Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140104

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff that blustery winter storm dropped a foot of snow on the midwest before setting its sights on the northeast, where today it closed schools, and snarled commutes on the ground and in the air. At least 13 deaths were blamed on the storm, many from car accidents. Hari sreenivasan has our report. Sreenivasan snow plows across the northeast started working early and often, in an effort to erase the first big storm of the new year. Though the snow has mostly tapered off now, its the drop in temperature thats cause for concern. At subzero temperatures you worry about frost bite. Youre worried about hypothermia. Sreenivasan and in a press conference this afternoon, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said it could have been worse. Mother nature is fickle as you know and has a mind of her own. We had a from my perspective, a lucky break or two. One is that the storm came largely in evening and not in the middle of a workday. I mean, started largely in the evening. And it followed the forecast that hasnt always happened. Sreenivasan wind gusts of up to 50 milesperhour were reported in parts of massachusetts, and wind chills as low as minus30 degrees. Boston was hardhit with nearly 14 inches of snow blanketing the citys streets, and communities to the west got nearly double that amount. Coastal flooding is now the biggest concern in scituate, massachusetts. Many residents have already evacuated their homes. New york and new jersey were still under states of emergency. We can safely say weve had our first significant snowfall of this year. Sreenivasan in new york city, bill de blasio faced his first major challenge as the new mayor, asking people to let the street cleaners do their jobs. Can tell you already, we have a very powdery snow. Sreenivasan earlier this morning, he took to his own driveway, to shovel snow outside his brooklyn home. By midday most of the commercial centers of new york city were up and running. Traffic was moving well, the sun was out, temperatures were in the high teens. But up north, the biting cold temperatures and wind chill made things much more difficult. In maine, the subzero temperatures kept many people inside. But some tourists still braved the arctic air at a Historical Military attraction. Bone chilling. Most of me is warm, except for my legs. Sreenivasan and airports across the u. S. Remained backed up, with holiday travelers stranded after more than 2,000 flights were canceled today. The warning has been coming for a couple of days, so we expected it. We booked a hotel here. And were stuck; well make the best of it. Sreenivasan and although the midwest was hit with the worst of the storm earlier this week, the arctic air still lingers across the region. Woodruff the Obama Administration announced two new executive actions affecting background checks for gun buyers today. Both focus on limiting firearm access for people with Mental Health issues. One rule lets hospitals submit Additional Information about a patients Mental Health into the background check system. President obama proposed tough gun control measures in Congress Last year in the wake of the Newtown School shootings, but they got little support the administration also took steps on the National Security agencys Surveillance Program today, amid Conflicting Court decisions about its legality. U. S. Officials were in the process of asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to renew the n. S. A. s phone Collection Program for another 90 days. And the department of justice filed its expected appeal to overturn a judges federal ruling that the phone Records Program was likely unconstitutional. The Justice Department also took action in a challenge to the new health care law, calling for an end to a block on its Birth Control mandate. The law requires some religious organizations to provide Health Insurance that includes coverage of contraception. But the Obama Administration said those religious nonprofits can exempt themselves from the requirement. On tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia sotomayor delayed the mandates implementation hours before it was to go into effect. The u. S. Embassy in south sudan evacuated more of its staff today because of escalating violence. And starting tomorrow Consular Services for american citizens will be suspended. In washington, a state Department Spokeswoman said they were working hard to airlift out americans, and others, amid the ongoing political unrest. Weve evacuated over 440 u. S. Officials and private citizens and more than 750 citizens of at least 27 other countries on eight chartered flights and nine military aircraft. Who remains . The ambassador, a few key personnel and, of course, security at our facility there, both ours and dod. But i think were certainly open to doing more evacuations, if theres a need, depending on security. Woodruff as many as 75,000 people have fled the violence in the city of bor. Most of the displaced families are camping out in the nile river region of awerial without sanitation or clean drinking water. