State Senate President decided to run for governor and asked me to host a fundraiser for him in miami. On the day of the event he called to ask if he could use help setting up. He sent two young volunteers who interned with him in tallahassee. One of those young men was a 22yearold marco rubio. He immediately struck me as someone who was xreedingly bright, well informed and passionate about issues and policies exuded confidence and maturity rare for someone that age. I remember thinking to myself this young man has a bright future. Years since then, has certainly born that out as marco has established a head spinning streak of first mile stolens improbable electrical triumphs. In 1996 he was chairman in dave county at 27 elected to the west Miami City Commission against the well known opponent twice his age in 1998, at 27 elected to in 2000 elected to Florida House again against better known world front opponent. In 2007 he became youngest speaker of the Florida House on first hispanic to serve in that role. In 2010, starting at 3 in polls he took on most policy politician in the state a sitting governor with a 2370 Approval Rating to win an a open senate seat. He is on select committee and commerce transportation and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and taken lead on middle east policy latin American Issue website education tax and human right and trafficking, and women issues throughout the world. Hes leading o opponent of the establishment Big Government for america an Everyday Americans in their quest for the American Dream however they define it. Thats the Public Record i would like to mention a few thing you may not know. Best selling author it have three books adjunct professor of international university, a devoted husband to his wife jeanette, father of four beautiful children and a loyal friend despite his rise. Im a libertarian republican and i firmly believe that senator rubio offers best combination of charisma fresh ideas energy, electability and ability to unite our party and expand to groups we havent reached in the past. Further positive message and compelling American Dreaming story reminding me of Ronald Reagan and his vision of america as shining city on a hill. I trust him to put us on the path restoring our economic and personal freedommings so without further adieu let fuss welcome my friend, my senator and hopefully our next president marco rubio. Thank you very much. It is fine, good thank you they have two waters for me. Ill need one. Thank you. Ive been speaking about a lot of different issues i wont give you that speech tonight. Part of it but not a lot of it. Ive been asked to talk about the American Dream theme of this conference. And it is something i feel very passionately about because i feel that American Dream lives in my home and a deep part of midlife as it has been yours. Tonight i want to share what the American Dream means to me and challenges are today and why i believe the American Dream will not just survive. But i think it will change the lives of more people than it has ever changed before. Let me start with a story, i was born of two parents who were themselves born in a different place. They werent born in america. They were born on a small island in western caribbean called cuba they were both born to poor families. My father was born to a family that lived in havana and they basically ran a Catering Company that fed the workers with a tobacco factory. My mother was one of eight girls one of them died infancy so my mother one of eight girls raised primarily in a rural cuba by a father disabled by pole owe and mother im not sure was literate or knew how to read. Neither one of them born in the family with any sort of connection or power or money. They were born into a society like most of the societies that have ever existed it. Almost every single place in the world, you are told on the day you were born you will only be allowed to be what your parents were before you. If your parents, rich, if your parents are famous, if your parents are connected youre probably going to be rich and famous and connected. If your parents are not, it doesnt matter how talented you are, how hard you work you will not be able to do anything more than your parents do. So those of us here that is not the life we have known. But let me tell you throughout human history, 6,000 some odd years of recorded history that is the way that everyone that has ever lived has had to live including the man and woman who were my mother and father. I am blessed that in 1956 a they came to the United States, spay spent the year new york and learned quickly cubans are aallergic to snow an they moved to miami. My parents came here, and they came here without the time they got here they barely spoke english. They had no money. No formal education, and they struggled. Life in america was hard. They didnt walk with off a the airplane and hit it big. In fact they were diskowrminged discouraged but they stuck is out and persevered and never became rich or became famous. But my parents were successful. Because they were able working as a bar tender and a maid, my mom did a lot of jobs by the way she was at a factory building aluminum chairs and then a cashier at a hotel in miami beach and then a maid right here in the city at the imperial palace. I lived here six years growing up. Thin she wept back to miami and worked as a stock clerk at k marts and my dad bar tender at banquets in las vegas at sams town working those jobs, heres what my parents achieved they owned a home in a safe and stable neighborhood. They raised four children, and left all four of them with a life better than the one they knew. And they were able to retire with dogty dignity and security. Next time someone tells you American Dream is only about how much money you make or whether you become famous or well known it isnt true. That might be part of your individual dream but American Dream sb achieving happiness and fulfillment as you define it. By the way we call it American Dream but it is really a universal dream. People all overt world have this dream. Theyve had it for a desire not to be better off and earn a better life but start better themselves. Why they call it American Dream is because so many millions of people have been able to achieve it here and not in other places. Thats the real American Dream. Yfsz it possible . I believe it began with a declaration of independence because it has a profound statement. One of the few maybe only founded on spiritual principle. Heres the spiritual principle every human being not every human being born in north america every human being is born with certain rights life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, those rights do not come from your government. They dont come from the king and they dont come from the law they come from your creator. We are going to have a government, but the purpose of that government is to protect those rights not to decide them or to grant them. And the only power were going to give the government is the power they need to protect those rights. Those are words that weve grown numb to because weve known it our whole life that was the reason that Everything Else that i described to you was possible. Because from that flowed Political Freedoms absolutely. But from that also deployed economic freedoms and liberty. For example, the system of Free Enterprise. I love the Free Enterprise if you look at the son of a immigrant, bar tender, maid never lived in a mansion didnt inherit any money. You put that information into a political computer is sits out left wing liberal. But you know why im not [laughter] ill tell you why im not because Free Enterprise and limited government is the only governing model in the history of the world for what my parents did would be possible. It is the only economic model in the history of the world where you can be more successful without making someone else more soft. It is the only economic model in the history of the world where i can climb without me having to knock you down. It is the only one that say it is that your economy is not as zero some game. My parents somehow understood that. I dont know exactly how and from academic perspective but they understood it from instinctive perspective. My father used to remind us that the reason he had a job was because someone who had access to money decided to reask that money to open them the hotel he worked in and people of this country had enough money and not enough sense to come to las vegas to gamble it away after they had lost it all drink at the bar. And thats why it was possible. Is American Dream dead today . It is alive. Rod rue to American Dream has gotten narrower, why . Because the world is changed. And quite frankly our goth policy not only change but made it harder than ever. It is gotten narrower because theres two major changes happening at the same time. First is the economy is becoming a global one. So think back to the 1960s or 1970s, after world of communist, many of the other countries that were developed and not miewnist still recovering from world war ii and then there was america. We had limited competition. It was not a good idea to raise taxes, but you could get away with it with a certain degree. It was the terrible idea to increase regulations. But you could get away it to a certain degree because we didnt have as much competition that is not the case anymore. There are now dozens of countries around the world who are in some way shape or form trying to copy some of the things we did in the 20th century and the world is competitive we now complete with people half way around the world for the best ideas best talent, best innovation, best jobs, best companies. The second change is technology. Technology is changed erchg and certainly changed the way we live. Ten years ago i told you thaiftion going to google you you would be offended. [laughter] if i told you i was going to tweet something you would say that was too much information. And a that change the way jobs work. My dads an my mom made it to the middle class and beyond as a bar tender and maid in the 21st century those wire more talent education, skill than they used to. But were hurting people there too. Because the only way you can acquire skill or education is to go through existing and stagnant cartel we call traditional Higher Education. [applause] so if we want to save the American Dream we must confront two things one we need Government Policies that make it globally competitive again two we must allow innovation and competition to open the door for more people than ever to access the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. Only the first part of the becoming globally competitive theres no shortage of places to point to. Our tax code is burdensome complicated and expensive highest combined tax rate in the world. An oftentimes pay much more on a percentage than the small Larger Companies with armies of accountant who is figure out loophole and sometimes pay nothing. So tax reform is a critical part that is simplification and making it globally competitive and cheaper tax koatd that basically at the core says more people you hire the more you pay them, less youll owe the irs or owe the government. The second is regulation, and this is one i love. Regulations is often sold to us as a way to hep people who were trying to make it. The opposite is true. Regulations actually are often used by established industries to