Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Charlie Rose 20160227

Thwaite. He was editorinchief of the economist magazine, which is where i first got to know him. I am pleased to have him back at this table. Welcome. Explain this to us. Long beenbritish have in the state of angst about europe. Cameron decided to offer them a referendum. Huge debates about whether he should have done that. But that is the starting point. The british have not voted this since the 1970s. I think there was a lot of pressure on cameron to give them a chance to have another say on this. It has been building and bigley building, particularly in the conservative party. Within the conservative party, the easiest way to think about europe is it is roughly a can to being akin to being prolife in the republican party. If you want to be selected, being skeptical about europe is part of being elected. Camerons deal has always been he would go to europe and come back with improvements in the relationship. Charlie he negotiated with . John Angela Merkel efron saw francois hollande. He brought the package back to parliament and said we will have a referendum on whether to stay or go. I will offer everyone a free vote, but i want to stay. Charlie rose tell us the advantage of being a member of the European Union. Youre part of the worlds biggest economy. That is the main reason why people would think it is a bad idea to leave. There is a bigger reason for the people who set it up, which did not include the british. The European Union was about trying to bring peace and longterm prosperity to europe. It has always been a project of the elite. It was set up at a time when people worried about population. Europe was very proper. 1970s, back then to be a pro european was a big thing in britain. Margaret esser was less that way inclined. Since then, the conservative party has been more skeptical. The british are stuck with possibly the most cosmopolitan nation in the world. Weve always welcome foreigners. On the other hand, we are insular. No surprise, we are an island. What did you negotiate . John he gained a little bit. He gained the idea the European Union is not always about ever closer union. He got if you opt outs to do with welfare reforms. At the moment, one of the biggest issues in europe is to do with migrants, particularly internal migrants in the European Union. People are getting angry about the number coming to britain and claiming benefits. He has a rule that says you get seven years before you are allowed to get benefits. It is worth something but not the sort of thing you can sell on the streets of britain with a passionate declaration. In main argument for staying he will make is the prospects of going out are much worse. Everything has been reversed. The ideological dreamers are largely those who want to take britain out. Britain is a member of the European Union but not a member of the eurozone. John exactly. Charlie there is economic unity. You have corrected me, and i am not sure i am not right. Europe has had some economic dimensions which have been successful. The british have never bought into the lyrical. Now there are many other people that feel the same way. In france, you have Marine Le Pen. You have other people throughout europe asking questions. The dangerous thing about the brexit at this moment, and i should confess im one of those people that things britain should stay in European Union. I was against britain joining the euro because i thought the Crazy Dreamers were inside europe. This time, i think the Crazy Dreamers are inside written trying to take away. I think Boris Johnson is being opportunistic. In terms of joining the eurozone, a lot of the big british banks and various people came out saying it would be better to join the euro. They were wrong i think because written had the economy heading in a different direction. The america as well this is about the west as well. If britain leaves, it is bad for britain, but also bad for the European Union. It will have france and germany pretty much left alone. You also have the most dynamic economy in europe which is britain. Ecvs otherut, problems coming back to haunt it. Europe acted as a unit, it would be the largest economy in the world. John it is the largest economy in the world. With that, divisions within it. Charlie and cultural divisions. John it is interesting what you were saying about the political thing. Ed boles is one of the advisors to gordon brown. He told me about a meeting in the old days when they sat around a table, the british, the french, the germans. The great man pushed something through. He turned to the belgians and said you have to do this for europe. Now the ability to persuade anybody at all to do anything for europe is much less. It is like the United States with each state fighting desperately for its bit. Charlie was he in opposition for political reasons or a. D. And passionate belief about economics in the European Union . John i think there is a strong amount of personal ambitions. It has always been tension between him and cameron on many different levels. He is dying to become the successor to David Cameron. There are principles as well. Force has for us has always