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to quickly deliver aid to that area. In seattle, washington, 30,000 boeing machinsts voted on a critical labor contract today, with billions of dollars and thousands of jobs on the line. If workers agree to concessions on pension and health care benefits, boeing will build its new 777x jetliner and wings in seattle. If they reject the contract, boeing has said it will look to a number of other states interested in hosting a new factory. A final tally is expected late tonight. Well have more on whats at stake later in the program. In economic news, 2013 turned out to be the best single year for the Auto Industry in the past six. Ford led all major automakers with an with an 11 jump in sales, chrysler and nissan trailed behind at 9 , and General Motors ended the year up 7 . The month of december didnt see such a brisk sales pace, attributed in part to bad Winter Weather and a black friday shopping surge in november. Stocks on wall street continued to have a sluggish start on the second day of trading in the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 28 points to close at nearly 16,470. The nasdaq fell 11 points to close above 4,131. For the week, the dow lost a fraction of a percent. The nasdaq fell more than half a percent. Still to come on the newshour a rise in sectarian violence in iraq; the rift among Union Workers at boeing; a study linking medicaid and increased e. R. Visits; latinos leaning more on longterm care facilities, plus, shields and brooks. Two key iraqi cities have been the scene of intense sectarian fighting for nearly a week. Sunni militants aligned with al qaeda have escalated a battle against shiiteled Government Troops. Its all taking place in the Western Province of anbar, where u. S. Troops suffered their greatest losses during the eight year war. In falluja today, militants blew up several government buildings including the Police Headquarters and mayors office. Violence also picked up in ramadi. The alqaeda linked fighters are seeking to control both cities. The militants fight under the same banner as jihadists in syria evidence that countrys civil war is spilling beyond its borders. But it is not a clean sectarian split. Powerful sunni tribes in anbar have allied with the Government Troops to fight alqaeda, as they did with u. S. Troops in 2007, in a move called the awakening which helped turn the tide of the war. To help us understand this latest bloodshed, we turn to former u. S. Ambassador to iraq ryan crocker. And former marine capt. Bing west, who spent a lot of time in iraq, particularly in anbar, and has written several books about the war. Test gentlemen, we thank both. Bing west to you first, what is going on in Anbar Province . Well, i think judy that al qaeda has made a big mistake. They went into the cities believing the cities would uprise with them, something equivalent to what the votecong did in 1978 in the tet offensive and the people have no intentions of uprise with them and the major tribes have turned against them. And so i think al qaeda actually has overplayed its hand. Woodruff roy an crocker, do you see it the same way, al qaeda moving in, traying to get a foothold, overplaying its hand . Weve seen this before, bing and i, and i think he is exactly right. Al qaeda overplayed its hand in the o 5ee, 06 period that had the population ready to turn to us in at wakening. And were seeing another play of their hand again, raising the black flag of al qaeda on iraqi soul. And the advent of foreign fighters is particularly a of the tribes, these tribes will and are fighting to secure their own cities, and weve seen the government finally do something sensible which is quit antagonizing the sunnies, give them money, give them arms and fight should tore shoulder. Woodruff what is it that al qaeda wants here, bing west, is it they just simply want territory . What is this about . No, i think honestly, judy, they convinced themselves that the tribes would come over to them and that they could split away anbar as an entire province, put it together with the western part of eastern part of syria and begin to have their own state. But as ambassador crocker was just indicating, they did it exactly wrong because these tribes in anbar hate them. They really hate al qaeda because they killed so many of the shakes in 2004 and 2005. And im flabbergasted that al qaeda thought that they could go into these cities. Fallujah is a trap. Fallujah only has five entrances, thats not a smart idea to go in there. You have to ask how youre going to get out. The second city caldia is a small city, ramadi is the can deal it a pers theyre losing in the ramadi to the tribes. Woodruff what is the value of this territory, am was dollar ambassador crocker what is the Strategic Value for al qaeda to gain it and for the sunni tribal leaders to hold on to it . Judy, for al qaeda the aim has always been to gain and hold a significant amount of arab territory. That for them is the base from which they would seek to reestablish the 7th century calafate. So they are trying that in syria, they are trying it in anbar with limited success. The setback there is going to be very important, i think. Not only in in iraq but also in syria. But thats what they seek. They seek the same kind of position they have in afghanistan pre2011, except on arab soil. We need to be very, very careful to dofering we can to see that they do not get it. Woodruff and as both of you are pointing out, bing west, what al qaeda didnt count on was the sunni tribal leaders in effect allying themselves with the shialed government. What is in it for them to keep al qaeda out . Well, i have to say that my source for this now is twitter. I have twits today coming from ramadi saying that abu risha who is the good guy, believes that andu ago mad who is the bad has been killed in the battle. He has been killed three times, this may be the fourth time. But it does indicate that the problem here for al qaeda that the sunni tribes were handled very badly by Prime Minister mall aki have somehow cut some sort of deal with Prime Minister mall agoee, probably for money but definitely for some political power and this is ambassador crockers area but i certainly hope that prime malaki has learned a lesson from this. Woodruff and on that point, ambassador crocker, how does all this affect the ability of did of the Prime Minister to have any sort of stability in this country. Weve been watching increased violence, there have been suicide bombings, virtually. Weve been reporting on it every day, in iraq. How does all this play into his ability to