Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140208

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by 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 januarys jobs report is raising new questions about the strength of the american economy. The Labor Department reported today that employers added 113,000 workers, fewer than expected. At the same time, the Unemployment Rate actually fell again, by a tenth of a point, so its now 6. 6 percent. Paul solman sorts out the numbers for us, right after the news summary. Woodruff wall street apparently saw some bright spots in the employment data. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 165 points to close at 15,794. The nasdaq rose more than 68 points to close above 4,125. For the week, both the dow and the nasdaq gained a fraction of a percent. Woodruff president obama signed a new, fiveyear farm bill into law today. It costs 956 billion, keeps most crop subsidies intact, but cuts 800 million a year from food stamps, a reduction of about 1 . The signing ceremony took place at Michigan State university in east lansing. The president acknowledged not everyones happy with the outcome. It doesnt include everything that id like to see and i know leaders on both sides of the aisle feel the same way, but its a good sign the democrats and republicans in congress were able to come through with this bill, break the cycle of short sighted, crisisdriven partisan decisionmaking and actually get this stuff done. Woodruff many republicans had pushed for steeper cuts to both crop subsidies and food stamps. The governor of montana appointed his lieutenant governor, john walsh, to the u. S. Senate today. Walsh will take the seat currently held by fellow democrat max baucus, whos resigning to become the ambassador to china. The new senator takes office on tuesday. Hes already announced hell run for a full term this fall. The National Security agencys sweep of americans phone records is less extensive than first supposed. The Washington Post and the wall street journal reported today the n. S. A. Now collects less than 30 of all calling data. Thats down sharply since 2006, due to surging cell phone use. The reports say the n. S. A will seek Court Approval to sweep up more cell phone records. In syria, the assad regime began evacuating civilians from rebelheld portions of a besieged city. State t. V. Said some 200 people were leaving homs, as a threeday ceasefire begins. The opposition says 2,500 civilians are trapped there. The state Department Said its hoping for the best, but taking the news with a grain of salt. Weve seen the reports overnight and its a very real possibility that once the evacuations and humanitarian assistance deliveries are complete, the regime could bombard the old city of homs as there has been a trend in the past. We dont know thats going to happen, we hope thats not going to happen, but we have those concerns. Woodruff the Syrian Government also announced it will attend a second round of peace talks in geneva next week. Well look more closely at both developments later in the program. Israel has sharply accelerated its destruction of palestinian properties. 25 relief organizations said today demolitions in the occupied west bank and East Jerusalem shot up nearly 50 in the last half of 2013. Thats compared to the same period the year before. It also coincides with the renewal of peace talks. A mass exodus of muslims began today in the Central African republic. Thousands fled the capital city of bangui, in a convoy of some 500 cars and trucks. They left under the protection of troops from neighboring chad, as majority christians lined the roads to cheer their exit. The christians blame muslim rebels for atrocities after they overthrew the countrys president last year. In bosnia, violent Anti Government protests are escalating. The trouble today was some of the worst since the bosnian war in the 1990s. We have a report, narrated by lindsey hilsum, of independent Television News. Reporter the local government building in tuzla was the first to be set ablaze. The crowd has been protesting here for three days now, angry about unemployment, the closure of a local factory and what they see as the failure of bosnias politicians. Some protestors tried to take over the building, but were forced out by the flames. They marched past the government building in banja luka shouting thieves, thieves, blaming the government for listening to the International Monetary fund not the people. Were borrowing money from international lenders, but our economy doesnt function. Its obvious to everyone in bosnia and herzegovina that Large Companies are being destroyed, that privatization was done disastrously and that corruption and crime are widespread. Reporter in zenica youths threw stones at government buildings, smashing the windows, and destroying the credibility of the protests in the eyes of many. Some protestors concealed their identities. Reporter a mob of youths attacked the local government offices in mostar, they brought out Office Furniture to destroy and later they went onto the municipal library. Its not clear if these attacks are orchestrated, theyre certainly not peaceful protests. In sarajevo they set the presidency ablaze, some local administrations resigned today, general elections are due in november but these bosnians clearly have little faith in democracy to bring about change, in a country that never achieved peace, just the absence of war. Woodruff the 2014 Winter Olympics officially opened this evening in sochi, russia. The event was filled with pageantry and the traditional parade of athletes. There was one notable hitch, when an illuminated snowflake failed to unfurl into the last of the five olympic rings. Meanwhile, turkish officials announced a man tried to force a turkish airliner to fly to sochi, claiming there was a bomb on board. The plane landed in istanbul, anyway, and the suspect was subdued. Woodruff baseball star