Transcripts For CSPAN Discussion On Economic Growth 20150502

Live in a highly competitive economy. Why are we making it harder for kids to go to college because the cost of college is off the wall . In countries throughout the world, germany, scandinavia, it costs zero dollars to go to college. They understand it is an investment for the future of the country. I will introduce legislation shortly that will make public colleges and public universities tuition free. That is a good thing for our people and economy. Making it affordable and ending that outrage that so many children are struggling with with this huge student debt, this is about changing National Priorities. You do not give tax breaks to billionaires, you do not spend more than we should on the military, and then tell working families, sorry, your kid cannot go to college. I am very much in favor of changing National Priorities and paying attention to these young people. Free tuition is great, but how do we pay these bills . Bernie i can think of many ways to fund higher education. Host this question from facebook, over the years there has been a variety of labels placed on you, not the least flattering of which is socialist, do you feel that you are a socialist . Bernie i am a democratic socialist. What does that mean . It makes sense to look at then went countries like denmark sweden, countries and that have accomplished great things that work for them. You go to denmark, they do not have discussions about whether or not people can afford health care, it is a right of all people and they spend much less per capita van we do. That is true all over the rest of the world. We are the only nation that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right and we end up spending a lot more than other countries. There is something to be learned. Higher education, a huge issue in this country. Cost of higher education, country after country in europe which has had Labour Government democratic socialist governments, there is zero cost for the family. At Retirement Benefits stronger in those countries. In denmark, the minimum wage is 20 an hour. That is if you work at mcdonalds. Not bad. As a nation we should learn from those countries who have combated child poverty, to provide health care for all people. Free College Education and have a tax system that is fair and progressive, which says to the people, you have a lot money, we will ask you to start paying your fair share so we can have a strong middle class. Host back to the studio audience, a question from eileen. How can clients that i work with at a homeless shelter be part of the political process when they are totally convinced that money buys campaigns and they are very discouraged and unfortunately i think it contributes to the huge percentage that do not vote . Bernie that is an anonymously important question. I think it is not only Homeless People, congratulations for your work, taking care of the homeless and most Vulnerable People in our society, it is not just Homeless People that think that the deck is stacked against them. It is tens of millions of people that understand that while they may have the right to vote billionaires can spend hundreds of millions of dollars and by a politician. In teaching that is not going and changing that will not be easy, it will be a Major Mission if i run for president. I would hope, that no american is happy when 62 of the people did not participate in the last election. What we need is to give hope to people through an agenda that speaks to their needs. What do low income people need . They need decent paying jobs. We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. People in this state, they make 25,000 a year and they dont get any overtime. Women make . 78 on the dollar compared to what men make. We need to change that as well. In terms of low income people we should not have homelessness. I introduced and passed legislation to build low income housing, rental housing, so people can live with dignity. We have some 45 Million People in this Country Living in poverty, that is almost more than any time in modern history of america. That is the crisis we face and that has to be changed. Host a question from will andrews. My question is about isolationism, in order to not send men and materials overseas until we get our own Social Security taken care of. Bernie i am hearing you say before we spend millions abroad take care of the needs of the american people. I certainly was chairman of the Veterans Committee and worked as a by partisan to pass legislation for many years that was exactly improve health care for our veterans. Clearly we need to take care of people in need in this country but i would also say that we cannot bury our heads in the sand. It is a dangerous world out there. I just mentioned a moment ago, i do not support sending american, troops into iraq to take on isis. Thats primarily a job of saudi arabia of the u. A. E. And jordan. We cant be isolationist. But what you are really talking about is changing National Priorities in this country. Taking care of those people who are hurting and not giving more tax breaks to corporations who stash their money in the cayman islands. Why does that happen . Why do we ignore the needs of the middle class and provide for the billionaire class and that is the power they have today and that is what we have to change. Host another question from robert. Senator, as president we pursue a carbon tax to make all forms of Energy Competitive and give muchneeded dollars to Infrastructure Projects . Bernie that is what i have done along with other senators. We introduced a carbon tax to congress. Let me touch on an issue that is controversial and sensitive. I happen to believe and agree with the overwhelming majority of scientists who tell us Climate Change is real caused by human activities and if we do not get our act together, the situation will only get worse in years to come. We need to transform our Energy System away from fossil fuel. It is unacceptable to me have you have all these companies putting forth all this carbon and not paying the cost for it. Yes, i support