not the white house. >> yes sir. >> it was not made by the white house. it was made by our company, chrysler. >> so the basic question is not just a matter of fairness, although i agree with my colleagues on that. it is a matter of business judgment. somebody is right and somebody is wrong. you gentleman on behalf of your companies have come to the conclusion of closing down dealers, including dealers in good standing who have done a good job for a long time, in some cases, generations. . generations it is in the interest of the company to close them down; is that right? >> in our case is this the only way we will survive, and forward. >> there's obviously evidence that has presented the pos dealers arnall costing money but actually can be a lifeline to reenergize sales in their local communities, so you are going to bear the responsibility if in bear the responsibility if in fact it turns

want to make sure that i understand when mergers are going up, buyouts are taking place, what the purchases are being forced to do by anybody. i want to understand that better and i will continue to try and pursue that. >> i think the chairman would say in the savon pay grill legislation in different proposals there's often a separate vote on the golden parachutes and exactly that merger transaction. >> the gentleman from texas. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. sperling, in your testimony you said that you over going to put the president's working group and provide an annual review for compensation practices of the government can monitor whether they are creating excess risk. how will that work? how will you determine compensation is actually creating access risks? >> i think the reason secretary geithner felt that it was good to put this on the agenda, and it's the same reason you hear mr. alvarez talking about it from the federal reserve's perspective that we have all learned painfully that compensation is closely related to the safety and sound obligation, not only the federal reserve but

company in the world through the aggressive acquisition of other financial institutions including the purchase of merrill lynch last year. but something went terribly wrong with the merrill lynch acquisition. nearly enough to bring bank of america down. taxpayers now own $45 billion in preferred shares and warrants in bank of america. that money was committed by treasury department and the federal reserve and mr. lewis is here today as the c.e.o. of bank of america thanks to the commitment of those funds through a seer as of events that unfolded through the end of december 2008 and into early january 2009. due to the secretive and unaccountable conduct of the fed throughout its interventions addressing the current financial crisis, many questions about the bank of america-merrill lynch deal and bailout have until today remained unanswered. some of the key questions have been, were the merrill lynch losses that precipitated bank of america's distress call to the treasury on december 17th the first such accelerating losses bank of america observed at merrill lynch since agreeing to purchase the

madam president, it would create a 30% tax credit on the purchase of products that have earned the environmental protection agency's water sense label. there would be a maximum cap of $1,500, but that's a handsome incentive for us as consumers. now, like the energy star label, it's awarded by the e.p.a. and the department of energy. the water sense label would be reserved for products that consume at least 20% less water than comparable items. now these products are becoming much more common. they include many brands of faucets, toilets, shower heads, even irrigation services. the predictions are that soon entire homes will become water-sense certified. it's not only a bonus for the environment when you conserve water, but it's helpful to our wallets. the cheapest gallon of water, just like the cheapest barrel of oil, is the one you don't use. and it's estimated by the e.p.a. that with some simple adjustments in the way that we use water, the average household could save close to $200 a year on their water an sewer -- and sewer bills. there is an interesting nexus between water an energy use. if

as the purchasing agent for the concern and of the supply chain our industry understands it is vital to ensure that the fda have necessary authority and resources to meet the challenges of today's global marketplace. consumer confidence remains an essential factor in this debate, food safety issues can be extremely complex and consumers weary greatly in their knowledge of the science and other issues affecting the safety of our food supply. however, as food safety issues drawn national headlines consumer awareness is well concern about the safety of commercially prepared food and products purchased at the supermarket tie-ins. mr. chairman, i applaud you, chairman waxman and all members of the committee for your efforts to address changes needed to improve our food safety system. we support many of the proposals in the draft by emphasizing the need to have preventive measures been the foundation on which the food safety system should be built. the draft also recognized we need to focus on a majority of resources on facilities and products that pose greatest risk of contamination that