Alex Rodriguez is ending his legal fight to overturn a recordsetting suspension for doping. His federal lawsuits against major league baseball, the commissioner and the Players Union were withdrawn today. The new york yankees third baseman went to court after an arbitrator ruled hell have to sit out the entire 2014 season woodruff archaeologists in britain have found the earliest tracks of human ancestors outside africa, literally. They announced today the discovery of footprints left in ancient mud between 800,000 and one million years ago. They were preserved in layers of silt and sand before the tide exposed them last year, at happisburgh, in eastern england. These people were walking along the side of the river, it was actually the river thames, probably foraging for food. And its a mixed group of people, adults and children, and as well as the stone tools we already had this gives us a physical direct connection with a group of people who were there really at the beginning of the occupation of britain. Woodruff the creatures who left the footprints may be related to a species who died out about 800,000 years ago. A nato dog that disappeared in afghanistan last december has reappeared, in a video with taliban fighters. The militants posted the video online today and said they captured the dog during a battle. It shows the animal wearing a vest and being held on a leash by armed men. A taliban spokesman said the dog is unhurt, and being well treated. Still to come on the newshour signs both good and bad from the january jobs report; outrage over the u. S. approach to the unrest in ukraine; women, children and elders evacuated a wartorn syrian city; scientists search for a cure to a. I. D. S. ; plus, shields and brooks on the weeks news. Woodruff now, sorting through the data of the january jobs report and what it tells us about the state of the American Labor market. Newshour economics correspondent paul soloman spent this day trying to unpack both the positives, and the negatives. Its part of his ongoing reporting making sense of financial news. Reporter for a second straight month, job growth failed to live up to economists expects. Just 113,000 jobs were added last month, a dismal 75,000 in december. For some analysis, we spoke to an eminent economist at the brookings institution. No, not this guy. He just happened to be walking through our shot. This guy, senior fellow justin wolfers. His take on todays numbers the Employment Situation hasnt gotten worse. Whatever you thought yesterday is pretty much what you should feel today. My view is the u. S. Economy has been creating 150200,000 jobs a month every month for the past three years. The headlines of todays report make it look like that didnt happen, but you get into the details, and it looks like actually, thats what the economy has kept on doing. Reporter what do you mean, 113,000 jobs is the number from the establishment survey. There are two surveys. Survey a bunch of firms. They told us they created 113,000 jobs last month. We also surveyed households and if you look at that job it says we created 616,000 jobs, a bonanza. A lot on weight on a moderately disappointing number, on average, things are probably okay. Reporter doesnt this call into question the legitimacy of the monthly jobs data . One survey, 600,000 more people are working. The other survey supposedly the more reliable barely 100,000 more. This is just the nature of statistics. They are noisy. Our job as economists is to look through the data and try to figure out the signal. So we shouldnt go crazy on any single number. A lot of people will say the phone survey says only 113,000 jobs are created the economy is falling apart. This is a noisy number. Noise meaning . As much as they said theyre only 90 sure. The Payroll Survey tells us weve been creating 154,000 jobs a month. Thats reasonably healthy, not great, but the recovery continues. Reporter or continues, to look at the glass half empty, payroll. Last year, firms added an average of 194,000 jobs a month. Slowing hiring this year could be a sign of a floundering economy. And, yes, while todays drop in the Unemployment Rate would seem to be a positive, the story for months now has been that the rate has dropped because so many people have given up the job hunt. But thats not the story of the falling Unemployment Rate this time around. It fell this month because a lot of people got jobs, not because theyre pull out of labor force. Were seeing unemployment at 6. 6 . The good news part of that is its fall, and its falling quite rapidly. Well over a percentage point the past year. The bad news lets not confuse checks with levels. The bad news is 6. 6 of the labor force is ill unemployed. Thats historically high, a lot of households suffering, theres a lot we can do to do better. Reporter there are still nearly four million longterm unemployed whose job search has lasted 27 weeks or more. For them this weeks failure in the senate to extend emergency Unemployment Insurance offers little solace. Woodruff for a more inclusive picture of un and underemployment, paul has devised his solomon scale, thats on the making sense page. Woodruff now, to the diplomatic dustup in ukraine thats generated charges and countercharges between the u. S. And russia. It centers on a phone conversation involving two high level u. S. Diplomats. Newshour chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner begins our coverage. I am obviously not going to comment on private diplomatic conversations, other than to say it was pretty impressive trade craft, the audio was extremely clear. Reporter assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland made that arch comment in kiev today, about those who intercepted a phone call of hers. The call, made two weeks ago, was posted to youtube this week, with russian subtitles. Its generated a furor over the u. S. Role in ukraine, where president Viktor Yanukovych and his prorussian government face a popular uprising. In the call, nuland and the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine, geoffrey pyatt, discuss the situation, and the relative merits of opposition leaders whove been invited to join the yanukovych government, including boxer turnedpolitician vitali klitschko. I dont think klitsch should go into the government. I dont think its necessary, i dont think its a good idea. Yeah. I mean, i guess in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. Reporter the russians , who helped spread audio recording, say it proves the u. S. Is crudely interfering in ukraine. Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev accused washington of funding and arming the opposition. Nuland today rejected that claim out of hand. With regard to mr. Glazyevs statements complete fantasy, he could be a Science Fiction writer, you know, but its quite inventive, its quite inventive. The United States is absolutely transparent about policy is here in ukraine. Reporter american officials also charged the leaked call was a new low in tradecraft, diplomatic speak for espionage. State Department Spokeswoman jen psaki left little doubt today who the u. S. Believes was behind it. The russians were the first to tweet about this particular call. Only a few countries have the level of capability needed, ill let you use your own judgment. Reporter the nuland phone call also revealed tensions with the European Union over to how to manage the situation. At one point, nuland and pyatt agree its best for the united nations, and not the e. U. , to endorse a new government in ukraine. And nuland uses an obscenity to make the point. That would be great, i think, to help glue this thing and to have the u. N. Help glue it and, you know, bleep the e. U. Reporter that earned a rebuke today from a spokeswoman for german chancellor angela merkel. I would like to say that the chancellor finds these remarks totally unacceptable and wants the European Union will continue their efforts with great intensity to calm down the situation in ukraine. Reporter unrest in ukraine dates back to november, with protests after president yanukovych walked away from a trade pact with the e. U. Instead, he embraced a 15 billion loan package from russian president vladmir putin. The streets calmed over over christmas, but reignited in january, after passage of an antiprotest law. The law has been repealed, but protesters still occupying maidan square and government buildings in central kiev. Woodruff and margaret joins me now. Margaret, what is the real story here . Judy, i think for context there are two big things going on. You have this real postcold war struggle for influence between the u. S. And the west and russia over this last major soviet satellite in this case a republic ukraine, which is still see sawing between alining with the west or sort of reknitting its ties with russia, joining this sphere of influence that putin is trying to rebuild. The second important context point is that the u. S. And e. U. Have actually been working pretty closely together it try to calm the situation in kiev, as you can see from those videos. Theyre getting more violent. I talked to nuland this morning from kiev, and she said its very different than last december, and in fact she said, weve got extremists in both camps. There are people in government who want to impose martial law and there are people in the opposition who want to throw molotov cocktails. You did talk to her. What is she taig about all this . I i was surprised she agreed to talk to me. She and the state department are trying to put a good face on this. She said what she said in the briefing. Were very transparent. Theres nothing in the call this we havent been open, that were trying to negotiate a political way out of this horrible situation. But they also, the embassy and i think we have a photo of this. Its nuland and pyatt with three members of the opposition looking at an ipad laughing about it together. These three opposition figures are very dirve here. The danger is, of course, as the ipad as the Youtube Video posted, that this opposition will be known as the puppets of the west in midon square. Woodruff how was the call interpreted. One assumes the diplomats are using secure telephones . You would think so. I dont have all the details but this occurred two weeks ago saturday night, on the 25th. And it was very late in dief. The implication i get is that perhaps the ambassador was not on a secure phone, he was not at the embassy, and the larger question here is how secure are these duplomats foaps. The state department was pressed on this today. They all use the blackberrys encrypted for data, but not for voice. That, of course, raised the but she said no ones supposed to talk about classified information on one of these cell phones. Well, where do you draw the line . Anden this the question was raised, what about secretary of state kerry . Does he not have encrypted voice . And she wouldnt go there. Woodruff does the u. S. Believe russia was behind this . They say they tonight have absolute proof but really either russia or the russiantrained Ukraine Security services. They had the opportunity, the capability, and who else has the motive . Woodruff well, you know, you mentioned nuland and salty language. Is that just the way they talk all the time to each other . Well, theres some joke about how she spent apparently its true eight months on a Russian Fishing trawler when she was 22 years old, and thats how she learned all these curse words. The spokeswoman said that yesterday. Underneath it all, though the u. S. And the u. E. Agree on the tactic here. U. S. Officials have been complaining since december that the e. U. Didnt recognize the danger. Ukraine is really hurting financially. That they havent stepped in to help the opposition negotiate the deal, and they havent gotten a package of sanctions ready in case yanukovych cracks down. So when you hear there is frustration