keep his Country Stable . Two key points, judy. First outside of an bar the the suicide bombings were almost exclusively the work of al qaeda attempting to insight sectarian violence among iraqis. They have not succeeded. Its very important that the Prime Minister work with leaders around the country to see that they dont. And in anbar where there have been significant sectarian violence that sparked this whole thing off, less than a week ago, a disaster for the Prime Minister is now a golden opportunity. As bing says, they have forged a temporary alliance at least facing a Common Threat and its the Prime Ministers opportunity working with individuals like risha to make that alliance much more permanent now that they have seen what al qaeda will try to do. Binge west what is in the u. S. Interest here. What leads to the kind of stability we were just talking about with ambassador crocker. Well, it is as the ambassador indicated it would be terrific and our equities in this are definitely to help the sunni tribes and an bar because they helped us. And because they are a stability in that region. If we can get the tribes and Prime Minister mall aki working mall agoee working together then we can seal off that border and prevent al qaeda from expanding its area in eastern in eastern syria, we can seal that off if there can be a relationship between the Prime Minister in baghdad and the anbar tribes out in ramadi. Woodruff well, we thank you both, both bing west and ambassador ryan crock forehelping us understand more about what is going on there. We thank you. Thank you, judy. Thank you. Woodruff its a critical vote for a labor union, an Aircraft Company and possibly an entire region. Jeffrey brown has the story. Brown in november, machinist Union Workers at boeing voted down a new contract extension. Pensions were the most contested issue. After boeing offered several revisions, a new vote is taking place today, with results expected tonight. The stakes are high thousands of jobs and the building of boeings new 777x plane. If the Union Approves the contract, boeing says it will go ahead and build the plane in unionized factories in washington state, the companys historic manufacturing home. If theres another no vote, boeing says it may well go elsewhere. 22 other states responded to a solicitation from the company with proposals to build the new jet in their areas. Joining us now Harley Shaiken, a professor at the university of california berkeley who specializes in labor issues. And Richard Gritta, a professor of finance at the university of portland and expert on the airline industry. Start us off, explain the pension and other issues here and the dilemma for the Union Members voting on this . Well, its a real dilemma. This was a very tough context for the union in that as you mentioned, boeing could have put this new production in many places. The fact that it may go to seattle is an important game long term, possibly very important for unionized workers and for the Machinists Union itself. But to do this the union had to give certain critical concessions. The most con februaricious is the pensions contentious is the pensions. The workers are going to be going from a traditional defined benefit pension plan to a 401 k . Its an older workforce, almost half are over 50 years old. Theyre very worried about the security of that. Also the context in which the vote is taking place, i think, has contributed to some of the tensions, the fact that this was a record year for boeing in terms of profitability. E fact that the c. E. O. Had a 21 million paycheck. The fact that since the first vote there had been 10 billion Share Buyback and a 51 increase in dividends, all have played into the mix. Brown all right and Richard Gritta from the Company Perspective boeing feels itself in a highly competitive situation, right. Tell us about this particular plane and its importance. Well, the 777x is the new generation of the old 777. And it holds anywhere from 3 r50 to 400 passengers 350 so they are going the intermediate route to compete against airbus but its been dog eat dog in this industry for a long time. Airbus taking the lead and kind of acing out boeing and then boeing grabbing it back. So its a very competitive industry. And this pension situation as mentioned is critical. The use of defined Contribution Plans is what boeing wants to push with the union. Define benefit plans are what really bankrupted General Motors. So they cant afford to risk the cash flow problems with the defined benefit program. I think thats the key issue as has been pointed out. And let me just stay with you, Richard Gritta. This question about moving to another state, how easy or difficult is Something Like that to do for boeing . Well, its not easy, but its kind of an applied capitol budgeting decision, are the costs to move, to say alabama or to North Carolina or utah which are righttowork states, has to be weighed against the present value of the benefits. The lower wages that they would pay elsewhere and the fact that in nonunion states they could easily hire people that would be willing to go with a 401 traditional plan. So i gather that mistakes are so high, the conflict is so difficult, or intense that this has really split the union in some ways, the local versus the the national and international. Well, i think thats been overplayed in some important ways. They have different perspectives. The internationals are looking at the longterm future of the industry. The longterm creation of jobs and a Key Technology that would go into sigh at el with highly paid unionized workers, Carbon Fiber Technology that could define the aircraft industry for decades to come. So the international has that long view. On a local level youve got many workers that are simply apprehensive. Theyve seen what has happened in other industries. They want to insurance that they get a fair shake