Rightfully incarcerated, its as though they are no longer citizens. What the president of the United States said is they are citizens too. He was talking about people in prison without question people who are out of prison and served the time for which were sentenced, but they are not full citizens without the right to vote. Therefore, this also has to be regarded as a key democracy issue for this country that we have to confront. Can i just add quickly on that . They are actually ending laws is one area there is some new bipartisan support that is very interesting. Criminal justice issues are rising even as an issue within the republican primary. You now have very conservative people who are talking about the need to end or at least curb mass incarceration. There have been efforts in the senate where rand paul has talked about the need, not necessarily to end felony disenfranchisement but to e relax the laws. And obviously i think there continue to be movement with the country focused on criminal justice issues. In february of the nation magazine, you have an article called how to protect the vote. I was less interested in your article than the article that was in the context of. That was by the editor in any way u a bridge. A long forgotten constitutional clause for restoring Voting Rights in america. The long forgotten constitution clause hes referring to is the second section of the 14th amendment that mandates that states reduce their representation in congress for the now abridgment of decisions right to vote for any reason whatsoever. Recently cspan broadcast google cspan cast on july 4th a Panel Discussion that was hosted by frank smith at the africanamerican Civil War Museum that Richard Kraner was on that panel. And also was on that panel and he was introduced as a litigator in this era. And what was interest. Ing about that was a provision of the 14th amendment as it applied to alabama, georgia, North Carolina and south carolina. The reason being all of those states award their electors on a winner take all basis that is not based on any statute in that state. So he argue d that they must award the electors in proportion to the split or lose their representation in proportion to their percentage that voted for democrats in those states. Now this provision of the constitution has never been enforced. To be frank with you, the reason why we got the Voting Rights act is because this country did not have the guts o to ever enforce this provision of the constitution. And whats interesting historically, one of the things that was introduced in that panel was the concept of automatic universal Voter Registration for anyone who pays his federal income tax in a state. And if the state denies au automatic registration for anyone who pays federal taxes in their state, he must require to send out to a voter someone who has paid u their taxes, the Voter Registration card. If they dont, they denied representation to those Voter Registration to have not sentd out. Just one thing. We would not have a 14th amendment or 15th amendment. Heres the irony. If blacks were not allowed to vote in the first president ial election following the civil war, Ulysses Grant lost the popular white vote. Ulysses grant won because for the first time those of african decent was allowed to vote under the march 27, 1865, restoration act for the states. So blacks vote three years before the 15th amendment was even a part of the constitution. Heres the proversety of our constitution. Blacks had to be allowed to volt for the constitutional right to vote. Thats how absurd it is. We need a question. So the question is this. One, what do you think of the idea if the documentation is good enough to take my money, its good enough to take my vote. So what do you think about automatic Voter Registration as an act to enforce the 14th amendment for anyone who pays their federal taxes in the state. And two, what do you think about the avenue, as this guy said, as the long lost provision offers an opportunity for new aes to press our right to vote. Thank you so much. I would not tie Voter Registration under any circumstances. So i, however, do believe in automatic registration. My own belief is it should function just a as for young men the Selective Service functions where young men have to register when they are 18 at the post office. They are not drafted, but they have to do it. I think when when you walk across that stage and get your diploma and graduating from high school, your Voter Registration card should be in that diploma. Im not sure why it doesnt. Im actually intrigued by one of the statements that you made, which is that we didnt and never have had the guts to enforce the punishment provision of section 2 of the 14th amendment. Thats absolutely true. Probably less inclination to punish today than we ever did, so i cant imagine it happening, but i think thats really important. Its the same provision that i just described that is used to support exfelon disenfranchisement and we would never marshal the power thats in the clause to actually punish for the denial of the right to vote, which youre right. Whether that is, in fact, a fertile area for litigation is something i would have to think more about. One of the things i think that we have to understand that when feelings get strong, it doesnt matter what the law is. When racial feelings get so strong it doesnt matter what the law is. You can have all the laws on the book and youll end up with a terrible result. But the opposite of that is we have to understand those who determine black or white and realize that we have to be fighting every day, every hour, every minute to preserve not just preserve but to find creative ways to do it. Whatever comes up, you have to find it. Some of us will have an approach of one way and some will approach it another. But we all have to be fighting all the time for it. And we have to find creative ways to do it. Ways that nobody else has tried. So this may be a way to try. But given the Supreme Court who would take away section 5 to expect them to go back and implement a section of the 14th amendment is not easy. But we have to fight for it any way and who knows what happens when we fight with everything we have. Thank you so much. Final question. Hi, two quick questions. What are your thoughts on the fact that they no longer teach civ civics in high school and in Junior High School and has that been such an impact is that one of the reasons we have such a difficulty in our kids understanding the importance of voting not just at the president ial level, but all the way down to dogcatcher. I constantly preach this and when i come to talk to my friends about the importance of voting and they cant tell me who their Council Persons are. And the second question, we understand that this whole issue is around economics. Economic justice and when the 1 makes the people who sit just like the rest of us but are a different color makes white folks think we are taking something from them, thats why we cant come together and push to get things done because we have this economic divide. The gentleman, i cant think of his name, but hes in North Carolina who has the moral mondays and pulled together a whole coalition of people he pulled together a whole coalition of blacks, whites, jews, everyone to fight a good fight in North Carolina. So how do we get that started across the country . Because thats what its all about. Its about economics and pitting poor people against poor people thinking we have one bone and everybody is fighting for it. Can i just talk about the second part of that and someone else can talk about the first part. I will take the first part. When we had civics in school, it did not amount to much. It bears no resemblance to reality of politics at all. Second thing is that whole system was set up to keep people from voting. That is why in school we dont really teach people about the power of voting. We may say you got a duty to vote, you have a right to vote or you need to vote, but we dont tell them at all about the power to vote. If the civic lessons really were going to talk about the power to vote and how it affects all of this, we wouldnt have to organize to vote. Folks would simply vote on their own so unless its going to be something really about teaching about the power to vote, it would be as useless as it was in the past and as not having it now. So ive covered the moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina very closely and have been down there a number of times. What i have really learned from it that it started about Voting Rights. They started going down to the state legislature and getting arrested when North Carolina started introducing measures to make it harder to vote. It quickly expanded to be much bigger than that and broader than that. The reason why it expanded like that was not just because the legislature was doing so many radical things on so many different issues, but that reverend barber and the people down there were very clear that Voting Rights wasnt just an africanamerican issue or a hispanic issue or a Young Persons issue. It was an issue that affect ed all americans. They were all being undermined when the right to vote was being undermined. So that brought a lot of different people