and that came out. There was another leaked call that azkatherine ashton, the e. U. Envoy deputy, talking to her ambassador in ukraine, and theyre complaining about the u. S. Pressure. So theres frustration on both sides. Woodruff you started out talking about this all takes place in the contextave larger pushand pull between the United States and russia. Put this in that context. What is going on from a larger standpoint . The larger standpoint is putin is trying to recreate a center of russian influence, and hes got some of these former republics rejoining a kind of customs union, a trade union. But ukraine is just key to that. Many russians, the whole russian nation sort of started in kiev. I mean, they have a deep emotionallify to the ukrainians. There was a recent poll that showed they considered ukrainians one people. This is important to putin. He handled it quite well in december. He didnt threaten yanukovych. He gave him 15 billion. But russia experts i talked to today said they think he senses momentum shifting away from moscow. I mean, suddenly yanukovych has invited some opposition members into the government. And they wanted to sort of drive a wedge between the exputz e. U. , and so dissension. Well see. Yanukovych is supposed to see putin in sochi. Woodruff and russia so, so far russia is accepting this . No, oh, no. Russia, in fact, has now held up this aid package until they see what the new government looks like. Nuland had another sort of colorful phrase on the phone to me today. She said what the russians do, what putin does is keeping giving more cocaine in tainier bags for a higher price. Were offering the Weight Watchers plan. A little pain at the beginning and then he can be sleek and beautiful. Which means the i. M. F. Package which will be painful. I would say want struggle continues and much is up to yanukovych. It could end in bloodshet. Woodruff colorful but serious, too. Serious stuff. Woodruff now back to the civil war in syria, where there was relief for some today, as fighting continued. We begin with a report from Jonathan Rugman of independent Television News reporter though the Syrian Government says it will rejoin peace talks in switzerland on monday, its helicopters have carried on dropping socalled barrel bombs on aleppo, with hundreds reported killed. From homs, further south, a glimmer of good news. Three coaches of civilians were evacuated. The russians claim the threeday ceasefire they brokered here was a landmark agreement, and its certainly a Propaganda Co coup. The question now is whether these syrian troops will keep their promise to let humanitarian aid reach those still trappedded in. This dutch priest, has so far refused to leave. We have no food at all, he says. Only a little bit of wheat. Were reaching the situation where hunger will lead not to sickness but to death. Homs, the city he lives in, was one of the first to rise up against the assad regime. Todays uvacueees around 80 people, have been promised medical treatment and shelter but western diplomats say it should not have taken several weeks to negotiate a step as small as this. Woodruff and Hari Sreenivasan has more on this from new york. Sreenivasan joining me now to discuss the humanitarian ceasefire is former British Foreign secretary, and current president and c. E. O. Of the International Rescue committee, david miliband. Do you think this sort of an agreement will hold. I think it will hold for three days. Its in everyones interest that it does. People talk already about the propagand value, and it is a crumb of comfort for the poor 2. 5,000 people trapped in the middle of homes. The rest in sirria, four million in aleppo are, asking what about us . When is the world going to show it cares about our situation. Tiffany how do they ensure that this many people can get out safely . The report i saw talked about two dozen. And theyre coming out in buses. We have a long history of this. You remember the seens from srebrenica in the 90s, a trickle of people moving out while the war goes on. And one of the terrible things about the syria conflict is were going back to the dark ages in the conduct of war barrel bombs being dropped in the suburbs of great cities. 60 of hospitals destroyed. Its the disillusion of a country before our very eyes. An agreement like this would be one of the only positive implications of the talks that happened in geneva. Theyre supposed to start monday again. What is your expectation . I dont think you have to take my word for it, you can take the word of the diplomats. The French Foreign minister expects very little. None going there expect an end to the war any time soon but there is a parallel track. While theyre fighting the war, what about the civilians . Because the very notion of a nonqatant, a civilian, is being lost in this area. We have nine million displaced from their homes, three million in neighboring countries. Its terrifying to say it snipers targeting pregnant women in bread queues at conflict lines. That is an indictment not just of those doing it, but i would say also of an International Community that has talked about International Humanitarian law but inform backed it up. Youre running a humanitarian organization. How much of your agenda get into this conversation that happens . Geneva and elsewhere about delivering polio vaccines or getting food to people or shelter . Well, a little. I mean, in the end, humanitarian organizations, we can staunch the dying but we cant stop the kill and the primary aim of the conference, obviously, is to stop the kill which is absolutely essential. However, even over the last three years, weve managed to get into syria to help around half a Million People Access Medical care. So even while the battle is raging, we try and get in, we try and get access. But the truth is, this language of humanitarian access mistakes the point, really. Thats a bit like saying someone who is being strangled is suffering from lack of