right now. I dont think its a rift. I think thats been overstated but i think there are differences of perspective that are very important Going Forward. The irony here is that at the end of the day longterm, the Machinists Union and its members in seattle could be in a stronger position when a defining product, the 777x which is going to shape the industry for decades to come, a new technology and a very heavy investment, are all in seattle in a unionized sector. And it puts a premium on both sides, the company and the union working together to make this a very successful investment. Richard gritta, so what about the stakes for washington state, for the entire region there, where boeing does a lot, still does a lot of its manufacturing. And what about the stakes for the company itself. I mean how much is it framing this as important to its future . Well, i think the framing it is highly important especially because of the pension pulling system but at stake are anywhere from 8,000 to 8500 jobs immediately. And then some estimates as high as 20,000 for all the periphery companies that feed into boeing. So this is huge. Washington state has offered an 8. 5 billion dollar tax incentive to keep the company there. They dont want it to go. But of course theyre bidding against alabama, North Carolina, utah and some other states for the prize. Which is where theyre going to build the carbon wings for this aircraft. And theyre talking about a 1. 2 million plan to do this. And Harley Shaiken in our last minute what about the stakes the unions shall and i dont mean just this union, but how do you fit this into kind of larger issues that you look at . Well, i think this is critical for unions more generally. Youve got three things coming together here. An iconic profitable company. A strong union. And all the pressures of the global economy. Theres something in seattle that is critical for boeing Going Forward which is the highly skilled, very capable workforce. Youve got 8. 7 billion dollars in state incentives. And youve got a workforce thats also very dedicated to the future of this company and this industry. If both sides can bring this together, i think it will be a model of a high wage, high road route to competitiveness in a global economy. Woodruff all right, as i said were expected to know more about this tonight. We will keep watching, Harley Shaiken, Richard Gritta, thank you both very much. Thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff a study published in the journal science this week found that low income people with medicaid insurance go to the emergency room about 40 more often than their uninsured counterparts do. The study raised questions about the longheld theory that extending medicaid coverage to more americans would cut down on emergency room use. It involved thousands of poor people in the portland, oregon, area and was conducted by the oregon Health Insurance experiment. Hari sreenivasan takes the story from there. Sreenivasan joining me to discuss the report is katherine baicker. She is professor of Health Economics in the department of Health Policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health and was one of the authors of the report. Wuferning headlines, lets dig deep nears this, 40 , that seems like a very large spike in er usage. What does that actually translate to for the people in the study, how much more did they use it. Well, on average people in the control group went to the Emergency Department about once during the 18 months that we looked at. And people without got medicaid went 1. 4 times. So thats about a 40 increase. Its helpful to think about why people were covered by medicaid versus not in our study. Oregon had a lottery for a limited number of spots ined Medicaid Program and they drew names from a waiting list by chance so we were able to compare people who didnt gain access to the program through the lottery to people without did. And that gave us a really good control group to figure out what happened when people gained access to medicaid. So is there a possibility that this is a surge, is 18 months long enough to see longterm patterns . Its a good question. Longerterm effects might certainly differ from you what see over an 18 month period. Although we didnt see an increase in the beginning that petered out it looked fairly steady over the 18 months we examined. But certainly longer run effects might differ. And you also might expect to see Something Different when insurancing many more people at the same time. Our study had about 10,000 newly insured people. Thats a lot of people but its small relative to the population of oregon or even relative to the uninsured population in oregon. And speaking of the population in oregon, how representative is it of the rest of the country. Some of the critics of the study have said maybe the poor in oregon wont model the same way that the poor are in the rest of the country. Of course one always wants to be careful in generalizing from any one state to others or from any one study to the nation overall. That said, oregons Medicaid Program looks similar to programs in other states in many ways. It covers the same types of Services Including not just the Emergency Department but Doctors Office visits, prescription drugs, hospitalizations. It has no copays foreign rollees. The population in oregon looks similar to that of the u. S. With one important exception there are fewer minority res didnts in oregon than in many other states so oregon might not be very representative of racial or ethnic differences that would you expect to see elsewhere. Were there any subgroups in the democrats tha that demographics that were using the emergency room more often, perhaps the elderly or one gender over the other . Sure. We studied people who were 19 to 64. Thats the group that was eligible for this program. Where older people would already be eligible for