keep a new Competitive Industry from entering space. [applause] i teach a florida course at International Florida university. My students as young imagine are young and so they often lean left or they think they do. They were complaining that they couldnt use uber in miami. I foundationed. I said you know why you cant use uber because an established city called taxi cab and owners of those have used their influence on county commission to ensure that no one can compete against them for pay. And their eyes lit up and said that sounds wrong to me. I said welcome to the conservative movement. [applause] the truth is that if you bury a industry with a bunch of regulations Big Companies are able to comply with them. They may hate it but hire a thousand lawyers and best lobbyists in washington to figure it out. You know who cant do it . The person trying to start a business out of a Spare Bedroom of their home because not only are they in violation of zoning code they cannot hire a thousand lawyers to help them navigate it. And so Regulatory Reform is not just an ideological talking point but being competitive and especially important when we try to regulate centuries with 19th century ideas. Thats where you get people trying to regulate the internet like if it was ni and get people try to do things that we have happening now with technology. That is how you wind up with broadband controlled by the government. Basically only a large percentage of the broadband capability in this Country Wireless spectrum. Hay of the 21st century is ogeed by the federal government. For reasons they cannot clearly articulate. When i say we need it for what we dont know but maybe ten years for something. If you do, you can rent it back from a private sector. [applause] becoming global is other things we need to do fully utilize energy resources. Balance our budget but i want to get to second point because i dont want to run out of time but acquire 21st century skills why is this happening . Heres why it is nots happening because in america if youre in high school today youre pounded into your head the following sentence, the only way to succeed is to go to a fouryear university and get a degree, period. Those are second sentence that says, by the way that is true even if you have to borrow money to pay for it, period. The result is that in America TodayHigher Education is controlled by a cartel. The cartel is called traditional accreditation. And heres what that means. The only people who can give the america is accredited college who is accredits them, themselves . So in no one else can to it. Because theres no competition students sign up for these courses and they graduate and say legits take out a loan and pay for this and no one bothers to tell them that they have been tight for 2,000 years. And so so they graduate with 50,000 in Student Loans and then cant pay it back so you have to pay it back and everyone else is worse off. Meanwhile we have a shortage of airplane mechanics we dont teach that anymore because our schools tell young people thats for the dumb kids. And yet wenl those jobs not only not for the dumb kids. Theyre for the smart kids, hardworking kisdz and the people who quite frankly want to get paid to work. Yet we dont teach people to do that in america. Then we have single mothers that work for 11 an hour as a receptionist at a law firm and only way shes ever going to get a raise is to become a paralegal or dental hygienist but she has to go back to school but she cant because she has to raise a family and work fulltime. And the only place to go to school a brickandmortar building to sit there four years to be lectured to pay a lot of money and then she can graduate and have her degree. Meanwhile the internet is full of learning thats free. Massive online course work. She gets no credit for what she already knows. Things you learn during Life Experience and Work Experience you get zero credit for that. You can serve four years in middle east they make you attack a course from a professor that has never been there. On middle east affairs what have we opened Higher Education to competition and had alternative system to give you credit for what you know. If you know it, you get credit for it. And then whatever youre missing you can package it from variety of different sources, online courses paid onlionel courses paid internship. Unpaid internship, Work Experience five classes at that college two classes at that one packaged learning what matters is what you know not what where you learned it and competition and innovation for more people to allow them to achieve their version of the American Dream. Thats another sentence so [applause] this is by no means a comprehensive agenda we can talk for a long time about all of of the other things we need to deal with that we need to confront. But if i believe that this despite all of the challenges that we face as a country with i want you to ask yourself this question. What country would you trade places with . What nation do you look at a and say to yours i we are i was them . I dont know of one. There are things about ore countries you wish you have frances wine. [laughter] you name it. But there isnt any country in the world i would trade places with. The truth is were still a great country because were a great people. Our government is not our country. People miss that point. We have a government, but the government is not the country. America is not a country, and it is not a president. America is a people. Were still a great country with people that have big ideas big dreams, big hopes and willing to work for it. The problem is we can be even great earl. The problem is that 21st century is tailor made for what this country was founded on if ever theres been an era in human herself. Tailor made for a people it is the 21st century. What is standing in the way are outdating leaders that refuse to let go of the past and what i mean by fast this is Big Government has never been a good idea. It has always been a bad idea in the 21st century it is a disastrous idea. And as a disastrous idea for the following reasons, there are now hundreds of millions of people on the planet that can afford to buy the thingings we sell. The products we offer services we provide. And yet why do they get there . Because the soviet union won and commune pism gruesome no, did they get there because socialism spread no no because Free Enterprise spread not in the perfect form but every inch spread to l millions of dollar in prosperity and people wormed is going in our direction. Why would we go in theirs . That is the choice we have ill close with telling why im passionate about america this country owes me nothing. America owes me absolutely nothing. I have a debt to america i will never repay. This is not just a country i grew up in but a nation that literally changed the history of my family. When my father was nine years old, his mother died, and he had to stop going to school and go to work. He would never go to school but work for the next 70 years of his life. When he was a young man he had big dreams all young people do. His dreams became impossible. So he made it the purpose of his life to ensure that all aft things that couldnt happen for him would happen us. So he worked on nights, on weekends on holiday into the 70s he worked as a banquet brerngd he warninged behind one of the portable bars in a back of room just like this. So one day inked i could have a chance to stand in the front of the room like i do tonight. The journey from behind that tbar to behind this podium, thats the American Dream. Not just my story but in this country were all but a generation removed from someone who did that for us. Whether we remain a special country or not will determine whether that is possible for those trying to make that journey now. I believe with all of my heart not only can that journey still be possible. It can be possible for more people than it has before if we embrace the 21st century if we do we will leave our children as the freest most prosperous americans that have ever lived and thisst century will be with the last one well, an american century. Thank you and god bless you. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] thank you. A great group thank you. Every weekend booktv offers programming focused on nonfiction authors and books. Keep watching for more here on cspan 2 and watch any ow past programs online at booktv. Org. For the first 45, 46, 47 years of this mans life of record of jacksons career suggest that talented man thrashing about in the dark trying to locate a ladder that no man of his background had ever climbed. His speech made an impression in tennessee, first congressman but he left his seat served briefly in the senate but quit that too. Became a justice on the tennessee supreme court. One election in 1802 major command to the militia but couldnt find any wars to fight for years. He was very disappointed by this. He tried to start wars, didnt succeed like many a westerner he speculated in land, he bought and sold the rights to tens of thousands of acres including land alongside the Mississippi River that eventually became memphis. It was common for speculators to buy rights to indian land in the west and then press their politicians to clairetive indians pressure jackson as a politician himself was well connected to apply but he made mistake eve dealing with men more dreamy eyes than he was and when one unraveled jack sob struggled to avoid bankruptcy and risk of debtors prison. All of that it was before the war of 1812 when his military and diplomatic triumphs opened new horizons for a man with a real estate background and business connections. During the war he was a general in command of an a army. When it was over, he applied as Relentless Energy to the conquest of ache rage and that is the heart it have story of jackson land. It is about the land it begins in the war of 1812 continues from more than 20 years after. And we trace jacksons efforts as a general. And then as president of the United States. To clear native american nations from the eastern half of what we now think of as the United States. From east of the mississippi. Primarily five powerful nations in the south one of whom was the Cherokee Nation on several surrounding states. Now when you buy this book, i know youre all going to buy this book, right . Youll see a number of maps which i will want you to keep in your head. Because in the early 19th century, the land at issue quite a few future american states could be represented on two mutually incompatible maps. Mutually exclusive maps. There was a white mans map and an indian map. The white mans map somewhat resembled map of the United States today. You had all of these states and territories many eve them distinguished by Straight Lines drawn rights across the map and then a map of indian nation. Much of the same land usually by top of other rings or landmarks it was the same land twice. And the federal government in washington for many decades recognized both, recognized both maps. Ed it fits reasons to embrace ambiguity. The legal reality was the indian map. There was a United States, there was land, there was recognized that belonged to the United States long the koation and indian nations that is before arrival of european settlers. The ambition was the white mans map. The map of the United States and the heart of this story is how that conflict over the course of more than 20 years was