of collective bargaining and worker protections and education and safety and all those kinds of things. and there is one party that has been lax on that. and the record speaks for itself. >> how do democratic strategists, how do labor union activists go out and motive people like our caller and channel some of that anger and frustration that he feels into your cause, into the progressive cause? >> well, first of all, labor didn't get everything it wanted with president obama. president obama did not do the employee free choice act, and that was the number one issue that the labor in this country wanted. the president decided to go health care. and health care and jobs, in that order. so the unions were told, you know, you need to chill. you need to step back a little bit. we're not going to do employee free choice act. they were told early on that they didn't have the votes. so there were some broken noses there for a while. there were some people who felt they had everything to do with

getting president obama into office, and they felt a little bit adrift. but again, they also looked at what the situation of the country was. and to generationally move health care with 50 million people in the country without health care, and the price is going up, and it's getting worse, they had to come up with a plan that was going to do more for people and bring the cost down. so it's not everything that people wanted, but it was a step forward. and of course the republicans on 26 states, they challenged it, and now it's in front of the supreme court. in answer to your question about organized labor and, you know, what role they play in getting people like this gentleman from tennessee to think their way, look, he has to render his own personal judgment as to what is best for him. does he believe in collective bargaining? does he believe in workers' rights? does he believe in fair wages and health care and pension? all of those things to be protected, or does he want to be thrown to the wolfs of the private sector and be moved

around like furniture in his career and have no security whatsoever after 30 years of hard work. it's a choice people have to wake. >> boston, massachusetts. tim, independent line. >> caller: good morning, libby. >> bomb. >> caller: morning, ed. >> good morning. >> i'm your biggest fan. i'd trade for a fishing week in minnesota with you. >> i appreciate that. >> caller: i love the walleye. listen. i'm a wealth creating union machinist. everybody that i have ever worked for, i guarantee you, while they paid me a living wage, they walked away with millions, and that's a fact. and, you know, the lexicon has been hijacked and mauled by the frank luntzs of the world. you know, it just slays me when anything that the government does to benefit the middle class, the poor, the elderly,

the weak, that's a government handout. but yet these same republicans and democrats -- i'm a ralph nader supporter -- they both go around asking these same people that they accuse of taking handouts, asking them to write a check. now what kind of nonsense is this? oh, there was one other thing that i wanted to comment on. oh, yeah. you mark my words. this is a prediction. i don't know when exactly the peak year is going to be when all the baby boomers, when the vast majority of them are going to retire. what we've been sold this con job of how great these 401(k)s are and how much better it is than social security. i guarantee you, ed, there is going to be another recession. there is going to be another crash. and all these people that thought the 401(k)s, all that is just another big con. it's going to be the working people that put into this, and the money is going to be walked away with by wall street. >> well, he hit a lot on there.

you know, wall street pretty much runs the senate right now. the banks run the senate. they can hold all the hearings in the world on what happened to jpmorgan, but the fact is dodd/frank didn't go far enough. all the rules haven't been written. it's going to take a tremendous amount of political courage to step forward and say this is what we need to do. obviously wall street doesn't want to be regulated. but the fact is that this country has changed dramatically. when the investment banks and the commercial banks can get together and pretty much do what they want to do. and i think the gentleman is right. there will be another hit to the economy. it may not be during president obama's term. it may be another president. but there are no safeguards put in place to deal with the kind of casino gambling that is going on on wall street, and what these financial institutions, these banks are doing with

people's investments. this is a huge campaign issue. i think president obama has to be very, very clear on. this i think the democrats have to, you know, talk openly about and advocating for reinstating glass-steagall. i think there needs to be conversation about breaking up the banks if they don't break them up. but this is all very hard to do when you have the fox guarding the hen house. it may be -- it may have gone too far. the political system in this country may not be able to reel in wall street. this may be the way it is. and with citizens united and with the unbelievable amount of cash that can be thrown around campaigns right now, and the way politicians can be propped up and cash-whipped and campaigning purchased, it's pretty dangerous stuff, in my opinion as a liberal. that's how i view it. >> anna joins us from las vegas,