air. The real problem is theyre being strangled. And what we have in syria, across syria, is a series of blockades that are being used as weapons of war. And that is a deadly serious situation, obviously for the syrians involved, but i would say for the u. N. Security council, too. They passed a president ial statement calling for unimpeded food aid. Nobody has paid attention to. Ther youre asking for a more binding resolution from the u. N. Security council. So if the other previous statements have been made a mockery of, whats the value in the u. N. Making another proclamation . Whats the role of the u. N. Here. Theres more than a proclamation. The u. N. Security Council Resolution carries the value of international law, and that is an essential stepping up of the pressure. Because the syrians who we are helping inside syria, the refugees who i have met in the neighboring countries, theyre saying does the world care enough about our country . And at the moment, the answer theyre giving to me is you dont care enough because youre allowing unspeakable horror to be practiced upon us. Yes, theres a trickle of humanitarian aid, but we need a massive increase and thats the big agenda i think the u. N. Security council has to address. To get on the u. N. Security Council Agenda you have to be a threat to Regional Peace and security. What else could there be as a more drastic threat to Regional Peace and security than a country like syria imploding in front of our very eyes . How difficult has it been to get aid in, considering that there are these sort of Regional Forces at work and global powers that are involved . Its been very difficult . D. The biggest worry i have when i wake up in the morning is about the position of our aid workers who are risking their lives in the work that they are doing cross border, very brave syrian doctors will tell you, every time they come to a checkpoint they fear for their own saift, never mind the situation of the civilians involved. Thats an ongoing concern but the humanitarian imperative is whatever side of the lines the civilians on, thats where organizationed like the i. R. C. Positive and other organizations are trying to do. Have all the parties been equally cooperative or uncooperative in letting you pass and letting the aid get through . No, i think its pretty evident that the greatest burden in terms of the humanitarian danger has been has to be placed on the side of the government. Its not just the governments are held to Higher Standards than nongovernmental organizations. Its that the overwhelming military power is in the hand of the syrian authorities. There have clearly been abuseon the rebel side as well, or the multiple rebel side, and its important to recognize that. Weve been able to work in rebel areas. Weve been tolerated, if you like, by the different rebel groups. And i think its very, very important that we recognize both side have to be part of this bargain. However, to answer the simple question, the greatest burden now lies on the Syrian Government for their conduct of the war. Because as the u. S. Representative at the u. N. Said and as john kerry has said, starvation is being used as a weapon of war and that does brings you us back to the dark ages. David miliband, thank you. Woodruff the battle against a. I. D. S. , which began in the early 1980s and has succeeded in finding treatments to control the disease, is increasingly turning to a different phase the hunt for a real and complete cure. Special correspondent Spencer Michels has our story. Reporter 57yearold matt sharp, who has had a. I. D. S. For 25 years, takes a mix of anti retroviral drugs each day to reduce his h. I. V. Levels and keep him alive. Sharp, a former ballet dancer, says the medication has shortened his life, and made him more susceptible to other ailments like Heart Disease earlier than normal. Im faced with issues around growing older earlier because of having h. I. V. For so long, and ive been taking pills for over 25 years. Im ready for a point where i can do something that my body can control the virus on its own. Reporter sharp has volunteered for studies now underway that, if successful, could eliminate the need for a lifetime of powerful pills. Scientists and medical doctors are working in labs and in clinical settings to both discover more about h. I. V. , like where it lurks, and to see how patients respond to some experimental procedures. The ultimate aim is to purge the virus from the body for good. What we really want to do is make it so that the people around the world, all 34 million of them infected with h. I. V. , can lead a diseasefree life without having to take anti retrovirals for the rest of their lives. Reporter mike mccune, professor of medicine at the university of california san francisco, has been in the forefront of a. I. D. S. Research since the beginning, and hes watched the progress of research, including some spectacular success. A few patients around the world have apparently been cured of a. I. D. S. And attracted international attention. An infected american who got bone Marrow Transplant in berlin is disease free, as is a baby in mississippi who was treated at birth, these cases have raised hopes that the virus can be eliminated entirely, curing the disease. But two boston patients whom doctors thought were cured had the virus return. None of those cases has led to a universal treatment. And so in december, the white house and the National Institutes of health endorsed a fullfledged Research Program towards finding a cure. Were going to redirect 100 million into this project to develop a new generation of therapies. Reporter for mccune and his team, the key task today is finding the virus. He knows that antiretroviral drugs keep the patient alive, and kill much of the h. I. V. But invariably some virus remains hidden and causes the Patients Health to decline. What we dont know is where in the human body it lives. Reporter researchers in mccunes