knowing that the orders are coming. when we purchasedbus, we don't ask the grantee to give all the money up front. they outlay the money to the grantee when the bus is delivered. that is not to say that people aren't working on that manufacturing line. the outlays come when the bus is delivered. so i think that's an important point over on the overall issue of outlays. the only thing i would add, mr. chairman, is consistent with your guidance on reporting requirements. we are adhering to each and every element of both the letter and spirit of that law. we have a good system in place. we feel that the grantees are cooperating. like i said, they have various levels of sophistication, but where are they our computers we are helping them. so i think we are on track. thanks very much. >> thank you. that's an excellent report. very uplifting, and i will return to the subject, the process in the time reserved for questioning. the acting deputy administrator, federal highway administration. >> chairman, members of the committee, thank you for th

bankruptcy filing the purchased sale agreement suggested we would have to reduce the total amount of the liabilities by two-thirds. the management had the responsibility to allocate the two-thirds reduction so as part of doing that we identified a plan with respect to the salary, excuse me, executive retirees come any executive retiree whose combined qualified and benefit was less than $100,000 they would be unaffected and to the extent their benefits in total were more than $100,000, the extent of the unqualified plan would be reduced by two-thirds. .. >> have to be returned to general motors in the trait? >> yes, sir. >> of those dealers going forward or lost, a close, what happens if they don't sign it? >> first of all, 96% as of this morning had either signed it or verbally said it is coming in. we anticipate a high percentage of those dealers will signed those. in the event that they don't the contracts will not be assumed by the new company and they would be rejected. >> they would be out of business anyway. >> any financial incentives in the wind down the agreement would be lo

americas and then at last week's meeting of the o.a.s., was a culmination of years of preparation in the purchase and cultivation of advocates and defenders by fidel castro. castro's defenders know full well that chapter 2, article 3-d of the charter of the organization of american states requires the existence of representative democracy in all of the countries of our hemisphere and that the interamerican democratic charter of 2001 carefully spells out the collective steps to be taken when an american republic's democracy is even threatened. they know that cuba under castro is the only country in our hemisphere where free elections have not been held in over 50 years and where dungeons are full of nonviolent political prisoners hob subjected to hell on earth each day of their lives. they know that under castro, cuba is a personal estate, an island estate, a ranch, a personal landholding or home stead, a totalitarian fiefdom owned by one man with a brother who enjoys the title of head of state and carefully carries out his brother's orders. at the o.a.s. meeting of last week, we witnessed an exam

its role should be very clear to people, it is to keep inflation low and to maintain the purchasing power of our currency and to try to make the economy stable. that is its goal. the more it can do that goal, the better. " cut the answer your question? caller: they felt that what he just said. if he said that their goal is to go ahead and maintain stability and keep low inflation, they have failed. guest: let me answer that. that is another question is, have they failed. as i was talking to steve a few minutes ago, there were some problems in keeping interest rates way low, and that accelerated the housing boom and led to the bus and i think that was part of the financial crisis. there is no question, in my view. although we are still debating the cause of the crisis. i think the lessons from that is don't do the same thing again. make sure that you do take care of the threats of inflation, make sure the actions are taken and i think we will be much better off as a result, and in fact, we did have good economic performance in much of the 1980's and 1990's, long expansions and very short,

the purpose of this legislation is to put movement into the purchasing of new automobiles. it is a targeted way to give incentives to americans to buy cars, get them back in the showrooms, and start moving the inventory. start creating demand and create a more positive feeling. are there better ways to have written this? yes. i think we could have spent more time, but that is the case in almost every bill that comes before us. some have argued, wrote this just came up in the congress committee. -- in the conference committee. i will concede, i will wish that the bill had been debated and passed here. we did not have the opportunity to do it. this is an opportunity that can make a profound difference. has this con sept -- has as concept ever been tried? it was tried in germany where they offered $3,300 to concern is to replace old cars with new ones. at the end of the program's first month, car sales dramatically increased by 21%. the bad news, the same month in the automobile sales went down by 41%. germany knew how to create a surge in purchasing by consumers with similar l

