MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Economy

Interview

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REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: Well hopefully just keep turning up the heat, you keep squeezing both on economic grounds but, you know, as some local examples here, we`ve got a company called Rotec, they do gear manufacturing for windmills, a cutting edge new industry, 180 workers locked out that will lose their unemployments in a few days in Northeast Ohio up in Aurora. We have a steel mill that closed down many months ago, a lot of those workers two to 300 are going to lose their unemployment insurance benefits.

So a lot of people like to say, "Well, these people aren`t looking for work." you take Rotec for example, they were literally locked out. They didn`t go on strike. They didn`t quit. They didn`t stop working. They got locked out and they`re going to be punished for this. And so I hope we keep the heat up that those are all steelworkers. So I know the steelworkers and others who just keep ratcheting up the heat because there are still millions and millions of families that have not been able to grab that last rung of the ladder .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

RYAN: . of this economic recovery.

SCHULTZ: So, Congressman, how much political capital are the Democrats willing to spend on this fight? And how would you define political capital? I mean this is going to take time, it`s going to take focus and it might not happen. How do you see this playing out?

RYAN: Well, here`s what I think. I think the Senate obviously is -- it was good to hear Harry Reid take a strong leadership roles obviously harder in the House because we don`t have control of the, you know, legislative leverage to bring pieces to the floor necessarily. But Harry Reid can do it. And we can ratchet up pressure.

And 2014 is in the midterm elections are all about turning out your base. And if we can get the unions energized, if we can get people who are concerned about this and are more focused on the demand side economics instead of this trickled down voodoo economics that we`ve been seeing in America for the last 30 years .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

RYAN: . get our based rolled up, we could be able to affect. This is -- these people in the companies that I was mentioning earlier, Rotec, RGSteel, $430 a week, Ed. That`s what they`re getting. They got a couple of kids. They`ve got health problems. $430 a month when Warren Buffett is made in 2013, $37 million a day.

And I love Warren Buffett and I`m not against him making a lot of money but what I`m saying is there`s a huge disparity in America when we don`t have the -- where with all to say, "Hey, these people should get $430 a month to be able to make ends meet when they`re looking for work or they`ve gotten locked out of their job while Warren Buffett`s making $37 million a day." Some thing`s wrong with that picture. So the Unions .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

RYAN: . I`m proud of them for stepping up and making this an issue.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, the President held his year end press conference today before he took off on Holiday vacation to Hawaii. And this was one of the questions that caught my attention. I want to play this. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has this been the worst year of your presidency?

OBAMA: What I`ve been focused on each and every day is are we moving the ball in helping the American people, families have more opportunity, have a little more security to feel as if they worked hard. They can get ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Mr. President, let me answer that question for you. Firs of all, where is the mindset of the media in Washington when they asked a question, "Is this the worst year of your presidency?" Are they asleep at the switch? How the heck you`re going to get unemployment benefits focused on when you`ve got an attitude like that in the mainstream media?

Just for the record for that AP reporter, two million jobs. We let the Bush tax cuts expire. We have private sector job growth every month since. We have returned the automobile industry to a very vibrant situation. We`ve got health care in this country where people are signing up. We`ve got the housing market which is doing very well. We didn`t raise taxes. Look at the stock market, are you paying any attention? It`s having record closes day after day.

Congressman, my question to you, how are you supposed to get anything done in an environment when you got reporters sitting in front of the president asking them if this the worst year he`s ever had when it`s been nothing but a year of accomplishments?

RYAN: Yes. Well, and reporters are supposed to have some sense of history. Where were they in 2009, 2010 when we were getting battered losing 700,000 jobs a month just trying to .

SCHULTZ: Amen.

RYAN: . plug holes in the economy. We weren`t sure what was going on in districts and back in Youngstown, we thought General Motors was going to potentially go under. And we have a huge General Motors plan here all throughout the industrial Midwest. We thought we were going to lose the auto industry, the supply chain.

We had foreign car companies come and then Governor Strickland saying, "We need to help the American car companies because we`ll lose our supply chain." I mean I asked, "Where were these reporters when that was going on? We`ve had some hiccups this year but my goodness gracious, we`ve certainly turned the corner and that`s part of the problem, Ed. How do you get the message out? How do you rally .

SCHULTZ: Well .

RYAN: . the American people today when you have such a decentralized media?

SCHULTZ: Well, I think that we`ve had some good things happened. We`re down to seven percent unemployment. Now, a lot of people like to argue with that because they think that the numbers are higher to that, double digit and what not. We`ve got income inequality. You show the graphs. We show the graphs all the time.

Bottom line here is that people understand the economy and the y understand hurt. And those who were unemployed who now have a job as that unemployment rate has come down, they understand a three-month extension.

Let`s see if Congress does.

Before we leave this interview tonight, I want to show this picture. Here he is. The young quarterback from Youngstown State, Tim Ryan. There it is. That Howard (ph) kind of self that this man was extraordinary. He is destined to help a country. Congressman Tim Ryan .

RYAN: Wow.

SCHULTZ: . you have a great holiday. You have a great holiday. Good to have you with us .

RYAN: A lot`s happened between then and now, Ed.

SCHULTZ: . and thank you so much. All right. See you buddy. Thanks a lot.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen. Share your thoughts with us on Twitter at edshow and on Facebook. We want to know what you think.

Up next, who would you put your money on in a fight between Ted Cruz and Vladimir Putin? The Beckster (ph) is selling a delusional story line on this one. Plus, cheap talk from Republicans on minimum wage. Stay with us, we`ll be right back.

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