resolved and in my mind titanic struggled between two heroic but flawed human beings who were at the center of it all again and again and again. You can watch this and other programs online, at booktv. Org. On sunday, august 2nd booktv is live with media benjamin cofounder of the Political Advocacy Group code pink on indepth, a live monthly callin show shes the author or editor of nine books including her most recent. And investigation into the use of drones for military purpose. Drone warfare other titles include the greening of the revolution which examines cuba use of organic agriculture and stop the next war now on how to create political change through activism. Her other books cover topics such as how to aid People Living in the third world profile of Inspiring Women and further examination of cuba. Benjamin live on booktv sunday august 2nd in indepth and you can participate by sending questions to Medea Benjamin on booktv at twitter at booktv, or call in. Next a program from busboys and poets in washington d. C. Jessica jagli cofounder of kiva talks about impact entrepreneurs living in poorest countries have in their communities. Happy to be here today to host jessica as we celebrate clay water brick fighting inspiration from entrepreneur who is do the most with the least in the love thely inspiring book jetion jessica draw on first person to person website but what it helped. Holds mba from stamford and words of hope and among other interviews and press. I dont to say much so ladies and gentlemen please help me welcome jessica. [applause] good evening everyone. Good evening. Thank you so much for that very kind introduction. Really happy to be here. As a you can tell, i have an amazing support team. Which includes three tiny people under the age of three. It is a wonder that this book ever got written in the last three years. [laughter] but i told them i would tell them thank you to cyrus and jasper, do you want to wave. Do you want to wave and asa too little to wave and a my mom an so many of you my friends and distant family all thank you for coming tonight. So i was told that over the next 30 or so minutes that should do a reading and speak for 25 of those. I would like to make that a little mother brief to have more of a conversation if theres an a interest there and we can have some questions. But i would like to tell you and im going to go light on reading tonight heavy on just the story telling. I would like to tell you about entrepreneurs that bookend that i have written here. One is named patrick and one is named fatuma. Patrick is for whom this book is named indirectly. Clay water brick. Points to a story of patrick this entrepreneur that i met in uganda about a decade ago and he told me his story as follows, he explained how he fled the Northern Area of the country because of rebel group that attacked his village. Taken most of his family, be careful with my language for little ones, and a he had basically fled with nothing and he settled in a village in uganda with his brother unschooled orphan, homeless he didnt have much of anything. He had distant cousins that he found there and we they wanted to be close to family and patrick had to figure out what to do to support him and his brother. Sadly this kind of situation isnt all that rare around the world to have to wake up every day and figure out how to feed yourself and your loved ones. Patrick told me years before i had been there speaking with him, back in 2004. He had decided one day as he woke up watching the sun rise leaning his back against this mud structure where he and his brother slept he had a moment, one of these wonderful epiphany both of inspiration as he rested his hand next to him on the earth he realized there was a opportunity beneath the ground where he was sitting and he started to dig first with his hands and then a stick and metal thing nearby, and he realized as he dug he learned and railingsed that some of the dirt was a little bit more clay. There was clay deposit. That if he mixes that with water it can be shaped so decided to shape this earth into bricks and he did that. First brick was shapened and crumbled and a he practiced and refined what he was doing and he was a toibl make bricks that were good enough to sell. Granted only for fraction of a fenny each but it was enough to be something. And he did that again and again day after day and got better and better at that. Saved his money and over time able to buy a brick mold. Often when i telepath tricks story i can show a picture of the mold very is similar to what he got imagine like a rectangle with a line down the middle so doubled his production because he could make two at a time basic mud bricks. But the bricks were better than once he had made by hand because they smoother and these sold for a little bit more. He did that saved up. And then he was able to afford a bicycle taxi to a nearby village to apprentice with a brick maker there who bakes his bricks and selfcontained kiln it was free, easy and that was fine. But bricks didnt end up being as strong as they could have been having he been baking them in a kiln so he learned how to do that. Saved back up money. Bought matches starting baking bricks those sold for a little bit more. So by the time it met patrick not only taken other steps like buying a shovel and a replacing a lot of home made but employed his brother. [laughter] several others so other neighbors, and had a thriving business and he showed me how old mud hat where he had it was replaced by a new home with mud bricks that he pulled from the earth with two hands. I get goose bumpy when i say that. So if thats not an entrepreneur not sure what is. Thing of patricks story that is special and it is unique, but it is not rare. There are entrepreneurs over the world and i believe theyre entrepreneurs. I think some people would warn not to confuse one with a real entrepreneur, and i think people like patrick all a of the noise faults away and you get to see really clearly what the entrepreneurial spirit is all about. Now person at the end of the book is a sob forget warning and when i met her i was shocked. I met her 200 oh 1800 miles due southish of where patrick lives she lived a little outside of the dome of tanzania when i met her and asked her how her business was beginning and what she was doing. By the way i should back up there i was there first of many visits but there with village enterprise that provided to start and grow their businesses so two of the recipient of that funding. I was there to sort of do an Impact Survey see how money had been used. Try to understand what kind of benefits that had provided to individuals if any. I had this wonderful excuse to spend my day interviews patrick and so many others, if i got an excuse to ask them questions about their life and what was going on with their wellness. Their standard of living. So patuma showed me proudly written records that she kept in blue book remember those . I have my middle in all of a those. Somehow she had all of these. Kept a little note about her business quite detail records actually. I realized this is phenomenal. This is a real rags to riches sort of stoirl. And so i looked through records and i questioned and tin deed those numbers were accurate she explained how her charcoal business has been thriving over last few years and how everything had really started to change because of this 100 dollar that she had been given. As i looked around her home which was again a mud structure, very only twofolding chairs a small table and mattress in the corners was very confused anybody who had had that kind of drastic increase in profit to have a much more sustainable livelihood i would have thought at that point and time after gad seen businesses that their life would look a lot different. She was stressed and a tattered clothing lost teeth. Gaunt and told me that she wasnt eating very well, and sickness was frequent a frequent occurrence in her family. So i asked her where where are the profits from your business. What have you done your business so doing really well why not invested in the basic things that are food and mous mosquito nets priorities for individuals that yatd met. She was a character. Well she kind of smiled and looked around the like other people were listening in. She went and patted the ground where she slept she said it is all here in the world bank and cracked up. She buried money in the earth and floor. It was a great joke actually. But thats what thats where she had stopped her journey had stopped it. So it is a lot more to tell about those stories and many other entrepreneurs but thing is, for years i asked the question myself, whats the difference. What makes patrick different . They both entrepreneurs they both have that spirit that i so long to nurture in other people. Thing is i think the entrepreneurial spirit is not just about executing on steps to build a great business. I think it is about something more. I think it is about constantly seeing new opportunities not just out there in the world to, you know, create a great business but within ourselves to want more. I think some point along the way she got quite far. But she stopped dreaming. And she stopped seeing ways that the world could be different. The way that her world could be better. Now look i would never want to create some sorts of, you know consumer crazy sort of person, i wouldnt want her to suddenly have desire and wants more than she could have in her life. I just thought there could be so much more for her and i saw her stop short. She stopped imagining a different future for herself. So as ive thought about entrepreneurship over last decade and lernled from my own journey i have come to this place a lot of discussing in the book. First entrepreneur and a last entrepreneur that i happen to have in here and throughout i talk about journey of other os. What i have come down to i love an existing definition of entrepreneurship from Harvard BusinessSchool Professor and stanford graduate i try not to quote however he said that entrepreneurship is about the pursuit of opportunities without regard to resources currently controlled. It is such a romantic definition about the pursuit. This Movement Forward taking steps ever day taking action not what we have. Now not what we possess but moves forward despite level of education or pedigree and cash that you have. You know, stashed away somewhere maybe buried in the earth. [laughter] it is about deciding to have value and look for ways to better the world. I did want to i thought about that. Written hopefully well about that, and in a way that can inspire anybody whether or not they see thelses themselves to think about how they work and live to look for entrepreneurial opportunities and to be able to cease them and take steps forward and to be confident that they can do so regardless of the excuses and a the ways that we can still feel stuck every day. So this can be a book that gets people unstuck. Part that i thought that i wanted to read because a handful from Development Work and it is a whole other book probably someday. But it is full of really awkward moments. I thought entrepreneurial stories stories are representative of other it is here. But heres one other piece that i think is just something that ive had to come to terms with to reconcile as a white palace girl woman from pennsylvania. Ive gotten questions over years about why did i go to africa and why havent i done other things