been a euroskeptic. They have made the decision in this case the cost of leaving is so gigantic it is not worth doing. Does George Osborne get all of the credit, and does he deserve most of the credit for what happened to the british economy . John i think he deserves a lot of credit. Some would say he took a bit of a gamble in the same way David Cameron is taking a gamble now. I think what osborne has managed to do is convey the message that austerity was necessary. In terms of the numbers, he has been proven right. , larryre many people summers, to some extent have had a hat on this. People said this would not work. Strangely, that balance between tight relatively fight fiscal policy and loose Monetary Policy has worked. The british economy got going better and quicker than the rest of europe. Itt is my if britain left, would have a dramatic effect on the rest of the European Union. Charlie the vote on the brexit will be when . John june 23. At the moment, things are very close. I read a piece i wrote a piece called the 20 world. 20 keep going up. Charlie is there any common trend you can see . If you look at the labour party, it is more left. Penou look in france, le suggests rightwing parties have a certain because of the migrant issue and other issues a certain gaining of strength. John in terms of what is happening at the moment, you look across the west and see a repeated thing. You see people who are angry and cross because they feel left behind by globalization, left behind by an economy which seems to be benefiting more than them. They are angry and want change. They seem to be turning to leaders such as donald trump and Marine Le Pen and Boris Johnson. The people who say i am the person who tells it like it is, i am the person who will tell you what is wrong with the world and try and fix it, there is a deep ennui. The reason the European Union is particularly prone to this is because it is very much an elitist project set up by the elites. Whenever they have had referendums before and referendums have gone against the project, the europeans have said vote again until you get it right. Charlie what is going to happen . John i think one of the many , why thises of brexit makes a series of things happen, what happens with scotland is interesting. What is likely if the british boat to go out is the scottish will probably have voted to remain in. What will immediately happen after the rent for no less the referendum is an exit. You can expect to see David Cameron go. You can see the scots say we did not play any role in this and we want independence. One of the many things that could follow a brexit is probably the division of the united kingdom. That is a big thing. Charlie what is your best guess . John i guess is britain will probably stay in. We are sitting high above lexington avenue at the moment. If you walk across the road, there is a 60 chance you will reach the other side. You might think twice before going across it. It is the risk, the downside is a big one and frightens people even if the odds at the moment are on staying in. It is the unknown because nobody has had the chance to ask the british people about this in 40 years. People are angry with their leaders, just as they are here. People across about many things in europe such as too much regulation, not enough opening of markets. People think they wont have a say about this. The real question is, will they be scared in a strange way . Scotland,se, as in the negative side will be dont do this, the risks are too high. Charlie thank you for coming. Back in a moment. Stay with us. Charlie Neel Kashkari is here. He is the president of the Federal Reserve bank of minneapolis. His career began as an aerospace engineer. He joined the treasury department. He oversaw the bank bailout initiative known as type. He made headlines last week after suggesting regulatory efforts failed to curb the risk posed by large banks. He proposed they could be broken up and regulated by Public Utilities or have increased Capital Requirements. Im pleased to have Neel Kashkari back at this table. Welcome. Let me talk about your career. You were an engineer. I think you went up as an analyst to Silicon Valley . Neel after business school, i went to Silicon Valley. Hank, the c. E. O. Of goldman sachs, goes to treasury. Did you write him a letter or call him . Neel i called him up. I met him once for 10 minutes. He said come to washington, lets talk. I met with him. He was not yet confirmed. I went in with a pitch like i want you to hire me. He said stop with your pitch. I need somebody on my team who will do what needs to get done. How does that sound . I said sign me up. This was a year before the financial crisis. None of us saw it coming. Charlie you had deep involvement. That is over. Hank leaves as secretary of the treasury. You go back to california. You were wondering what you would do. You run for Public Office having never served in Public Office and running for governor. Neel i looked around the country and saw a lot of people running for office. I thought if they could do it, why cant i do it . I looked at the state of california and california still has the highest poverty rate in america. My parents came