thank you all for coming. let me just quickly moved to introducing our panelist today. i will start on the far side for me. michael cooper is a national correspondent for the new york times. he began his career is a nice copy while he was in college. he has had one job his entire life, which is particularly impressive. here s to me is jared bernstein. he is a senior fellow in 2009 to 2011. most of it. the we will be discussing tonight, he was the chief economic adviser to the vice president of the united states. before that, he was at the economic policy institute, and earlier, at the department of labor. and last, in the middle, michael grabell, who has written a fabulous book, money well spent. i strongly strongly urge you to read it. in the sunday review section of the new york times , yesterday, he had a review, and we are very proud of his work. in this book, he has been a reporter for us since 2008. earlier, was a reporter at the dallas morning news. and he is al