without fear of retaliation. joining me, once again, msnbc military analyst general jerry mccaffrey. is there a firestorm of sorts coming? has pandora s box been opened at the va? there s two aspects to this. the va with 1,700 health care delivery places it one of the best medical systems in the country. digitized records. they re really kind to our veterans once they re in facilities. the problem is the giant bureaucracy, 330,000 people, the secretary is barely in charge, because congressmen restrict any movement of budget. it s a heavily unionized force which is good and causes issues, and it s underresourced, given the giant load that s been put on it, with 2.5 million vets coming home from iraq and afghanistan. and my age group, the vietnam veterans, 3 million of us, now getting older and putting heavy
pump up your own bonuses, perhaps, and then in some cases allegedly it is okay to then try to hide that evidence when the inspector general comes around. so there needs to be an entirely new cultural change at the va itself. and for all the serious minded members of the senate and the house i talked about this issue, the va is overwhelmed, underresourced and don t think, again, there will ever be enough money to fix that. so they say there has to be alternatives provided to these veterans so that if they can t get immediate care, when they need it, where they need it, that they be be given the option to seek alternative care outside the va system that the u.s. government would foot the bill for, which many who put the pencil to this say what actually saved the va some and the government a lot of money. jim, some republicans have
people. people in the community say is it a failing school or a failing system? while the charter movement gains strength from the economic incentives, poor black and brown children are going to schools that are overwroud crowded, that don t have toilet paper. we re talking 2013 where they don t have updated books, they have to walk dangerous routes through dangerous neighborhoods. they re already the most vulnerable demographic. you can overlay the maps of the school deserts with the food deserts and voter i.d. laws and gun violence. these kids are bearing the brunt of it. children who are hungry are going to school children who are hungry, often suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder or ongoing traumatic stress disorder as a result of lifg in violent neighborhoods, then go to schools that are underresourced. not much of a surprise they have trouble accomplishing a variety of academic tasks. then those schools are closed. yet, as you point out, because they were failing scho
the president speaking a couple days ago, said, look, there is no more deficit crisis. the deficit is coming down. here are his remarks. we don t have an urgent deficit crisis. the only crisis we have is one that s manufactured in washington, and it s ideological. and the basic notion is, is that we shouldn t be helping people get health care and we shouldn t be helping kids who can t help themselves and whose parents are underresourced, we shouldn t be helping them get a leg up. this is about the role of government in helping people reach their version of the american dream. sure. well, a couple things. obviously, i disagree with the president. i still think we have a deficit and debt crisis, debt nearing $17 trillion, but to the bigger point. i want to pick up on something your earlier guests said, when it comes to the american dream, the next great civil rights fight is about making sure every child as a great education. it comes down to making sure
more investments. the president speaking a couple days ago, said, look, there is no more deficit crisis. the deficit is coming down. here are his remarks. we don t have an urgent deficit crisis. the only crisis we have is one that s manufactured in washington, and it s ideological. and the basic notion is, is that we shouldn t be helping people get health care and we shouldn t be helping kids who can t help themselves and whose parents are underresourced, we shouldn t be helping them get a leg up. this is about the role of government in helping people reach their version of the american dream. sure. well, a couple things. obviously, i disagree with the president. i still think we have a deficit and debt crisis, debt nearing $17 trillion, but to the bigger point. i want to pick up on something your earlier guests said, when it comes to the american dream, the next great civil rights fight is about making sure every child as a great education. it comes down to making sure