right here in the United States . I can talk about that too. But ill treat you this piece and then tell you one more thing about the organization and entrepreneur and organization inspired, so this is a section right at the end called cutout. I flew to miami for a semiannual meeting of my involvement with large Microfinance Organization hosting gathering mandated. Four Seasons Hotel where gathering was held a blast of airconditioning made the my in shivers i clinched my jaw as they walked in with with me. I followed sign with gloved hands, icons pointing way to our meetings and meandered through whyd hall waist and laughter got louder as i pulled my carryon luggage behind me in the plush carpet. I chuckled to myself inside the luggage were closed for miami weather but now i wish i had brought long a hat and airconditioning knowing knowing that i had to sit inside a frigid conferenceless room. I was in a decorated ballroom. Many in pastel color polo shirts with women in sun dresses that could have come from a commercial. Those were tan or pink skin from long days of afternoon siting by the pool all held ice cold cocktails these are familiar face to me. Some fellow Board Members some staff of the organization and just High Net Worth individuals that supported organizations work. All crucial contributions as i scan the room they were respond for funding majority of the rooms operating expenses. I was the anomaly a contributor of time younger, less experience by decades quite uncomfortable and unused to chic Hotel Ballroom but addition to bringing books together for these board meetings they were crafted to tell a story to attendees one of need and opportunity that would culminate in a series of invitation to the people in this room to become hero of this story by giving generously. Despite my genuine love i was tired, cold and thirsty so i made a b line for the open bar. I decided to leap and turn to face the group looking at the crowd of Friendly Faces what caught my eye was dark skinned face that stared at me from other sides was ballroom. In fact as i looked they were stationed evenly. All of them seened turned in any direction why eyes that stared right into mine and thick smiles that remain in place not without effort. I blinked not sure what iftion seeing. I stood on tiptoe and crane my neck to look at a strange we are whom a handful posing for a photo. As i did his face reflected a flash of light from the photographers camera and i understood and sighed and gulped my wine and they were entrepreneurs each one representing different country served by microfinance institution. In each representing different business afnght. [laughter] cardboard people stood among a cutout from a woman from east Africa Holding chicken on a rustic table next to her someone plailsed a brown basket with a carton of plastic eggs along a stuffed rooster. One younger dark skinned woman held a grain in her hand and stood among potted plants. They were heavy sacks of rice from a local grocery store. Another cutout midlaugh holding tomato and onion was behind wooden crates with fruit and vegetables. A middle aged man from somewhere in south america barefoot ledged against one of the walls near half dozen light switches with a chandelier above. Mercifully he had no props. I turned my gaze away and walked walk into the crowd to talk to people around me all of them there to serve the entrepreneurs. And a long time since i learned about poverty in sunday school class 20 some years earlier. Stories about People Living in poverty and thinking that motivates those. Havent that i changed much. I tried to filter good from the bad. Factual from manipulative but once in a while these stories get me like when im surrounded by cardboard cutout when they were doing the opposite. I feel pain for confusion and anxiety that i did back then. When i was a little kid who was told that poverty can never be fixed, it would always be with us. Once in a while i do feel overwhelmed and that great risk between people that i want to serve in myself seem bad no matter what i do. Theres moarmts where magnitude People Living on this planet feels crushing. But i have learned how to fight back. Never to turn away from issues that scare me. I have learned not to issues and to get answer it is for myself firsthand and i know now it is always worth getting closer to people that i want to understand so i can hear their truth from them directly. I know not to wait for permission to explore or to learn to do things that im passionate about. Ive learned it is always worth it to keep trying. And most importantly ive become absolutely convinced that real positive change is possible. Ive become poverty is not having to win in the end and anyone who wants to participate in making the world better can. Even the motion unsolved individual can have dreams and improve lives of thousands of people. I know that without a doubt that this is true. Despite everything we think still serve each other in ways that have a permanent lasting effect. The stories that i heard like patrick inspired me and my cofounder matt to create kiva and ten years ago when we decided to do this the motivation really was to tell a different story about poverty and to focus instead of the sadness and suffering instead of on that on the strength and empowerment and selfrailings that individual were striving for. Not to just tell that story but to provide a new way to respond not just throw change in the jar be thanked and then go on with rest much their life but to have a lasting connection to be changed that has story unfolded to be equal partner perhaps through alone. So kiva started doing ten years and continues to do today is provide a way for people to contradict 25 dollars or more on a website. To a specific entrepreneur. Joseph from uganda future from cambodia a chicken farmer from ghana specific individuals that need two three 400 sometimes a bit more, and over time that loan of 25 50 an aggregate handful of other people gets paid. Those are 99 at this point and they have been over last decade. And it is a lovely experience for people and that zero percent has made it difficult to find cheaper more frngdly source of debt cap call difficult to take the risk. They take on currency risk so you can have 25 dollars at a time going out to reach the long tail of institutions serving individuals and very unreached places. Fun to watch. Over the last ten years kiva about to hit 750 Million Dollars in more countries than u. N. Recognizes which is always kind of fun. In terms of lenders and borrowers. And it is in the 25 dollar bets and most important part of that statistic is that all of that capital has people behind it. People who have made i hope a different kind of connection. With the person lifing on other side of the planet somebody to have a different impression of and maybe wouldnt have the chance to know in the same way and to believe in the same way. So thats a little bit of a glimpse into the last ten years of my life. I started other ventures very grateful for all of the experiences i had. Kiva im getting to connect with entrepreneur to be the most life changing thing ive experienced in my work and i hope this book can share those experiences with people. And convince everybody especially the people in the room, people reading this book that theres Great Potential always great opportunity sometimes even in the ground beneath our feet always in ourself ourselves. Thank you. [applause] microphone here so everyone can hear questions and cspan can record it so we can start to raise your hands. Ill come to you and you can ask your question. Well, a question, when i turned 60, my husband gave me the 300 Gift Certificate to kiva. [applause] thats awesome. Because our daughter who traveled, you know, in out of country made us aware of it. So yeah at first i take all of the you know because i have a special how did you choose . Because i picked everybody in bolivia. Wonderful so that was you. [laughter] the women, and then later on as i got repaid then i startedded branching out, and i started to lend to men and and god forbid. All i know is being great so when his birthday came he got a kiva. Fantastic. Great. Makeses my day, thank you for sharing that. [laughter] thank you. Thank you, i really appreciate that. I was curious how you or the people the people who will be the recipients of the [inaudible] great question. So classic kiva the way it continued for many years is still a main piece of how it operates today is as follows. Legenders, kiva and staff and all over the world at this Point Partners institutions old partners many of which are traditional microfinance institutions but theres all sorts of differents organizations now institutions that are providing loan to individuals again traditionally for business creation but other thingings too now that sort of all entrepreneurial opportunities but focus on clean energy, et cetera. More folks have loans yet but you know this stuff. So field partners exist you know before kiva arrived theyre out there. 10,000 so many them depending on how you slice it. Theyre out there providing loans, collecting repayments, trouble shooting helping people handling if they need help an cant repay on time figuring what to do in seminar joe providing ton of education because ones that kiva prioritizes and focussings on women for vulnerable groups and as a rule neral areas or providing just a mission focused sort of strategy. So 200 of so of those working with experts on the ground. So now thats part one. I will say this too because it is fun to think about where things are going it is pioneered over last few years so it has been a great way for the organization to have make bold bets and conduct really i think cutting edge experiments about making the whole supply chain there right lenders, kiva for making it a lighter, tighter and more dynamic more noble. Ears are tuned to that little person. So just for example Partner Institution that skilled partners replace with a trustee a person adopted to reputation and 1350er789s with mobile money transferal and all sorts of great stuff. So anyway classic kiva, and other zip and perhaps i think where banking will be going more, quality control, did that answer it . Thank you for your presentation which is very exciting. I was thinking something that is missing of the presentation this is the fact that kiva itself is entrepreneurship [inaudible] sorry speak more into the mic. [inaudible] do you put together the technology . So i think that this should be part of your presentation. I appreciate that. Well, so i say a poetry undergrad is like my favorite thing. I never studied business a whole apartment of my story i was a hate earl. I thought business is bad. About making money. I want to help people that seals to giving money away. And a so i felt accidental entrepreneur one aspect and then i hope that that stories show instead of tell. But i guess theyre my hero what im trying to be. I can cover my son while talking to you which i feel great about. [inaudible] sorry. I have a question for you. If i understand your model youre using technology to crowd fund something that kind of exists. Mgos are in place on the ground, so what percentage of my 100 dollar donation is going to go to keep kiva alive and mgo so the way it works is mgo dont get anything so it is a tricky so not trying to give a treky answer when you lend you have your 50 again to the ship in cambodia it goes to the seem stress