labs and elsewhere study tissue taken from clinical subjects to look at places they think the virus may be hiding. Its often organs, organs like the intestinal track, the spleen, the liver, the brain and elsewhere. We want to know which cells it lives in, whether it be dormant or latent, or actively replicating or spreading. Some drugs for instance go to the spleen very easily but dont go to the brain. Maybe we need two or three drugs to go to two or three different patterns. Reporter mccunes basic research is aimed at finding how the hidden a. I. D. S. Virus behaves, and how to make it show itself so it can be killed or induced to commit suicide. At the nearby university of california, affiliated gladstone institute, dr. Warner greene, who is also doing basic research, says finding the few cells infected with virus is not easy. Their hiding places are called reservoirs. The reservoir is only established on one cell in a million. So its a needle in a haystack. Or its like where in the world is waldo . Finding and identifying that latently infected cell is virtually impossible because the virus is not expressing any of its proteins, its slumbering. Reporter this time lapse video shows t cells, key to the immune system, being attacked and killed by h. I. V. In greenes lab, researchers first have to find the cell harboring the virus, using small molecules to make it show itself and either the cell automatically dies, or at least now the immune system can attack or can be directed to those cells to destroy the reservoir. Reporter so you call this . Shock and kill. But there are problems. We know that when we deliver the shock not all the cells that we want to get shocked, get shocked. And we also know that once even those that are successfully shocked, they dont necessarily get killed. Reporter the key to success is to kill them all, but theyre not there yet. We take the drugs away and sure enough, within a matter of a few weeks, the virus bounces back to levels established before the antiretroviral drugs were administered. Reporter a private company, calimmune, is using a different strategy. The idea is to harvest the patients own cells, modify them with stem cells and return them to the patient, so they can defeat the virus. Louis breton, the c. E. O. , says the firm, which gets support from californias publicly funded stem cell agency, is already in clinical trials, taking blood from patients, and modifying the genes. If you can defend the body first, we have the opportunity to potentially then eradicate the virus. We are looking at working on a one time outpatient procedure that would treat a patients own cells, modify them to protect them, and give them back to the patient. Now this is really at the technological edge, and is very exciting work. Gene therapy could potentially be scaleable for the developing world if it involved a single injection. Reporter for patients like 49yearold john caldera, and his physician, steve deeks, the promise of a simple cure is alluring, but remote. Ive been on at least 10 Research Studies where it was experimental drugs, and i rolled the dice. I would love to see a future where there is no h. I. V. , and i think were very close. Reporter but deeks, a clinical professor at u. C. San francisco, isnt so sure a cure is imminent. With some of these more aggressive approaches, gene therapy and stem cell transplants and so forth, the risk is much greater, but the reward is also potentially much greater. Because its theoretically possible to cure people with a single intervention, its possible, i dont think anyone thinks its likely. But its certainly worth trying. Reporter deeks says the few patients who have been cured of a. I. D. S. So far lead to one conclusion theres going to be many roads, many paths to take. And its going to be a combination of shock and kill, increase in the capacity of the immune system to kill the virus, and increases in the capacity of the immune system to control the virus, and probably ultimately getting people on therapy super, super early to prevent the virus from spreading early on. Reporter whatever approaches are used, most researchers, and the n. I. H. , agree that the work is in its very early stages, and barring a surprise development, it could be years before a real cure for a. I. D. S. , and an affordable one, is found. Woodruff and to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. Welcome. Gentlemen. So lets talk jobs. Report mixed report for the month of january, mark. The number of jobs created was less than what was expected but the Unemployment Rate has gone down. You heard paul solmans report. Should we be concerned . Yes, we should be concerned. This is 52 months after its ended and we are not returned to the number of jobs we had before the recession began. And at this rate, at the current rate of job creation, it will be six years before we get back to that level. It is its hardly reassuring. Its upsetting. And it ought to get our attention. Id just say one thing, judy, and that is, somewhere in recent American History probably in the last 30 years we changed our economic values. The economic value used to measure the economy in employment. And how many people are employed. What their wages were. And then somewhere along the line it became a stockholder, a shareholder economy. Last year, corporate profits were at their alltime high. The percentage of the income that went to corporate profits s and corporations of the at their alltime high. The top one hazardous had their highest income share since 1928, and percent of the income that went to wages was the lowest its ever been. Something something changed. I mean, the health of our economy should be on the number of people working and that they are progressing and making more and being productive. Woodruff how do you see this . We do talk about the job numbers every week. I think we Pay Attention to the labor force participation. I sort of do agree somewhat with mark, there