here, immigrants from india. I grew up a normal middleclass kid. I get to work for the president of the United States. What a great country. I said i want to give every kid in california the shot i had. That starts with a good education and getting a good job. That is what i ran on. Charlie you learned a lot. You may do that later. You end up in minneapolis is head of the Federal Reserve in that city. How did that happen . Neel there are 12 regional Federal Reserve banks around the country. They each have boards of directors. Their board of director was looking for a new c. E. O. And conducted a nationwide search. Applied,acted me, i went through the process, and was selected. I lead an organization of about 1000 people at the minneapolis fed. There is a management element. I sit on the federal open market committee. I hope discuss interestrate policy for the country. I get involved in broader policy issues around the ninth district. It is not just minnesota. It is north and south dakota, montana, michigan. Charlie you make a speech controversy in the city and also washington. What did you think of the regulations passed after the crash in 20078 . Neel i strongly supported the need for financial reform. When dodd rank asked, when dodd frank passed, i supported it but worried it did not go far enough. I gave a speech in 2011 where i articulated my concerns. I wanted to reserve judgment. Toolie after doddfrank, big to fail was still a problem. Neel no matter your political party, none of us wants to be in a position where we have to use taxpayer money to stabilize large banks. The question i asked is, did doddfrank go far enough . I joined the Federal Reserve. Im talking to the experts. The minneapolis fed literally wrote the book on too big to fail before the crisis, the original version. There are a lot of experts in minneapolis. I started talking to them on their ideas about too big to fail. I realized my concerns are still valid. At the these giant banks center of our financial system. If one of them collapses, there are all these linkages to the whole economy. It is like the heart, the arteries, and the veins. If you have a heart attack, it can kill the whole body. That is what we saw in 2008. When the biggest banks ran into trouble, they brought the whole economy down with them. In contrast, think about Silicon Valley. We had the tech boom. It crashed into thousand. Devastating for Silicon Valley but it did not cause devastation for the whole american economy. Thing aboutunique having these giant banks at the center of our financial system. They can do a lot of good. When they run into trouble, they can cause a lot of harm. That is why the Federal Reserve had to step in to use taxpayer money to stabilize them. Charlie you did not do a good job explaining why it was about rescuing the banks. Neel i agree. Communication was something we always struggled with. We were trying to project confidence to the markets. We were trying to let congress and the American People know how scared we were. Those are two different messages, but we only had one microphone. We ended up with a muddled message that did not satisfy anyone. Charlie when you say too big to fail today, how many are too big to fail . Neel 20 have been designated financially significant. Charlie meaning they cannot be allowed to fail, because if they fail they will take down the system in part. Neel Conditions Matter a lot. We have made progress. The banks have more capital today, which is their buffer against bad things. That is a good thing. Charlie Capital Requirements were changed by doddfrank and others. Neel they are stronger than before the crisis. I dont want the American People to be left with the impression we may not be back in the same place again. My view is we need to take transformational reform to solve the too big to fail issue so we never have to ask taxpayers again. People who have been penalized are the banks but not the people in the banks who made the decisions. Neel the managers dont pay. It is the shareholders who end up paying. That is not fair. Charlie what would you do about it . Neel im not a lawyer. This is an issue for the department of justice. It is hard for me to know the real solution. I think as a country, we need to take a fresh look at that. May behold the people accountable even though we just held their institutions accountable . Neel see if there is a Legal Framework we can put in place where people are on the hook for the fraudulent decisions. Charlie banks like j. P. Morgan, wells fargo, i would assume they are too big to fail. But they would say we are never going to fail. They will say we did not fail in 2008. Neel they did not fail in 2008 because the American People stepped in. Charlie jamie dimon would say we did not want or need the money you gave us. You made us take it. Made them take it because he did not want somebody being part of it because he thought the crisis was so deep that everybody had to be part of the solution. Neel that is true. I like jamie dimon personally. I am not here to demonize anybody. But all of j. P. Morgans counterparties in bankruptcy, they would be in bankruptcy too. The notion they were strong at was only true because the