as she repays, she will repay with interest if it is not kiva. But she was full of interest and appropriate and set by that skilled partner. It doesnt work with skilled partners that we feel are abusive or charge incredibly high amount a of interest but it can be 25, 30 in the sector. Thats because it requires a top of work often to reach borrowers to serve them well and they make ends meet. They need other subsidized sellers to do that. So seem stress repairs a little bit of interest maybe 25, 30 maybe lower. And that passes principle back through kiva back to hands of brrers so they ask at the point of purchase when youre to be say yes take my money and lend it. I probably will get it back. We say, would you like to also donate to uproots expenses to help kiva cover cost. Often people do and theres two 3 million going through the site every week. So even to get a tiny percentage on top of that is huge and can make a big didnt dent. For the record as we talk business, nonprofit there can be good happening in all sector you know that now. It is noneny because sustainability it is working for profitability in social sector, and moments in the past i believe l it will be more nonprofit. It is a difference. When youre deeming with more money it is a pretty good job at being smart about that. Answer your question . Yeah. The people causing Climate Change but im wondering, im hoping you can give me some kind of fuel to fight back on that argument because i personally dont think that capitalism necessarily has to stop to combat Climate Change but i think there are definitely better practices and it sounds like a something that fosters that. I think the good news is we are thinking tell me if im wrong, the traditional strictly forprofit structures in the world not social enterprises not hybrid organizations and to now i think the big problem with structures you are legally required to make decisions to maximize benefit to shareholders all else being equal is this vendor even though it costs a dollar more to get their product or whatever it will make a less damaging impact on the environment. Known only either the hybrid structures cropping up but forcing people to ask and answer questions including their Environmental Impact i think in general its not going to be a different hitting factor in the future. All organizations are what you have to be accountable. Whether they want to call themselves get ahead of the game and call it now and say when he did think about our social impact and get ahead of this and try to make it a positive thing and prioritize that organizations are going to have to ask and answer those questions so what that says to me is somewhere along the way we will have to ask and answer questions about what is enough which i feel is the real problem if you want to be down on capitalism, thats the real problem the endlessness that we want more and more and more. Because organizations will have to like i said i dont want to repeat myself too much but will have to be very transparent about their impact good, bad ugly and everything hopefully start to improve those latter two there will be more good outcomes because everyone will have to compete in this way. I have a friend who is socially impacting investing in the one i talked to two weeks ago said yeah its not even a thing. Everyone now you can avoid this stuff. Its not unique anymore to have a socially positive lens on how you are investing in looking at companies so i hope that the world is moving in that direction and companies are going to have to get theyre going to have to really step it up in terms of prioritizing and again being open about the kind of effect they are having so hopefully. Hi. First i want to thank you for creating this organization. Way back in college all the time when we were doing impact work its like a kiva and the big names that have a marketer to and my question is a talked about that entrepreneurship that ability to have more opportunity and inevitably you will have setbacks and years ago i had a lot of idealism before and countered more the real world and you get a little bit disenchanted i think. So i wondered if you had an example from your years of experience has something that was a little bit of a setback and how you overcame that and how that would drive you . Yeah, so here is fall on the biggest one i think that i have experienced. There came a point where i felt like a kiva started to really happen and work in the world started to Pay Attention with this side project we were doing on nights and weekends. It started to take off. I really just fell to my heart that oh my goodness this is what i was born to do. Im doing this forever and a the point at which years later i actually left cuba as a fulltime staff person to do Something Else and its all in the book but leaving with a really difficult transition for me and a scary one because again i had retroactively looked back and said to myself i guess im and entrepreneurs. I guess this was happening. It was an attempt to solve the specific set of problems in the world but it turned in something bigger and it became bigger than my wildest dream so realizing because i was in a moment that was a difficult personal and professional moment for me. A student who at that time would have wanted and it turned out to be the best thing in the world for me to consider force me to have a bigger perspective and to not just have my identity and tied up in this one thing and this is who i am and this is what everything in my life has culminated too. I to say oh look entrepreneurs figure out what to do next when that moment comes and it really force me to recalibrate. In fact in true form i took nine months and traveled around the world and saw Different Countries and wrote case studies on Women Entrepreneurs for stanford Business School because i that was when i needed to recalibrate them or my myself what that spirit was. I needed to be immersed in it and it allowed me to see myself not just as this person who did kiva and starting to make it work but as an entrepreneur more generally and even better to put my work in its place and as is evidenced by several guests here tonight. To have a the life that for me included other things that provide me with so much meaning and fill other spaces in my identity. I feel like work is now in its place in the right way and in a healthy way. No one tells you are a workaholic when youre saving the world. People are like intervention and if you are working on something that helps people usually only get positive brazen it could be very strange. This is a whole other topic at the social sectors the key because the currency is the people getting paid are not straightforward invisible. Its about control and power and feeling your ideas are respected and having influence. So anyway theres a lot to unpack their i thank and its easy to get then and have it work even when its your dream job. Even when beyond your wildest dreams things are going beautifully. Its easy to have the wrong things take over your identity so i feel like today i am raring to go. I have lots of ideas. Ive definitely been in the mama case lately which is great but work is still just work and theres a lot more to me the end what i want to be and do in the world. Helpful . You are setting up with whatever they need. Who has to set up and how do you sign your own . Friends and family and customers too. That lady was my mom sandra and the rest of the family, jim and linda there are a lot of people in this room but the first private loan was seven entrepreneurs that needed a total of dollars and we said we think this is legal and will you do the social experiment with us and see what happens . Basically overnight that money came in and there were seven on seven hours. Indeed the money came back and we were repaid everyone was repaid them i got to have more rounds of loans but in the very beginning we have relied on people that loved us and wanted to see us get a shot at our dream and i think a lot of people now today have that same spirit. Its a beautiful link. The Second Company i started which had its own lifespan and i shut it down when the twins were 3monthold was an early crowd vending program and we were calling it crowd vending. At the beginning of kiva worried for calling up that thats exactly what it was but a Second Company provided Community Funding because a lot of entrepreneur stories and we have heard them over the years really begin when those closest to them take a risk invest in that person and give them their first shot at getting going. You know thats like usually for mom or dad. I have a question for you. Hi, thank you. I am curious about how your experience as a social entrepreneur and your exposure to these entrepreneurs has shaped your thinking as a parent of your children. How does that help you . Thats a great question. Congratulations. First of all i feel incredibly lucky because i didnt realize how much flexibility and autonomy i would have. If you throw me the muslin. Im experimenting with integrating work and family so with twins i couldnt in public so to be topless on the couch for six months you know thats in terms of how i think about this is a great question. Hold on one sec. Thank you for your patience. [inaudible conversations] so in terms of how my entrepreneurial friends affected by parenting. One night flexibility and autonomy that every day im grateful for because its not i dont like when people say you are your own boss that you are always serving someone. Use a little bit more control when you are deciding your own ventures but i guess i feel i just have such an every day my believe is that so much is possible always it really affects how i treat my kids and how i see them. I think i really want them to know that their dreams are just cute things to talk about but its really possible for all of us whatever gifts are and whatever you want to do in the world to go out and make those things happen. Whatever you are choosing to do they dont want to i think they are going to need to work entrepreneurially more and more to get those things done. I know. Sorry, its a little hard to see. Hold on. Okay, cool. Sorry. I think hes really tired. Anyone else have any questions . I have a lot more but thats a start. [inaudible conversations] go right ahead. What is your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own businesses whether from the field or otherwise . For women and . E. I would say be clear about what you really want and dont be afraid to write your own rules. Be clear about i mentioned kurianzi. Current is a combination of things you want to pay. I indicated flexibility and autonomy and i feel like the work i do over days inspiring. Its more rewarding than i ever expected it to be clear about what you want to get out of bed will help you find the right boundaries and priorities and not end up one day saying wow what i given up to get here or who have i become to build the thing that i thought i wanted . Thats one thing and i think also find other women who can be your support system in all different seasons of life. I think mentorship is definitely the thing these days. I think im still into it too but a lot of women i meet are so into the endall beall solution. If you just have a mentor all the doors will fly right open. And the reality is much more for me having peers is as valuable and i guess its because there are mentors that tell you are great when you need to. Help you see things