tom friedman, kathleen parker. marc morial. welcome to all of you and merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> i suspect, tom brokaw, that families are getting together on this holiday, and there's gifts and there's good times but there's probably a little talk about where things are. in their family, in their community, and in the country. and if you look at one key indicator, it's pretty downcast. the direction of the country. and look at the polling from "the wall street journal"/nbc news poll. nearly 7 in 10 americans think the country is headed on the wrong track, in the wrong direction, and as economic anxiety seems to make this so much deeper than other periods of turmoil. >> well, that's because economic confidence, and economic security is the underpinning of well-being in the country. in 1968, which i loved through, there was enormous turmoil. but everyone could get a job. we still had a manufacturing base in this country. and even though we had guns going on in vietnam there was a lot of mone

and tom friedman, you've talked about this as being more than a foreign policy story. this, you know, represents tar irsquare and the arab spring. but there's something larger that's companying in the economy all over the world that affects president obama's re-election chance. >> we're seeing the democratization of so many things. we're seeing the democratization of information, which means democratization of weaponry, is everyone is becoming super empowered. we're seeing the democratization of innovation. tiny groups can now take on big companies and most of all we're seeing the democratization of expectation. everyone, whether you're in tahrir square or india or israel or wall street feels they're entitled to the same rights, participation and justice. and when all these people feel this, you've got just enormous energy now coming from the bottom up and i think it's going to be a huge leadership challenge for everyone to meet these expectations. it's what i feel about, you know, the arab spring sometimes when i look at what's unfolding there nowadays, it is that i f

tom friedman, kathleen parker. marc morial. ristmas. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> i suspect, tom brokaw, that families are getting together on this holiday, and there's gifts and there's good times but there's probably a little talk about where things are. in their family, in their community, and in the country. and if you look at one key indicator, it's pretty downcast. the direction of the country. and look at the polling from "the wall street journal"/nbc news poll. nearly 7 in 10 americans think the country is headed on the wrong track, in the wrong direction, and as economic anxiety seems to make this so much deeper than other periods of turmoil. >> well, that's because economic confidence, and economic security is the underpinning of well-being in the country. in 1968, which i loved through, there was enormous turmoil. but everyone could get a job. we still had a manufacturing base in this country. and even though we had guns going on in vietnam there was a lot of money around. now, you have homeowners

tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark politics in the new year. okaw, tom friedman, mark morial and kathleen i joined the navy when i was nineteen. i spent four years in the military and i served a tour in iraq. all the skills that i learned in the military are very transferable into the corporate and real world. chase hired me to be a personal banker. the 100,000 jobs mission has definitely helped me get my foot in the door. chase is giving opportunities to vets who don't think that there's any opportunity out there. chase and these other companies are getting a great deal when they hire veterans. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. few years, up to 1 million new teachers will be needed as baby boomers retire. who's up for the job? you can have a remarkable impact on the life of a child... the more you know.

you got an endorsement from tom friedman who wrote this.rite it down, americans elect, what amazon.com did to books what the ipad did to music, what drugstore.com did to pharmacies america elects plans to do to the two-party duopoly to remove the barriers and flatten the incumbents and let the people in. watch out. what does it mean? what are you after? >> we're giving people directly the opportunity to express themselves in this campaign. americans elect has the focused goal on getting on the ballot in all 50 states and having the first ever convention online where the american people will take three functions that have normally been held in the hands of the parties and put them directly in their own hands. that is, shaping the process through the rules, shaping the issues that the candidates will have to deal with, and finally directly drafting or nominating candidates in 2012 a nonpartisan ticket, two people running from different parties will run as the third choice on the ballot. >> so the key is a nonpartisan ticket. elliott, why do w

with jill abramson, the executive editor of "the new york times", tom friedman the columnist and the bureau chief in washingn david leonhardt. >>lways in hindsight it's perfect 20/20 vision. i think in realtime journalists worldwide covered what was going and you know, saw that something big was developing and spreading. >> we're going to put 2011, charlie n that list of 1989, 1848. it's going to be one of those years. you feel right now we're present athe creation again. you know, we are all present athe creation of something. but what's so interesting about this, it feels like after world war i, after world war ii, after the cold war but this time there was no war. but we are seeing states tumble as if there had been a war but this time there was no war. >> i think of that as really the central question about iraq as we are leaving and about all of the arab spring. do we see this incredibly important strategic region of the world? start to follow a path of china and india. or does it remain vastly behind and not even catching? >>. >> we continue this with david recommend nick-- rem