out. It brought a lot of new people o out. I end my book with the moral Mondays Movement because its such a powerful example of the kind of activism that we need to fight back against the current Supreme Court and current efforts to undermine voting righ rights. Youre right, but i also think that it wasnt abstract, it wasnt like the right to vote affects all these other things in the abstract. It so happened that in North Carolina all of those things were under threat. It was about a womens right to choose, it was about voting, it was about wages and there were a whole set of issues that were on the table. I think that within of the things that pressured us is the will to come together. And there is an intensity of pressure building in this country right now around a whole set of issues. You all feel it. Most of us feel it. Were in a a moment of incredible pressure and that pressure is forcing us together and that pressure is compelling us to get out of our seats and to move. And so i think actually sadly we dont have to scratch our heads and ask how will we do it. It is happening. It is happening because the pressure has become so intense and so ugly. When people talking the charleston moment, it is that there have been a a succession of so many things that have happened, thats why i say you cant divorce the issue of policeinvolved killings from the conversation because thats all part of the environment of the pressure that we all are feeling. And. Its all about a threat to what we think of as the democratic ideal. And its around those desperate issues that we begin to kind of come together and create precisely what youre talking about and what reverend barber has been an instrument in helping create in North Carolina. People came out of their genuine interest in the issue that they cared about that was under threat and they saw and heard someone who was willing to say this is all of a piece that what you are experiencing around threats to the right to choose is not entirely independent from what we are experiencing around voter suppression. So the ability of all of us to see those connections organically to understand those connections and understand the way in which we join together we have the ability to fight those connections i think thats the way it happens. And the good news is that it is happening. It is happening. And it really is about whether you have found that yourself in your community to connect you to it. I can tell you from those who do civil rights work that it is happening. Were in that moment. The question is how much can we make of it. What will we get out of it. Someone talked about honoring the lives of people lost in charleston and other conflicts. Thats how we do it. Thats how it was done in the past. Its done by us coming together and deciding out of this moment and this tragedy something will come that will honor the lives of those people that will advance the communities that they come from. Will advance the issues that they care about. Will advance justice. Thats the moment were in now. Were under tremendous pressure, but there is tremendous opportunity in this moment. Thank you so much. I want to thank our distinguished panelist once again. I want to thank the smithsonian, the National Museum for africanAmerican History and culture for hosting us this evening. And i guess since i was the moderator, i didnt get a chance to talk. But i want to say one thing. Thats why i took up your time, sir. But listening to this panel, i thought about the summer of 1968. For me, it was under the leadership of dr. Arthur paul clay of the southern leadership Christian Association that i began a task to welcome ms. Shirley with the task of writing down the addresses of those down in Jefferson Parish who were unregistered. That led me to my own history and involvement in Voter Registration campaign and fighting for Voting Rights. Not as a lawyer, but i respected all the champions working with Julius Chambers and ted and elaine who used to call me up and say why are you sleeping . And the summer of 1984, for many of you who were active in the campaign of Jesse Jackson throughout the country. And for all of you who have spent the last 14 and a half years like myself fighting to e renew voting in this country after florida in 2000. I want to say thank you, especially to this panel for your willingness to fight and also your willingness to tell the story and the history. We should never forget that history because that is our history, our collective history. Not just as minorities, not just as blacks, but a as americans. So ever night of my childhood, she would call us, we had lots of kids in louisiana. My grandmother who was born in mississippi, who, yes, ladies and gentlemen, she voted in 1972. That was her first president ial election. She would call us and resite scriptures. Do not grow weary in doing good so it will reap a harvest. Im here to say we have not given up and we thank you and 16 days from now when we commemorate that historic day, just remember too many people gave up their lives and time and sacrifices and e we shall not forget. We will march on, we will fight on and win this battle for Voting Rights and the United States of america. God bless you and thank you so much. [ applause ] American History tv continues in prime time tuesday with the look at the nixon presidency. First a discussion on Foreign Policy under the Nixon Administration with those who were part of his National Security team. Thats followed by a look at president nixons influence on the u. S. Supreme court. And then a discussion on the military strategy in vietnam during the final years of the war. Thats tuesday night begin inin at 8 00 eastern here on cspan 3. Saturday, august 29th mars s the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina, one of the five deadliest storms in u. S. History. Tuesday night at 8 00, cspans 2006 tour of new orleans hurricane damage and recovery efforts. And at 9 30 a 2005 house hearing featuring citizens describing experiences during and after the storm. They told us they would take us to shelters to get help and get the seniors to help. They loaded us up on these military trucks. Then they declared the city of new orleans and Jefferson Parish a war zone and it Still Department sink in that we were the prisoners of war. Wednesday night at 8 00, cspans 2006 tour of hurricane damage and recovery at st. Bernard parish in louisiana. You cant describe it. Its your whole life gone completely. Nothing but cement left and rubble. Not only your house but your whole community. All your friends, your family, everybody is gone. Now its going. To be a year later and you still your family and friends you dont see anymore that you used to see. A hell of a feeling. Youll never forget it. Followed by a 2005 town hall meeting in new orleans. Im relying on you. I know all this is state level, federal level and all other levels. I dont have them. I voted for you to represent me on a local level. I dont know where else to go. I dont know what else to do. Thursday night starting at 8 00, more from the atlantic conference in new orleans with femas craig fugate and executive editor dean buquet and family. Hurricane katrina anniversary coverage all this week on cspan. Yesterday the u. N. Security council held a meeting on attacks from isis against lgbt people in the middle east. Samantha power talked to reporters after the meeting where she was joined by a syrian refugee who spoke before the Security Council. Hello, everybody. Its a pleasure to be here. Ill just say a few words and open it up for questions and feel free to direct your questions here. It was a very moving meeting. The attendance was, i would say, excellent and cross regional. The testimonies that he and a e gentleman offered left people, i think, gripped and moved. Everybody has read about what isil and what others are doing to lgbt people around the world, but its another thing entirely to hear personal testimonies. While others spoke, including members of the Security Council and other Member States, photos also were projected that e depicted what isil is doing to lgbt persons or those suspected of being lgbt. If anybody was ever tempted to drift away or have their attention go elsewhere, the graphic gut wrenching photos of what is being done in the very real threat posed even as we sat in this it meeting today in territory where isil is dominant. The last thing i would say is just while some of the emphasis was on isil particularly given the testimony of the witnesses, there was widespread recognition among those who speak that this is not an issue by any means confined to isil. Yes, it is true that isil has made it common practice, it seems, to target lgbt persons, but that is true also around the world very far from where isil dominates. You have countries that have criminalized lgbt status. You have societies, of course, that are every bit as unwelcoming as they were 20, 30 years ago, communities in that regard, but todays meeting is a sign[]x that this issue is gett injected into the mainstream at the United Nations. 