realistically and give you a reality check. We are going to do a new plan here. One more pause. Im almost done with this answer but if you find a think there are mentors that encourage you and are more about helping you grow personally like understanding or strengthen a weak as his. There are also mentors that open doors for you and championing you as you move on up in your organization. I havent had those myself of what i found is instead that peers who are entrepreneurial going through the different phases of their own ventures and thats helping me figure out what i need to figure out along the way and feel supported more than anything else. I have a few formal groups one in l. A. And one based in new york that there are folks from all over and the latter one is called the lift. Rachels bar started this. She is one of my heroes and mentors and the women in that group are there to help each other out. So i think you can create your own not just friendships. You can have coffee with a handful of people that will inspire you but also take it upon yourself to form a group of 20 to 50 people that you know casually and say i want to help each other out in our work over the next decade. The way this is used is to have a commercial called the list. People all the time will put out there hey ibook is coming out and will you help me spread the word or im raising funds for my venture could you look at my pitch and give me feedback. Real things that help people. So there you go. Thank you very much for sharing your experience. Its really interesting and tying in with what you said is there any setup or mentoring for some of the keep entrepreneurs . Or what im so sorry . From entering baby from past kiva entrepreneurs . Thats a really good question. I will step back a little bit. A lot of microlending is done in groups and the Organization Called sink a. There are a handful of grandfather or his patients and way back in the day 30 plus years ago they started a practice called village banking. In village banking people are grouped together because there is no collateral to be had to size the social collateral so if we need a loan at some point we will be grouped together and if i do repay you are on a for me and vice versa. I think theres a lot of peertopeer learning that way in the group that i think there are folks that work with these in situations that do relationships. Kiva doesnt structure in a mentorship like that. The organization has had conferences and gatherings of some of those field partners to help them share best practices and especially working with kiva figuring out how to use technology and make the work. I know thats a helpful organization. I often get asked people get so excited which i love problem they get so excited about them to bring doors and they want to mentor them themselves or somehow connect with them and forever for whatever its worth we can learn something from everyone and we all have something to offer and thats a beautiful thing. Often you will see a person that does not have expertise or skills in that particular area that might be relevant and just want to connect. I think thats one thats put in the right framework. I think its wonderful rotter burners and lenders to connect that i think it will happen more and more and it will be dry to more mobile but mentorship is a different story and it happens best when its happening locally with people surrounding that entrepreneurs. These are great questions. Very nice round of applause. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much and i will be here to sign books. I think its day two i think thats what happens next. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] booktv recently visited capitol hill to ask marzo congress with their reading this summer. Deadweight, eric larson. I have read all of his books. This is a great look almost a minute by minute description of what happened to it and its very dramatic and it goes back to whats happening in europe and whats happening in washington with president wilson and whats happening to the passengers on the ship, their story. Its really a great read wellwritten and i think it really brings that piece of history in 1915 back to life and really made that very human. These are real human beings that we can relate to who often experience the lusitania. Its about how ifas really was responsible for destroying napoleons army in the invasion. A lot of people thought it was a cold or the russian army. The real killer was ifas. The sanitary conditions of the day didnt allow them to protect themselves against this bacterium and it was devastating devastating, really devastating. Napoleon lost more than 90 of his army in the invasion of russia and a lesson that obviously a century later a century and a half later adolf hitler earlier adolf hitler did not attend two to his a friend of mine was there barren group across the street from me as an historian at the university of virginia and wrote a good book on appomattox. If the revisionist history about the outcome of appomattox how we in the south used and misused the agreement at appomattox to foster sort of a resegregation reza prejean of luck americans after the union won the civil war and slavery was supposed to be over. They essentially invoked the free spirit of appomattox as meaning that none of them should be prosecuted for war crimes. Robert e. Lee had been indicted after the war and he invoked the appomattox and insisted the u. S. Grant and polk the agreement they had to protect robert e. Lee. Robert e. Lee to his death remained reprobate on the issue of race in the south. He has the same view but this is a pretty penetrating and compelling reassessment of how appomattox and with the meeting of appomattox was determined by the south and ultimately by the north really did damage for the next 90 years in terms of race in america. This book Thomas Cromwell by tracy warman is a reappraisal of a controversial and historic figure enduring the rain of henry viii. Those who are fans of saint thomas moore the chancellor of england under henry viii and was because he would not agree to the remarriage of henry the eighth two and bolin who also lost her head the instrument of oath securing the divorce and arguing for the separation of the church of england on the church of rome and ultimately for thomas as well. Ultimately ironically Thomas Cromwell lost his head as well but it may be a more sympathetic portrayal of a very skilled statesman, very skilled manager to manage the king of england for henry viii but who also is responsible for the destruction of the monasteries, the breakup of holdings in property and ultimately the severance of the relationships between england and the church of rome. And some of the depredations of henry viii. A great read and coincidently comes out as people are watching public radio about Thomas Cromwell. This is the single best biography i have ever read of napoleon. Called napoleon by Andrew Roberts ended one volume at a stupendous read and very accessible read about who napoleon was and his triumphs and his failures. He won almost all all of his medals but unfortunately the ones he lost were pretty dispositive. He was a brilliant statesmen, brilliant manager, a brilliant general but who kind of toward the end i think maybe because of hubris kind of lost sight of his own technique, his own Lessons Learned and ultimately they were turned against him. This is a great read and a reappraisal and reassessment of the importance of napoleon even down to modern history. Eight great read, a mustread. Scott were wrote this wonderful biography on Woodrow Wilson also a bit of a reappraisal. Wilson had this mix of incredible progressive records in the white house especially in his first term as a statesman during world war i but also a retrograde attitude towards Race Relations in america. But its a great balance to read and ultimately one appreciates that progressive moment that Woodrow Wilson most certainly took advantage of to the benefit of american ideals. A great single volume biography of Woodrow Wilson. This book 13 days of september by Lawrence Wright i love this book because it humanizes diplomacy. It talks about the camp david accords and the 13 days anwar sadat and primus or bacon of israel and jimmy carter spent together not only always harmoniously at camp david and how the process worked out. Personalities, anxieties and stresses this trust, the role of interlocutor by the president jimmy carter. Jimmy carter put a lot on the Table Including his own reputation and it worked. The camp david accord to this day remains the only lasting peace accord in the middle east and jimmy carter deserves a lot of credit as to the other two as well that if you want to see howard human levels diplomacy actually works a great look and ought to be read by every graduate school at but studies international studies. Another biography a wonderful biography. Benjamin franklin comes to the contemporary man. He would relate to him easily based on the portrayal of this book and on balance this is a great man, great visit with her long life had many to that life is a political figure in pennsylvania and a political figure on behalf of the colonies in europe, as a political figure back with the declaration of independence back to europe representing now the confederacy of america during the revolutionary war and then comes back and serves as a key figure in the Constitutional Convention helping to save the day really for the Constitutional Convention are for duma was a very close thing in the approval of the Constitutional Convention 13 say. Benjamin franklin quintessential american homespun shrewd smart entrepreneurial represents so much of the american character. This is a wonderful biography. And finally dying everyday. I happen to love aged roman history and this book is all about the roman poet seneca who was the artist in residence in the court of nero and sort of the odd juxtapositions between this thoughtful man seneca and his tyrant nero and how he tried to survive in that time period while being on the other hand a very Senior Writer to nero and it was a very tricky business so its a great piece of roman history about a very controversial and not easy relationship and a very easy and great read if you like ancient roman history as i do. So thats my Summer Reading for now and i hope to be back next year with an equal number of recommendations. Booktv want to know what youre reading this summer. Tweet us ranter booktv are posted on our Facebook Page facebook. Com booktv. Thomas christensen is next on booktv. He argues the real challenge in the region lies in dissuading china from participating regional aggression and encouraging the country to contribute to the low border. [inaudible conversations] i think we are about to begin begin. There are still some seats if he like to come and sit in the front. Good evening unwelcome. Im the Senior Adviser for external relations and im happy to welcome you to this distinguished author series event featuring thomas j. Christiansen out there of the china challenge shaping the choices of a rising power. Now the reason that tom and i look as he said that we are suicide omers as i wired the sound for ipi but also cspan is here so we are also wired for cspan. Now that word shaping in the title, shaping the choices of arising power is wellchosen because its tom thesis that this is the challenge facing american diplomacy. Not defying or confronting order