tom friedman, kathleen parker. marc morial. e to all of you and merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> i suspect, tom brokaw, that families are getting together on this holiday, and there's gifts and ths

tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark politics in the new year. iedman, mark morial and kathleen i joined the navy when i was nineteen. i spent four years in the military and i served a tour in iraq. all the skills that i learned in the military are very transferable into the corporate and real world. chase hired me to be a personal banker. the 100,000 jobs mission has definitely helped me get my foot in the door. chase is giving opportunities to vets who don't think that there's any opportunity out there. chase and these other companies are getting a great deal when they hire veterans. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. few years, up to 1 million new teachers will be needed as baby boomers retire. who's up for the job? you can have a remarkable impact on the life of a child... the more you know. and video chat with up to 9 of your friends with the galaxy nexus by samsung, or get the samsung stratosphere, and for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price. verizon. >>> this is a tragedy on top of a tragedy now

as tom friedman has described in his book, "the world is flat," advances in technology, travel, commerce, communication, and broken down barriers between nations and individuals, globalization has had a flattening effect, leveling the playing field for all of us. this hyper connectivity is in powering engaging people around the world, both friend and foe alike. how do we stay ahead of terrorists, spies, and hackers? intelligence will continue to drive our investigations. we must ask ourselves -- what do we know about these threats? what are the gaps in our intelligence? what human sources can we develop to cultivate to fill these gaps? each of us, government leaders and everyday citizens alike, must ask ourselves what vulnerabilities we may have overlooked. we must also place even greater emphasis on partnerships and information sharing. no single agency, no single company, no single nation can defeat these complex global threats alone. in these days of tight budgets, working together is essential. it is the only way to work. finally, we need the right tools to address shifting threats.

a presidential candidate using the power of the internet and you got quite an endorsement from tom friedman who wrote this in his column about the group write it down americans elect what amazon dot com did to books where the blogosphere did to newspapers what the ipod did to music what drugstore dot com did to pharmacies americans elect plans to do to the two party doowop believe it is dominated american political life remove the barriers to real competition flatten the incumbents and let the people in watch out so what only toward the end of the interview did gregory asked the all important question where is the money coming from. these funding your operation to get ballot access. we've raised about twenty two million dollars today we've got a budget that's a little bit over thirty million dollars so just to get started this we had to go somewhere to raise that money so we had about fifty individuals who came forward to raise that money some of those folks have disclosed some of them haven't disclosed one who has to catch that that's fifty individuals who have thrown in twenty two million

finally today, my friend tom friedman passed on a story to me the other day that came to him from anng guy who had been at a seminar for ad people and someone had asked the question, why didn't burger king ever really go after mcdonald's? in other words, why didn't they get dirty, go negative, try to take down the industry leader? the answer came back first rule of advertising never destroy the category. it's not worth destroying the hamburger industry just to take down your most successful competitor. the more i thought about that, and the sorry state of american politics these days, the more it made me wonder: in their effort to destroy each other, are the republican and democratic parties on the verge of destroying the category: politics. the whole political system? we are not there yet but as i watch our campaigns begin earlier and earlier and as our government becomes more and more gridlocked, unable to do anything, we may be close. remember when campaigns were the interval between governing. now governing has become the brief interval between campaigns. and not just campaigns t

. >> well, tom friedman, are we, as a country, going to have to react to chaos or are we going to react strategically to threats and opportunities posed by china? >> well, you know, to marc's marc's point, it's a very good one. it's ironic, i think what, again, if you're writing a book today you'd say how interesting, barack obama has been much better at fulfilling george bush's national security policy than his own foreign policy. now why do i say that? i think he's really finished the war in iraq and he's prosecuted the war on terrorism, i think really smartly and effectively. but these other issues that marc has raised. how do we deal with china? how do we manage asia? how do we deal with rising powers from india to brazil? those all depend on domestic strength. you could lecture china all you want but if you don't have a savings rate and they're sitting on $3 trillion of your money, you can lecture the middle east all you want, but if you're addicted to oil, see, all of these things now, that are -- we consider foreign policy, and how we manage the world, what they really depend on