American People stepped up to save all their friends around the table. Charlie you saw that with the a. I. G. Failure. Neel they had to step in to rescue a. I. G. Because of everybody else who would have been dragged down. We never want to be in that situation again. Charlie there are two options. Number one, you break up the banks. Number two, you can set Higher Standards of capitalization. Neel correct. The second one, i made a comparison to Nuclear Power plant. A Nuclear Power plant, if it melts down, it is devastating for society. Governments will do whatever they have to do to stabilize the Nuclear Power plant before it melts down. Nuclear power is an important element of our country. But we have incredible regulations around it to try to con control and protected. If we conclude we need huge banks, lets capitalize them like a Nuclear Power plant so they are truly safe and secure. We can never eliminate all risk, but i think we can go a lot further than we have gone today. Charlie this has been a controversial speech. John leary of the Financial Services form said breaking up the Global Financial institutions would ensure one of the United States most Competitive Industries serving Companies Small and large is turned over to banks based outside the u. S. Neel if other countries want to take extreme risks, with their Financial Systems we cannot stop them. I think we should do what is right for our economy and taxpayers. Maybe we can set the example for other countries. Charlie if they dont, should they take i advantage of what we suggest should be done . Neel it is possible. We have thousands of banks in america. I would expect to see small and midsized banks grow to fill the void created if large banks were restructured. Charlie how would you break them up . Neel there are a number of ways to do it. One example is glasssteagall. They looked at breaking up at t, people said it is too big and complicated. They figured out how to do it. You can set very high Capital Requirements as a function of size which would force the banks to more aggressively break themselves up. There are a lot of ways of doing this. The industry will argue Big Companies like boeing need global banks. I believe there is truth to that. There are economies of scale. The costbenefit analysis needs you have to consider the cost. We may risk another financial crisis. Charlie because you are so big . Neel who is going to be running j. P. Morgan in 30 years . I dont know who it is going to be. Maybe it is not so many who is as good a stewardess jamie dimon. We need to think about these evaluations. The cost to the American People are so devastating. Charlie has the fed acted wisely . Neel i think so. Janet yellen has put down the marker of lets not be dumped manic. Dogmatic. Lets look at the data. Low inflation and maximum employment. The job market continues to be strong. That will lead to higher wages for americans. That will bring inflation up to our target. I feel good about where she is taking us. Charlie should we raise the minimum wage . Neel there are pros and cons. It depends on the overall unemployment situation. If youre starting from high unemployment and raise the minimum wage, you make it harder for people who dont have a job to get a job. If you put a lot of people back to work and raise the minimum wage, the consequences are not so grave. Personally, i think a regional approach may be better than a national approach. That is outside the window of the fed. Charlie when this crisis was happening, there was a lot of working together between congress, the executive office you are part of. The president pretty much handed it over to hank paulson. Talk about Central Banks today, Federal Reserve in the United States and the role they are playing. Neel all the Central Banks around the world are taking leadership in trying to get their economies growing again. Many Central Banks are struggling with some of the same challenges. In many developed economies, inflation is coming in with below where sinful bankers would want it. We want it around 2 are struggling to get back to that level. Some economists would say it is because Central Banks have not shown enough conviction. I dont believe that. It is hard to see they are all undershooting. We are struggling. In the u. S. , we have advantages. We are creating jobs faster than europe. That is a good thing. If we can keep putting americans back to work, that will lead to economic growth. Charlie is it fair to say the jury is still out as to whether raising Interest Rates was the right thing to do . Neel i think so. Our most recent estimate is for moderate economic growth. Root expectens, the to continue to raise Interest Rates as the data allows. I dont buy the argument that the volatility in the markets now is because the fed raised rates in december. There are a lot of other things going on. Charlie thanks for being here. Back in a moment. Stay with us. Flex lets start with national politics. Handicap the hillarybernie race. Why such a tight race . He has been saying a lot of things that cant happen. He is promising everybody a free college education. As governor of virginia, i would love to get everybody in virginia a free college education. There