medicare. And we saw increases in lots of different types it of utilization. We saw people going to the emergency kept more, for example, for conditions that might most readily be treatable in other settings in primary care settings or emergencies that might have been avoided by earlier primary care. We also saw a bigger increase for men in the probability of going to the Emergency Room Department at all. So what accounts for that . I mean if people are going to the emergency room for care that they could have gotten at the Doctors Office elsewhere, is it because they dont know the difference . Or is there a spike in the number of primary care physicians that might be referring people to the emergency room . There are a lots of open questions about the underlying reasons that we see the patterns of care that we do. But we know a couple of things. First people also went to the doctor more and also went to the hospital more and used more prescription drugs. And all of that is consistent with the idea that insurance makes health care more affordable for patients. And when health care is more affordable and the price is lower they use more of a lot of different kinds of services. Its possible that patients sitting at home way certain set of symptoms like sprained ankle that might be broken or pain thats been around for a day or so but might get better, choose not to go to the Emergency Department when they worry that they will be faced with a large bill where. As those who are insured decide to go rather than wait. Similarly if they call their doctor and their doctor says im not sure about those symptoms you better go to the Emergency Department, the uninsured may be luctant to do so because they fear the large bills they would incur. And so you published two previous sets of findings from this study. Anything more that is coming out . We certainly have much more data that were eager to explore. Our previous studies were able to look at utilization across a range of settings like the Doctors Office visits and hospitalizations i mentioned but also to assess physical health and Mental Health. And we saw a big reduction in depression. We didnt detect any other changes in physical health measured like high Blood Pressure or cholesterol that depression result is one we want to dig into with more data on modes of care and treatment for that condition. We also found big improvements in Financial Security and wellbeing that seem very important for the wellbeing of the individuals. Who were less likely to have a bill accident to collection and important for the healthcare system, where those bills sent to chrerx were never paid to providers. All right, katherine baicker, thanks is so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Woodruff now a different look at providing care to those in need. Its part of our occasional series on aging and the challenges of providing long term care. Tonight, we focus on latinos, who will comprise 20 of the Elderly Population by the year 2050. The newshours mary jo brooks has our report. Reporter seventysixyear old Nicolasa Romero still gets teary when she talks about how much her life has changed after suffering a stroke eight years ago. An immigrant from mexico, she had been living with her daughter in suburban los angeles. But the stroke forced her into a nursing home. translated because of my stroke, i cant walk. I cant move one arm. My daughter lives on a second floor and i couldnt go up and down the stairs anymore. Reporter romero is part of a trend among latino senior citizens. Traditionally, they lived out their final years with family members who served as their caregivers. But as more and more latino households have become dual income, theres no one left at home to care for them. And so they are going to nursing homes. In fact, theres been a 58 increase in latino admissions to such facilities, compared to a 10 decrease for whites. Rashmi birla, whos been a nursing home administrator for 14 years, has seen first hand the surge in interest by latinos, although she knows it remains culturally a tough choice. Its really not easy for family members when theyre touring the building and theyre in tears. And i just rub their shoulder and say its okay. I understand its difficult. Well help you through this. Reporter birla is now the director of the Country Villa plaza in santa ana, a 144bed facility where 70 of the residents are hispanic. Mexican version of bingo. We get them involved and its not that they are just sitting in their room. And thats really what were trying to aim at, is saying you can have a home life environment but yet still be able to read your newspaper with coffee but then you can have a big fiesta with a mariachi band. And all of that makes a huge difference in how they feel and the happiness they have and the comfort they have. Reporter Nicolasa Romero says the people at Country Villa have become her new family and she never wants to leave. translated i want to spend the rest of my days here. I want to die here. Because when you die, you should be in a peaceful place. And this is a peaceful place. Reporter but centers like this, which cater to hispanics and offer high quality care, are still far too rare. A Brown University study three years ago concluded that minorities, far more than whites, live in facilities that are substandard, suffer from staffing issues and poorer quality of care. Its one of the reasons al mendez says he wont consider the idea of a nursing home. For more than four years, he has helped care for his 77yearold father jaime who suffers from parkinsons. Jaime lives in a small cottage behind his sons house. Hes my father, so i want to care for him. We were raised that way. To take care of each other. So hes always with us. Reporter but a yearanda half ago, a social worker told mendez that his fathers health might actually improve if he spent a few hours during the day at a Senior