a carbon tax. Host to be clear, when you talk about Climate Change to be real in your opinion, how far should the government go to combat it, deal with it . Bernie i agree with the World Scientific Community Client Climate Change is the major Environmental Crisis facing the planet. They are estimating in this country the planet will become 510 degrees warmer fahrenheit by the end of the century leading to floods, droughts, extreme weather disturbances coastal communities under water. I think we have a major crisis and the government has to be very bold along with governments throughout the world. It is an International Problem in the world and it is a huge issue. Host now we have a question from jeffrey flanders, he writes where do you stand on the nationwide legalization of marijuana . Sen. Sanders i was one of those kids that used to smoke marijuana, that was a joke but that was not an issue that we felt that was of the highest priority, kids smoking marijuana. I am also on board with legislation and have cosponsored legislation with marijuana. I think colorado was the first state in the country to legalize marijuana, and i want to take a good look at the pluses and the minuses of that and we can go from there. Host lets go to the questions in our studio audience now. Audience member welcome to beautiful downtown manchester. To deal with alzheimers and other dimensions, the numbers are rising at alarming rates. To prevent these debilitating diseases, the Research Funding has been inadequate. Would you support funding highlevel research in order to incur future costs, and could that bankrupt medicare and medicaid at some point . Sen. Sanders the answer is absolutely, and you are right the costs in dealing with alzheimers is going to be many, many, tens of billions of dollars, so it makes a lot of sense to us from a human point of view, as well as effective point of view, to find cures for that terrible illness, and yes i would support an increase of funding. Host that is all the time we have for the television portion, coming up, we have a conversation with republican donald trump, he is going to be on the program and this is the conversation with senator sanders that will continue online as well as on our mobile app. For now, thank you very much for watching, have a great night. 1 the announcer the road to the right House White House gets more crowded, dr. Ben carson plans his announcement, and we will have that live you at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan, and at 11 00 a. M. , it is former governor Mike Huckabee wash turn, Nash Huckabee huckabees turn. Remarkable partnerships, iconic women, their stories in first ladies. The book. She did say the portrait of washington, which endured her to the entire nation. What she was doing, what she looks like, who she was saying, that was going to help sell papers. She takes over a Radio Station and helps run it, and how do you do that . And she did it. She exerted enormous influence to make sure that her husband was protected. Announcer first ladies first ladies, now in a book, based on original interviews from cspans first ladies series. First ladies president ial historians on the lives of first women. They survived the scrutiny of the white house, sometimes at a great personal cost, sometimes changing history. It is an illuminating, and inspiring read, now it available as a hardcover or as an ebook at your local bookstore or online bookseller. Announcer next, commerce secretary Penny Pritzker outlines her department to enforce skills and job training and talks about job training. From the Aspen Institute, this is one hour. All right, good morning everyone, and welcome, i am Maureen Conway, imd executive director of our opportunities program, and i am so delighted to welcome you all today to our lunch and Work Partnership program. We are happy to be working with the Commerce Department on this really important initiative. I just want to say a few things before we get started, because we have a real treat for you today. We are being joined by Walter Isaacson, but a few things first, i would also like to acknowledge ands and thank the important initiatives that help us out, and we are filming this and if you are here in the room please do quiet your phone. Third, following the event today, we will have application materials for the regions up on our website. That website address is written down in materials and everything so you wont lose it, but just wanted to let you know that that will be going on today, and that is all i need to say for my announcements, but it is my distinct pleasure and thrill to introduce to you jay williams, the assistant secretary, sorry, i was promoting you, and he is going to provide a welcome and some thoughts. Thank you, jay. [applause] asst. Sec. Williams thank you maureen, and im excited to be here today. As we launch the communities that Work Partnership, this is a partnership that will build the critical and Publicprivate Partnership program that will help job skills across the nation. As we know, the availability of a Skilled Workforce is cited as a primary factor considered by businesses in their Investment Decision processes. The learning changes will help to meet the skills of businesses by identifying, promoting, and expanding on successful industrydriven, industry partnerships for talented development. I encouraging such partnerships, we encourage the regional pool of workers with skills that are in demand by employers that are in their communities, leading to job investments. Eda is pleased to be working with the Aspen Institute on this initiative. Through our partnership, we will help to build, sustain, and scale existing new and regional partnerships from telik from Talent Development in support of Regional Economic development. We will also inform on a longterm talent and the Skills Development strategies for the Economic Development administration. This Partnership Offers many exciting opportunities ahead as a testament to the focus of secretary of commerce, any pritzker who, for the first time in the history of the Commerce Department, has made a Workforce Development