feeding vast and powerful nation that represents the other half of what is the 21st centurys defining bilateral relationship but nudging persuading, urging, convincing china country bidding to the International System and acting and corporate of ways that avoid that confrontation is the best way for china to further its own national interests. This comes at a time when there are some alarming zerosum arguments on both sides and some glib comparisons to cold war conditions and the kinds of tactics that were suitable for the standoff between the u. S. And the soviet union but could be catastrophic now. I am old enough to remember the delight that a good patriotic nationally competitive Young American boy used to take as news that the soviets had suffered a mage or setback. That was the competition. Well thats what he exactly and precisely the wrong reaction in the case of china and the u. S. Today. In short tom argues americans have reason to be invested in the success of china and wary of the consequences for america of chinese failure. This book is a piece for us that inhabit this community and put our faith and smart diplomacy. The chinau. S. Competition is also capitalizing for the diplomatic class because theres so much historic distrust and is understanding and working relationship that only wise negotiations and background consultations can hope to overcome. Tom also has a pretty clear answer to the alarmist theory that war between china and the u. S. Is inevitable so just when you start to relax at midsentence piazza pointed reminder that we shouldnt entirely dismiss the idea. China he writes is not an enemy of the u. S. And should not become a kind of regional or global adversary that we have faced in the past although that outcome is still a distinct possibility. As that sentence illustrates the book is a pageturner and im going to make sure we finish in plenty of time to have time to purchase books outside the door and give tom a chance to sign them and chat with you. Tom writes with a longterm wisdom of a seasoned scholar, a deep knowledge of the language and culture of china and the personal experience of having been the Deputy Assistant secretary of state for east asian and specific affairs Pacific Affairs which at the time made him the state apartments lead contact with china. As an old reporter myself i have taken comfort in how frequently comment how frequently tom and polished his narrative with references to insider things he learned from internal memos unquote an unnamed chinese interlocutors. The problem is an ageold one that this book is brandnew having been published just two weeks ago. Im delighted that ipi had an early chance to showcase it and is distinguished author thomas j. Christensen. [applause] thank you very much for a great its great to be here and great to see so many people out on a lovely evening and i appreciate coming to him a talk about my book. My book addresses two major challenges that i see. Chinas rise is very real and the economic sphere, the military sphere, diplomatic sphere but i dont think china is going to replace the United States in meeting global superpower anytime soon and i dont see a lot of evidence that its pretty commonly espoused in the United States that china is trying to drive the United States out of the union. In on the security front i think there is a challenge and that is to dissuade china from settling with its neighbors through the use of horsham and the use of force coercion and the use of force. In the china trails the u. S. And military capability acrosstheboard and even though china cannot project power over same period of time its a major power in the station i can cost deployed u. S. Forces and u. S. Allies and ways that could easily destabilize the region that means a lot to the essays in the rest essays in reso will be the main point is china is not a competitive United States and overall power. You dont have to be a peer competitor of the leading power to pose challenges for that power. You take jeter fan to a count in politics into account and take psychology into account the realize a lot of security politics are not about great wars of survival like world war i and world war ii but more limited aims in specific contexts where the ability for stronger actors provides the course of leverage and a course of problems for that stronger power and thats a big security challenge that i see and if anyone has questions on why i dont believe chinas going to quickly surpass United States in any of the major measures of National Power were i will talk about that in a few minutes. The second challenges are the first challenge is tricky and ill explain why in a moment. There are a lot of maritime disputes with china has that have differences with its neighbors on history issues and sovereignty and that poses the scenario that challenges can occur. The bigger challenge in arguably the trickier challenge for u. S. Diplomacy is the Global Governance challenge and i spent a lot of time in the book talking about this. We are in a new period in World History and that the world is more tightly interdependent than ever before in ways the world is never been interdependent before and that means relatively small preservations around the world can upset the entire system and in order to solve those governance problems with basically need all the great powers in the world is colon the same positive direction. China is a great power. Its not as strong as United States in any particular measure but its already great power is getting more and were influential overtime and stronger over time but china is also a developing country. We have never seen that before power that is as powerful as china thats also a developing country in a developing venture with a healthy postcolonial chip on his shoulder so its not eager to enter the traders of former european colonial powers or the United States wichita during the korean war and the cold war etc. Globalization is such that we need china to pitch and actively to solve global problems whether the nonproliferation, whether the financial instability, whether it be civil conflicts or humanitarian disasters around the world or whether it even global climb a change. If china doesnt contribute to the solution of any of those problems they are going to be difficult to solve and if china obstructs the efforts of other great powers it will be extremely difficult and sometimes an possible to solve that getting a developing country to think longterm and to contribute to stability in farflung places in the world in many cases is very difficult. The u. S. Diplomatic establishment doesnt have a lot of experience in getting that task done. So let me turn to the Security Issues first and ill go back to Global Governance. When powers rise and chinas getting offshore with its navy, with its military doma Economic Investment in rubbing against this country and other countries in the ways in the big question isnt whether china will become aggressive but how will that manage the normal frictions of a rising power . It has disincentives to be highly aggressive but it will be rubbing against other countries and other countries will be rubbing against it in many ways. There are a lot of reasons china may not manage it well. Talk about the postcolonial nationalist sentiments in china that may china reacted and there are political reasons in china to take tough stands on the many severed issues that it has and chinas lot of wasted friction with its neighbors. It had a sovereignty dispute with several of its neighbor some of whom are American Allies for Security Partners who could go from north to south starting with japan, a major u. S. Ally. You have taiwan which is an American Security partner and china has a sovereignty dispute about the sovereign status of the government. In the philippines we have an ally of the United States and there is the South China Sea and sovereignty disputes with malaysia with her night in vietnam as well in the South China Sea. Traditionally chinas military was a land army and a land army despite domestic and International Regime in china. And has done a very remarkable job of creating this course of power projecting capability that has china rubbing up against its neighbors in new ways. On the conventional front and i will talk about the Nuclear Modernization that is consequential also in the United States. So china is able to get offshore and challenge u. S. Friends and allies in ways that it couldnt before. That doesnt mean that china can dominate east asia but that ability to hurt her vice political leverage and that is what most not all that most International Security politics is about. Those are asymmetric capabilities against the potential superior foe in the United States. They include Ballistic Missiles with solid fuel systems that are mobile. These include most recently according to public reports and antiship listed missile that could hit moving targets at sea because the missile can be after reentry at this moving targets at sea and that could put at risk American Capital ships which is one of the United States big advantages. Submarines including sophisticated diesel submarines that are relatively quiet they can carry cruise missiles that can carry advanced torpedoes and raised sea mines. Other types of cruise missiles launched off of boats and antiaircraft Fighter Aircraft advanced air defense is imported from russia and reentered in china reverse engineered in china antisatellite weapons which could reduce the u. S. Advantage in recognizance and intelligence during a conflict. Cyber capability and i mentioned Nuclear Modernization. Chinas land army was supplemented by what public reports were a couple of dozen liquid fueled missiles aimed at potential great superpower enemies of china. They were not really sophisticated and theyre being modernized now to include road mobile solid fuel missile that would be easier to fire harder to target and that creates complex for u. S. Forces in china. So chinas go with this modernization drive as far as i can tell us not to dominate the region and drive an unsafe help but to deter the United States from intervening on issues that china believed the cares about more than the United States or its allies to delay u. S. Intervention of the u. S. Chooses to intervene or to drive the United States out if it doesnt intervene to make it too costly to stay engage i dont see this as a new cold war as warren said earlier. Its not in any of the United States but its a potential adversary in certain contexts where you have disputes with allies and you have a china that might try to solve as many disputes through the use of portion that would hurt u. S. Interests and i would say even though its not a new cold war and chinas than an adversary the of diplomatic situation in east asia is in many ways more complicated than the cold war elite since the 1962 cuban missile crisis. When i say complicated and not saying we should be nostalgic about the cold war. The cold war was terrible and im glad its over and many people died in it and we took great risks but after the cuban missile crisis of 1962 the lines between the two cold war camps were relatively clear and mutually understood with the exception of places like west berlin. People knew where the lines when it was pretty clear what an act of aggression would be across one of those lines by either superpower camp and thats just not cherny stacia today. Thats very challenging and