70 years into the u. N. s history, the last five years have seen important milestones here at the United Nations. Jessica stern, the head of the lgbt organization that briefed is a member of is a leader of the organization that for a very long time couldnt even get accredited to the United Nations. And we and a number of other countries fought for that accreditati accreditation, had that accreditation not been achieved she wouldnt have been allowed into the meeting. Now shes sharing systematic data and analysis of this phenomenon and this problem all around the world. We had never before five years ago had a resolution that even acknowledged lgbt rights a as human rights. That was passed in 2011. Theres been a second resolution. Now a report just issued in june of this year documenting the fate of lgbt persons around the world, again, were getting this issue into the dna of the United Nations, but until today the Security Council had never broached this topic so also represents a small but historic step. With that, ill open it up for questions. How are they going to address this issue, especially in the middle east in a more formal way or setting within the United Nations, especially in the Security Council . Thank you. Again, today was an important step. Its an informal meeting of the Security Council, but in 70 years no such meeting had happened before. And we heard id say most of the countries who spoke made a point of noting how important it was that this conversation continue. Ngos were present in the meeting. We would have also opened it up for the press, but for issues of security relating to one of our witnesses, so again, the precaution was taken to keep Television Cameras and press out of the meeting. Within the General Assembly, it was only back in 2010 you might recall the General Assembly passed a resolution in which Sexual Orientation was initially omitted from the General Assembly resolution banning extrajudicial killings on a number of grounds. They voted to take out reference to Sexual Orientation, the United States mission and a number of other countries fought to get it put back in. That was not long ago. That was deemed one of the first successes of integrating this issue. I have already mentioned the two resolutions pass ed at the huma rights council. We have to continue to create dedicated spaces, raising awareness, showing lgbt people that the u. N. Carries that the Security Council cares, that the Member States of the United Nations care. Thats extremely important. But. Also each of us as governments has a responsibility to inject the treatment of lgbt persons into. Our bilateral relationships as well. I would note that im very proud that president obama back in 2011 issued a president ial memorandum giving direction to all agencies in the u. S. Government to inject foreign p. That means in terms of asylum and refugee adjudication, which is now being factored in, in terms of who would gain asylum in this country. In terms of funding for human rights defenders and those who might defend any individual whos actually being whose status is being criminalized in some way. Rapid response, so we can assist and provide Material Support to those in need. And one of the president obamas directions was inject this into our multilateral diplomacy, which is what we have been doing. So this is, again, we know how far we have to go. We now how long the road it. But i think if you look back as to where we were five, ten years ago, already its been much more integrated. This lgbt core group that exist here in new york expands in size every year. Secretary kerry and i both attended ministerials at u. N. General Assembly Last year. Nothing like that had happened before. Again, making sure the physical security but also the dignity of lgbt persons is very much part of our agenda here is a big priority for the United States. On this particular issue of Islamic State attacks on lgbt in iraq, syria, and elsewhere, given that two members of the Security Council didnt show up today to this meeting, what more do you think the council can do on this particular issue . And just on another subject, can you update us on the negotiations on the south sudan arms embargo draft . I think on south sudan, id just say the negotiations are ongoing. Its more important, i think, at this moment to focus on the president and his government and ensuring that they sign on to an agreement that the entire world has rallied around. In terms of what else the Security Council can do, i think venues like this one are available to us. Weve proven it can be done. It can secure widespread attendance. Witnesses are willing to come forward and tell their stories. And, you know, we can look at venues like this one again. I think that publicizing also the june report by the Human Rights Council is extremely important because thats the first time the u. N. Has second time the u. N. Has documented the status of state of the world for lgbt persons. So ensuring that Security Councilmembers give that report and the welfare of those individuals lift and amplify that report is really important. But also, you know, when we were talking about a particular country, we often, each of us, talk about human rights of the crisis, lets say, faced by women and girls in conflict, we need to look and make sure our embassies and the United Nations are looking to see also how lgbt persons are being treated in particular conflict areas. So isil is going to come up again in many, many Security Council meetings, rest assured. When it comes up, its also imperative that in addition to talking about the threat that isil posed to christians, to yazidis, to shia, to any sunni or anybody who doesnt share the ideology to cultural artifacts of the kind that have been destroyed monstrously here in the last couple days, alongside that it is essential that the fate of lgbt persons also be raised and discussed, and we will work with our Council Partners and colleagues to ensure that it isnt just the United States raising it. You can see chiles very strong leadership role. Again, the turnout, i think, was actually quite strong and the statements were very strong from those who came. Okay. Please. Thank you very much. Madam ambassador, in terms of actually getting isil to stop this, these horrible killings and attacks, isnt the answer really to go after isil and what is actually being done to go after them particularly in syria. We know whats happening in iraq. And i wonder if you can talk about, what was your reaction to your presentation . Did you feel that you made a dent . What was your big message to these ambassadors . Great. Ill just speak briefly, but im very glad that you asked him a question. I think hes the most valuable person here to hear from on all these matters. On isil, of course, were waging along with 60 Coalition Partners or now more a sustained multifaceted struggle to defeat this horrific organization. I dont think anybody thinks that you can convince baghdadi to be less hateful and violent to lgbt persons or women or girls or religious minorities, et cetera. They have to be defeated. And that, of course, has a military component. I think its very important, too, that the arrangements that are being developed between the United States and the rest of the coalition and turkey are going to, i think, greatly enhance our ability to blunt isils efforts and set them back. Again, accelerate that process of degradation in northern syria, but there are a lot of other components, many of which will be discussed at this coming General Assembly, which is as always a great occasion to check in on our progress and also look at the gaps and the things we still need to make progress on. The other facets are every bit as important as the military. Thats the Foreign Terrorists financing, the flows of foreign terrorist fighters and the need to ensure that the borders are sealed and that data is being shared across boundaries. We already had the session here not long ago where secretary jeh johnson was in the chair for the United States. Extremely important that interior ministries are speaking to one another and, again, enhancing their efforts. Public diplomacy, isils use of social media, of course, is something that many have k34e7b9ed on. Its essential that people like supi and some of the people he grew up with are and those who are stuck living under isil or even those who were lured by the illusion that going to fight with isil would be a great romantic journey, that their stories are told about what life under captivity is like with isil. So there are a number of lines of effort, one of which is military. But i think this General Assembly, youll see many of these lines of effort brought forward because defeating isil is something thats going to take time. But the degradation is something we can accelerate every day and mobilizing the International Community around it, this really is an issue for all of the divisions in the International System that everybody can agree upon at the state level, and we need to take advantage of that. Over to supi. Thank you, ambassador. The message that i wanted to convey to the ambassadors there in the chamber is lgbt have their own voice and lgbt people want to be represented in the u. N. And in the governments and be integrated into the systems and be part of the development of the countries and its policies. So i was hoping that my message will deliver that integration of not just to prove that lgbt is not just a terminology invented by the west itself but there is an Lgbt Community in the middle east and in africa, and they stand together and they want the right too. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thanks, everybody. This sunday night on q a, the u. S. s counterinsurgency and state building efforts in afghanistan. The u. S. Did achieve improvements in security, but nonetheless has it ultimately been worth depends on how it ends. I increasingly interrogate myself and question myself. We dont know how it will end. The taliban is deeply entrenched and hardly defeated. So if we end up five years down the road in new civil war in afghanistan and new safe havens for the taliban and isis, then i would say it was not worth the price. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q a. Today on cspan3 between 1 00 p. M. And 8 00 p. M. , a focus on veterans issues. Well show you house hearings on whistleblowers regarding veterans affairs, health care, and suicide prevention. Then gary sinise at the National Press club. In our first 45 minutes this morning, we want you to give your thoughts on the stock market, especially after yesterdays events where the dow dropped nearly 1,000 points, eventually closed down 588 points. Depending on your age and how much you invest, you may look at yesterdays events differently. So if you would, give us a call. Let us know about the impact, not only the impact the downturn had on your finances, if you checked yesterday, but also your overall faith in the stock market. Weve divided the lines differently this morning, by age. If you are 35 years and younger, 2027488000. 2027488001 if youre between 36 and 50. If youre 51 years or older, 2027488002. If you want to let us know on social media, cspanwj is how you do that on our twitter page. You can send us email to journal cspan. Org. The major headline of all the papers, yesterdays events at the new york stock exchange. Markets reel in global selloff. Thats the headline of the wall street journal. Usa today, 1,000point selloff rocks stock market. If you go to the interior pages of the business section of the New York Times, photos from across the world on how people were reacting yesterday, including those watching in hong kong, mumbai, india, and also pictures from australia. Other places as well, talking about the impact of what happened yesterday. Again, we want to get your thoughts on not only what it might have done to your financial portfolio but also your faith in the stock market. The numbers will be on the screen. Here to tell us a lit bit now that weve experienced this and what happened is robin farzad of npr1, host of their full disclosure program. Give us a sense of what we learned yesterday. What were the causes of the selloff . I just think a lot of pentup anxiety, kind of subterranean anxiety that people seem to forget this has been a bull market globally for sixplus years now. In the United States at least we have not had a routine correction, which is typically defined as a kind of giveback of about 10 . We havent had that in more than 1,000 days, which is an anomaly if you look at history and how often the stock market just has routine selloffs. So people kind of catch their breath and come back in. When you get the second biggest economy in the world suddenly looking a lot weaker than we thought it was just a few months ago, people are going to sell first and ask questions later. A major part of the story today shows us that yesterdays events really goes on to at least illustrate or expose whats happening with chinas economy. For those who dont follow as closely as you, what did we learn about chinas economy . Are there concerns Going Forward . China is an amazing story if you look at how many people have been brought out of poverty over the last 20 or 30 years. But and it is the second biggest economy. It recently knocked japan out of the category. But the thing about china is it is decidedly centrally planned. The banks are beholden to the government. Theyre run by the government. They are the government. When the government sees that the stock market is weak for several years, it comes out with a huge campaign, urging individual investors to buy, making capital easy, exhorting state control. So you see an enormous bubble runup over the last 12 months. So, yes, naturally thats going to give back. But do they have policy tools in hand to keep the masses easy after theyve been pushed to buy stocks. And thats an open question. Everything that happens with china is unprecedented. When it comes to china, if it says its experienced such and such a growth rate but because its so centrally controlled, is there faith overall in what china is saying as far as the condition of their economy, and do we put a lot of stock in that faith . You talk to people on wall street, and they almost look at secondary or tertiary indicat s indicators. If you look at American Companies, u. S. Multinationals which have to abide by certain transparency rules and s. E. C. Rules, telling us about their china business, chinas growth has been so outside, so big, so double digit for so long that i think spectators even factor in a fudge factor. Okay, if theyre lying, if theyre exaggerating, its still gangbusters growth. The question now is, does this all become selffulfilling, all the tools they use to goose growth on the upside are those things that can hurt this economy when suddenly is has to pause for a breath and the government there cant afford to stop the machine from running. Papers also looking at the Federal Reserve, especially as they have to make decisions about Interest Rates. What decisions do they have to make . How does this china story, or at least the stock market story, factor into it . In theory, the Federal Reserve should not be managing the stock market here. Its not like in other countries. You know, china and japan explicitly where they openly talk about the stock market. Yes, the u. S. Fed here wants asset prices to be healthy, but its chiefly looking at unemployment versus inflation. And we have had a hugely successful recovery in asset markets since the fed took rates down to emergency levels in the financial crisis. So you have a lot of people out there saying that work is done, and in fact, you should start taking up rates to more of a natural level, compensate savers so that you dont have distortive things happen in the economy. So janet yellen in one sense has many justifications to go out there and start normalizing Interest Rates. Then you see people on the sidelines, like former treasury secretary larry summers, saying that you cant do that. The rest of the world right now is looking ill, looking sicker than it was just six, seven months ago. If you take up rates in the United States, thats going to disproportionately hurt everyone. Roben farzad, npr one. Thanks for your time. Thank you, patrick. Take care. In light of what he said, you can talk about how yesterdays events impacted your finances. You can talk about your faith in the stock market. Here are the numbers to call if you want to give us your thoughts. The impact of the stock market on your finances. Bob in lakeworth, florida. Youre up first. Good morning, bob. What did you think of yesterday, and how did you react . Caller good morning. Its typical. We have these cycles about every eight years. Unfortunately, a lot of the unions like the police unions, they wont allow their Pension Plans to invest in real estate at all. Not even like 10 . I personally think that these portfolios should have about 10 of American Real estate for investment, for Pension Plans. But the other thing is the big fat lie thats out there is theres only 11 million immigrants. I was briefed back in 94, and we had 36 million undocumented Illegal Immigrants in america. Those people have had children since then. Id probably put the number more at 48. Youre getting up to around maybe 10 to 15 . If those jobs if our economy stays flat, if those jobs are taken by people that are sending that money back to their native country, were never going to get our entrepreneurship and our investment back in america to get things up and running. So bob, back to the stock market, did you take a look at your portfolio at all yesterday . Caller mine is strictly in real estate. So im not really worried. And to be honest with you, most of the people that are out there are not employed. They may be employed, i dont know, 50 . So i really think at this point everybody is about one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy or losing their house. Its not as rosy as everybody would say. And the jobs that have been created have been fast food jobs or temporary jobs or parttime jobs. Were barely keeping our head above the water. Im not saying throw a life raft out there, but i wouldnt do anything as far as raising rates or anything like that right now. And china is a very destabilizing country. Theyve got these huge resources, no sooner did we have our radiator manufacturer in 93, they were going to build radiators out of brass. And it was too expensive, so they said, well, what well do is well gear up and make it out of aluminum. As soon as they put in about 8 million or 9 million back in 93 to do a plant for aluminum radiators, china dumped all of the brass on