nevada. democrats line. good morning, anna. >> caller: good morning. >> go right ahead. you're on with ed schultz. >> caller: hi, ed. >> hi there. >> caller: i'm one of your biggest fans. i look at you every day. i just want to say thank you so much for what you're trying to give the people, especially the union members out to vote, and to see what is going on, and for all the people that are not union members and they're talking about -- if it had not been for the union, if it still is not for the union, their wages, their benefits and things would go to poot. if the republicans get their way and then they can go back, especially in the south, they barely want to pay above minimum wage. and another thing right quick. also on the stimulus, when they talked about the stimulus didn't help, but when those people like in texas got the stimulus package, those governors took that and used it towards balancing their budgets and then tried to turn around and make the president look bad. and another thing, for some reason or another, especially

republicans, and in congress and all, they do not want to give this president the due sal utetation he is due. there is no harm saying president obama. i didn't like president bush, but i called him that. you have bachmann and all of them, they haller obama, barack obama. i mean palin and all them, it is ridiculous how less respect they show. but you never hear them say elizabeth. you hear them say queen, or queen elizabeth. but because, like i said, i come from the south, i know in so many ways that way back they were always taugt taught that you do not respect a black, especially a man. and if he has any type of power like this president, you try to demean him as much as possible. but like i said, all you people, get out and vote. because if you think things are bad now, if you put romney in

there and he is already said what he is going to do towards medicare and all of those things, and you think that you're harming the poor and the middle class, you would definitely see everything go completely backwards from what he has brought forward. >> let's move on. let's wrap that up, anna, and get to the points she made. she brought up the issue of race and how that's going to play out in the campaign, the way people talk about the president. and also stimulus money. >> well, race is always going to be an issue in america. it's a constant conversation that we have to keep having. the disrespect that she is talking about towards the president, look, there was disrespect towards president bush. but i think it has been notched up quite a bit with president obama. i think the tea party has had a lot to do with that. i think the 24-hour news cycle has inflamed it quite a bit, which of course i'm a part of. but the fact is we as parents in

this country have to teach our kids respect. that's where it starts. it starts at the home. yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. i mean those, that is a value that this country i think is quickly getting way from in our political system, that there has to be respect. and i think that the political climate of the country is so volatile right now that in many respects, respect has left the building. but we as leaders and we as parents have got an obligation to teach the younger generation that disrespect for the president is healthy. it's not healthy for the country. disrespect for leaders is not. and you know what? we all make mistakes. we all say things that we wish we could have back. but in the overriding tone of our communication with one another has to be one of

respect. and i think the country has in a sense gotten away from that. >> how do you deal with that as a talk show host? you mentioned in your words, the 24-hour news cycle has contributed to the tone in the country. do you blame fox for setting a different tone than what we see on msnbc? do you bring to bear yourself a certain tone or tenor as you engage in debate on your show? >> i think the country is registering right now that anger is not going to work. i think the country is ready to drill down and address the issues and reset the priority list of where we're going to take the country. as a cable host and as a talk show host, it's easy to get wrapped up in the moment, easy to get wrapped up in the emotion, because we're constantly pointing out what is at stake. and there is a lot at stake. and people get emotional about it. i think that -- you can advocate

and be positive. you can be fair and be positive. and you can be critical if you have the facts. now i've never worked at fox. i probably never will work at fox. i don't know, you know, what their -- what their mantra is or their word coming down from up top on how they have to operate. but i can tell you where i work. i can have my opinion. i can say what i want. i can't libel the company, obviously. but i can't have my own set of facts. i can't make stuff up. udon't make stuff up. i give my opinion. but if the deficit is what it, if spending is what it is, if taxes is it what it is, we have to report the facts. but i have never, you know, been told that i can't give an opinion on a certain subject. actually, there is quite a bit of freedom in cable. and the consumer has to be smart enough to understand what is

fact and what is opinion. >> as part of c-span's social media outreach, we've been uting touts. a couple viewers touted in a question or two for ed schultz. let's listen to one of them. >> ed, so of everything discussed on your show, what would you say is the most important issue? and how will its outcome impact middle class society directly and indirectly? >> i think he asked me what the most topic is right now. >> and how is it going to affect the middle class. >> well, i think it's the economy right now. there is no question about it. there is going to be an election that is going to be designed the economic future that people have, and how they feel about the country right now. are we moving in the direction that suits them the best? do they understand what the economic goals of the country are right now? president obama versus the challenger, mitt romney.