tom friedman is the author of "that used to be us" how america fell behind in the world it invented andyour view. china. greater opportunity? >> both. how u.s. manages its relationship with china is important for american families. >> you out there who run businesses, deciding on your kids education can do things. we outline them in the book you can do specifically to take advantage of this as it's happening. >> battle of the sexes, how to speak money edition. women are increasingly controlling money in the household. an important message for you women out there. it has to do with how you manage money and how you manage money with the men in your lives. that's next. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. pl

tom friedman and michael mandelbomb teamed up for that use the bs:how america fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back. and who is afraid of post blackness? mark stein, conservative books in general, they seem to solve very well. >> guest: they do seem to be selling very well at but as with anything, it seemed an coulter's newest book did not have the impact of previous books. stein may have had some, a larger view that even though there are so many nonfiction books, the advent of some new digital companies that specialize -- the byline is, what they're doing is publishing nonfiction that runs between 10,000 to 30,000 words. interesting to see if these political books which to my mind feel like they're stretched out a little bit bigger still they could have a concise argument in 100 pages or 20,000 words instead of being patted to 254300 pages. will they go over to and online only outlet? we are also seeing as we move into 2012 and the election year the partnerships to produce shorter e-book first publications. for example random house's politico partner in on a se

coulter's demonic, mark stein come after america get ready for armageddon, henry kissinger on china; tom friedman and michael mandelbaum could and for that used to be as america fell behind the world invented and how we can come back and who is afraid of post blackness. ann coulter, marc stein, a conservative books in general. they seem to sell very welcome sarah weinman. >> guest: they do seem to be coming back very well that as any segment there is some attrition. again it seemed as if ann coulter's but didn't have the same impact as previous books. stein may have had some, but it's also interesting just to take a larger view that even though there are so many nonfiction books being produced the advent of some new digital companies that specialize in the shorter tone our companies like the bayh liner. what they are doing is publishing primarily nonfiction that runs between 10,000 words and will be interesting to see if some of these political books in my mind feels as if they are stretched out a little bit that they could have a really concise argument and about 100 pages of 20,000 they're abou

tom friedman and michael mandelbaum teamed up for that used to be us, how america fell behind. and who is afraid of post-blackness? and culture, mark stein, conservative books in general but they seem to sell very well, sarah weinman. >> they do seem to be selling very well, but as with any segment there is some attrition. again, it seemed as if and coulters notebook didn't have the same impact as previous books. stein may have had some, but it's also interesting just to kind of take a larger view of this that even though there are so many nonfiction books that are being produced, the advent of some new digital company that specialized in shorter tone, companies like by liner, what they're doing is they're publishing primarily nonfiction that run between, say, 10,030,000 words, and it'll be interesting to see if some these political books, which at least to my mind feel as if they are stretched out a little bit, that it had a really concise argument and about 100 pages or 20,000 words or thereabouts. instead of being padded to two and 50-300 pages. will they go over to an onlin

ann coulter's demonic, mark stein's "after america: get ready for armageddon, henry kissinger, tom friedman and michael mandelbaum teamed up for "that used to be us," and toure, "who's afraid of post-blackness?" conservative books in general seem to sell very well, sarah weinman. >> they do seem to be selling very well, but as with any segment, there is some attrition. again, it seemed as if ann coulter's newest book didn't have the same impact as previous book. stein may have had some, but it's also interesting just to take a larger view of this that even though there are so many nonfiction books that are being produced, the advent of some new digital companies that specialize in shorter tomes, companies like byliner, what they're doing is they're publishing primarily nonfiction that run between, say, 10,000 and 30,000 words, and it'll be interesting to see if some of these political books which at least to my mind feel that they're stretched out a little bit, that they could have a really concise argument in about 100 pages or 20,000 words or thereabouts instead of being padded. you know,

tom friedmanç of "the new york times" says this could make way for the radical center.lleague at "the washington post" calls them a phenomenon worth watching. and i have called americans elect a potential breakthrough way to challenge the democrats' timid half-measures and the republicans' crazy anti-government nihilism. joining me now is ceo of americans elect, khalil burrow. good to see you. >> good to see you, matt. >> here's my question. you guys have made enormous progress in terms of getting yourself on the ballot as best you can by the end of this year, getting a lot of the chattering class to take interest and talk about you. this is really crunch time now, because between now and really april, you've got to have millions of americans become more involved and also candidates willing to put themselves forward. what's your plan between now and then to really ramp this up? >> all the indicators say that the american people are ready. we've had more than 2 million people sign petitions for americans elect to get on the ballot. right now, as you point out, we're done

