To more effectively address emerging threats from the middle east and north africa. It has been our willingness to work through multilateral channels that kept the world on our side. President obama told graduates at the u. S. Military academy at west point that our reduced presence in afghanistan allows washington to redirect resources towards the changing face of global terrorism. The commander in chief laid out plans for a 5 billion Counterterrorism Partnership. Its intended to help train other nations in coordination with the state department. We will work with lebanon, with turkey, with iraq, with jordan, with others in order to do a better job of being able to counter a rise of increasing numbers of terrorist groups. The rollout comes just days after the president announced his plan to end the war in afghanistan by the time he leaves office and just days before he leaves for another overseas trip. This time to europe. That trip is all about Foreign Policy. The president is traying to convince nato allies he will stand by them in the face of any possible aggression from russia. He will also meet with the g7 for the First Time Since exiting russia from a from the group. Before he leaves, the president is under intense pressure here at home to use a heavy hand. None of us who will worry about Americans National security and have lived through these crisises for many, many years want to send americans into harms way, but we do want to have a strong and steadfast america. It not that were weak. Were not. Its a matter of our reliability, and around the world they believe we are unreliable. Lets start with todays commencement speech with retired u. S. Army colonel medal of honor recipient and west point professor colonel jack jacobs. Colonel, the president is talking about the end of combat operations in afghanistan, but he is also talking about nearly 10,000 u. S. Troops staying there after the end of the year. What does it mean to say the war is over if were leaving 10,000 troops in the country . Well, its a very good question indeed. Weve been there for a long, long time, and in actual fact, havent accomplished a great deal. Weve gotten ourselves to the point where we decided that the only way were going to satisfy ourselves with the mission is to leave. In actual fact, if you look at it in the military standpoint, you are going to need somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 people if you want to accomplish what the president and the National CommandAuthority German joint chiefs of staff really expect to do, and that is to train the afghans so theyll be able to protect themselves, be able to feed themselves, be able to take care of all the logistical requirements and so on, and were not going to do that. The country is warweary. Were going to take 30,000 out right away and leave a relatively small number of people where its not going to accomplish the Mission Everybody says it is. When we get out in 2016 my guess is, and everybody elses guess is that the country wont be any better off. It may be actually much worse off. Colonel, stay with us, please. Lets bring in howard fineman, editorial director of the Huffington Post media group. The usual suspects. The overall reaction from republicans has been pretty muted. Senator bob corker, the republican Ranking Member on Senate Foreign relations, issued a statement saying, i applaud the president s announcement today that he will support the size of the residual Security Forces requested by u. S. Commanders. Howard, has the bipartisan consensus in washington come around to getting away from an indefinite commencement to afghanistan . I think for the most part, yes. Its the longest war in american history. As colonel jack said, its a murky story with no definitive conclusion. Not the kind of war americans like to fight. While we may be at risk of allowing afghanistan after 2016 to not really fulfill our hopes for civility, i think the political consensus here is pretty clearly with regard to afghanistan enough is enough, and the president , dont forget, got elected back in 2008 offering a different take overall on the use of massive military force in places like iraq. He did support the surge in afghanistan for sure, but i think he and most of the american people, and most of the republicans have had enough with afghanistan. Colonel jack, he was a rather strong and stirring speech about the value and importance of sometimes not fighting. Lets learn a little bit of it. Since world war ii some of the most costly mistakes came not from our restraint, but from our willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences. U. S. Military action cannot be the only or even primary component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail. How do you feel as a military man how do you feel about the commander in chief being so fervently in belief that we need to be restrained . Military people have been saying that for a long time. The military instrument of policy has been, but should not be the default instrument of policy. One of the reasons we have used the military to the exclusion of Everything Else is quite frankly weve not been very good at use saysing other instruments of policy. Diplomacy, the economic instrument, and we certainly havent integrated all three of those into some sort of coherent exercise of our national power. One of the reasons for this and not the only one is that there is not yet any real coherent