Health facility. Now, three times a week, jaime rides a shuttle to a pace center just two miles from his house. Pace, which stands for program of allinclusive care, was started in the 1970s in california. There are now more than 90 such Centers Across the country. This one is run by altamed, a managed Health Care Company in los angeles county. The centers accept only patients who have been certified by the state to be nursing home qualified, but it is a day center only so patients can continue to live at home with a family member. A population of 88 latino. They offer exercise and physical therapy, breakfast and lunch, numerous social activities. And full medical care. I like coming here because i get lots of attention and thats good. The staff takes very good care of me. Reporter on the day we visited, there was an elaborate celebration for the feast of our lady of gaudalupe, which included a catholic mass, an outdoor procession and mariachi music. Dr. Esiquio casillas, medical director for altamed senior services, says taking part in a broad array of social and cultural activities is key to improving health and wellbeing. The World Health Organization estimates that only 10 of a persons wellbeing is impacted by medicine and medical care. Whereas social determinants like nutrition, where they live, poverty, environmental factors have much more impact. When they come here on a regular basis, they get socialization, cognitive activities to help their cognitive functioning and the physical activities as well. Reporter for 86year old eva allegria, the pace program literally saved her life. She had lived in her own home for 60 years, but was growing more and more depressed as her health failed. I was very depressed. I was ready to go. In fact, i asked my friend who does wedding dresses, i told her how i wanted to be buried. Reporter but her sons had other plans for her. They enrolled her in the pace program, kicking and screaming she says. Within weeks, shed had a complete turnaround. Now she loves coming for the food, the parties, the camaraderie. She hopes that if she keeps exercising, she may even get out of her wheelchair to dance with the mariachis. I told that guy up there, wait a little longer. The tab for the services is picked up by medicare or medical, californias version of medicaid. Still its expensive to start a pace program which may explain why there arent more of them. There is a lot of investment up front to get these programs started. Many of them take four or five years to get started. Its a multimillion dollar investment. But i think things are changing. Theres been a lot of interest in these program in the past few years. And i think healthcare plans are realizing that this is really the ideal program for the very frail patients who is not yet in a nursing home and can be kept out of a nursing home. California do have other options for adult day facilities but state funding for those programs was severely cut three areas ago and will be at risk again next year. Its a situation that could become one of the countrys biggest challenges. How to provide quality longterm care for an Elderly Population that is expected to double in the next 15 years. Woodruff what can you do to keep yourself happy and healthy in old age . We prepared seven tips for successful aging, recommended by the people featured in this segment. Read those on our rundown. Woodruff and to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks, who is in new york tonight. Welcome, First Program of the new year and i guess the political event of the week, david here in new york was the inauguration of their new mayor who sounds like hes going to make inequality and doing something about it the theme of his leadership. What did you make of him and his message . Well, weve been waiting around for sort of a pop you lost regress you have. I guess we had Elizabeth Warren in massachusetts but here is somebody running a city on that agenda. To me the question is it going to be a national agenda. And i guess im not quite clear sure yet. Clearly progressive voices are going to blair very loudly in democratic circles, in liberal circles, in the ago add me, because inequal sit a genuinely significant issue. The question is can they get a broader a Broad Movement behind that. New york is not america. In the New York Post today pointed out that it has been 117 years since a major official had National Office or even big state office and that was Teddy Roosevelt so its been very hard to export new york politics nationally. And it could be that the distrust of government is so strong that even though people acknowledge that inequality is a big serious issue, they dont quite trust Big Government programs to take care of it. Mark, is this a liberal message that has legs outside of new york . Yes, it does, judy. First of all, Franklin Roosevelt was a governor of new york when he was elected president of the United States in 1932. Not new york city though. Oh, new york city, okay, im sorry. The yes, it does, judy, and i say this. Lost in the results in 2012 because of the president ial race was the fact that we saw a you populist revolt in california. Put to the ballot test, proposition 30 jerry brown, the governor pushed it. The state was in dire financial straits and funding for education was way down. Proposition 30 raised taxes on couples earning over 500,000 a year. Millions spent against t1 1 million by one secret group alone spent against it and it prevailed. It won, 89 of us going to College Community colleges in k through 12. Bill de blasio ran on this issue. He didnt just pull it out of his hat. He didnt discover it between running and his inaugural. And davids right, does it have its most intense support on the coast, yes. Probably in several academic areas. But the reality is this is a realitybased movement. Its every where. Inequal sit acrosstheboard. Just one