that estimate preliminarily reflects subsidies the would be provided to the purchase coverage through the new insurance exchanges which would amount to nearly $1.3 trillion. the average subsidy per exchange would rise from roughly $5,000 in 2015 to $6,000 in 2019. now there are savings calculated in here so the net number becomes $1 trillion. the proposal wouldn't change the treatment of insurance premiums never the last reduction and number of people receiving employer based off insurance coverage will to to the current wall projections would affect the government's tax revenues because the total compensation costs are determined by market forces. cbo joint task staff estimates of the forms of compensations would rise buy roughly the amount of any reduction and employers' health insurance costs. employers' payments for health insurance our task tax-deferred but most of sitting changes compensation would come in the ford of taxable wages and salaries as a result the shift in the compensation would bring about by about -- whereabouts by the proposal would cost tax revenues to rise to e

you cannot do it without actually understanding the purchase and power of images of all kind, not just high art images. and then as the years went down and i mentioned that, i am very happily and gratefully toured in harvard. i came to think on the one hand, art history couldn't really be taught or consumed altogether without understanding the rest of the world that china produced a. i'm not somebody who believes you simply, picasso, rembrandt, leonardo altogether. they are what they are, but it is very important to understand the kind of humanist as it were, the kind of soil bed from which produced this particular work in that particular language. equally, it is impossible to history, especially history of the 20th and 21st history. any history from the printed image or maybe any history since the time bibles began to be eliminated without seeing images and aztecs images are sent as text images. that is how we are. we are late which animals but we are visual animals also. the two things and married each other and what they give birth to is our culture. [applause] >> thank you very muc

a song, you know, you download it, there's 9.1 cents for the purchase or the mechanical, and then a song can become a hit and suddenly you're on the radio, and you're generating performance income from radio play and if it gets synchronized to a commercial or if it gets synchronized in a film or television show, there will be different ways that performance income can be earned from that. we have some challenges. there's some, there's currently one of our big issues in the u.s. is the fact that when you download a piece of music in the u.s. unlike in most other territories around the world, there isn't performance income for download. there's that -- you get the mechanical if you download a song, but if you download a tv show, or if you download a film, the composer does not get a mechanical, and the composer doesn't get any performance. so people that have made their living composing for film and tv are really very, very concerned about this. and this is one of the, one of the legislative priorities that we have as both the performing rights organizations, bmi who collect performance in

you cannot do it without understanding the purchase and power of images of all kind, not just high art images. and then as the years went by and i mentioned that of course i very happily and greatly taught at hear varmint i came to think that on the one hand art history can't be taught without understanding the rest of the world that produced it. i'm not somebody that believes you simply dissolve picasso or manet so they become a kind of stock exchange but it is important to understand the kind of soil bet from which produced these -- soil bed which produceed the work and the language. equally, it is impossible to do history, especially history of the 20th and 21st century but i don't know any history since the printed image or any history since bibles began to be illuminated without sees images as important as text. images are text, text are images. that's how we are. we're language animals but visual animals, too. the two things marry each other and what they give birth is to our culture. [applause] >> thank you very much for coming. [inaudible conversations] >> simon schama is an ar

the house bill would subsidize the purchase of a new hummer, or new ram. talks about a companion bill in the senate which they say is better. but the bill being pushed for the auto industry is bad policy. it's as these bills are expertly designed to provide it detroit one last windfall to sell off gas-guzzlers' currently sitting on dealer lots. guest: nothing is perfect, right? my bill would have been a little different. but you must work with your colleagues. the bill that we passed in my committee the do you know the committee well in terms of a balance between democrats and republicans. 50-4. then, on the house floor, an amendment, better than a two- thirds vote -- a hummer -- one of the provisions was that your car has to have worse than 18 miles per gallon. as we think about hummers, most of those would use the head as a stereotype and gets less than 80 miles per gallon but the new car or a police car has to be at least four mpg better. -- or those lease car. if you want to take full advantage id should be a 10 mile per gallon differential. if you tur

