tom freedman, and former adviser to george w.ush and co-founder of no labels, an organization for putting partisan aside in politics. welcome to all of you. happy end of summer, that's what this means as i said, and the challenges await us as we get into the fall are pretty steep. here is the context of this debate that we're having in politics and the debate about the economy. the unemployment numbers that came out in august have kept unemployment at 9.1%. no job growth in august. a pretty bleak headline. these are the projections that the white house has released, keeping unemployment at 9% through the election year. they project it comes down to 7.8% by 2014. something caught my eye this weekend. howard rosen from the peterson institute of economics and "the new york times" said this is not just a jobless recovery, it's a recovery-less recovery. the book, tom, talks about what's holding america back, talks about fears of america's decline. with that backdrop, what is the major point and framing of this book? >> david, what i a

bob minzesheimer, having tom freedman's name on a book, does that sell it automatically? >> indeed. yes. a columnist for the new york times and a proven track record of best-selling books on policy issues. he has a knack of writing about policy in ways that you don't need to be a policy want to appreciate and understand. conservatives would you him as a liberal, but i think he is fairly open-minded to other points of view. >> tom brokaw is booked. time of our lives, a conversation about america. did you want to add something? >> oh, yes. tom friedman speaks to set specific employment shall and powerful audiences. you will see his book being read in the first-class section of all your airplane rides. it is such a fascinating demographic. his book's release print. i love watching that happen. >> bob minzesheimer, a book on the list that caught our attention that we wanted to ask you about. harriet washington's upcoming book in october. "deadly monopolies." >> i have not read it. i have read about it. as much as i and a stand it is about the pharmacy industry patents on, for instance,