Out of the Senate and Into the Squawk Box

Update: I just did Squawk Box and will post my impressions in a bit. In the meantime, you can check out some clips from the show here. I'd love to hear what you thought of the show. Please post your reactions in the comments section.

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I spent Wednesday afternoon in DC, taking part in a Senate hearing on the future of journalism, organized by John Kerry, chairman of the subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

I was joined by Google's Marissa Mayer; James Moroney of the Dallas Morning News; Steve Coll, former managing editor of the Washington Post; Alberto Ibarguen of the Knight Foundation, and The Wire creator David Simon.

I have to admit, my favorite moment of the hearing came when Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, during her questioning of the panel, said she likes reading HuffPost on her BlackBerry and held it up.

You can check out my opening remarks and an exchange I had with Sen. Kerry here.

Now it's off to New York, where I'll be guest hosting CNBC's Squawk Box Thursday morning 7 am - 9 am EDT. Among those I'll be interviewing: Eliot Spitzer, Elizabeth Warren, GM CFO Ray Young, Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, and economist Simon Johnson. I'd love to have your help deciding what to ask them. Please post your suggested questions in the comment section of this post.

Comments

[dwright]

Please also ask them about why no one seems outraged that with our largest in the world prison population, no one seems to be concerned about how much each prisoner costs the tax payers each year. We could send everyone to at least a Community College, if not a state college and then give them a bonus if they complete to purchase a home. And still come out better than imprisoning people that come out worse than when they went in.

[dwright]

I would like you to ask them why no one seems to care about the missing money in Iraq, the opened ended military contracts and the future canceling of all Blackwater contracts. I can not believe we hired guns at $600/day and there was no outrage, from Katrina, to Iraq, Iran and now they are in Georgia probably helping to stir up trouble with Russia.

[ntmessage]

I would like to know more about the seven billion dollars spent and lost on Chrysler. This all-American company is a hot potato among all sorts of foreign interests and unlike the bank bailout loans, this loss of taxpayer money now seems inevitable.

[klondiker]

Great showing at the Senate hearing, Arianna!!

I found it so funny when Sen. Amy Klobouchar said, "I read the Huffington Post two days ago!" like it was some great achievement. LOL. I still don't think a lot of people get the immediacy and speed that the internet is all about.

[lastpost]

Ask them what the meaning of life is.

Then, when each has told you something completely different:

Ask if any of those things they have independently identified, could occur without the existence of humanity.

[ReMarker]

Qestion #1: Does loyalty to what is good for all America (patriotism) play in to investment decisions generically, or in to the information given to viewers of Squawk Box's "commentators", OR is making money the most important criteria? This question is NOT rhetorical.

Question #2: Does the performance of past United States Administrations effect the Squawk Box's "commentators" confidence in ANY US Administration being able to be effective and thereby good for the investment community?

Question #3: Why is political party affiliation more important than good patriotic financial advice? (This is a rhetorical question).

[hongkongdoug]

Here's a question for Ray Young: Why not throw Buick onto the brand bone pile too, it clearly has no where to go sitting in no man's land between Chevrolet and Cadillac? Have you learned nothing from the Japanese 2 brands model: Toyota / Lexus, Honda / Acura, Nissan / Infiniti ?

[researcher]

ask them why we americans are unable to see a system failure while it is occuring.

we americans keep blaming everyone and anyone and dont understand that a free for all known as free market capitalism is by its very nature designed to create a society of have and have nots. with most being have nots.

change the system change the outcome.

how can we call ourselves a compassionate country with 47 million americans without health care insurance? and many going bankrupt over medical costs.

and if 700 military bases around the world is not imperialism then what is?

do any of them agree with jefferson that every two hundred years there should be a drain the swamp revolution.