the market. It ruined them. Then about ten years ago, they dumped Something Like, i dont know, 50 billion tons of cotton on the market. Some of that cotton was like 50 or 60 years old. Theyd just been storing it. Most recently, theyve dumped aluminum o vxm÷ the market. And i really worry about the quality of the product that nationalized china dumps on the market. I also noticed when they dumped all that old cotton on the market, thats when we started having those firestone car blowouts. We use a lot of that cotton. I would be very careful with china. I think theyre very destabilizing, and theyre going to be hogs, but we dont need to be tying our economy our economy or our overall scheme to whatever chinas doing. Bob, thank you. Well hear from another bob. This is bob in new york, says hes 35 years or younger. Bob, good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Tell us your thoughts on yesterdays events. Caller well, ill tell you, i dont you have to invest for the long term. Not that im a big investor or have that much to invest, but, you know, i still feel that from what ive learned from my parents, et cetera, you know, you stick with and i like the blue chip american, johnson johnson, cocacola. I dont think you can youre not going to go too far wrong if im going to be invested for the next 30, 40 years. Im not scared of the stock market. I think, you know, its the place to be to have some growth. Save paychecks, low budget, live within your means, and were going to be fine. How much do you invest currently in the stock market . Is this done directly through stocks . Do you do a 401 k . How do you work that . Caller i do both through work, the Investment Plan and, you know, small account at a brokerage on my own. But again, i dont do anything fancy. I just stick to the wellknown names that although i do agree with donald trump that Companies Like nabisco moving to mexico is, you know, i like to see these American Companies manufactured here, provide jobs hear. Hes not off base. Hes soundsing more and more like ross perot. You know, hes not in my political party, by liut i likee and more the way hes sounding. Hes got a lot of guts. I think jeb bush does sound like a chump. I may vote republican this time around. Lets hear from victor in maryland. Good morning. Caller oh, yesterday was a buying opportunity for me. I bought some emc. I bought ford motor, added to my position there. Also got some more caterpillar. So whenever people are freaking out, for me its a buying opportunity. The condition of your current portfolio, aside from buying these stocks, how did it work out . Caller worked out pretty well. I mean, every time the market goes down, it just means a buying opportunity, and when the market goes up, i have more money in my pocket. Weve seen the stories today, concerns over chinas economy, the influence it has on the market, the decisions the Federal Reserve here in washington has to make when it comes to Interest Rates. Do you think about those things in investment or at least do they influence how you invest . Caller i think about it, and then i call my broker, and we have a little talk. Hes telling me that the knife is still falling on oil stocks, which i do have. Id like to get another oil company. But he thinks the oil stocks will go down even more, so why catch a falling knife . Are your investments largely in the stock market, or do you have other means of Retirement Savings . Caller well, im retired now. I have a lot of money in the stock market. I do have a couple of annuities. My i. R. A. And some of my reserves that ive gotten over the years through dividends is in an annuity. Cindy is up next. Cindy is in hollywood, florida. Cindy, good morning. Caller good morning. Im listening to a couple of your people talking, but cnn was doing a special report sunday because the stock market, although the nyse was closed, the dow was falling. It was down 170someodd points. I was looking at it and said thats ridiculous, the markets not even open. So were looking around the world to see what time it is. That trading was coming out of australia, not china. China wasnt even open. And i said it once before, if you leave yourself now, those who bought puts more than likely made a ton of money. So theres two ways of looking at this. But when you allow your market when its closed to be completely moved by a foreign bank, probably knowing that the fed might raise Interest Rates, now the fed cant raise Interest Rates. And they should. No matter who says what, when youre deliberately being manipulated like that, raise your rates. Raise your rates. How would you describe your overall faith in the stock market . Caller i think overall, the stock market, your one gentleman was correct. If youre going to buy stock, you need to be in it for the long term because theres going to be ups and downs. And i think the front page of the news is right too. This was another black monday. But it wasnt just monday. It started sunday. And it started out of australia, unless china opened deliberately just to manipulate it. Because even china was closed. So the only place that was open was australia. Cindy from hollywood, florida. This is carol from ohio. Caller good morning. My husband spent his time yesterday on the computer buying stocks in his portfolio at a lot lower rate than he had bought the other ones. So i imagine our finances will be a little better. But he did the same thing in 07. He actually got completely out and went to bonds. So we didnt lose a penny of our portfolio. And we had been saving for years and years and years. So we didnt lose any of it. Do you draw on that money now, or are you still both working, or how does that work . Caller no, were both in our 70s, and we have to start drawing out of all of our pensions and stuff this year. So it sounds like even when he saw the news of what was going on, he was calm during the whole thing. Caller oh, yeah. He said, this is a buying opportunity. So where did he get when he does work when he buys stocks and things like this, how long has he been doing this . How does he educate himself . How does that work . Caller well, he had back surgery and was off for six months, so he spent a lot of time on the computer because he couldnt do anything else. And he learned how to do it. Right now he has two monitors with graphs and charts and all this stuff telling him how his stocks are doing. Thats carol in ohio telling us of her experiences with the stock market, the impact yesterday taking place. We want to hear from you, if you had a downturn on your finances or how you reacted or your overall faith in the stock market. If you want to give us a call, 202748800 for those 35 or younger. 2027488001 if you fall between the ages of 36 and 50. If you are 51 or older, 2027488002. The white house had reaction to the stock market yesterday. Josh earnest talking to reporters about it and talking about the volatility of the market and the effect its having on americans. Heres what he had to say. The Global Economy is more interconnected than its ever been. There are a variety of reasons for that. Technology is not the least of them. But what i would encourage people to evaluate is the ongoing strength and resilience of the u. S. Economy. U. S. Businesses over the last 65 consecutive months have added 13 million jobs. Thats the longest sustain eed private sector job growth streak. The Unemployment Rate here in the United States is at 5. 3 , which is the lowest level in seven years. Looking at Economic Growth more broadly, if you take a look at the most stable components of growth, a combination of personal consumption and fixed investment, weve seen that growth rate weve seen that those two measures of Economic Growth have increased 3. 2 over the last year. Thats actually faster than the growth of the overall economy, which is an indication of how durable the u. S. Economy continues to be, even as we see some increased volatility overse overseas. Again, your calls and your thoughts on the impact of the stock market after yesterday. Call the lines that best represent you on the screen. As you might imagine, the president ial candidates weighing in on events from yesterday. Governor scott walker sending out a message particularly aimed at the chinese president , the pending state visit, saying, americans are struggling to cope with the fall in todays markets driven in part by chinas slowing economy and the fact they actively manipulate their economy rather than honoring the chinese president with an official state visit next month, president obama should focus on Holding China accountable over its increasing attempts to undermine u. S. Interest. President obama needs to cancel the state visit. Also adding that theres serious work to be done. Rather than the pomp and circumstance, we need to see backbone from president obama on u. S. China relations. Prompted a couple tweets from president ial candidates. This is Bernie Sanders saying we need banks that invest in the donald trump also adding his thoughts, markets are crashing, all caused by poor planning and allowed china and asia to dictate the agenda. This could get messy. Vote trump, he finishes. Anthony from new jersey, hello, good morning. Caller good morning. I truly appreciate cspan. I think you have a truly balanced platform. I have a background in economics. I believe if the Chinese Government decides to truly intervene in the stock market, it will take several hundred billion dollars. Then they will be forced to draw down the reserves of u. S. Debt they own. And never mind the Federal Reserve. This will cause Interest Rates to rise as the u. S. Has to redeem the debt and come up with new debt to cover the old ones. And how large of an impact could that overall make on the economy . Caller well, its going to drive up it will drive up Interest Rates. That will in and of itself cause Everything Else to rise with it. It will also greatly increase the Interest Payment on the national debt. The only bright side is consumers are getting a break on oil, and never mind tax breaks. Lower oil prices in the short run help everybody because they put more money in the pockets of individuals who are best who can best decide what theyre going to do with it. Id just like to know what you think about that. How much are you paying for gas out there in new jersey . Caller about 2. 