if we look at the political psychology work of the stamper promised her professor and Nobel Laureate at winston they show that humans are much more willing to take risks to pay costs to say what they will is rightfully theirs than they are to get most people and there are exceptions to this. Hitler is an exception that most humans in most places are willing to pay a higher cost and take vigor risks to defend what they believe is rightfully their than to gain new things so when you have clear lines between two potential adversaries its a very useful thing because crossing that line is relatively easy to deter because its clearly delineated what would be aggressive and what would not be. In east asia that is not the case. You have several claimants in the South China Sea including china. You have claimants to the islands in the East China Sea and is my strong impression from talking to people in the various capitals in those disputes that they all truly believe that their claims are legitimate. They are often feared. From an economist point of view this is the worst possible outcome. Theyll believe they are defending something that is rightfully theirs and that they given that theyre going to lose something and they might lose more things in the future. That makes them more likely to stand firm in any complex or crises that arise over those complex and there is a lot of postcolonial nationalism. In china and there are a postcolonialism and other areas including the philippines and in vietnam for example. So how do you deter or dissuade china from using force to settle disputes . Its not always easy and if china develops new Capability China could bring leverage to bear. There is a risk for the United States it needs to be recognized and that is that the United States is militarily stronger than china and almost all measures of military power in certain but other than those systems the United States to superior militarily. A lot of the ways the United States to superior is the United States can reduce the capabilities of adversaries relatively early in a complex sopa think about the conventional systems that china has built as course of tools and we think about some of their nuke lear systems this poses a challenge. Seminoles potent systems that china has created to raise cost of adversaries are conventionally tipped Ballistic Missiles on mobile systems. Chinas forces made up of what . Nucleartipped solid fuel mobile missiles and submarines submarinelaunched Ballistic Missiles. The problem is in a crisis to enforce forwarddeployed it might be tempting for the commanderinchief to try to strike at those conventional capabilities to protect american forwarddeployed forces from those higher costs of operating the region. That makes sense. The problem is the kinds of attacks particularly if there are attacks on the chinese mainland either consumer imports are commandandcontrol facilities are mobile missile sites or facilities that control those missiles we have never launched such a thing against Nuclear Power before and in the case of china theres a dangers overlap in the types of systems that china uses for Nuclear Deterrence and what uses for conventional coercion. If commandandcontrol systems and mobile missile sites were struck were commandandcontrol systems are submarines were struck and submarine ports were struck a chinese leader might think the United States is trying to use conventional means to take out the Nuclear Deterrence with potential implications and thats a very difficult situation. China does have a new force used operation and as long as the United States doesnt use Nuclear Options china wouldnt exercise nuclear. No first use might be described more as a guideline than a rule and robust conventional attacks on what chinese leaders saw as their Nuclear Capability it might not hold so that is not necessarily a comforting doctrine in this scenario. One of the other restraints on the United States is the message relies on allies and those allies would probably look at an early robust attack on the chinese mainland. If you took the piece of the picture because those actors want United States to be present at region but they dont want to make a longterm choice between United States and china. They have robust diplomatic collisions with china and they dont want to make a choice of a would offer a restraining back your unending future president considering conventional Crisis Management and conflict sure these types of issues. Domestic politics which makes china a difficult country to work with to counter in some of these situations and domestic politics are such that i think the Chinese Government is more concerned about domestic stability than in only one period that i can remember in my personal experience. I personally went to china in 1987 and ive been going to china frequently ever since and the only period compared to last two years that saw the government more concerned about domestic stability was the period after the 1989 democracy protests in the tiananmen massacre. The Chinese Government was more concerned than today but now they are as concerned about social stability. There are tens of thousands of protest around the country and they are trying to restructure their economic model and basically i see china as quite concerned about nationalist humiliation because nationalist humiliation provides a politically correct reason for many protesters who are upset about the conditions in china at the local level to link up with each other using social media center and turn their attention on the Central Government. You can blame the local government for pollution and blamed the local government for corruption and blame the government were a lot of things but only the Central Government is responsible for chinas foreignpolicy and Security Policies so people can be mad at the government for the reasons in japan taiwan to provide take a provide an opportunity for many people that are frustrated to unify with each other and find links and nationally security establishment china a mic you frustrated by what might be seen as a weakkneed response and that worries me greatly. There are forces for peace and the transnational production change. China is at the very center the fulcrum of that production chain so its importing parts from certain countries and assembling them in china and exporting them to other countries. Its a major factor for china not to want to have lots of complex with its regional partners and not to the conflict with one of its biggest for the United States. Thats the security in the new looked at economic piece its important because i mention nationalism as a legitimacy for the Chinese Party for producing jobs is very important and you dont want to alienate the japanese and americans in the southeast asians all at once if you want to produce jobs in china. That transnational Production Network is very important as a force for peace and i think we need to remember that. On the Global Governance issue which is a challenge i think its important to imagine that china is the most important most powerful developing country ever ever. It is a great power but in 2012 the most generous measure with 9300 compared to well over 50,000 in the United States. So to developing countries. It has 100 Million People in abject poverty by Global Standards which means 1 dollar a day which is hard for most americans to imagine. It has huge gaps in Income Distribution because domestic instability. Has a weak social safety net even though its run by a nominally communist party and has a lot of problems but its a great power. If a country the size of china despite its domestic challenges to the knott house does not contribute to it over and well have a lot of trouble solving problems. Chinas economy is argued big enough to provide support to nuclear proliferators. Chinas biggest economic partner to Famous Nuclear proliferators the North Koreans developing ad lib. Nuclear Weapons Program in iran developing Nuclear Technologies and violation of iaea. Chinas biggest economic partner of those countries and that is big enough for those governments to stay in power despite the pressure of the other great powers. China doesnt want those countries to have nuclear weapons. China wants to be left alone to have normal economic relations with those countries. It does in my opinion want those countries too but is not eager to destabilize the regimes by putting a maximum pressure and to give up Economic Opportunities particularly in iran and its political equities in north korea. I do explore them in the book. On Financial Stability china has massive Foreign Exchange reserves and is a big enough of an economy that it doesnt been interview to the financial crisis would have trouble but chinas relatively poor and if you look at Something Like the greek crisis when european and australian leaders asked china to contribute to the greek bailout the chinese understandably said they have 23,000 percapita gnp and we have 9000 of the most generous and they have an enormous safety net picture of pembroke. We dont have one yet. Do you expect us to bailout greece . Is that really fair . On the other hand china has the Foreign Exchange reserves that the e. U. Would be dragged down who would be heard . China, large Investment Partner with the e. U. So its not a simple issue of right or wrong. So complex diplomatic challenge that the u. S. Diplomatic corps and the europeans and japanese indians and others dont have a great amount of experience in solving. Its a difficult new problem. We look at Greenhouse Gas and the problem is very clear. By far the biggest emitter of Greenhouse Gases is china. Chinas not on board in any kind of International Agreement that International Agreement will fail on pure physical rounds but also on political grounds because others will say why should we contribute actively of china is not not conjugating actively . That can also be said for United States and i pointed out in the book. One of the problems is again china is a developing country and its government is relying on legitimacy in large part on job creation and it can point to history of Climate Change in which the United States has produced a lot more of the co2 in the atmosphere than china has even though china produces more on the year by year basis and if you look at the percapita basis basis, the United States citizenry has produced a lot more of the co2 in the atmosphere than china and that will continue for a long time. As people say what is and china contribute now since its producing so much Greenhouse Gas now and you say again china is a country of 1. 3 billion people average percapita income at the most generous level in 2012 figures, 9000 printer dollars. Thats the same as ecuador. Nobody is asking the equatorians to make sacrifices to save the planet. Where the chinese being asked even though they have the same level of income . Because there are so many chinese in china such a big country and is so influential that you cant help it and china is integrated in the world as a positive mark that you want to be able to convince that if these problems arent solved everyone will suffer. Goal is to disscwaid aggression thats a strong u. S. President , need a Strong Alliance in the region. But you have to simultaneously convince the chinese elite that the presence is not to keep china down and not to steal away sovereignty and not to take away things that china cares a lot about. I think we have successes