a key focus of the department of commerce. Secretary pritzker is a Business Leader with more than 25 years of experience as a Business Leader and a builder of businesses in various sectors. She has focused the department of commerce to spur American Innovation and unleashing Government Data to benefit businesses and developers alike. All of these priorities are of the most important to our committees and our regions. We are proud of the key role that the eda plays, and im very honored to work very closely everyday to work with secretary pritzker. Were obviously, of course, honored to have Walter Isaacson here today to lead our discussion. Walter is a man who wears many hats and wears them all exceptionally well. Walter, thank you so much for your leadership, and it is my privilege to turn this over to Walter Isaacson. Walter isaacson thank you very much and thank you for being our partners and selecting us as your partner. Why is Skills Development such a priority for you now . Sec. Pritzker walter, first of all, as you know, this has been a passion of mine to make sure that we not only develop a workforce that businesses need in order to grow into continue to create jobs but that the workforce in itself is getting the training and the opportunities that it needs so that our individuals in our country can be successful, so this is something that has been a passion of mine since we have started to Work Together, i think since 2009, on this subject. It is very important to bring it the subject of Workforce Development and skills training to the department of commerce because our job is to set the truth set the conditions for the american businesses to thrive, and then our economy will grow and we will have a prosperous society. So it is a Pretty Simple formula. Without the workforce, with the skills of that are in demand, in an everchanging economy, the formula does not work. So it is important, particularly because we at the department of commerce have the relationship with businesses, and ultimately at the end of the day businesses need to lead by defining what are the skills that they need, and i dont think that has been so clear lately. Walter isaacson when you do Manufacturing Day, which is an innovation that you have had what do you learn when you go and visit manufacturers of the 21st century . Sec. Pritzker i am really excited, we are going to have her third annual Manufacturing Day, and one of the wings that why Manufacturing Day . There was a real is understanding in the United States as to career manufacturing today, and what is the interface between the human and the machine that is necessary to make product in the 21st century . We have been working with manufacturers and last year we had 1500 manufacturers that opened their doors to over 300,000 people in the United States mostly, lets call it great school and High School Kids with their counselors coming in and saying, oh my this is not my fathers or my grandfathers manufacturing plant anymore. This is about manufacturing computers and a lot about humans working alongside robots great things. And we have learned that there is a real image issue with manufacturing, it is hard today to know what that is and to know what manufacturing means, so we are trying to change the awareness and the understanding that emilys know, all my goodness, if my i go in if i go in or if my child goes into manufacturing as a career, is that something that has longevity . For the first time in the United States since 2009, we are growing manufacturing, and we have grown almost 900,000 new manufacturing jobs, so this is becoming an area of growth, but it is a different career than it was 25 years ago. Walter isaacson so what kind of skills do you need to go into it . Sec. Pritzker you need knowledge as to how a computer works, you need knowledge as to how to adjust machines, you need to, you know, there is an interface of information that goes on, where the machine may say, here is where we need to tweak the production, and knowing how to then bring the mechanical talents to bear. So it is a set of skills that has broad, and it is available in Many Community colleges. This is one of the many things that we are doing with our new partnership here, is to really work with communities on making sure that they are developing processes for workforce training that are married to what businesses need. Walter isaacson youre working with communities but one of the great distinctions of what you do is that you work with businesses. How do you partner with business . Sec. Pritzker our believe is that businesses need to lead, in terms of the skills that are needed and for a local Business Community to thrive. Lets step ask from it, and what are we trying to do with the partnership . What we are trying to say is that all workforce training is local, we know that. It is not something that can be driven nationally. It needs to be driven by the demand of his nest. What do businesses need today, what are they going to need over the next five or 10 years in terms of skill sets from the workforce in that community . And what our workforce is doing and what the eda and the Economic Development administration is a perfect harder in this is because we work with communities every day to help them develop Economic Development strategies, they are called ceds. Comprehensive Economic Development strategies, and we have inculcated into our strategy planning with communities across the country a workforce training process that needs to be a part of that. We have guidelines, but what were doing in a partnership that is so important in bringing regions together, and if you think about it, workforce training in a region is made up of Business Leaders universities and institutions of higher learning, Community Colleges, local government, maybe your workforce board, and so there is a whole ecosystem for lack of a better term working on these issues. And if you tend to meet with University President s, and if you are a Community College president , you tend to meet with Community College president s, so there is no place or a forum where ecosystems are coming together and