host: zachary goldfarb.uest: the most immediate problem is a continued lack of demand and economic activity which is leftover from the financial crisis and the recession, and there is a debate in washington over whether you should address that now through additional spending measures. there are not many proposals to do that, but people like larry summers have suggested reviewing the payroll tax cut. in the context in the debate over the bush tax cuts, we have generated huge deficits, and we need to address that, and one way is requiring upper-income earners to pay, and the thinking is that allowing of upper- income taxes to rise would have less of an effect on economic growth or demand than letting tax rates rise on the middle class because they are more likely to spend based on lower taxes compared to upper-income people. host: ruby. virginia beach. independent caller. caller: i have always heard that middle-class was about $250,000. i do not know what he makes, but i think that in new york if you ask anyon

joining me now is washington post staff writer zachary goldfarb. you heard the president saying it was a good meeting. was anything substantive decided there? only a very small thing. which is that they're looking for a framework to find significant amount of tax and entitlement savings and find another mechanism to defuse the year-end fiscal cliff so there was very little progress. but you have to look at the music surrounding the meeting. it was very positive. this was the most bipartisan moment in arguably more after a divisive presidential campaign and i think optimism is running high and for good reason in washington. >> seems to be. on tuesday the president met with leaders from unions and liberal groups who were prepping him not to make any cuts to entitlements, medicare, social security. although we should say there are demonstrations planned this week, a couple of big ones. is it reasonable to think he can get breaks on tax increases without cuts to those programs? >> right. the great liberal fear right now is the president won this huge e

this is what zachary goldfarb rights. -- writes.ost: there is what president obama said in the past that he might do. we're turning to you outside washington today to get your take on this. can it be part of a grand bargain to avoid a fiscal cliff? bob, your first. caller: i never understood, when you are eligible of age to go on medicare, that that is the simultaneous with social security. i do not understand why those are staggered. for all the republicans out there, i agree, i am a fiscal conservative, that the very least to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67 in medicare should absolutely be on the table. i would like to say, i do not get why we do not use our institutions, government institutions. to allow for people like myself, i pay about $7,000 per year out of pocket or an individual policy that i do not use. i might use $200 per year out of 7000. if they give that money to medicare so that i can buy into medicare, i am 54, and spend my next however many years prior to going on medicare paying into medicare on an indivi

this is what zachary goldfarb rights. -- writes.here is what president obama said in the past that he might do. we're turning to you outside washington today to get your take on this. can it be part of a grand bargain to avoid a fiscal cliff? bob, your first. caller: i never understood, when you are eligible of age to go on medicare, that that is the simultaneous with social security. i do not understand why those are staggered. for all the republicans out there, i agree, i am a fiscal conservative, that the very least to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67 in medicare should absolutely be on the table. i would like to say, i do not get why we do not use our institutions, government institutions. to allow for people like myself, i pay about $7,000 per year out of pocket or an individual policy that i do not use. i might use $200 per year out of 7000. if they give that money to medicare so that i can buy into medicare, i am 54, and spend my next however many years prior to going on medicare paying into medicare on an individual p

we'll be joined by zachary goldfarb. "washington journal" is live on c-span today at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> some of our live coverage coming up this politico on c-span 2. at 9:00 eastern on c-span 3, a discussion on lessons from the budget deal. the discussion includes tom foaly and former white house chief of staff, john sununu. witnesses include the president of amtrak and a representative of the united transportation union. >> on 16 or 17 bases in the united states, we have military-run schools. the average cost to educate a child in that school per year is $50,000. almost four times what the rest of public education costs. and the vast majority of our base we use public schools. we could take the money we're spending today and pay every public school system $14,000 per child and save billions of dollars per year, just on -- and with the same or better outcomes. >> this weekend, you can talk with oklahoma senator tom coburn about the fiscal cliff and the future of the republican party. he has written several books and reports including his latest "the debt bomb." live sunday

heidi: zachary goldfarb, huang for your time. >> tomorrow, on "washington journal," julie rovner of the national journal discusses health care law. and kim dickson looks at the payroll tax cut enacted in 2010 and if the white house and congress plan to extend it. after that, more about the payroll tax cut with william mcbride of the tax foundation and seth hanlin of the center for american progress. they'll discuss whether it should be extended and the impact on the current economy. plus your emails, phone calls and tweets. "washington journal," live, thursday, at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. tonight on c-span, several events looking at the tax hikes and budget cuts of the fiscal cliff and what may need to happen to reach a compromise between the white house and the congress. we'll show you discussions and comments from speaker boehner and representive larson of connecticut. >> washburne worked his way up, went to harvard, went to illinois, in galena. he arrived after a month's journey by ship, stagecoach, by train, arrived in this steam boat in this muddy mining town. boarded himself i