denise administers the purchase of 200 million doses of polio vaccine and routinely serves as a field consultant in polio hotspots around the world. she is in kenya taking the fight of polio to the frontlines. 20 years ago there were 350,000 cases of porch lio in 25 countries, today there are fewer than 2,000 cases. that is 350,000 cases down to 2,000 cases. because of the diligent work performed by denise and the rest of her team, it is only a matter of time before the disease no longer threatens our world's children. madam president, denise is just one of so many federal employees who dedicated years of their lives to serving the greater goosmed she and her team are truly engaged in what president obama has called -- quote -- "repairing the world." unquote. their work saves lives an helps

from the purchase of troubled assets to improvements in infrastructure, healthcare, energy, education, even a small percentage of fraud would result in substantial, substantial taxpayer losses. we must collect the intelligence necessary to target the potential waste and abuse at all levels, and we must do so before it fully developed. to that and we must be able to follow the money all the way down the line. we are working with the sec, the inspector general for the tarp, other multi- agency task forces and inspectors general to identify where these funds are going and for what purpose. we want to ensure that these funds will be appropriately utilized, and we will investigate and prosecute where necessary. our goal is to protect the financial services industry and by extension, the economy. to that end, we will continue to target those with the opportunity and the intent to harm and bester conference and the public at large. one certainly does not need to be a roosevelt scholar to know that in his opinion, common sense was as important as education, kerch of one's convictions should a

the purchase tamoxifen a widely used breast cancer drug, this was 10 years ago, they paid one-tenth the price that they paid in vermont than in the united states. i will never forget with tears in their eyes, working-class woman struggling for their lives did not have enough money to buy medicine and they paid in one-tenth the price an hour from where they were living in the saint albans area in vermont. so i think there is little doubt in my mind that if we as a nation think we can eat fruits and vegetables that come from a developing country from farms and mexico and china and the idea we cannot properly import medicine from canada to come to the united kingdom from major developed countries with the help of the fda you can't have a paper trail to make sure these products are safe isn't to me. we have been involved for 15 years. i think this is one way. i hear my friends, i'm not a great exponent of unfettered free trade. but to his credit center mccain is, this is a free trade issue so if you can import food from all over the world and all kinds of products, why in god's name cannot

the measure will offer consumers who treat high fuel consumption vehicles cash vouchers toward the purchase of and more fuel efficient car from today's washington charnel this is 25 minutes >> host: corey boles covers congress for dow jones newswires and also appears in "the wall street journal" and we are here this morning to talk about the cash for clunkers provision that was part of legislation passed last week in the senate. what is this going to mean to the auto industry? >> guest: i think what the lawmakers hope it means is a boost to flagging sales. as we all know the sale of the auto industry, chrysler, gm and large extent ford are facing this recession so but this would do is essentially provide cash incentive to people to trade and older and heavier vehicle and buy new cars off the lot so they get rid of some of the huge backlog of cars that exists right now. >> host: you had a good graphic company in an article you did last week with your colleague at "the wall street journal," john schmidle, about what the provisions would do and have a look at it here. the requirement for the t

billion under the house plan for cars and trucks sold in 1984 to be turned in for a voucher for the purchase of a car that has better fuel economy. to qualify for the $3,500 voucher a passenger car would have to get at least 4 miles per gallon more than the trade-in vehicle, qualify for a $4,500 voucher you have to get at least 10 miles per gallon more. when looking at small trucks to get $3,500 is 2 miles per gallon more. 5 miles per gallon more for $4,500. it goes on to other vehicles classes as well. good morning, on the madrid independent line. caller: good morning. i was going to give him a c, but i will probably go down to a d. while they are paying back money we still have the same systemic problems in banks beforas before crisis. nothing has changed. the burden of the bad loans in the transactions have been shifted to the taxpayers. we have eaten those bad debts, but nothing has changed to regulate these folks. we will end up in the same mess again. host: louisiana on at our democrats' line. caller: good morning, i give president and his administration an a +. they have been doing a