mission of what our strategic objectives ought to be if you talk to people inside the belt way, people who are operators in the military and other establishments. Theyll tell you the same thing. We need some guidance. What is it were trying to accomplish and then well tell you what we can do to do it . I want to hit on that point, actually, because there has been real criticism. Around obamas foreign and National Security policies and not just from republicans, but from both sides of the aisle. Criticism on his inability to really define what exactly our role is on the world stage, but also on hits his reluctance to intervene and whether thats dealing with syria or his most limited response. How much is this addressed today is political . If you read through the lines, this plan would allow president obama to claim that he was the one, he was the one who ebbed the wars in both iraq and afghanistan. Is this more about obama trying to define his presidency than anything else . Well, yeah. Go ahead, howard. I think its partly that. I think its in some respects its less a Foreign Policy immediate Foreign Policy speech with all kinds of new policy directions than it is a sort of legal document like kind of an argument saying i do, in fact, have a Foreign Policy. What he has done is kind of looked at the last several years and put a shape on it almost retroactively and come up with his doctrine of every just because we have a big hammer, doesnt mean we need the nail that every event, situation is not a nail. Thats obviously the takeaway line from this. I think much of the speech is actually pretty unobjectionable. If you read it carefully, it allows the full range of everything. We can go it alone if we have to. Every conceivable oping is included 234 there. The overall theme that we are sort of the conveners in chief, and that america is now the sort of convening power for training, for alliances, for international consensus, and stressing that at the west point i think is as good as a definition that president obama is what he has been about as president. Colonel jack, to that point, you know, you just mentioned that we havent always been very effective, to put it diplomatically, at using other instruments of policy than military force. The president announces specific michigan tiff in the speech today. A 5 billion Counterterrorism Partnership fund to work specifically with middle east and north african countries. It would help train partner countries. It would help enable allies Counter Terror efforts. Is this the sort of step in the right direction that would enable us to have some of those more effective policy opings where we are not the lead actor, but were empowering the actors in the region . Well, certainly one of the things that we need to do in order to keep ourselves safe and our allies safe and prevent the spread of terrorism and all the president was doing was, you know, were already doing that. We have lots and lots of people in africa doing the kinds of things that already the president was talking about. All he did was say what the initial tag was going to be. Those arent the only things we need to do. We need to do a better job certainly to be able to counter the economic perceptions and motivations of our european allies, for example, when we say we want to squeeze russia, lets assume we really want to do that. We want to skis russia over ukraine to have the europeans effectively say, no, were not buying into any of that stuff. Well do some things to sort of paper over it, but were want in this with you because we have huge economic relationships with russia, and were not going to squash them. Our ability to exercise our will, forget about the military instrument of policy. Our ability to exercise our influence is greatly reduce and we need to do something about it in all areas, not just africa. Colonel jack jacobs, howard fineman, thank you. Up next, his own words with nbcs Brian Williams. The cycle rolls on for wednesday, may 28th. Way to get your fiber. Try phillips fiber good gummies. Theyre delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. Wife mmmm husband these are good marge the tasty side of fiber. From phillips. So when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis them. Was also on display, id had it. I finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. This time, he prescribed humiraadalimumab. Humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. In clinical trials, most adults with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis saw 75 skin clearance. And the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Make the most of every moment. Ask your dermatologist about humira, today. Clearer skin is possible. We are back with some breaking news. A new call this afternoon for veterans fairs secretary Eric Shinseki to resign after a pretty damaging initial report from the d. A. Inspector general about patient care at their facilities. The report identified some 1,700 vets who were simply left off appointment waiting lists. Also, allegations of Sexual Harassment and bullying by mid and senior level managers. It specifically deals with the v. A. s phoenix facility which has been at the center of the scandal. The report also calls the problem systemic throughout the agency. Theres certainly much more to come where this story is concerned, and we will, of course, be following all of it for you. Now on to the spin. Nearly one year