coulter demonic, marc stein's after america, get ready for armageddon, henry kissinger on china, tom friedman and michael mandelbaum teamed up for that used to be asked, how america fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back into ray, who is afraid of post-blackness? ann coulter, mark stein, conservative books in general. they seem to sell very well sarah weinman. >> guest: they do seem to be selling very well but as of any segment there is some attrition. again, it seemed as if ann coulter's newest book didn't have the same impact as previous books. stein may have had some, but it's also interesting just to kind of take a larger view of this fact, even though there are so many non-fiction books being produced, the advent of some new digital companies that specialize in shorter tone, companies like the activist or by lightner, what they are doing is they are publishing permanently nonfiction that run between say 10,030,000 words and it will be interesting to see if some of these political books, which at least to my mind, feel as if they are stretched out a little bit, that

tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark morial and kathleen

tom brokaw, tom friedman, marc morial and kathleen parker. that's next sunday.until then, have a happy holiday week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark morial and kathleen parker. that's next sunday. happy holiday week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." i joined the navy when i was nineteen. i was a commissioned officer at twenty-three. i was an avionics... tactical telecommunications... squad leader. i think the hardest transition as you get further into the military is... you know it's going to end one day. chase hired me to be a personal banker. i'm a business analyst... manager. i'm very proud to work for chase. when you hire a veteran, you get... great leadership... decisiveness... focus. chase knows, when you hire a veteran, you're hiring america's best. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. few years, up to 1 million new teachers will be needed as baby boomers retire. who's up for the job? you can have a remarkable impact on the life of a child... the more you know.

tom friedman would agree, jeffrey saks and i would agree.ight in front of a crackling fire, the speeches of margaret thatcher. and in it margaret thatcher was talking -- who doesn't? in 1975, margaret thatcher was talking about how the tories lost two elections in a row. and she said the reason why we lost two elections in a row is because we were more focused on macro economics than we were on average britons. and she said we can never again lose sight of how policies impact average britons. >> yeah. first of all, i listen to my margaret thatcher speeches on audio book, not read them, we're a little different, i guess. >> it is a generational thing. that's where republicans sit. even if they were right in substance, they were wrong -- >> i think we need to step back for a second and look at where we started, which was obama came out and said, pass my jobs bill. $450 billion jobs bill roughly. and he said, pass it, i want it passed in full, so on and so forth. republicans were able to get him to only pass $30 billion of that, that's 1/15 of

. >> that is the -- the two-month extension as tom friedman and jeffrey sachs said on friday on thishow basically i'm paraphrasing is the stupest waste of money. it is nonsense. you might as well just take that money to the center of the mall and burn it. and so the "new york times" is saying, richard, that somehow these republicans don't want to help the economy. a two-month extension of this tax cut is worthless. it will help some americans and that is good, but if the goal is to revive the economy, what is it do in the end? >> absolutely nothing. even a one-year extension does virtually nothing. what business leaders are looking for, and particularly american business sitting on $2 trillion of cash, they want to know what the tax environment is, the regulatory environment is. american business needs predictability. the american's consumer needs predictability. two-month changes are irrelevant. we need to set the table so people can make serious decisions for the long run. >> vote it down, make sure it doesn't happen and make sure the middle class don't get that tax cut. that's gre

. >> well, i do -- >> you also call tom friedman an idiot, jeffrey -- >> are you telling me they're not playing it terribly, the republicans? at this point, john boehner doesn't look like a two-faced completely impeding -- they're so off message. >> let me explain. maybe politically they're doing horribly, but i will tell you -- >> that's what i'm talking about. >> a two-month extension of a payroll tax is an utter and complete waste of taxpayer dollars when we're $15 trillion in debt. >> if you're going to talk to me -- >> they had an opportunity to get a year's extension a year ago. john boehner, nice guy, he's a very nice guy. his inability to control a small fraction of house republicans -- >> it's not a dictatorship -- >> it's not a dictatorship. >> i understand that, but it ought to be right now for him. >> it ought to be. >> it was when nancy was running it. >> it was when tip was. >> i love the moment when the "wall street journal" is lining up on mika's side. this is an important moment. the "wall street journal" and mika against joe. >> i know. >> i have a very good quote to r