is zero chance that could be passed and put into law. You cannot afford it. President obama is promising free health care. A lot of folks here that, it sounds great. But the reality is at the end of the day, it could never become law. Talk about young people. Young people like Bernie Sanders and they dont like hillary clinton. You have five kids. One of them goes to a Great Institution of higher learning, mayor lamotte are. Great institution of higher learning, my all my modern. Why alma mater. Why are they so turned off by hillary . Listen, were just in the beginning of the process. We have only had two contests. Al so you think she could wrap this up by march 15. After march 15, statistically, Bernie Sanders will not be able to win. Remember, thats what president obama did. I think it is a very talented team. They know the mechanics. Last time, there wasnt even a delicate operation. Operation. To become the democratic nominee, you have to win delegates. That is the plan he has put forth. This is a long haul, running for president. We have had two contests. Replace people want to robbie. You think that would be a mistake. Have been in, i clinton world for a long time. This is not the easiest place to survive. Al its a big constellation. Terry its a big constellation. We have one big one. Al robbie knows that. You have talked about the sanders agenda being unrealistic. Message . He hillary are all had the great mantra, its about the economy, stupid James Carville had the great mantra, its about the economy, stupid. Bumperld put that on a sticker. What is hillarys message . Terry her whole life she has fought for these issues. Yale andout of yell went to work for the childrens Legal Defense fund. She went to china and talked about womens issues, the first one to go over there and hammer that issue. Her voice out do you think thats coming across . I wish it would come across more, but like i said, its early in the process. But listen, on the republican side, there has been a lot of static up in the air. President obama when he ran hernst hillary, he made secretary of state. That tells you something. She has said to democrats that shes going to continue the policies of president obama. Sanders has been critical. He has called the president weekend indecisive, which he is neither. Indecisive, which he is neither. Will she win virginia easily . Not easily. None of this is ever easy, and i give senator sanders credit. But how big she wins matters. Sure it does. Hampshire andnew then we both got 15 delegates. How big of a victory are you anticipating . Im not going to speculate. I was on tv the night of the iowa caucus. A win is a win. Before we get to virginia, let me ask you to put your political hat on and look at the republican party. What do you make of the donald trump phenomenon . First of all, it has been a circus to watch these debates. I mean, if you watch senator sanders even when martin was a good, in, it substantive debate. It has been embarrassing to watch these debates. I think we are the greatest nation on earth. Can we make it better . Of course. But all of this china is killing us, japan it seems to be working for donald trump. In a certain segment of the population. Toughestuld be the republican to beat . At in ted cruz would have a tough time. I know people see the attraction of marco rubio. Case it john kasich . Lets look at Electoral College states. John kasich is from ohio. Rubio is from florida. But they have to worry about their left and right flank as well. He would be a stronger candidate. 270 electoral votes. Look at how many the democrats start out with and how many republicans. How do you grow the Electoral College . You have to go to states with large hispanic populations. They have watched this Republican Debate and the attacks on the Hispanic Community and the immigrant is a turnoff. It we generally get in the mid60 of the hispanic vote. I think now it could be an historic tide for democrats. With the rhetoric that has gone , i think theres a real possibility of historic turnout. People are angry. Closing our borders. The issues with refugees. The idea of no muslims in the country anymore. There are a billion muslims in the world. We are asking them to help us fight isis in the middle east. There is one issue, whether the redistricting controversy will go to the Supreme Court. With the death of justice scalia, it looks unlikely that what you have done so far will be overturned. Have just gone through the process in virginia. Unfair. S were very it was 83 republican to democrat. All state lines now are democrats. We have gone through the process and redrawn some lines. I find it highly unlikely the Supreme Court will do anything about it. They will leave it the way it is. Have other seats that are very competitive. Northern virginia, theres always an opportunity. A very rich area to pick up democratic seats. A huge opportunity with the republican held seat up there. I think florida has added two seats to the process. We have three new seats that will go to the democratic column. Much for being with us and think you all for watching. Angel is here, a longtime contributor with the new yorker magazine. He is also the only rider to