ago Edward Snowden became a household name when he released classified documents on secret surveillance programs. He exposed the nsa mass surveillance operation and how it worked. He is a wanted man. He searched for a safe haven. For ms. He has been in exile in russia. The u. S. Has insisted snowden was a lowlevel analyst, but in an exclusive interview with nbc Brian Williams snowden lamz his role was much larger than that. I have wourpd worked undercover overseas. I have worked for the National Security agency undercover yo seas, and i have worked for the Defense Agency as a lecturer where i developed sources and methods for keeping our information and people secure in the most hostile and dangerous environments around the world, so when they say im a low level systems administrator, that i dont know what im talking about, i say its somewhat misleading. Be sure to catch the full interview tonight at 10 00 eastern on your local nbc station. Even with the advanced clips, we have seen theres already plenty to talk about here. Guys, i watched i jetted home last night to make sure i caught this because this is really the third time ive heard Edward Snowden this week. I know he did something with the guardian earlier, but for many people this is the first time people are getting a sense of who he is and how he talks. What really struck me was how wicked smart this guy is. This is not just some computer geek that was on the low totem pole working for the government, as the administration has led us to believe. I think president obama called him a systems administrator, and i guess it makes sense for them to make him sound the least legitimate as possible to make themselves feel better. Its incredibly misleading to the american people, and its also very dishonest in my opinion, but heres my take on snowden. I think he is putting selfpreservation before his cause. If his goal is to protect the american people, then act like a hero and be courageous and come back to the United States. I mean, what he is doing is simply pulling on the lions tail and running away. I mean, thats the way i look at it. If you really want to make a difference here, then face the consequences and come talk about it here at home. We are already having a debate, and i think he has ignite thissed debate. Have some courage. What he has done is coward esby running away. I think he needs to be here talking about it, and this is something that secretary john kerry has spoken about a lot. Most recently, lets take a listen. If mr. Snowden wants to come back to the United States today, well have him on a flight today. We would be delighted for him to come back. He should come back and thats what a patriot would do. A patriot would not run away and look for refuge in russia, cube yashgs or some other country. A patriot would stand up in the United States and make his case to the american people, but he has refused to do that. I think secretary kerry makes a credible point here. I think he is right. I dont really care whether snowden comes back to the United States or not. I think, you know, the story we talk about it like its a story about Edward Snowden, but really its about a story about the information that Edward Snowden released. It led to policy changes. We got Congress Acting with prohibiting certain collection practices that he revealed. Some of the information he released, in my view, was damaging to u. S. Policy interests without any clear policy reason why that information should have been made available to the public. Information about specific operations, the way that we were spying on, you know, the russian Prime Minister and such. I think his record is mixed. We dont i dont think he is going to come back. Were probably never going to punish him. Thats too bad. We should just deal with the information that he brought us. We should react to the things that we learned that were unnerve and change them. We talk about him like he is a hero. He cant come and face it. If we kept fewer secrets, we wouldnt need so many Edward Snowdens, so many people that arent trustworthy. We have five Million People with security clearances, in part because our surveillance state is so large. I think youre right. Theres two Edward Snowden conversation that is we need to have, and the discussion that he brings up in terms of what weve been doing collecting information on americans is very valuable. We could make the argument that he was patriotic in that, but the other revelations in terms of what we were doing overseas, that is traitorous behavior. That is immature maifr. It is unconscionable. Theres no reason why we shouldnt be spying on foreign leaders. We need to know what they are doing. Especially since we leave american soil. Theres two sort of conversations. I think what he did in terms of wreck whatting we do in terms of seas are very difficult to deal with. I also think i immediate to see him come back. I dont really see why he would kwoom back and go to jail. Then he couldnt be able to talk at all. Definitely our facebook relationship status with Edward Snowden is complicated. I mean, part of the conversation is interesting to me too because i feel like we have this american urge to, like, put him in which box does he go in . Is he a patriot or a traitor . He has to be one or the other. There cant be any mixture. To your point both of your points, he created this dialogue that i think has been incredibly important, and i also agree