does seem to be an imbalance in the power relationship between capital and labor. Yup. And i dont think were going to go back to unions, the way they were understood before. I dont know what the next form is. There probably should be something done to rebalance that relationship. Nonetheless, when i look at the jobs numbers and i think theyre disappointing. If we were in a normal recovery we would have six million more jobs than we have now i look at whats causing all the sludge in the economy, whether were not innovating enough theres some evidence of that, some stagnation in that. A lot of people have just dropped out of the labor force, and that long decline doug ellened dorf was asked, one of the things moderating growth, ages of the population, shrinking labor force. If you dont have a lot of people working paying taxes, making stuff, youre going to have a sludgier economy. There are a whole bunch of reasons. Some which have to do with the complexity of the government, the complexity of the tax code. It seems like weve been a middleage or lateage economy and we need some rejuvenation of some sort. Woodruff is anybody predicting this is going to turn around in a positive way, a big, pos tiff way . Theres sort of this prediction of economic growth. 2014 was supposed to be good, and the market at the end of the year. The first decade of the First Century is the only 10year period in the countrys history as long as weve kept records that we did not create any jobs. There was no net increase of jobs. I mean, thats just amazing. And one of the things that has happened in this recession, judy, is that the brutal austerity imposed is the number of public jobs state, local, federal, firefighters, teachers, nurses, Public Employees that have been laid off. And they have not come back. I mean, even this past month, were still laying off people in the public sec sector. And to me its sheer folly, both in Public Services and economically. It should be said that the c. B. O. Also had a report of the projected debt of the country going up and were going to be ramping up our public debt levels massively over the next 20 years. And thats thats part of the equation of whylet Public Employment has not gone up. I just feel like you know, mack olson, said why did germany and japan do so well after world war ii . Perversely, they lost the war but all their institutions were cleaned out and start afresh. Middle aged economies get a little more brittle and it feels like were in that. I dont know how you rejuvenate the economy, have a second bifort or third burst in our case but that sort of comprehensive thing needs to be talked about. Woodruff considering the debt, in a few weeks the government is not going to be able to pay their bills unless Congress Raises the debt ceiling. The president is saying i want this. I want it with no conditions. Mark, Speaker Boehner is saying there wont be a default, but on the other hand hes saying my members are not yet on board. Where is this headed . What do you think . Its headed for a kabooky dance. As a percent annual of the Gross Domestic Product in this country, the deficit this year is lower than it was in Ronald Reagans years. So thats taking some of the urgency we do deal with the immediate in this country. As far as the current crisis, judy, it was revolved last october. The Nuclear Option was exercised by the republicans last october. They woodruff when they shut down the government. They shut down the government. The Nuclear Device blew up on the launching pad, and left the republicans at the lowest point that any part has ever been in the history of the gallup poll. They dont want to revisit that going into the 2014 election. Theyre going to try to ride the bangladesh horse to victory, i guess, to use just terrible metaphors all the way through, and i know baifd will bail me out at this point. Plus i think the patty murraypaul ryan deal took an awful lot of pressure off as far as the fiscal picture is concerned, in the short range. Woodruff so you think this is just a stalling thing . Yeah, theyre going to reach a deal. Im trying to figure out marks kabooky horse and metaphors. The kabookie horse is a big concept. Woodruff im not stepping into that one. The polling is if there was a debt blowup, who would you blame, 59 would blame republicans, 20something would blame president obama, and its a clear political loser. They have to ask for something, and theyre asking for if he will approve the keystone pipeline. Theyll probably end up with half a pretle m m. Theyll get that and sign. Theyre not going to walk into this again. Woodruff this the only headache on the platter its not the only thing hes got to deal with right now. Immigration reform. It seems like just a few days ago we were hearing from the speaker that it looked like they were ready to deal on immigration, mark, but then they went off and had their retreat and ever since then, theyve been saying no. Maybe not. The speaker said this week. This is one where i have to admit david was right. I was a lot more bullish about immigration reform, and david has been bearish, and i think events have borne him out. Judy, its the difference we talked about, theres a Congressional Party ask a president ial party. The Republican Party president ially is doomed on immigration. I mean, the Asian American population india, china, korea, japan these are people of higher intrk highest education, entrepreneurial. They should be republicans. 