15. Its slowly coming down. It takes a while to come down. If oil goes up, it goes up right away, which is part of the capitalist system. Lets hear from larry in pennsylvania. Caller how you doing . Fine, thank you. Caller listen, you know, with me, my 401 k took a big hit. My regular stocks took a hit. And all of this because the chinese want to down play the yen. They want to make their economy grow at a slower rate than what they originally predicted or spoke about, about 7 or Something Like that. And i dont understand why that has to affect me here. You understand what im saying . Yeah. Caller go ahead. No, go ahead. Caller im saying with whatever we invest in the Chinese Markets and Everything Else is one thing. That does affect us here with other products and Different Things that we have here. I cant understand why the stock market would take such a big hit over this. People get so nervous. They get so outraged by this. When you say your accounts took a hit, you dont have to give specific numbers, but what are we talking generally . Caller well, were talking generally about 50,000. Do you think youll get that back . Caller i think that in time i might get it back, but for now, its like a its like lost money. I dont have anything else to go with. Thats pennsylvania telling us about his experiences. Pugh Research Center did a survey on who have inests, saying in march they found that 53 of americans say they have no money invested in the stock market, including retirement accounts. Broad majority of those in households earning 75,000 a year or more, 80 , and those with a college degree, 77 of participants, say they have money invested in the stock market. By contrast, just 15 of those earning less than 30,000 a year and 25 of those with no more than a High School Diploma say they have money in the market. However, while stock owners have seen the value of their investments rise, they vir viewn the National Economy remains gloomy. Dan is up next in pittsburgh. Caller i just wanted to comment on the big problem with the stock market, which i actually took my money out of because i could see this, and i dont know how people with common sense cant see how china, which is a communist society, dictates our market. Its supposed to be capitalist. The proof of that is the way they interjected money last night to make our market go up today because im sure our administration was crying to them and thats my comment. When you say could you tell us about your taking the money out of the stock market . What did you put it into . Caller its just in a money market. I just take my little bit of profits i made and ill keep them while this all goes on. Its going to continue to go on. Sooner or later its going to catch up. Its definitely going to go down at least 25 . So as far as your future investments, that doesnt include the stock market at all, or are you wary about going back into the market . Caller after i see a solid plan of how our economy is going to not be impacted by china, ill get back into the stock market. Until then, its just over overinfla overinflating. Del roy, ohio, is where jean is. Caller yes, i just wanted to respond to that caller a couple calls ago about china and why do we care. And who cares if chinas economy is tanking. I say its because who is china now . China is hugely invested in by american corporations. Apple, ge, nike. Those are all based over there as far as their manufacturing. Theyre very, very connected to china. Thats why we care. And i also wanted to say that during the 2008 gigantic recession, depression we had, the corporations of america more or less decided to abandon the American Consumers, not care about them, not care about us having spending money, not caring about the suppression of the middle class and instead focus on the upandcoming markets and consumers of asia. So they put all their resources and manufacturing over there for the new consumers from the new chinese and eastern economies and just leave the American Consumers twisting in the wind with no spending money and little money, discretionary cash at all, and leave us down here crashed with wages that never rise, et cetera, et cetera. So now these chinese consumers are being hit, and theyre not going to have the money to buy these things that they themselves are producing. Thats jean in ohio. Theres a story that came out of yesterdays events featuring the starbucks Ceo Howard Schultz telling his baristas to be nice to customers. This will undoubtedly have an effect on Consumer Confidence and perhaps our customers attitudes and behaviors. Our customers are likely to experience an increased level of anxiety and concern. Please recognize this, and as you always have, remember that our success is not entitlement but something we need to earn every day. Lets be very sensitive to the pressures of our customers and what they may be feeling. Thats a little from the ceo of starbucks in reaction to yesterday. We want to get reaction from you about yesterday, especially what it did to your portfolio or what it does overall for your faith in the stock market. C connie is up next. Caller hi. Im a 72yearold woman that ended up being, you might say, forced to retire at 70. I had no intentions of being retired. Wasnt really totally prepared financially other than the company i worked for put money into the stock market for me. Then we, of course i dont pretend to know much about the stock market, but was asked to pick certain fund areas. Back in 08 while i was working, we took quite a hit. Well, as long as i had a salary coming in, i didnt feel the impact that much. But now that im retired and my retirement money is way down because of cost of living and fixing up the house, and explained expenses, car repair, all that, i am very worried about the stock market. And i would along the line often think, why do we have to invest in the stock market . So when i talk to the investors for us, the company that handles the investments and that, i say, can i pick ones that produce better . They said, well they have to do a mixed portfolio, the good with the bad. So its like my hands are tide, i have no choice. Yes, i am very worried because this time im not working and this time my retirement money is way down. Did you check your funds yesterday . Caller no, i didnt. I was afraid to because i know what happened in 08. And i had very little retirement money left. So i dont want to add to my worries right now because i have some health issues. And i suppose caller im concerned because of the fact that its a funny way to put it, but if someone sneezes, the stock market goes down. Im 72 years old, and i dont pretend to know much about the stock market. Most companies seem to invest in the stocks and bonds and this and that. You leave it up to the company, the company that the Company Hires to invest your money, but its a mixed portfolio. Therefore, im leaving my future in someone elses hands. But sometimes those people cant help it because of the way the economy goes. I mean, sometimes i wonder, why do we have to invest this way because another company or another country is having a problem and therefore it reflects on us. Or am i being naive about the fact that i dont think i really like the stock market. Well let other people respond to that, but thank you for calling and sharing your experiences. Youre welcome at home to do the same. 2027488000 for those 35 years or younger. 2027488001 if you fall between the ages of 36 and 50. Most of the calls this morning, by the way, have been from those 51 years and older talking about their experiences. 