where the republicans want to go, what the democrats want to defend and fight for, and how they believe. so i think income and equality is a huge issue right now there is no question about it. fairness in the workplace is a big issue right now. we have too many people in this country who are going broke because of health care. now what are we going to do about it? are we going to go to the supreme court and decide we're going to do something about it? is that political or is that the right thing for people? what do the people want? in the ryan plan, they want to go after the institutions. they want to attack the entitlements is what they call them -- social security, medicare, medicaid, make cuts to programs that have been successful for decades in this country. where is the march? i'm looking at the capitol right now. i don't see anybody outside. where is the march for change? have we seen an uprising of the people across america saying hey, let's get rid of social

security? have we seen an uprising across america of hey, we're taking care of old people. we don't like that anymore. they've worked all their lives. they bought into medicare. why do we want to take things away from people that they have earned? the fact is had we not gone into two wars, had we not done tax cuts and reduced it from the 39% and the 36, we would have more money in the treasury right now. we'd be able to do these things. and in my opinion, this is my opinion now, i believe that the republican goal, they think in terms of generation. where are we generationally going to take the country. they've wanted to blow up the federal budget deficit to the point where they can pare back government and programs where they want them. they want less obligation. and they have made labor the boogie man. they have made government the boogie man. yet the people out there are satisfied with social security. the people out there are satisfied with medicare. is there fraud? yes, there is. there is a lot of fraud and

abuse in iraq too. you're not going to have a perfect world. but what do the people want? the people in this country right now want the wealthiest americans to pay more. to pay little bit more. and the democrats, they don't want to raise your taxes further than what it is right now. they want to go back to the old rates. but the democrats gave the republicans what they wanted in the lame duck session of the congress. they extended the bush tax cuts. and so this is a very interesting political time in america. a huge election. we always say this one is the most important. maybe it is. but we're still going to be wrestling with the same problems of taxation, of income inequality, of whether we're going to have a have and have not society in this country. if we're going to have a thriving middle class, do we believe in manufacturing? do we think it's important for people to have a living wage in the manufacturing sector of america. and the president i think is working very hard and focused on trying to rebuild that sector of the economy which has suffered

under republican rule. >> let's hear from a republican. >> sure. >> beverly is joining us from st. cloud, minnesota. good ahead, beverly. >> caller: i just have a comment for mr. schultz. it's very easy for him to say what transpired in wisconsin. first of all, i believe that with all the union stuff, that they bussed people in and got money from across the country. and the democrats always say how the republicans are getting all this help from outside. but in reality, it has always been the unions and the that have brought in outsiders to the state of wisconsin. and if i was a wisconsinite, i would be upset about bringing all those people in and not letting their own state handle this. that's just my comment. >> and that's fair enough. that's fair enough there is no question that there are people -- in fact i had a gentleman call in my radio show yesterday. it was from a southern state, saying that, you know, he was so motived by what he saw on

television that he went up to wisconsin to help out. so i don't -- i don't disagree with that. i think there are people that have been motived from all around the country. but with respect to the caller, you cannot defy the fact where the money is coming, and the money is 20-1 in favor of the republicans of what has been spent. and the story today in the mainstream media is that the democratic national committee still has not immediate a full-throated decision as to whether they're going to put in a half million for ground troops to get the vote out for the democrats, which has been requested by the democratic party in wisconsin. so you're right there. is people that have come in to help wisconsin, no question about it. >> joe joins us from carmen, indiana, indiana caller. hi, joe. >> caller: hello. i'm so glad to talk to you. i'm a combat vet from vietnam. and my -- i believe that -- the lies they told us about the tonkin gulf.