figure, okay, in the last four years last four years since barack obama has been president , 95 of the wealth in the countries thats been created has gone to the top 1 who own 33 of the stock. I mean i think anybody who accused barack obama of being a socialist owes him and us an apology because its been the stock market had its best year in 17 years. Coincidentally that was when when another Democrat Bill clinton was in the white house. So its been very good but its been very unequal. And one of the things de blasio wants to do is universal prek, that saw a radical idea. Its now a state law in oklahoma, and a state law in georgia. Woodruff so david what is the strength of liberalism in this country today . Well, i think the problem is real, mark is absolutely right about that, the inequality, the statistics are pretty overwhelming. The question, it seems to be two agendas flow out of that. One which i do think is a majority agenda is the argument that basically Economic System is working but a lot of people dont have access to it and therefore you want to invest heavily in Human Capital n prek, in community colleges, in education. And you want to give people access. I think that is a majority agenda that is probably a center left, even some center right the second agenda is the Economic System fundamentally is not work, that we have deep structural problems that are leading to this widening inequality and you want to odd res the deep structural problems in the economy with much more redistribution, much higher taxes on the affluent and therefore redistributing the money down. I do not believe that is a majority agenda whether its justified or not. I just think right now i think there are seven Democratic Senators running for reelection right now in states that mitt romney won. I do not think those 7 senators are going to be endorsing any sort of redistributive program or much Big Government program this year or any time soon. Woodruff mark what about that, and connect it to what is president is telling. Because he said he wants to devote the rest of his presidency to inequality. What is he going to be able to do in that regard . Well, i mean, there are steps. The president is, in fact, i mean this is an issue waiting to be galvanized, waiting to be energized, i think there is no question, judy. First of all, minimum wage, very simple. 3 4 three fourths of independents favor raising the minimum wage from 7. 25 to 9 an hour. The majority of republicans do. Now theres a majority of republicans and house representatives who dont. Theres when you come down to political skill. Organizing, galvanizing, Public Opinion to push that through. The extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits to the longterm unemployed, who are suffering the most in this entire recession. And now all of a sudden within waiting to see. Now all of a sudden it has become an article of faith on the part of republicans in congress that this has to be offset in spending. That was not the case when george w. Bush, the last president to propose extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits prevailed. They didnt insist then but it a different rule now. I think thats when you can show inconsistency, contradiction. These are just the first steps but davids right, the system, our system produces great wealth it is lousy at redistributing it. I would say which would just say its important to realize how deep the problem is. The structural problem behind inequality, it is complicated but one of them significantly is the education premium has gone up. The rewards to education have gone up. Women have gotten the message, increased their ed cag levels and we are seeing gains among women. The widening inequality of the wage stagnation is significantly a male problem. Men have to the gotten the message. They have not increased their education levels and therefore they are the ones primarily suffering, that say deep fundamental problem that is very hard to figure out how to address. Second sort of related problem is family structure. If youve got a majority of kids under age five not growing up in two parent homes that too has a significant effect on inequality because their educational outcomes end it statistically on average to be worse. These are deep things having to do with family structure, males not responding to incentives. And im for extending Unemployment Insurance but that doesnt get at the really core problems that are affecting not only us but in europe or elsewhere. Woodruff nor does raising the minimum wage. No, but are they steps, yes. What weve done and i think michel of harvard raised this. Over the last few years in this country we have taken the market and made it not an weve made it our system. I mean everything now has a place. And if you even think about pollution, judy, you can pollute if you want to spend enough money. Thats become the law and pattern of the land. Weve monetized just about everything including i had case. Education the genius of this country and its growth in the 19th century forward was universal public education. Universal quality public education. And that is a value to not simply to be esteemed and proud of but is central to this country resurgence and restoring itself. Abrupt change of subject. What . But theres something else, both of you, we saw this week. First week of the new year, marijuana is now legal Recreational Use of marijuana, david, in a couple of states. In colorado we saw long lines of people waiting it to buy their first legal marijuana. What do you see about the future in this country, do you see this spreading to more states. You wrote about it in your column. I think well probably see it decriminalized. Im not sure well see it legalized. I am not in favor all the arrests but well see how colorado works out it is a good future of our system, an sperm. We will figure out how it cork works. Im skeptical and