2027488002. A couple of tweets on this topic. This is edwin. He says, it was just a matter of time before this happened in china. They devalue the money, rob peter to pay paul. It caught up to them, he finishes. Also, robert adding this morning, saying, the stock market is a casino. You may agree with those or you may not. Give us a call on the lines. This is bob in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. Bob, good morning. Caller good morning. I just wanted to say that my finances are for the most part unaffected because i actually invested most of my money in the Adult Entertainment industry grace is up next in hudson, New Hampshire. The 51 year or older. Hello, grace. How are you . Caller im fine. Just recently i took my money out of my savings account and Checking Account out of bank of america because they wanted to charge me 25 for having a 4,000 account, even though i have an i. R. A. With them. So where are banks making their money . Your stock portfolio, how is it doing in light of yesterday . Did you even check . Caller i didnt really check, but ive read so many books on the financial crisis this last time that i put a lot of money i did better on my own just putting money in apple stock, and now its even gone down. But were going to hold it. So do you invest in specific stocks . Do you have a 40 401 k that does a multitude of stocks . Caller i have a couple different 401 k s, and theyre all over the map. Theyre all over the map how they have done. The best thing we ever did was put money in apple through schwab. Grace from New Hampshire sharing her experiences. Do so on the lines. Pick the lines that best represent you. A couple other stories for you this morning. Another story taking a look at the potential president ial campaign of joe biden. This is the wall street journal, the headline, will biden run, drama creates dilemma for president obama, saying mr. Obama and biden had a private oneonone lunch monday at the white house where presumedly the topic came up. Josh earnest refused to rule out mr. Obama endorsing a candidate in the primary race. He also alluded to the Vice President s knowledge of the challenge he would face in launching a third president ial bid. Quote, i think you can make the case that theres no one in american Politics Today who has a better understanding of what exactly what is required to mount a successful president ial campaign. Skepticism about mr. Bidens electability looms inside the white house where officials privately expressed doubt he could beat mrs. Clinton for the nomination. He would enter the contest with big disadvantages in fundraising. Mrs. Clinton has already raised almost 50 million and a related super pac has collected about 15 million. Gabriel from massachusetts. Go ahead. Caller yes, i think this is a wonderful opportunity to buy stocks. The prices of stocks are way down. There cant be a better opportunity. Did you take advantage of this yesterday yourself as far as buying stock . Caller not yet but i will. Im waiting another day or two to see if it goes down any more. So thats gabriel in massachusetts. Heres jean in arizona. Phoenix, arizona. Hi, gene. Caller good morning. Im hearing some callers call in saying that maybe reluctantly theyre in the stock market due to their 401 k s and stuff like that. If they do their homework, i think theyll find out theres probably something called a Money Market Fund that they can go into. Since the stock market right now is so volatile, they might be better off maybe taking or shifting out of the stock market for a little bit and they can always put their money in the Money Market Fund, which simply means if the market goes up or down, hopefully theyll be saved or they wont get that volatility. You know, theres so much i want to say about the economy and the money or stock market, but you have to believe its so corrupt and the federal government, the s. E. C. , everybodys doing whatever they can to promote wall street. And every time you turn on to these Financial News channels, most of the time youre just getting a pr blitz saying, oh, the stock market is fine, dont worry about it, this is a buying opportunity. Well, go back and review what happens when you invest in gold at the peak and it takes 26 years for you to get your money back. For all practical purposes, the United States economy and at least a lot of oh countries has been in a recession since 2007, 2008, and it still is in a recession. Im afraid what might be happening is were getting ready to revisit the 30s. This might just be the beginning of a word wide depression. So im begging people to be careful with their money. Its probably a little bit too late in most cases. So as far as your investing strategy, do you still put your money in the market, or do you just keep it in a money market account . Caller well, its mixed because im retired. So i have a pension fund, but now understand this. People with pensions and theyre trying to safeguard their money. They were hoping you know, it used to be if you were in what was called a bond fund or even if you had a cd at your local bank, you could depend on maybe 2 , 3 , 4 interest a year with your money safe, out of the stock market hopefully. You know, you werent greedy. You didnt want to gamble being in the stock market. Well, due to you know, its just everything is stacked against you. You have the chamber of commerce. You have wall street. Youve got the Federal Reserve. All of these people are working together, and theyve driven and this quantitative easing is a classic example where theyve driven the bonds or your Interest Rates down to zero, okay. Now people are losing i mean, theyre not getting anything for having all their cash. Its outrageous. Its despicable what this government and wall street is doing to the economy and the people that are just trying to survive with what money they have left. Thats gene in phoenix, arizona, sharing his experience. Russ is in connecticut. Russ, good morning. Caller good morning. You know, weve talked about the stock market before. People have talked about politics and everything. What i want to talk about are the actual numbers of the stock market. They used to talk about the dow going up 10 a year. That was supposed to be the norm. Well, starting in 2,000, if the dow had been going up 10 a year, this year the dow would be right now about 51,000 to 52,000. Wed be looking for 53,000 by the end of the year. The days are over when the dow is going to keep rising 10 a year. So far since 2000, its gone up just a little bit over 2 . And before this big drop, it had been a little bit under 3 . So people should realize the days of the big dow jones increases, theyre gone. And, you know, they have to be realistic about what the dow can do and look at other alternatives. I just had a couple cds mature, and i put my money into a fixed annuity with an Insurance Company ten years, getting 0. 75 . So there are other alternatives if you look around. The business section of the New York Times gives a smap sh snapshot of what took place. This is ray in rockwood, tennessee. Hello. Caller hello. Im 77 years old, and i watched after 2008 that glasssteigel, when it was done away it, insured all investors up to 250,000 because they let them become banks. Okay. Caller i would like to know if this is true, or am i mistaken . Calle is there a connection to the stock market picture youre making, or is this just of general interest to you . Caller what im saying is all investors, if these banks was turned into banking, these investment Companies LikeGoldman Sachs turned into banking, then the investor is insured up to a 250,000 loss. Ray in rockwood, tennessee, giving us his thoughts. If you go to the pages of the New York Times, there are more senators showing support for Irans Nuclear deal. This is the New York Times writeup. The story says that Democratic Leaders worry that senator Mitch Mcconnell of kentucky could allow resolution of disapproval for the deal to be loaded with politically charged amendments, such as releasing american president s. Quote, you can imagine how difficult these amendments could be, said Richard Durbin of illinois, the number two democrat charged with rounding up votes for the deal. If youve got four president ial candidates trying to break into foxs top ten, the possibilities are endless. It goes on to say, joe donnelly, get to 67. The aim now for democrats is not just to sustain a veto but to block republicans from even passing a motion of disapproval. To do that, republicans need to be unified and also win six democratic defections. So far the only Senate Democrats to reject the accord are Charles Schumer of new york, Robert Menendez of new jersey. Among the undecided senators that democrats are closely watching a signal from, mr. Durbin, mr. Coons, who has spoken with administration, pressing for assurances that the administration will bolster efforts. From christian in connecticut. You are next. Hello. Caller yes, hi. It was interesting hearing everybody talking this morning. Thanks for having me on. My point being and im invested a little in the stock market. But i think everybody likes to blame these crashes on external events. I think its important to note that the great robert shiler, who predicted the real estate crash and the stock market bubble of 2000, is now doing his pe cap ratio at 27, i believe, for the s p 500. That was before the downturn, mind you. So with the downturn, that number is going to be down a little lower, but not significantly. Theres only been three other times that that pe ratio has been that ice. Thats the price to earnings. That was 1929. That was the year 2000. And its the year 2008. Now we have it once again. I think you should spend a show getting some people on to talk a little more about and they talk about this being a Federal Reserve bubble, central banking bubble. And it would be i mean, i could go on