meeting with each other and saying boy this is working for us in South Carolina or arizona, and we are therefore we are there and are unemployment has plummeted and our Skilled Labor force that we have nowhere our community is coming together and enjoying best practices and now we are sharing that throughout the United States. One thing, unlike, lets say other countries, where there is often dictated at age 15 or 16 you are going to go one path or another, you are going to go to university or you are going to go to more of a trade, if you will. We dont do that in the United States. So we are much more local, bubble up, how are these communities, and where are they going to focus on their strengths and weaknesses. What we need to do is have a mechanism where best practices are being shared so that we can address our changing economy. Walter isaacson can you give me an example of that or a tale where you saw that work . Sec. Pritzker South Carolina, for example, has become a real mecca for auto production. There is a partnership between the universities and the Community Colleges and the auto manufacturers, as well as the state governments to say, here is what we need. In order to really have the most efficient, so, for example, bmw has made their largest manufacturing capability production in the world, and it is in the United States. That is bmw. A German Company in South Carolina. And they have helped lead and lead a development of a whole ecosystem that is now benefiting other manufacturers in that area, and in fact, their challenge is now that unemployment is so low that there is a real challenge exactly, for the governor, this is a real benefit. Or in chicago, for example chicago put together a workforce plan or a strategy for the region that is focused on hospitality, health care logistics, because we have chicago is my hometown, we have really given our geography, but also the density of rail, we play a really Important Role in terms of the logistics of the country, how do we get things from one place to another . So they laid out six or seven different sectors that they want to be strong in, and are really tied together, the Community College, what are the offerings at the Community College, what are the offerings being done at the high school level, what role is the university plane, all driven i sectors, the sectors are driven by the strong businesses that are local, and also aspirational he, what does chicago also aspirational ly what does chicago want to be . That is what eda is really expert at, making these kind of community plans, and so what we want to do in her partnership is bring the players together and really share with one another and learn from one another. Walter isaacson even before you became commerce secretary you were deeply involved with Community Colleges and seeing them in that chain and upgrading our views of Community Colleges in fact we have a Community College Excellence Program here at the Aspen Institute because of your program. I notice when you talked about chicago and mayor emmanuelle emaanuel, you Work Together to make sure that each Community College is somewhat more aligned with a particular industry and more light with skill sets that are needed. How did you make that work . Sec. Pritzker i really came from local leadership coming together, and across the business sector, and ceos working with City Government to say, here are the sectors that we are really good at and we should focus on. This is where there is growth and demand for new employment, so one, it is defining what you want to be when you grow up, and the second is then making sure that the Community College system was offering the kind of courses to young people that want to, who are looking to get into one of these sectors. So it was really about the leadership of the city across whether it was the Business Community leading in terms of demand, and the local government leading in terms of bringing both of money to bear but also leadership over the Community Colleges and aligning the Community Colleges and the university than saying, we are we to make sure there is a seamless process going from getting credentialing at a Community College, and if you want to continue on your education, you dont have to repeat we were finding that young people had to repeat courses having gone from the Community College to the university and that is money and that is an impediment, right . So why is it working . It has worked because the leadership level across these various sectors, i mean, across these various levels of expertise, the local government, Economic Development agency, the university, the Community College, it that are a we are coming together to find a solution, and to the challenges because unemployment was sticking really high in chicago. One of the other things that we did is created something here, uni created skills for americas future you and i really created skills for americas future, and when just two years ago, we had a longterm unemployed, and that is to find a someone who has been employed for unemployed for over six months that is funny seven who has a really hard time finding a job. You want to help them get employed, there it is there is a real bias Walter Isaacson yes, someone would not interview another person who has been unemployed for more than six months. Sec. Pritzker yes, it is just nuts as other has been huge progress in bringing that area of unemployment down. Walter isaacson on the unemployed employment issue, president obama has made a major plank for what he wants to do, making it seamless to go to university or college possible, and how does that tie into Skills Development . Sec. Pritzker it is a natural place to go, the goal has been to have the training offered at the Community College, offering the demands of the local community. Walter isaacson do you think that the local Community College did no colleges did not do that well . Sec. Pritzker the use to say they would train and pray, and now we can no longer afford to trade and pay train and pray. I will give you an example, Business Community has partnered with the Community College to say, here