with everything he released but because there has been such an encroachment post9 11, such an erring on the side of everything secret and everything collected by the government, i think that Edward Snowden was necessary. He has been allowed to be used by putin. Putin put him on his web cast. Edward snowden asked him some pat questions about his about the surveillance there and, of course, putin says, oh, everything is above board. We all come from different places. Im excited to see the rest of it later on tonight. Up next, the world continues to react this afternoon to the death of a literary icon. Remembering maya angelou, and your headlines for the day. Thats next. Care what age you are. Take it on the way you always have. Live healthy and take one a day womens 50 . A complete multivitamin with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. Age . Who cares. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. She can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. My mom works at ge. My mom works at ge. [female announcer] we grow big celebrations,o. And personal victories. We grow new beginnings, and better endings. Grand gestures, happier happy hours. So lets gro something greater with miraclegro. What will you grow . Trwith secure wifie for your business. It also comes with public wifi for your customers. Not so with internet from the phone company. I would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. But that would require wifi. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get two Wifi Networks included. Comcast business built for business. Maya angelou, one of americas greatest writers passed away this morning at the young age of 86. She was at her home in north carolina. No cause of death was given, but she had recent will he canceled appearances. Angelou, a woman of brilliance, grace, and towering dignity came to International Prominence in 1969 after the publication of her memoir i know why the caged bird sings. An inspiring and haunting telling of her youth in the jim crow south in 1993 she delivered the inaugural poem at the swearing in of president clinton. On this new day you may have the grace and look into your sisters eyes and into your brothers face. Your country and say simply, very simply, with hope, good morning. In 2011 angelou was awarded the medal of freedom by president obama. Angelous final Public Statement was this tweet. Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of god. Classes are back in session at the university of california Santa Barbara day for the First Time Since friday nights deadly rampage. A black ribbon hangs at the entrance of campus. Its to honor the six victims killed by a 22yearold gunman who then took his own life. The father of one of the victims, Christopher Michael martinez, appeared on msnbc last night. He told ari that the grieving process is nothing if it isnt followed up by action. People that were in a position to do something come to me and tell me how sorry they were. As i see it, theyre at fault. That includes the president. I dont care. I mean, my son died, and i believe it could have been prevented. Contrary to reports, l. A. Clippers owner don sterling said he will fight the nba to keep control of his team. Sterling responded to the leagues punishment for those racist comments calling it draconian. Commissioner adam silver has imposed a lifelong ban on sterling and is trying to force him to sell. Team owners meet next week to vote on stripping sterling of his ownership, and that is your news cycle. Among the many benefits of bringing troops home that the president highlighted at west point today, the ability to redirect the billions of dollars weve been sending on the war in afghanistan. The message our next guest in front of the show Sister Simone campbell is absolutely on board with. You might remember her famous nuns on the bus nationwide tour where she road with her fellow nuns to promote progressive change in connection with catholic values, or who can forget her powerful speech at the Democratic National convention in 2012 . Now her group is pushing what some, like myself, my colleagues have the agenda calling for pentagon budget cuts, support for low income earners, raising the minimum wage and immigration reform. She recently relike i said a new book entitled a nun on the bus. Recounting her unexpected journey in politics, fighting for faith, family, and fairness. Sister simone joins us now from washington. Sister, its so lovely to have you here with us today. Delied to be with you, crystal. Thanks. One of the things that i loved in reading your book was this sense of the unexpected journey that you found yourself on, and, in fact, the idea for the nuns on the bus sparking the platform of the nuns on the bus came out of a censure by the vatican of the Group Network that you were executive director of. Its been a really exciting and unexpected journey altogether. Absolutely. My faith experience as i describe it as its the whole holiy spirit alive and well and making mischief. Its also our focus to stay focused on a mission. What are we about . That its not to have the spotlight on us, but its, rather, to shine the light on hardworking americans who are struggling every day to make a go of it, and in the richest nation on earth, no one should work and still live in poverty. Thats the kind of nation were not. We need to move forward and create a new agreement among us. He has been very