55 of them vote for george h. W. Bush. They had a higher percentage vote for barack obama than latinos did in 2012. Theyve lost everybody. Theyre down theyre down to the caucasian caucus, the male woodruff you mean the republicans. The republicans, the male caucasian caucus. At the president ial level, mitt romney lost by five million votes. I dont know why they wont act on it woodruff what happened, david . The speaker was saying some positive things and something changed. I like the first part of marks answer back there. Im going to make it the ring tone on my phone. What happened is he didnt have his members. That says a lot where party are in general these days, not oim the Republican Party. Parties have trouble being led from the top and the authority in parties is no longer with the speakers, with the leaders, and its all disbursed. Theres a lot of ran for that. Some of it has to do with ear mark. The leaders cant give out favors so they dont listen to them. The National Leadership of the Republican Party understands what mark just said that they need this to get an entree into the immigration reform. Thats right. But the members, from their own House District in yoord or utah, they dont feel that pressure at all. And so the leaders of the parties cannot control the parties, and, therefore, they cant do the longrange things thats in the benefit of the entire party so parochial interests take over and a lot of the smart, young republicans, the rising stars in the house are against this, and woodruff some people are out there saying it could turn around later this year after the primaries. Do you see hope clearly it was not going to happen before the primaries. The party was really split. It doesnt seem like its going to happen this week. Mitch mcconnell, predicted this week that it wouldnt happen and hes closer to the situation than david is. I dont see it happening. The one voice who endorse john boehner, who backed off on immigration was steve king, the congressman from iowa, hughes contribution has consisted most recently saying, thyself dream act people who are here the president has refused to deport, undocumented immigrant, brought here by their parents, they arent class val duck torans. They have thighs the size of cantaloupes and calves the size of cantaloupes because theyre drug dealers. When he said that he said it on the floor, john wairn denounced him and described hip in a twosyllable expletives to a couple democratic members. Thats the one voice ive heard endorse John Boehners position this week on immigration. Its got to be cold comfort for the speaker. Woodruff well, complete change of subject, the two of you were right last week on the super bowl. You both kidose to both of you. You both predicted insurgency. Lets turn to the olympics. You both follow bobsledding and luge were judges in the ice dancing competition. Woodruff so whats your prediction . Weve heard a lot about security, david. Weve heard a lot about sochi not being ready. What are you excited about . Well, the jamaican bobsledders, of course. The skeleton im thrilled about. I dont think about the winter olympic sports at any moment except the moment they happen to be on. So im unaware of luge until that moment, and then it is completely erased from my memory bank so it only exists in the present so i dont have any prejudgments. I think the olympics are in trouble. They violated one of the first rules of politics make sure the press has clean beds and hotels that where theres a bar open and theyre serving palatable food. They have guaranteed sochi has guarantee themselves bad press by not pandering to the press. Woodruff youre not suggesting reporters except good exreement certainly not sports writers, least of all. Im holding my breath that we dont have another 1972 munich, 1996 atlanta, or whatever. I mean i think thats the biggest concern i have at this point. Woodruff were all hoping for that. Mark, david, thank you. See you next week. Woodruff again the major developments of the day. The u. S. Economy added 113,000 jobs in january, far fewer than expected. At the same time, the Unemployment Rate actually went down slightly, to 6. 6 an evacuation of women, children and the elderly began in syria, in the besieged city of homs. The assad regime also agreed to attend a second round of peace talks, starting next week. And the 2014 Winter Olympics officially opened this evening in sochi, russia. On the newshour right now it was fifty years ago this weekend that four lads from liverpool invaded new york city and the ed sullivan show. When the beatles made their u. S. Television debut in 1964, little did they know that they were about to change the course of pop music in america. How well do you know your beatles trivia . Take our quiz, on the homepage. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. And a reminder about some upcoming programs from our p. B. S. Colleagues. Gwen ifill is preparing for washington week, which airs later this evening. Heres a preview ifill your olympics alternative well talk about the politics of the economy, the politics of health care, and the politics of politics. Isnt that better than figure skating . Later tonight on washington week. Judy. Woodruff absolutely. Woodruff tomorrows edition of p. B. S. Newshour weekend looks at the wave of municipal bankruptcies across the country as cities struggle to manage debt from pension obligations. They report from vallejo, california with a cautionary tale for cities eyeing bankruptcy for as a solution. Woodruff and well be back, right here, on monday. As the talks to end the civil war in syria resume. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Have a great weekend. Thank you and goodnight. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. 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 the street. Com. Founded by jim cramer, the street. Com is an independent source for stock market analysis. Cramers action alerts plus service is home to his multimillion dollar portfolio. You can learn more at the street. Com nbr. Silver lining. Not as many jobs were created in january as hoped but the Unemployment Rate dropped, and experts are saying that trends are actually encouraging. From coasttocoast. Why are californians thousands of miles from the harsh east coast winter also feeling the chill . And high risk, high reward. If youre looking to invest in companies with big growth potential, our market monitor guest tonight has a