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Jon Stewart: Al, I've watched television. A terrible thing happened to the stock market. It went down 600 points on news of Europe. Then the next day, from what I understand, Europe was still very similar to how it had been the day before, and it [the stock market] went up 500 points, and the next day it went down 450 points on news of... mmmm... something... and then the next day it went up 300 -- Are they f*cking with us? (laughter)
Ali Velshi: Yeah. You know, it's exactly right, what you're saying. Because the companies that make up the stock market didn't change. They weren't worth 5-percent less the next day and they weren't worth 3-percent more after that. That's exactly right. The stock market is a collection of the value of underlying companies and that's what the judgment should be.
But the stock market has become a barometer of how investors around the world kind of 'feel' about the way things are going. And that's the stuff you've seen over the last few weeks.
Stewart: It's more of a 'mood ring'. (laughter)
Velshi: Yes. That's exactly right. It's a mood ring, with a big board that you can watch all the time.
Stewart: Right. But have we gotten to the point where we're too hooked into this idea of the stock market as a permanent thermometer of the health of our nation economically and otherwise?
Velshi: Yes. Absolutely we are. Absolutely we are. It's one measure.
Stewart: So what is a measure that would perhaps be -- or is it too complicated to show graphically to television viewers -- what would give us a better sense of the underlying health...
Velshi: Yeah. It would be good to have a real feel for the economy. But really we all feel it in our lives, right?
The three things that make you feel prosperous in your life are, one, the value of your investments going up, if you have investments, and that's the stock market. Number two, the value of your home going up, if you have a home.
But you can actually live without investments and a home. You can't live without an income. So your job and the idea that you will earn and continue to earn is the most important. So the stock market is not the most important thing, the debt ceiling is not the most important thing. Employment or unemployment that we have now is the most important thing. And that's what you feel good or bad about. (applause)
Stewart: Completely agree. Now, I've watched C-Span and all these things and all of our representatives in Congress, no matter what anybody is talking about, if it's something they don't like, will say, "We shouldn't be talking about that. We should be talking about jobs." And back and forth. They keep saying, "We should really be talking about jobs. Let's talk about jobs."
What can they actually do about jobs, and is that just a cajole they use to shut the other person up. Is there anything they can actually do? It reminds me of what they used to do with terrorism. They say, "We shouldn't be talking about this. We should be talking about terrorism.", if you brought up something they didn't want to talk about.
Velshi: I'd say there are three things here. One is I wish we had treated jobs the way we have treated this debt ceiling, which was a bit of a manufactured crisis. Jobs isn't. So what if we actually got everybody together and said there is some 'deadline' for us to figure out how you create jobs in this country. Can you imagine if the passion and the energy that went into this ridiculous debt ceiling debate had gone into 'how do we actually get jobs created?'.
Number 2, government can't actually 'create' jobs, unless it's a stimulus where they actually hire people to do things. But they can create an environment that makes it easy for companies to hire people. And that might be what the President is talking about, reducing some payroll taxes, just generally accommodating businesses that might hire somebody. Ultimately, you don't hire somebody unless there's demand.
But, number 3, we have a whole lot of people unemployed in this country who are not trained for the things we actually need people to be able to do. So what if we had a way for those unemployed people who are trained in the wrong thing to get retrained, take the time out to do that, maybe it's a year, maybe it's two years, maybe it's longer...
Stewart: Who would retrain them?
Velshi: Well, they could be retrained in the private sector. There are companies, there are colleges that do this, or you go to a college to become a nurse if you were a manufacturing worker...
Stewart: But if you don't have a job, who pays for your...
Velshi: What if the government could guarantee the cost of that transformation?
Stewart: So you're a socialist. (laughter)
Velshi: What if the banks do it? The banks could do it. If I can tell you what it would cost to reinvent yourself, what if you could take that calculation and say, "it's gonna cost me this much money, but I'm gonna make this much more and pay taxes for the rest of my life. So why don't you finance that transformation?"
Stewart: Now, these things, when I hear you speak, you sound rational, this sounds doable, it does not sound ideologically insane. It sounds like a mixture of some suggestions and remedies from different sides of the aisle. What is it about getting something like that done, and you're talking about the public sector, because the private sector, obviously they're free to do whatever they want to do, what is holding this up? What is the obstacle? Is it all self inflicted wounds?
Velshi: I think what we've done is that we are now 25 years into this idea about how government interferes in your life and is 'bad' for your life. And now we've got people who are elected to Congress on the basis that they will be uncompromising in their representation of their own constituents as opposed to going to Congress in order to find compromises that are good for the whole country. And I think we've just gotten to the point where we're so dug in on 'my particular interest', which is likely in many cases, "no new taxes" or "don't raise taxes under any circumstances" that we don't have the ability to compromise and find new suggestions.
Stewart: But isn't what they're saying: "If you just remove taxes and any regulation, suddenly our economy would get back on solid footing and we would once again build railroads that meet between us and..." (laughter)
Velshi: There is some truth to that. There is also some truth to the fact that right now wouldn't be a great time to raise taxes. But the government is there to provide some sort of leadership and guidance around where private sector money can go. And we do need that.
Stewart: Effective governance.
Velshi: Effective governance. And that means trusting your government. Government can't influence anything because nobody trusts government right now.
Stewart: Interesting. That's very interesting, Ali Velshi. You know, if we were to do these things, it's as though we would have a functioning infrastructure and country again.
Velshi: Yep.
Stewart: Very interesting. I will pass your words on.