vocal about poverty and inequality. What do you make of the way that this pope has engaged with Public Policy . Well, i totally delight in it. He has made it very clear, though, that weve got to come together to create some new solutions, and our u. S. Partlyance, he is not a democrat or a republican. He says that the free market cant do it all xshgs he also says that the safety net is no answer. We need a new economy that can really reshape how we distribute goods in our society. I admire that boldness. It really is a refreshing breath of air for a hungry people. I hear you recently met paul ryan. How did that go . Well, we had a lovely conversation a week ago, and the thing that i wanted to learn from him was what is he learning about poverty because congressman ryan has been having these hearings on poverty. I wanted to know what he was learning, and one thing that he has learned is that it takes all of us talking about it, that there is no one fix for the problem in our society which i thought was a really good step forward. Then when we started talking, well, what do we do, whats the new way forward, he really quickly retreated to Market Forces and i told him the story of jason who is an entrepreneur who is upset because while jason pays fair wages, living wages, his competitors dont, and his tax dollars are going to fund his competitors, he realized, because his competitors employees are using the safety net. Jasons tax dollars are paying for the safety net. That kind of left congressman ryan a bit puzzled. He didnt know how to respond. He just thought that, well, the economy will take care of it. The fact is the economy is not taking care of it. We need some new solutions. The fact is were going to stay in touch and were going to try at least im going to try to keep sharing stories with him, to keep letting him know about the reality we need. Weave got to find a new way forward, and weve got to talk across the aisle. You work to promote, as krystal was mention, about us raising the minimum wage. Imfwrags reform, tax reform. Out of all these, which are you most hopeful about . Which will make the most progress on . There are good signs that once we get through a few more primaries, its hope that they could actually bring up a few bills and fet them out of the house of representatives in an intense period of time. Late june, july. I hold out hope for both. The big economic issues, we have to have a big national conversation. Its premature for legislation. We talk to each other about it. We, the people, can make a difference on this one. We will all be praying that that dialogue does, in fact, occur. Sister simone campbell, lovely to see you, as always. Thank you so much. Lets pray. Up next, should you rent or buy . A simple new way to crunch the numbers and see whats going to work for you. Instead of mailing everyone my vacation photos, im saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall. Oh, i like that one. Its so quick its just like my car insurance. I saved 15 in just 15 minutes. I saved more than that in half the time. I unfriend you. Thats not how it works. Thats not how any of this works. [ male announcer ] 15 minutes for a quote isnt how it works anymore. With esurance, 7 1 2 minutes could save you on car insurance. Welcome to the modern world. Esurance. Backed by allstate. Click or call. Welcome to the modern world. Dont just visit new york. Visit tripadvisor new york. With millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. Thoughtful combinations, artfully prepared. Fancy feast elegant medleys. Inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. Fancy feast. A medley of love, served daily. The Summer Season is about more than the beach and barbecues. For many its also moving season when rents rise and Many Americans consider the ageold American Dream of buying a home, but it turns out that is not always a bargain either. Depending on where you live, purchase prices may be stagnant or slowly rising, but in big cities theyre booming. Prices are up 15 or more in a number of metro areas from San Francisco to atlanta and even detroit, which is clawing its way back from rock bottom. The price hikes are also soaking fears of another housing bubble. Buying a home isnt the bargain it was a few years ago and rents are also going up. What are your options . My colleagues at the New York Times have posted a calculator that allows you to enter your specific financial and living situation to decide whats right for you. Neil irwin has written a number of stories about the upshot as the times correspondent. You are in San Francisco today. You have written about San Francisco as one of the most overheated markets in the country where purchase prices are way up relative to rent. Whats going on in california thats making it so expensive to buy . You know, its a fairly straight forward story. Its a lot of demand. Job growth has been strong. Income growth has been strong in San Francisco, l. A. , california, and even the east coast. Supply has not kept up with demand. Theres not been nearly as much construction of new Housing Units that might fill that new demand thats come under the market. How good are docs barbecue skills . Can we trust him with an open flame is the real question . Risky. I love it. You guys have a list of five questions that you should ask yourself before making a decision to buy or not, and two of the questions are the toughest for me, and im sure for