be inducted into both the Baseball Hall of fame and the american only writer to be inducted into both the Baseball Hall of fame and the American Academy of arts and letters. His title essay offers a reflection of growing older and life in its 10th decade. Won the 2015 American Society of magazine editors best essay award. He said it has also brought him more kindness from readers than anything he has ever written. I am pleased to have roger angell back at this table. How are you . Charlie im good. Better than that, you are good. Your wife died and you remarried. Happily remarried. You talk about this, loneliness. Loneliness and life goes on. That unbearable things happen to us, losses, and the weight of losses seems unbearable. Somehow we are better and happier, and we look around, and we are the same as we were before. Charlie here is what you said in the essays genesis. Piece inhis whole pieces. I didnt know what to do with it. In there about loss, but its not the central theme. I lost my older daughter. I lost by life of 48 years. We lost a wonderful dog of ours who my wife of 48 years. We lost a wonderful dog of ours who jumped out of a window during a snowstorm. These things are wound in and out. There are jokes. Jokes about death even. I think it sounds like me. I love good jokes. Tell us about aging and what beyond what i have just said and what you have just said. Aside from the arrival of sex in the early teens or before, it is the second Biggest Surprise in your life. Dont feel old, and suddenly you look and see how old you are. I think almost all old people feel the same, just farther down the line. Theres a great misconception that sense we are bowed and move slowly, we have given up. I dont think thats true of most people. Life keeps happening. Really did this resonate with people your age . In norm asleep. Enormously. Charlie that life keeps happening. One phenomenon, if you are in conversation at a dinner party speak, andg, you then everybody looks at u. N. Nods and the conversation goes on as if you hadnt said looks at you and nods and the conversation goes on as if you hadnt said anything. Its the invisibility of age. The notion of well, he is old. He has had his turn and now it is our turn. This book is a collection in some way of helping people feel less invisible. Charlie things that have been recognized but not expressed. That is what good writers do. They give expression to other peoples thoughts. Essay got a lot of responses. I am trying not to become a spokesman for people my age, just me and what happens to me. It has been surprising. The other thing that has really youngsed me is that people are reading the book and saying, now i see. But they also think, its not going to be so bad when i get there. Sometimes its horrible. There have been bad times and losses. Losses are unbearable. Charlie how do you bear them . Well, i say in there, i have been going to the same therapist for years and years. Its not therapy anymore. Its scheduled conversations. After my wife died we had been married 48 years i said, i dont know how i will be able to bear this or stand this. She said neither do i, but you will. Perfect thing to say. You love baseball more than anything. More than anything . Charlie more than any sport. It has been a great fit for some reason. The hall of fame is a good fit as well. I have never looked for deeper meaning in baseball, the connection to america, but the connection to my main job has been as a fiction editor. Writing in baseball both look easy but are really hard to do. And baseball both look easy, but are really hard to do. Much harder than it looks. Thats part of why you keep going. When you watch baseball and the majorleague leagues, you are looking at the best of the best of the best. And its hard for them. There is a difference between the top level players and the low level players. But its hard for them, isnt it . Like i am not so sure its hard for im not so sure its hard for hank aaron. Somebody asked him once, how does it feel to know you will . Et two hits tonight and he said i never think that. If i dont get two hits tonight, i will get two hits tomorrow. The thing to think about is the is just goingo along. He just wants one extrabase hit a week. Two extrabase hits per week would make him a. 300 hitter. The struggle is endless. And the writing struggle what there are writers i have worked with for years. John updike, and beatty. You might each have a copy and there isa sense something wrong in the telling, something a little off, and you are trying to think, what are we going to do about this . John updike for 50 years would do this over and over. There would be a little passage, and then we would be on the last day, going to press later that day, and he would phone me in and have rewritten an entire passage. Does thatay how sound . He would say it to himself, because he would want to think how is the reader going to take it . All about the reader. Does this sound better . Does this sound better . Updike was also competitive, you have told us. About somecited young novelist and he went home i would sometimes say we talked backandforth on the phone a lot, and i would say john, theres a wonderful new story in