[Horatio2]

To Johnson:

In your most recent interview with the New Republic, I was fascinated by your suggestion that the administration might actually be pursuing a strategy that could work. In particular, that the stress tests are a way for the administration to buy time for the economy to heat up, and that the banks intend to earn their way out of debt - a prospect made more viable by the recent elimination of competitors and plentiful tax-payer support. In your Atlantic article, you suggested two scenarios for the future of the US economy, but this sounds like a new one - can you elaborate - how would this play out? [How does the economy heat up if credit remains tight - seems like a chicken and egg problem?]

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=471278aa-41a5-4888-94bc-8755e494bda4

[racetoinfinity]

Q. Isn't an absolutely necessary part of re-regulation reinstating a "firewall" separating commercial banks from investment banks, which was removed when part of the Glass-Steagall act was repealed in 1999?

Q. Are you aware that there is a growing critique of the Fed as being private, opaque, and elitist, and not serving the public interest?

[Anjon Roy]

Arianna - fantastic list of guests!

1. To Warren (or others) - to her knowledge, what kind of push back are counterparties and creditors of banks giving the government to ensure that they do not take a hit? Are they pushing her panel, especially due to her outspoken independence?

2.To Johnson and Schiller (and perhaps Warren) Did going off Bretton Woods in 1971 and moving away from a fixed exchange rate system and moving towards freer capital movement provide the first major spark towards an over financialized economy characterized by asset inflation/­bubbles/bu­sts and with little in the way of wage inflation?



3. To Warren or Schiller or Johnson - If the Gov were to take the banks into recievership, do they believe that the government should guanrentee the debt? The Sweedish plan in the 90s had the government backing up all of the debt, but those banks were much simplier, without all of the derivative contracts. The FDIC typically does not back of creditors

4. Spitzer - Who does he think (besides himself) be best equiped to lead a modern Pecora Commission. Also, how

5. Schiller - With his extensive expertise in risk- how bad does he see derivative counterparty losses in the case of another big bank collapse effect the system in terms of $$$$? Could this be "contained" as most of the CDS transaction with between the big banks themselves?

[DaCoach]

The fact that over 50% of the Senate and 152 Congressmen are attorneys speaks loudly to the lack of true representation for middle America. It reveals itself in the lack of transparency that has developed in the legislation that is written to advantage certain interests over the common good. As long as our tax system allows for insider benefits and lobbyists are participants in final drafting of laws and tax code, the scales of justice will never balance.

My question. Based upon the above, how will the will of the people ever be truly served? The wealth and advantages of the powerful may be slowed down during the Obama administration, but it will still move inexorably towards a diminishment of a middle class in America.

[fields4ever]

Please ask the economists what an environmentally sustainable economic policy might look like. How can the U.S. have a successful, full-employment economy without consuming most of the world's resources and importing or producing a lot of junk - especially plastic stuff - that we really don't need?

It seems that this economic downturn is leading many folks to realize that what they previously thought was essential to their quality of life really isn't, and they are cutting back to lower their expenses. Those non-essential items may vary from person to person but do any of us really need 50 different types of deodorant to choose from?

[wilywolf]

Marie Cantwell is form my home state and is one of the few very intelligent politicians as is Jay Inslee---we have two great ones. She reads the Huff because it is what you should be reading! Nice job.

[Dogooddogooder]

Hi Arianna,

Please add to your questions the question that stumps the "internet-is-all" crowd (including yourself):

What about the 50% of the public that is on the wrong side of the "digital divide," and worse, may never be on the Internet? These are the poor, the elderly, and the disenfranc­ised... the fatal flaw in the "internet-is-all" argument is a social justice reality: Abandoning hard copy newspapers, in particular local community papers, will be a disaster for the life of our communities.

Trust me on this one, please. I'm a journalism major at San Francisco State, and I can see and appreciate how much neighborhood newspapers serve hyper-local needs. Many of the people who rely on these local papers are not Internet savvy, and lack the economic power or educational path to get there. This from someone who lives in the hometown of Google, Mountain View, California, where you'd think EVERYONE is on the web. Sorry, it ain't necessarily so...

Please ask the experts about the "digital divide?"

Signed: worried,

Dogooddogooder