a number of other people. Thats how long will you be living there, and how confident are you about your income . Young people, as we know, are taking more time to figure out their lives. Theyre into their mid 30s before you have a sense of where theyre going to be longer term. If you cant answer either of those questions with certificate, should you just not think about buying at all . You know, theres no certainty in life, but i think youre basically right. If you arent sure where you are going to live in a couple of years, if youre not sure what kind of living situation you want to be in, maybe buying a place really isnt for you. Especially at the valuations were seeing now. Where prices are now that are kind of not a bargain by any measure in a lot of these markets. If you are not sure where you want to be in three, four, five years, you really shouldnt be. Maybe you ought to be renting. Death, taxes, lebron james winning the nba championship year after year. Of the five questions, the one that i found the most interesting, can you accept that the future is unknowable . Yes, its very hard for the human mind to contemplate this. People get divorced. Jobs are lost. Recessions happen. A lot of times i think historically people looked at a home as a sort of shelter against that sort of unforeseen thing happening, whereas if you are a renter, you can be thrown out almost at any time. Thats right. Thats part of what you are buying when you buy a house or a condo. Youre buying uncertainty. Youre buying the right to renovate your kitchen or paint the shudder whatever color you want. Youre buying so you know you dont have a sudden rent hike or a landlord that wants to turn the willing into something else. Thats worth something to people. I own a condo myself, and i like it that way. That said, it comes at a price. Especially if you are buying in some of the overheated markets. You know, another thing that people have looked to homeownership for is to build wealth, middle class and working class folks in particular. Put it into a brokerage account, invest in the stock market or whatever longer Term Investment you want to put the money in. Thats great. You can end up saving the sam way you do. The problem is you know you dont have that discipline to save through other mechanisms. That makes buying out a little more desirable than otherwise. Auto when you play around with this calculator, you can change everything from your down payment, to how long youre going to live there, to wherure buying. For what types of people will the answer come back, no, this isnt a good time to buy . If you are on the coastal city. If youre not in california, the northeast, if youre in the middle of the country, the math in general works better. Obviously, specific cities matter. Thats starlgt point. The other thing is if you are going to be there a long time, ten, 15 years, the map looks a lot better. If you have a high down payment, math looks better. Those are the situations that make buying look more compelling that renting in most parts of the world. Neil irwin, thank you. No matter where you call home, do you ever feel overwhelmed by the house work, work work, and family and friends . A small cage. So that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. Without angies list, i dont know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. From contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angies list. We found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angies list. Join today at angieslist. Com i dont always have timeh to eat like i should. Thats why i like glucerna shakes. They have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [male announcer] glucerna. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. 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Grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing sexy back eat up. Keep hearthealthy. Live long. For a healthy heart, eat the 100 natural whole grain goodness of post shredded wheat. Doctors recommend it. It seems like were just hanging on by a thread at the mercy of the clock. Just like harold lloyd. We all know the stress of having too little time left and the embarrassment of being late, the overwhelmingness of feeling like theres never enough time for it all. Our next guest is a Washington Post writer and a wife and a mom of two who knows how oppressive the clock can feel and she writes about it in overwhelmed, work, love, and play when no one has the time. Thank you so much for taking time out of your impossible schedule to join us, brigitte schulte. You attend something called the International Association for time, use, research conference. Josh loves this idea. Can you tell us some of the things that you learned about time in your study for this book . Well, that was stuch an interesting thing. It all started when whose life are you looking at . Right. He challenged me to a time study, and i did keep this time study, and he found with 27 hours of what he called leisure, and i called bits and scraps of time study, little bits of nothingness, and so that began this whole journey of trying to understand, well, what is how we define our time . What is leisure . What does our time look like . That did lead me to this. The Time Use Research conference. It was really fascinating to find that theres an increasing sense of time pressure, largely in the United States, but it is in other countries. In the United States