i fought for three years there. it's been a nightmare why whole life, ever since then. my next-door neighbor's son went over to kuwait, believing that the babies are being thrown out of the incubators. he got shot and killed in fallujah. my other friend over here, he lost his grandson over in pakistan. and it's pretty -- you know, it's pretty hard for us veterans, you know, to watch this, knowing that our country is the muscle for the corporations. we're under corporate rule here. and veterans know they've been in war, we left iraq, and we just turned around and said hey, anybody want all this for practically nothing? and the seven sisters dove in there and paid less than a dollar a barrel for maybe 350 to 400 years of oil. well dropped 15 trillion and blood all over that sand. and they haven't renewsroom

rated us one penny, and they have raised the prices on our gas. >> you can tell by the gentleman's voice that he is borderline distraught about what has happened to him in his lifetime. there is a lot of veterans out there. and you know, libby, that is one of the things that turned me politically some 15 years ago is i saw what was happening to the veterans in this country. why we have a fight over helping our veterans, a political fight over helping our veterans is just beyond me. the va does a fabulous job, but we don't have enough of it. and we have got a -- hoards of servicemen and women coming back with post traumatic stress disorder. they need treatment. and, you know, we created this. we decided to go into iraq as a country. we as a country decided to do international intervention. and there is a long -- you can

hear it in that gentleman's voice. there is a long, hard price to be paid for that. and for those of us who didn't go, and for those of us who weren't called on to go, we have to do our part to make sure that we do not push these veterans to the side like road kill, and we live up to our commitments as a country. and we must realize this should weigh on our lawmakers' minds that when they decide to do something like iraq or afghanistan or whatever kind of things we do, we're committing not for the moment, we're committing for the long haul. and there a price tag with it. and there is going to have to be sacrifice from every american to meet our obligations. it's unfortunate. you know, i've met a lot of combat veterans. i've met a lot of people who have served this country that feel like they're being left behind. they feel like they're -- that the congress has forgotten them. and we can't. we just have to live up to our

obligations. and the fact is we need more money in the treasury there is no question about it. >> a couple comments coming in on twitter, just weighing in. mary says we have plenty of examples through history that show us what gress income inequality gets us. we'll hear more as we go on. ed schultz is our guest, jack joins us next from indianapolis on our democrats line. go ahead, jack. >> caller: hi, ed. good to talk with you. >> thank you, jack. >> caller: i got a couple of questions for you. and i used to watch you all the time when you were on earlier in the day. but in 2007 -- '08, you didn't go after dick foles very much with lehman brothers. i want to know why. maybe you weren't on the air at that time. >> i wasn't on television until april of 2009. and when i first got my job at msnbc, i was doing the 6:00 show.

and i made a commitment that the ed show was going to lead every night with health care. it was the story of our time. it was a chance to do something for a lot of people. and so that was my focus when i first came to msnbc. so in reference to the story you're talking about, you're correct, i didn't. >> that was jack's call. now let's go to jack, republican in south dakota. hello, south dakota. >> caller: yeah, how are you doing. listen, i would just like to point out a couple of things. mr. schultz, you're getting it all wrong, pal. for the first two years, who owned the congress? who owned the senate? the congress, the president. mr. obama. >> well, it's good to hear a voice from south dakota where i spent a lot of time in the midwest in my broadcast career. you're exactly right. the president had the white house, the house and the senate.

he also had a record number of filibusters. he also had a minority party that stopped absolutely everything. i'm not making that stuff up, jack. that's just the way it is. >> let's hear from our next caller mark in anaheim, california, independent line. hi, mark. >> caller: hey, how are you doing? >> good. >> caller: ed, good to see you, man. you're looking a lot healthier. i see you on your nightly show. your blood vessels are sticking out of your forehead. you seem to be pretty angry on your broadcast. a couple comments. first off, earlier in the program, you stated that spending is down. this is the type of comment that i see on your show almost every night. i'm trying to figure out how we get to a point where we're at 25% of the gdp with spending and that's down when traditionally our spending is 18% of gdp. and another thing you brought up earlier, i recommend you go out to opensecrets.org. it's a great site. it's independent. it goes and lists all the money being poured into our political