for hours, if you wish, but i know i dont have the time. But the Federal Reserve has expanded its Balance Sheet by approximately 3 trillion. That money has gone directly well, not directly, but indirectly into paper assets, bond prices, stock prices. This has caused great dislocations in pricing. While were looking for external events to blame on the selloff of the market, i think we should be looking closer at home that a lot of these profits are phantom profits. A lot of these profits are induced by things like stock buybacks, where the companies are taking all their cash and using it to buy back their stock, which reduces their float, which makes the stock price go up higher. In turn, these ceos are cashing out on their stock options. Theres a direct correlation there. So theres many things to talk about. I was going to say, ill leave it there because sam is up next. Libby, montana. Sam, good morning. Caller good morning. If people remember right after barack obama was elected president , barack obama and Hillary Clinton went to meet with the builder berg group. They want to control the worlds finances and the worlds economy. If you want to know where your money goes, watch george. He just got 2 billion here about a month ago that the stock market would take a sharp, sharp dive. So hell make billions of dollars on that. And by the way, just so everybody knows, there are republicans that work for the builder berg group too. Condoleezza rice, ben bernanke. So people i got out of the stock market when i heard that in 2008. So thank you. Why did you get out of the stock market . What specifically about that drove you to do that . Caller well, the builder berg group does anybody know about the builder berg group . Have you ever had anybody on your program talking about the builder berg group, what their goal is . And for those who dont, what is it . Caller these people theres about 30 billionaires in the United States, the whole world actually. They want to control all the money in the world and the worlds economy. So, you know, they can do whatever they want, and it aint going to hurt them. So you pulled your money out of the stock market. Where did stock market, and whe did you put it and what do you use as far as investing and saving for the future . Well, i put it in it my mattress, basically. I got it hidden in my house, a little safe. Because the federal government is corrupt. You cant tell a difference between a democrat or a republican anymore. Sam in libby, montana, sharing his thoughts on the stock market and the Justice Department weighing in on menendez defense pushing back against the defense, alleged corruption charges out of washington saying the department pushed back months against efforts by the effort to dismiss the case against him, calling the case of a exhaustive focus and investigation that spanned more than two years. The new Court Filings from the government are the latest volley involving the cubanamerican senator. They represent the Justice Departments First Response to an aggressive attack which submitted hundreds of pages of documents that sought the dismissal of the charges and accused government prosecutors of misconduct. Prosecutors presented Additional Details and testimony intended to support the corruption allegations. They have charged menendez with accepting from the doctor, Campaign Contributions and luxury trips. Thats out of yahoo news this morning, by the way. Frank out of new jersey. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. Caller yeah, in 2008, after being invested in the stock market for 25 years i realized that, you know, the market, the up and down movement of the market was precipitated by the people who had the most money and the people Stuck Holding the losses were usually the 401 k funds. I took my money in 2008 and i put it in an annuity that i was lucky enough to get in at 6. 5 , so since 2008, my money has been earning 6. 5 every year. I would suggest that if there are any annuities out there and you happen to be in your 50s and older you might to pull out and see if you can find an annuity. Today you might be lucky if you can get 4. 5 , but you are still going to do overall than the stock market. The people that have the big money, they can skim off the top. Every time the market seems to go up and gets up there in that 2000 points in one year. They can just pull out, skim of profit off and wait for the market to do, and its going to make a 25 correction, and they will buy back in, and you will see this type of, you know, rolling of the market consistently, and its really hard to make money in the stock market in a 401 k nowadays. As far as the annuity, the 6 rate of return, is that guaranteed for the life of the annuity or a certain time limit attached to that . No, thats guaranteed for the the annuity i bought into today they bought me out, buy back, because at 6. 5 guaranteed, or the market, whichever is higher f. The market does better than the 6. 5 , you get the correction for the market otherwise i get 6. 5 on my earnings. That 6. 5 makes my guaranteed income rate go up since the money in the annuity is invested in different stocks, the actual value of my annuity can go down by might earnings go up, so if i put in 100,000, it goes up at 6. 5 . The earning could be 200,000, but the actual money since the stock market went down could be 70,000, but my earnings is considered at the t 200,000. Gotcha. Rodney is in florida, and we set aside a line from the ages of 30 to 50, and most calls are coming from 51 and older line. Go ahead. Caller i was calling [ inaudible ]. Rodney, were going to i am going to put you on hold for a second because i want to see if we can get a better connection for you. We will see if we can get that in. If you are joining us, the impact of the stock market downturn from yesterday on your finances, and you talk about that or your faith in the stock market or other elements of china or the Federal Reserve and if you want to give your comments. If you are 35 and younger, and if you are in the ages of 36 to 50, 2027488001, and if you are 51 and older, 202, 7488002. You can also post our facebook as well. We will give rodney from claremo claremont, florida, another shot. Go ahead. Caller thank you, sir. I was calling because with the annuities i had i lost money in 2008, and i believe if it was not for the 401 k , the stock market would crash. I am thinking the people that dont know that much about the stock market automatically doing the 401 k by retirement has lost a lot of their income with the people that knows a lot about it, they take the 401 k that people invest in, and you lose everything, but they still gain. You know, i dont think its fair to be forced into it, into a stock market with your retirement plan. You know . Thats my comment. How much of your money is tied up or retirement money is tied up in the stock market or annuity, and i know you mentioned a couple things. What is the breakdown of where your money is tied up . Caller 300,000, and 200,000 in certain stocks. I was actually dealing with trying to learn how to trade in gold, and different kinds of natural resources, you know, but i this 401 k thing is a joke because it seems like you ought to give some kind of training to do stock before you force people into the 401 k , and you get people managing the 401 k and they are getting a certain cut out of the money and i dont think its funny. As far as educating yourself on these things, how did you do that . Caller i watch a lot of cspan and i have a friend that trades stocks, and hes very good at it, and he actually was warning me that you put your money in there and you just seem like you forget about it and you think its going to be okay, you know, and then when everything falls, you dont really have a retirement no more because a lot of companies are not offering requirements, and they are using a 401 k , which should be a supplement but they are using it as the main retirement, and its hurting a lot of people and there will be a lot of wealth loss. We had several people on this mourn to say they use the opportunity to buy specific stocks because they are lower, and is that something you are doing . It was confusing yesterday the way the stock market was going up and down and by the time you get in it, you already got it at the higher price, so you got to make sure you get in at the right time to be able to fight the way the numbers were running. Gotcha. Caller when it went down almost 1,100, it hard to get in there and get something, like apple or if you buy stock, and by the time you make the transaction, you are stuck with whatever they gave you, you know. Aaron is up next from indiana, the 36 and younger line. Hello. Caller good morning. To be honest, i am not certain how my stocks are doing. When i first got into the market, which was around 2007, i didnt worry about it, you know, i was much younger then, but really it was just you know, recognizing the market being volatile and also knowing the age at which i was getting in that traditionally those who take the biggest hit are the ones that have been in longer or have a lot more percentage to use because of how much more they have invested and i guess i am looking at that now, too, still being under 35, not saying how much more i