Page 18 - Hedrick Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

carla and david cohen, we feel we were here at the creation of politics & prose, the incredible job that they did, and the idea that there would be a second act would be so creative and so exciting under brad and lisa just means a lot to us. i'm very, very pleased that you would come out on valentines day -- [laughter] i love you all. [laughter] and, in fact, i brought, i brought pens that are red. i will sign all books with red pens and put in a heart and an xo, hugs and kisses, as well if you wish them. [laughter] the ancient history behind this book has been largely told by brad i...

>> good evening. i am delighted, truly delighted to see all of you here this evening because this is an extraordinary evening and an extraordinary program. a little preamble, i'm at the virginia foundation for the humanities and and i'm the present of their position which produces activities and programs. [applause] thank you. i'm here to tell you that this is the coldest book festival in history. [laughter] that's a short history, 19 years nonetheless it's the coldest and it doesn't appear to be getting better tomorrow or the next day either. very unusual but spring is again at 7:02...

Well, a little historic perspective shows why the republican argument is false. and veteran journalist hedrick smith harbors that perspective in his new book false. in the last 40 years, the middle class has been squeezed financially. and sidelined politically. the average worker's salary remained flat and retirement security has largely disappeared. but the pay for ceos has skyrocketed from 40 times the salary of the average company worker in 1980 to 4 times it by 2000 all made possible thanks to powerful corporate interests in washington which shifted the balance of power politically. hen ri...

0 the book usually. it seems to me he had a good point in his column. he said romney's whole campaign was aimed at entrepreneurs, job creators, the titans of industry, the ayn rand type that is see themselves that way ignoring all the people that work for a living, work 50 or 45 or 40 hours a week, show up for work, do their jobs. most people are like that. he said if you live in your party simply to people who see themselves as titans of industry, you will have a very, very small notion of america and a small electorate working for you. >> exactly. basically this would say a candidate of the ...

i recommend to my students they watch book tv every weekend. i'd like to thank all of you for coming out tonight. it means a lot to me. it's a beautiful evening, and hot out. not unlike the weather that was in play on the -- when the incident i write about in my new book, "desert wreck conning" took place. i want to tell you about how and why i came to write this book. >> and i -- i was visiting a man at his home in the antelope valley. it's like the kooky cousin who lives in the closet that nobody wants to talk about. it's mostly desert, and we were visiting, mark and i, and i was i...