process. >> okay. first of all, i don't think i'm angry when i'm on the air at night. i'm very passionate. that could be misconstrued by people who have a different political persuasion. as far as the money is concerned, it's easy to track. there is no way that the democrats are going to be able to keep up with the corporate money that is going to be thrown in this election cycle. and you would just be unfair to the facts if you were to say that citizens united hasn't been a major player in all of this. what was the other thing he talked about? >> i think you got it. >> okay. you know, look, money and politics. there is a discussion, an undercurrent of discussion in this country that i think a lot of people know that's it's probably not achievable, but it's really what the people want. and that is public funding of

campaigns. and if we really want the people's voices to be heard, there can't be the overspending and the skewing of the political process influenced by money. if you had publicly financed campaigns that had limitations to it where people actually had to get up and get away from the bullet points and actually answer questions with substantive answers and be forced to be vetted by the people, i think we would have a different country. >> our caller mentioned opensecrets.org. it's run by the center for responsive politics and has information about lobbying elections, how money is spent in this country. a caller in our last segment asked us, he said he is a teacher. he said his students watch c-span and it's something they see a lot of on the house floor is a number that is thrown around. he wanted us to ask you about it. he said people talk about how for every dollar that the u.s. borrows, we're paying x amount of interest on it, a certain

percentage of interest on it do you want to talk than and weigh in on what your concerns are about borrowing and how we actually end up spending a lot more money through that process? >> well, there is all kinds of numbers floating around. but let's get to the basics. we have a record trade deficit. we have a record deficit, record debt. we got a lot of things that are going through the roof there is no question inter. and spending is down under president obama. it's a fact. the debt is down under president obama. taxes are down. that's what the republicans like. they like -- they like lower taxes. so the republicans have done when they were in the minority, they did a pretty good job of getting what they want, okay. now if we're going to fix all of this, there is number of things that we have to do. obviously we have to recommit in a big way to buy american, to manufacture in america, and to

promote american loyalty when it comes to purchasing. that's one thing that could really help consumers have a tremendous amount of power. we've seen that in the social media in our business when certain broadcasters have the light put on them for dissatisfaction with the public. let's face it. the social media is changing a lot of conversation in this country in action. but for us to do this, we've got to focus on jobs. we've got to focus on investment. and we've got to reduce spending. we can't be invading countries to the tune of $5 billion a week. and all of these things have taken a toll. to get it all back, it's going to take time. and i think that we're going to have to make the 1 and 2% income earners in this country go back to the old rates of 39%. and a lot of people say to me when i say this, they say well how much do you want me to pay? it's not a question of how much we want you to pay, it's what the country needs you to do. just like that veteran that called earlier that was somewhat distraught. i mean, look, we have to do our

part. we have to pay a little bit more, you know. i used to be a middle classer. i've had good fortune in my life, running businesses and doing what i do in the media. i'm in the top 2%. we need to pay more. you can take from 36 to 39% in my lifetime. it wouldn't change my lifestyle a bit. i think there is a lot of wealthy people out there that feel the same way. we are going to have to sacrifice. we're going to have to come together as a country and realize that all of us have to do our part. and the president talks about shared sacrifice. but there is one party in the country that views this as some kind of unbelievable economic threat, as if you can't raise taxes on the job creators. really? i just think that is so wrong-headed, and it's not statistically proven. we've done it before. generations in the past have done it. we just have to have the will to do it. and the stewards here in washington who watch our money have to be willing to debate and not be stuck in ideological

hedge row country where they can't move, and do it for the people. and there has to be some level of compromise in this country if we're going to get our finances in order. the brow beating has got to stop. >> a story in usa today, don't look now, but american manufacturing is rebounding. it says even though the u.s. is in a tepid recovery from what they're calling a deep recession, no one's bothered to tell that to american manufacturers because they are creating jobs. north carolina, let's go to that. democratic caller. what is your name, caller? >> caller: wilbur smith. >> thanks for calling. you're on with ed schultz. >> caller: good morning. >> morning. >> caller: it's such a pleasure to speak with you. >> thank you. >> caller: you're the only one on msnbc that brings out the truth of the american people. we are really suffering, mr. schultz. i draw social security check. you know what they have done?