in particular this feeling of always being rushed and that there isnt enough time to do as much as you need to and want to in a day. A lot of that is because the way we live, it just really is light years ahead of where our workplaces are set up, our cultural attitudes, and even our laws and policies. Were living in this disconnected time. I think we can all relate to your book. You know theres a problem when we are given time to do absolutely nothing, and that stresses us out. We actually dont know what to do with ourselves. You write about that even when we go on vacations. Were somewhere beautiful and relaxing, and we bring that stress and that anxiety with us. I want to get a sense of what other countries around the world are doing. It seems like theyve been able to manage this worklife balance much better than we have been able to do. Help us understand what they are doing right and what we are doing wrong. There are a couple of things. There was a moment back in the early 1970s when women entered the workplace really around the world for two different reasons. The Womens Movement had opened up possibilities for women, and the economy started to stagnate and costs continued to rise. For working class families, women had to go into the workplace in order to keep the same standard of living. As women started entering the workplace, Different Countries began looking at the phenomenon and figuring out how do we support this . How do we get good work out of people and, yet, recognize that, you know, to continue society, you need family. They came up with pay family leave policies. Other countries have paid vacation policies. Paid sick days. In the United States we have none of that. We are the only country along with papanew guinea and swansealand that have no paid leave. There are three states that three parental leave policies. California, new jersey, and most recently rhode island. Thats just a drop in the bucket. We have one familyfriendly policy. Thats the family medical leave act. It took ten years to pass. Its unpaid. It doesnt cover 40 of the work force. No wonder people feel like theyre completely spinning all the time. Its funny. Just last week on the show we were talking about this new study from the Population Research institute at penn state. They looked at hormone levels. A hormone called cortisol. They found that people and especially women, experience lower stress levels at the office than they do at home. This was true for working class and affluent people. Do you think this busyness that you are wragt about, is it in part due to the fact that people are trying to spend time at the office. I dont think thats the case at all. I think the important thing about that study that you mention is to understand that for women the home is another workplace. Of course, its going to be stressful. Women, even when they work so of course youre going to be stressed out at home. Men are doing more but they tend to be in the helper role. Whats interesting is studies find that when men try to be more the full partner and more than the helper parent or the fun dad they are feeting more work life kwon flikt than women and mothers are. As a mother myself i totally relate to what youre saying and i love the way you describe it. You talk about how typically, a womans brain is always contaminated, is the word you use, i think, saying shes always balancing all these scheduling conflictses. All of the worklife things that make a household go into work but you found research that shows our brain changes when were constantly in what were in what you call the overwhelmed. Tell us about that. I wanted to understand about why we should care about being overwhelmed. For so long people thought these are mommy issues and theyre really not. Theyre issues for everybody. How does this affect us . We know stress affects our blood pressure. Theres diabetes, cardiovascular disease but theyre finding that stress, this constant bathing in cortisol, is actually shrinking our brains, if you will. They found that in the prefrontal cortex, the news and most recently evolve part of the brain where aye think, remember, learn and make decisions, if you have been through stressful experiences and you feel stressed out, they found in this one study at the Yale Stress Center the prefrontal cortex was fully 20 smaller in volume. People who did not feel that same sex of being overwhelmed. What does that translate to in terms of the way you behave in your life . Well, you dont have the capacity to think state. To make good decisions. You know, to learn and remember. Were increasingly in a knowledge economy. Creativity and Innovation Matters and if you dont have that resource thats got huge implications for everything. At work and at home and we dont have much leisure time but it would affect you there as well. I think this is all totally real but i think also, theres another aspect as americans. We want to seem like were busy and tired because that makes us feel like were important. People who have lots of leisure time in American Society are either not important or they are incredibly wealthy and have already succeeded. Whats important, what i discovered in my book is that theres emerging neuroscience that shows when youre in leisure, when youre relaxed and calm, your brain is more active. Now were understanding where the inspiration, the ahah moment comes from and its not keeping or staying with your nose to the grindstone