the magazine this week coming out, a wonderful new writer. I think you will like it. He would say, really, and about three weeks later, there would be a new story from him. [laughter] charlie i am hesitant to do with or anyonen, who came forward and spoke to them were there any of who came forward and spoke to you and made you think, this is . He talent of god i think i thought that about amene. Barth the ma he was unlike anybody else when he arrived. Full artistic references, historic references, references of the day. Heartbreaking, funny, completely surprising, over and over again. Half the people on the magazine didnt understand them and were angry that we were publishing them. The editor loved him as well and said i dont know what this is, but it is really something else. Er people thought he was like i said, as long as he was writing for us, he was going to be ok, in a general sense. You to tina brown got write about yourself. She did. I had a sense of privacy writing about my family, my children, my own life, that i still have, i think. Said you have had an interesting life. Try to write more. Thats why a wrote this book. Theres a lot of personal stuff in there. And i will always be grateful to her, absolutely. Was it hard for you want to started . Were people i wanted to write about. I wanted to write about my eb white, who writer, but a great physically, one of the most graceful people. He was very shy. Hypochondriac. I would hear him every week. He would write the comment page for the new yorker and then monday and tuesday he would lock himself in his study. You would hear these long pauses. He would come out for lunch and not say anything. He was very serious. Inwould mail something off the 2 00 male and say it wasnt good enough. You would read it, and he would come back the next monday and say well, not bad. Thathe amazing thing about , when you read it, it seems like the easiest thing in the world, like you are dashing off a letter or talking to somebody. Charlie but you knew the agony. Writing, there are some people for whom it is easier than others. You. Ie its hard for not as hard as it used to be. It used to be very hard for me to start a peace. There would be enormous and of the season baseball things, the world series, and all that stuff. And i would freeze and say i cant do it. , i think i learned that i can do this sort of thing , so the start isnt as hard as it used to be. I am surrounded with wonderful. Riters new york is the greatest venue for writers. I have always had wonderful , and i seeund me them thinking, what is the matter with me . Why isnt this working. If you are writing on a deadline, all of that goes away. Charlie your mother was a fiction editor. The first fiction editor, catherine wright. Charlie you held the position your mother held. I ended up in her office. In the back of her closet, i a round saying of face of my motherss. ,nd i told this to a therapist and he said the greatest single , in mysublimation experience, was living in my mothers office. Athlete atre you an all . I was a boy athlete but not a good boy athlete. I had a good curveball. I loved tennis. I played pretty good tennis over the years. Withyed a lot of doubles people my age, and playing doubles with the same people year after year, so you always knew were they would hit the ball. Charlie you kept a diary . Never. Charlie why not . You are a man of letters. I never had daily thoughts. Charlie is that necessary to keep a diary . I dont know. But one thing i did that was unusual and donald put me onto this. He said, if you want to change your writing, turn the paper around and just start writing across whatever is on your mind. Cross writing. You can start cross writing and say i meant that based on so in a funny thing happened, or great weather on tuesday. Start going across. Its entirely different. Its not what you would write if you are writing this way. I used to do that. And fill in my thoughts. I have written 10 or 12 pages long and about what has happened in the last few years. But not as a regular thing. Charlie it seems to me, first of all, whoever said i dont know what i think until i see what i wrote whoever said that i am trying to go somewhere. Charlie when you are writing a sentence, you are trying to go somewhere. I am trying to talk to the invisible reader. Brings you joy in life. Where would you put work . Work is very high. Writing is very high. If i have written something, i feel good. Man,ie you are a great and i thank you for taking this time. I thrilled that you are as healthy and able as you are and that you are able to contribute things like this that help connect to all of us. Thank you so much, charlie. Angels book is called this old man all in pieces. Mark with all due respect to Everything Else texas i am here today to proudly say i endorse donald trump for president of the United States. Hello from dallas, texas, where everything, including president ial candidate endorsements come is bigger. This has been a genetic day on the campaign trail. How about this huge and surprising endorsement from new jersey governor todd whitman backing john kasich. Oh and donald trump has his own new jersey endorsement, governor chris christie