discussion and speakers include perdue university president mitch daniels, and the foundation ceo zoe baird. this should get underway in just a moment. >> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good afternoon ladies and gentlemen open to the american enterprise institute. i'm the president of aei and i'm delighted to welcome all of you to the discussion entitled a labor market for the digital age. i'm honored to welcome the president of the senate for american progress cosponsoring this event and we are honored to welcome mitch daniels, governor taken over and walter isaacson of the aspen institute. i know we have determined this conversation in store for us today and the issues we are wrestling with. i want to start by giving you a few remarks on why the subject of finding new solutions to the problems of unemployment and getting people ready for the skills they need in the next century is so important to us here. aei is a think tank dedicated to two things, human dignity and human potential. and we believe that our commitmen

i'm honored to be here with zoe baird and the work the merkel fou -- markle foundation has done in this arena. i think there's really no -- really no putting aside the fact that essentially the country is, right now, struggling. struggling with a lot of important issues about how to ensure that prosperity is there for everybody. for the margins and for the middle. not just those at the top. and that's ruling politics on all sides of the debate. so, it's fantastic that the m k markle foundation has been able to bring together a bipartisan group of leaders in this arena and proving even in an election year, we can have a real focus on these challenges. there's obviously no hidden issue here that globalization and technology are really driving a lot of challenges we're facing. people feel like wages are stagnant. that the job engine in the united states is growing and building, but that the wages and the middle class life they can produce are things that many people -- not just at the margins, many people have fundamental questions about. these kinds of challenges offer us a real opportuni

zoe baird and walter eisman of the aspen institute. i know we have a tremendous conversation in store for us today on one of the great issues we're all wrestling with. i want to start by giving you a few remarks on why this subject, finding new solutions to the problems of unemployment and getting people ready for the skills that they need in the next century is so important to us here at aei. aei is a think tank dedicated to really two things. human dignity and human potential. we believe our commitment to truth requires a competition of ideas to function well in a free society. this requires an opportunity society as well. there's a lot that americans disagree on these days. one thing that brings us all together, the real moral consensus, i believe, behind the american experiment is that we have to push opportunities to people at the periphery of society. indeed, to the people who need it most. what are we missing that is making this so hard right now? if this were just a question of government money, we could have solved it. our pan

zoe baird and walter eisman of the aspen institute. i know we have a tremendous conversation in store for us today on one of the great issues we're all wrestling with. i want to start by giving you a few remarks on why this subject, finding new solutions to the problems of unemployment and getting people ready for the skills that they need in the next century is so important to us here at aei. aei is a think tank dedicated to really two things. human dignity and human potential.