are the skills that we need. And when i found when uni started, when we started with skills for americas feud you and i started skills for americas future, we saw that the Community Colleges and say, partner with us and help with us and produce folks that are capable, not necessarily that they are training ends when make it to a business, but they are ready to do the work that is in front of them, and businesses, lets not kid ourselves, businesses do about 80 of the workforce training in the country, so what we are talking about is the 20 that is necessary to get somebody ready, to get somebody job ready, if you will. Then they will get on a job track where the business is that they are part of our going to support that training, so that is what we are trying to bridge. Walter isaacson lets go back to the story that you told, that amazing story about South Carolina becoming an amazing manufacturing place with a new set of skills. If we wouldve gone back 15 or 20 years ago, we would have seen both of the carolinas in the furniture building industry both declining, and i dont think you or i or certainly other guests would have believed that huge bmw plants would have come in. How do you necessarily predict what the job 10 years or 15 years will be . Have you just predict the skills for any type of job that is likely to be coming along how do you predict the skills or any type of job that is likely to be coming along . Sec. Pritzker not so that you are just pigeonholed into an industry, but gaining skills necessary. Take, for example, Data Analysis. You and i were talking about Data Analysis, and this is a huge area of growth in my childrens career time, learning both programming and Data Analysis are going to be the sick skills that you need to have, i think in almost any job that you are involved in. Walter isaacson you told me the story that you went on Manufacturing Day whohere you met a man who had worked in manufacturing for all of his years, and then he changed over to Data Analysis. Sec. Pritzker yes imagine working in manufacturing for 37 years, and then running a factory from computer screens. Walter isaacson so it is an interface skill . Sec. Pritzker yes and it is also flexibility, it is your willingness to continue to learn as an employee and being open to the jobs evolving and the willingness i know, i worked 20 years in the private sector and this is my first government job, and as my mother would say i will take an over achiever any day of the week, i will take someone who is willing to learn and grow in a job. And that is going to consistently be the case as we have this constant evolution. And we are living in a new machine age, right . I have heard the second machine age, i have her the fourth machine age, i dont know which number it is, all i know is that technology is causing a constant evolution, and as we all know American Workers are the most productive workers in the world. So what we need to do for the American Workforce is make sure that we are recognizing the skills that are needed and training folks up. And heres the thing, you can ask me, what are the skills . What are the four skills . Cyber security, what are the six skills that you needed for Cyber Security 10 years ago . We did know that we needed Cyber Security skills 10 years ago, so we need folks who are open to continual learning, and we need, and that is going to be a hallmark of employment is that. So one of the things that we are doing in government is that we created a checklist, so that every federal program that we are doing involves training, and has to meet with six or seven criteria. We have employers, and they have to be, it always starts with the employers, what does the employer need . Second is, when we are doing training, there are earned and learnt opportunities, you are earning and learning at the same time. We want to make sure that we are using data and hold ourselves accountable at the effectiveness of the training. We want to make sure that there are steppingstones stepping stones, we want to make sure that there is a breakdown of barriers to moving along in accessing training, and then we want to have more partnerships. We want more Publicprivate Partnerships. We know in the government, we dont have all of the answers. That is why this new partnership is so important to read one of the exciting things is that we are also announcing is that the department of commerce, we will take all of our skills efforts and call it skills for business, so now we are branding ourselves and so that the work that the eda is doing and the work of the patent and Trademark Office we are doing apprenticeships with the patent and Trademark Offices, so the president has a Big Initiative to double the number of certified apprenticeships in the United States. We technically think of apprenticeships that someone does in a trade, but this is really going to be training around a patent and Trademark Officer and that intellectual property protection, so we are moving out of just apprenticeships for trades, but also looking for apprenticeships and also looking for apprenticeships in Computer Programming in other areas. Walter isaacson the rebranding of the skills for business, what is the symbolic nature of that . Sec. Pritzker the symbolic region reason is towofold, that is demand come from businesses, and jobs are created in the private sector, and so we have got to start with the Business Leadership, and what do they need . Now, it is never far from my mind, what does the workforce need . You and i have talked about there are good and middleclass jobs with good wages and earnings that are available to American Workers, and that is some thing that, that is what what is the goal here . A wonderful match between a great career for someone and a Business Leader is able to continue to grow their business so that they will create more jobs. Walter isaacson speaking of that, one of the great theoretical debates, which is actually a very practical consequence, is whether this new machine age will actually hurt the number of jobs that we have in the future, especially middleclass jobs, there will be a hollowing