am dubious and would not have supported it for a couple of reasons. First when you do get legallization, the price tends to collapse. Will you get it much cheaper, if you have cheaper marijuana more people will smoke it. Then take away the legal penalties, more people are likely to smoke it, so we will have states where more people are using marijuana. Now im not terrifically offended but it but there are a couple things to be worried about. One is more teenagers are likely and the Science Behind the teenage effect of marijuana use is pretty severe. It does have cognitive effects t does lower iq points over the longterm. At diction rates are much higher among teenagers than people who start as adults so that say Genuine Health concern. And then the second thing, most of us age out of marijuana use because its not that exciting when you find more serious and more uplifting pleasures. So most people give it up as they hit middle age. And i just would make the moral status argument that getting stoned all the time is not the greatest way to spend your time is so its fine when are you young, try and people want to try it periodically. But i think the state through its laws should encourage a culture that discourages the use of marijuana on both moral grounds and health grounds. Where do you come down on that. I defer to david on the knowledge of the subject. In his personal piece today which i commend to all our recommend to all our viewers. John denver was a little bit early on Rocky Mountain high t appears. This is too late. The colorado law is too late to save the iconic american brand twinkies, theyre probably did help doritoes. I mr. Amazed by this, i will be very frank. This is something i missed. By 6 to 1 margin, judy, just 40 years ago when jerald ford was president of the United States americans opposed the legallization or decriminalization of marijuana. 20 years ago it was by a 4 to 1 margin. And 10 years ago it was by a 2 to 1 margin. Now a majority of americans support it. And the strange way it is a little bit like the lottery. State lotteries which and state gambling. And that is its through tax money. Its one of the arguments that was made. Raising without raising taxes at the same time within getting the ballot, getting done. And i really, i have not thought it through i will be honest with you. Its not something that i would have spent my time on. Coy understand samesex marriage because everybody either has a neighbor, a nephew a relative a coworker, a friend who is gay and has been discriminated against. This is one that kind of throws me. But the tax revenue thing, i can just say is a boggus issue, because the social costs raise costs for the government to more than compensate the tax revenue. Good point. Woodruff all right, well you both made fabulous points tonight. Thank you very much. David brooks, mark shields, thank you. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day the winter snowstorm that made its way across the midwest and northeast is now blamed for at least 13 deaths. Extreme cold followed in the storms wake, with wind chills well below zero in many places. And al qaeda militants in iraq waged battles in fallujah and ramadi, as Government Troops worked with sunni tribesmen to keep the western cities under their control. On the newshour online right now, rhode island became the third state to enforce a paid family leave law this week. What does that mean for the labor market . We looked at the first state to pass such a law california and new research on its economic impact. Thats on making sense. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. And a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. Tonight on washington week, the prospects for Immigration Reform and peace in the middle east, a look ahead to the political fights in 2014. On tomorrows edition of pbs newshour weekend, correspondent josh aronson looks at a program bringing music to lowincome neighborhoods to improve education. Heres an excerpt from his report. He lives in one of the poorest neighborhoods in of los angeles and like many of her friends she was struggling in school. Okay. Her interest in learning music prompted her parents to enroll her in a Music Program in their neighborhood called the harmony project. In the three years since much has changed in her life. Muss sick like a dialogue because we can play a certain thing, lets say the violins can play something, it can be the same melody, different notes. And its like a conversation talking back and forth. Serving more than 2,000 students with a budget of 2. 5 million dollars, the mostly privately funded harmony project is filling a gap in low income areas where schools have cut Music Education programs. Students get at least five hours of music classes and rehearsals each week yearround. For poor students its tuition free including their restaurant. Woodruff and well be back, right here on monday. From syria to south sudan, a look at the major humanitarian crises in the year ahead with the head of the world food program. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Have a nice weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is nightly Business Report with Tyler Mathisen and susie gharib brought to you in part by. Thestreet. Com. Up to the minute Stock Market News and in depth analysis. Our quant Rating Service provides objective independent ratings daily on over 4300 stocks. Learn more at the street. Com nbr. Snowed in, stocks barely bunch as the northeast digs out, but dont let todays lack of big market moves fool you. There is one thing professional investors are watching very closely, and its not the weather. Slow lane, the big auto makers didnt sell as many cars in december as expected and some are wondering whether the slowing pace of sales will continue in the new year. Brighter future, Company Pension funds are the healthiest they have been in six