at your computer 10 and 12 hours a day. Whats important to recognize is look at work hours and compare ourselves internationally were not as productive per hour as other countries are. We just put in long hours at the office. It doesnt benefit anybody. Lets give you some leisure time right now. Thank you very much for being here. Up nasdext, life before th cycle. Can you start tomorrow . Yes sir. Alright. Lets share the news tomorrow. Today we failrly busy. Tomorrow were booked solid. We close on the house tomorrow. I want one of these opened up. Because tomorow we go live. Its a day full of promise. And often, that day arrives by train. Big day today . Even bigger one tomorrow. When csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. Csx. How tomorrow moves. But with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. I saw my doctor. A blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. We talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these symptoms to your doctor. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. Ask your doctor about axiron. Sfx sounds of marching band and crowd cheering sfx sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, im walking down the street, sfx sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx sounds of marching band and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this parade honoring americas troops. Which is actually quite fitting because geico has been serving the military for over 75 years. Aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. Right, but i dont look like that. Who can i write a letter to about this . Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Humans. Even when we cross our ts and dot our is, we still run into problems. Thats why Liberty Mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. If you qualify, your rates wont go up due to your first accident. Because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. We also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, well give you the money for a new one. Call Liberty Mutual insurance at. And ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, the repairs are guaranteed for life. So call. To talk with an Insurance Expert about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. And if you switch, you could save up to 423. Liberty Mutual Insurance responsibility. Whats your policy . Beforeives a reporter i was a real estate banker. Banking has got a bad name in the last few years because of the thing where the banking pump the economy full of debt and fuel the speculative bubble in real estate and leave taxpayers and kwon assumertion holding the bag when it came crashing down. From 2005 to 2009, a saw the recklessness that dlooef mess and saw how bingeing can be a force for good in the economy when bankers do their jobs right. I worked on loans for large real estate projects and whole portfolios of supermarket anchors and strip malls. Bank loans like this are great, they build the places where we live and work but as a lender its important to make loans against smart projects where the borrower makes money and can repay you. But lots of banked failed at that. Recklessness wasnt a clever strategy. Bankers may have thought they could sell off theyre bad loans but places like bear stearns got stuck in the crash with batd loans they couldnt sell which made them insolvent. Even citigroup and bank of america saved by the bailouts suffered huchblg losses that their shareholders have yet to recover. All the financial struck churg in the world couldnt change the fact making bad loans is bad business. Unfortunately it took a economically devastating crash for bankers to learn that. My employer, wells fargo wasnt perfect and it got in trouble for its Home Mortgage practices but its done much better than most banks because bankers were more careful about the risks they took. Wells fargo made sure the same person was responsible for schmoozing the client, doing the lone math and monitoring the loan. Once you made the loan it was your problem until the borrower paid it off and that abili accountability pushed people to avoid making these loans. So kevin roadways followed wall street bankers around for two years and found them to be miserable and overworked doing jobs that held little value for them individually or for the economy as a whole. Based on this experience, rousse urges them to keep on. I made money and did things useful in the economy and learned research and writing skills that med me a better reporter. But i was in a Financial Institution where caution was rewarded and Business Activities were closely tied to the real economy. Banking doesnt have to have this reputation. Spreading this would make for a healthier Financial Sector and a safer economy and maybe hatchier bankers. That does it for the the cycle. Now with alex wagner starts right now. Its wednesday, may 28th and this is now. America must always lead on the world same. No one else will. Barack obamas presidency has been bedevilled by achg, there was no mention at all of how that war is going to end. Were going to have almost nosh there in 2060. And what the president is saying to the taliban, hang on, were leaving. They refused where indecisiveness. How much effort are we going to put into resolving the crisis in the you yan as opposed to syria. The bottom line is, weve more or less accepted the forcible anextation of and you cant back away from warfare. Were