out of the middle class because, automation, machinery, robotics, whatever it may be, we have 2000 years of data points of technology affecting employment, and there is a zero data showing that it affects employment, but i know that you and Larry Summers and others have been discussing whether this time can be different. Sec. Pritzker there is a norm is concern about the issue. Frankly, what we are seeing what i am seeing as commerce secretary, is the thought that the United States is the number one place in the world to invest. Goldman sachs, why . Because of many, many reasons, but not the least of which is the productivity of our workers. And it is also the ingenuity of our workforce. Walter isaacson and both of those is tied to are tied to technology . Sec. Pritzker all of those are about the willingness of our workforce to work with technology to be more productive. Why is the m w choosing the United States as its Global Manufacturing, its why is bmw choosing the United States as a Global Manufacturing location . It is our strong rule of law the fact that we will have trade agreements from around the world so that they can both manufacture here and export around the world more efficiently than from other locations around the world, our lowcost and abundant energy, have many assets in this country, what it all rests and starts with our workforce. Walter isaacson i pushed a book on you this morning, and i gave it to, which is bob putnam s our kids, and i think it is the most important book that anybody can read this year because it is about the opportunity gap, and you were talking about the opportunities going into the workforce but that gap seems to be widening between the opportunity of kids from privileged background with every with educated parents versus someone from a poor background and he just has craft after craft graph after graph and data point after data point, and it goes all the way to internships and apprenticeships and the job markets and the skills, how are you working, ortiz c that problem, and if so, how are you working to mitigate it or if you see that problem, if so, how are you working to mitigate it . Sec. Pritzker the problem is, my children and your children, or the children who live in or zip codes, they having norm opportunity, not the least which have parents who have a College Education, and that is a natural expectation, and they may have parents who have connections that help open the door for their child. That is the challenge that we face. In chicago, the kids on the south side dont have the same, lets say they are not pushing on the same open door. And we need to rectify that. That is why for me, this has in such a great passion. I have been all about education, and education has been the great equalizer, at least certainly in my lifetime. I continue to believe that it plays an Important Role. But we also have to continue to create opportunities. That is why apprenticeships are so critical. That is white providing mentorship is so critical. That is why providing mentorships are so critical. The most important people going through Manufacturing Day are the parents and the guidance counselors. As much as the kids being in expired being expired, the parents can see that there are good middleclass careers in manufacturing. The skills were you are earning and learning are transferable, so this is something that we have to be very persistent about. Walter isaacson the issue of income and equality, as you look at the numbers from the past two years of job growth and you look under the hood, what do you see about that issue of income and equality and what kind of problem it might be . Sec. Pritzker well, it is not good for society. We know that. We know that we dont have a hollowing out of our middle class, we know that it is important to make sure that there are good opportunities that exist and what i see is a changing economy where we place value on different skills, so if you look at being a data analyst, today, a data analyst is paid over 40 an hour, and that is a job that frankly did not exist when i was a kid. This is the Cyber Security, we talked about this, which is a different form of Data Analysis. I suspect that career is going to be wide open for a very long time and very high pay, and welders specialty welders. There is a huge demand, smart grid workers, also a huge demand and good pay. These are good solid jobs. But what you have to do and what we all know is, the path to finding those careers often requires a human interface with somebody who helps to guide you. Walter isaacson parent, mentor . Sec. Pritzker parent, mentor, friend, a coworker. I see it at the department of commerce. We have all kinds of folks working there who are looking to figure out where they are going next and how to manage their careers, and we spend a lot of time guiding and counseling everybody from the folks in our security detail to the folks who are in our policy shop, and everything in between. That is really an important part of the role of a manager, is to be a mentor, to set a culture of mentorship, it is not just the seniormost person who is guiding, it has got to be your whole organization. Walter isaacson as you look at the job numbers over the past few years, what is your analysis of this right below the surface . Sec. Pritzker well Walter Isaacson are we in a good recovery . Sec. Pritzker i think we are in i think we are in a recovery we are in a much better recovery than people like to talk about. Walter isaacson better than the rest of europe and the world . Sec. Pritzker yes, in terms of europe in the world, yes, we are definitely doing better, and everyone focuses on gdp growth but if you look at unemployment, our unemployment rates continue to come down, and there is going to be bumps up and down, but i feel as though what we have done is the economy, the foundation of our economy is far stronger, if you look in the 90s and the 2000s, a lot of your economy of our economy was bubbles, we had tech bubbles, we had house bubbles, and we are not sitting in an environment of doubles. There are far stronger foundations in our economy. It has been hard. It has been very hard. We all know that we either have our own kids or friends of kids or peers who have been laid off in this process or had a hard time finding jobs, and it is Getting Better and better, and it is not even across the United States, but it is much stronger than it was. We still do not have the kind of growth in the housing industry that we should. We still have not invested in infrastructure the way that we need, that would be a Significant Impact on our economy, but congress has not made that can that commitment yet, and we have 2 million 2 trillion to 3 trillion in investment so there are things that are good for a economy that will open markets like asia to american businesses, and i will put in a plug for trade Promotion Authority as well as for the transpacific partnership. Asia is going from 500 Million Consumers to somewhere over 3 billion in the next 1520 years. We have never seen this in the world, that large of a consumer race growth. Our Companies Need to be a part of that in order to be leaders in the future, because otherwise, companies that are are going to come back and there is very little barrier to entry in to doing investment in the United States, where as there is enormous market investment in vietnam or asia and other parts of asia. These agreements level the Playing Field for not just business access, but for our work force because there are new labour standards and that is included in these agreements, as well as environmental standards, they insist upon minimum wage, the insist up they insist upon no child forced labor, all of this will affect the quality of opportunity for our workforce here in the United States in a very positive fashion, so it is really important that we do this. Walter isaacson youre going to china in a few weeks, what is the mission . Sec. Pritzker i was actually just there last week, and what we did was took Clean Energy Companies to china. So china has made a commitment to have 20 of its energy by 2030 be nonfossil fuel based. China has worldclass solar wind, and hydro capabilities. What they dont have is the ability to connect all of that to the grant. They dont have technologies to do carbon capture, they have a lot of technologies that they dont have that we do. They are a 90 ill you and dollar marketplace per year in clean energy and we have market share, so our Companies Want more access. So this is helping them achieve their clean energy goals, we have all heard about their challenges of their air and pollution, and i am telling you it is true. If you have not been there it is a real challenge. There are people who are aware of it. There are populations that are aware, and not just the folks in beijing, they are aware of the real challenges to them. So this is a place where we can work cooperatively together to not just help their climate problems but those that affect us as well. Walter isaacson before i take over, lets go right back to what we are here today to announce, which is sec. Pritzker skills for business partnerships Walter Isaacson thats right, and we have a process of applications from regional teams and others to include is this education, public agencies, and tell us about that approach and without putting too much pressure on maureen, what you want coming out of this . Sec. Pritzker well, i have enormous confidence in maureen having worked with her before this, so she is up for the challenge. So what does success . Look like we are talking about bringing together six different regions of bringing together leaders from business regions Community Colleges universities, from the local government, and so they can learn from each other, and can develop a case study of best practices, we can develop a set of tools that can be used by other communities to improve. So we are using convening to learn from each other and to develop really a set of case studies of how to better improve your own region for workforce training. And my hope is that out of this, we have more communities that want to participate, that you have such satisfied customers and that the demand is that we do it again. And that the final part of this is for the department of commerce. We play a role in the partnering with you and the convening and developing the tools, so our goal that is to take the learnings and to put them into we work with hundreds of communities from around the country in helping then develop Economic Development strategies, and we put them into the community Economic Development strategy processes that we use with communities across the country, and this is a way of beginning to lift everybody. Walter isaacson so is if anybody out there is interested go to her website, find Maureen Conway and her email, or anybody with an email and find that team part of the Aspen Institute website. [laughter] let me open this up to the room. Fred there, fred stall previously of boeing and hi there, fred stahl, previously of boeing and mit and it looks to me that there is a powerful and emerging change in how we are going to be managing manufacturing, and i think we are going to be transferring more responsibility and authority to workers on the front line. So it is tapping into the things that you talked about, a knowledge of the workers, their ingenuity, and their flexibility. My question is, shouldnt we be training our workers to have the leadership skills needed to step into that future . Sec. Pritzker thank you because you are exactly right what is happening in the decisionmaking and the power is that it is devolving to the factory floor to the worker, so the democratization of authority requires that individuals develop skills of personal leadership, personal conflict resolution, and talents to be able to manage as they are evolving and changing, as well as confidence to make choices that have the ripple effects across the factory floor. And working with colleagues, not just alone but in groups and in teams to make these decisions. So absolutely, these kinds of skills are necessary, and as i said, there is a baseline of skills that one gets before one enters the job market or one ups skills into a new job, that fundamentally, most businesses as i said, about 80 of workforce training is going on in businesses, and that is where a lot of it will evolve. But these i hate the word soft skills leadership skills, management skills, problem solving skills communication skills, are fundamentally skills that can be obtained in grade school, high school, Community College through universities. This is not something that just starts when you walk in the door of your first job Walter Isaacson . First job. Walter isaacson first diane . Diane i am interested in the opposite side of the spectrum in terms of skills. The students coming into Community Colleges and the apprenticeships, are they prepared for basics in mathematics . Sec. Pritzker one of the things that i did was sit on a school board in chicago, which is frankly one of the more challenging roles i have ever played in my life and the responsibility for young people and making sure that they are getting basic fundamental reading and writing skills. It is more and more challenging and i think that, and here is why i am optimistic. I am optimistic from what i saw you had a teacher and confute computer interface working with young kids, fourthgraders fifthgraders, working with young people, really working at their own place and working along their own trajectory, that was important so we need to focus on that. We should be working on different problem sets on the same time and not doing the exact same work, and what i see is the teacher enthusiasm working with students and using technologies at the same time so the kids can have more individualized learning platforms, but the teachers not feeling threatened by that and then celebrating what kinds of accomplishments they can have with their own class, the cousin if you inc. About it it a class is a range of capabilities, and i think more and more, i think that connected is so important connected is so important. We have these packets of information, and testing on understanding, and moving forward, and often what teachers are learning on that is that they will do the lecture portion and through the testing, we will know kids did not get this concept, we have got to go back to the classroom and work on that concept, so if everybody understand this concept and we dont need to spend any more time on that, then it allows for much more targeted learning, so i am more optimistic that we are going to get better on the fundamental skills that technology has a role to play, and it will help us do that. Not replacing teachers as an aid. Walter isaacson diane, thank you. Catherine hi, i am Catherine Maccallum of the manufacturing institute, so one of the places that we are stock is hearing about how is this is our aligning with Community College to make sure colleges to make sure that the courses are there but how are you going to leverage this partnership to make sure there is credit alignment with the Community Colleges as well . Because there are very few manufacturing pathways at the College Level that are aligned with the academic credit. Sec. Pritzker so one of the areas of focus has been the idea of partnering not just with a Business Leader, but with industry to develop credentials and i know that brt has been focused on a Business Roundtable and working with Different Industries and associations to try to develop credentialing that is both transferable, well understood within an industry, but also stackable in the sense that you can build upon it with a seamless transition to more education, but it is an area that i think needs a lot more attention, and frankly, for the industry associations, they have a rule to role to play. I think that, i will bet that you have an education subcommittee, and i will bet that this is a hot topic, and that is where partnering with Community College, the American Association of Community Colleges is very critical, because we have too many one off credentials. Walter isaacson i think you had your hand up earlier, so let me grab, yeah, i think . Good morning, think you so much for the wonderful job that youre doing, and im from pre a, illinois peoria illinois, and i have an initiative, but it is taking too long, and im trying to get the first in the Nation Associates degree in Software Development so there are barriers on these and the question is, what kind of development we can what kind of systems we can get from the government . They dont understand the connection between education and the partnership and that is a problem. The Companies Need to invest in people, and the apprentice model requires, and im telling the companies in that area, that they want to think about 90,000 in a threeyear people to invest in these people, but as you are pointing out, 80 of the training is done by the companies, so Community Colleges are not aware of the changes that they have to do in terms of delivering these courses. Walter isaacson you have done Community College, select the dress the notion of how to improve apprenticeships . Sec. Pritzker that is one of the things that the Labor Department is doing now, and that is trying to double the number of apprenticeships and to broaden the industries in which apprenticeships are available so this has been a big number by both the department of labor and by the department of commerce, and i think they Just Announced where is kay . There is, right back there he is, right back there. Walter isaacson there is a microphone right next you, sir. Good morning, madam secretary, and our historic investment that the president has asked us to do, it closes this week, so hurry up and get your applications in, because there are 100 or 125 innovative models across the country, and it is a very huge effort to blow it out of traditional labor construction, or trade, and it is wonderful and we could keep we should keep doing this, so there is a lot of strategy, a lot of interest in the country and we are of about 65,000 in number and that is in the last year so we have already increased it by 55,000 apprenticeships and we are moving. Walter isaacson it would be great to get an apprenticeship in the trade and patent office. [laughter] Walter Isaacson