In 1965, I was the representative of the A.A.S. of the California Legislature in school. Uh-huh. Now I have a lot to live down. Healthy change. Pretty good training, man. Ron Bacon was the first good to see you again. Mr. President, yes, we're going to congratulate you. I think you're fine. Good, Jane is yours. Yes, you're very welcome. My pleasure. Thank you. Russell Paul, Mr. President. John Mayer is the president. Here, please. Thank you very much. Why don't we want to come up and say thank you so much for coming to my position? Because you have been an awful lot in the community. We appreciate your disaster declaration. Just a little token of our appreciation. I got several things to present to you, to tell you what all it meant to us. Well, listen, I didn't require any presentations. I was happy for whatever good it could do, but little did I do except shovel a couple of sails there. But I must say, I was really struck in town as I told the congressman here. And I was used to flood springs. They always came in the spring, and they always came from one direction, the river. It was the first flood I'd ever seen. It came from all directions, and even from underneath. That's right. And straight up.  That's a wonderful example of the neighborhoods that exist in our country. But I don't know if we talked about this quite some time ago. Then Mike David was with me on a row of speaking engagement. We fell in love with the community with some heart in our head. I wanted to stop there. That's right. I appreciate it. Bate and Horne's got a representation. Appreciate it. The Governor now follows the follow-up of the red cross, even if you're out from 6. That's $1.00 for the plethora of these. Thanks very much. Mr. President, it's local self-effort funds that were raised to contribute to the red cross in that $83,000 that's local. That's great. Mr. President, you might be interested in knowing, in 1978, the same fund raised $378.00. But your visit is motivated going from $378.00 to $83,631.00. We're having sales. I'll show you what you did. Thanks to you. Mr. President, it's your birthday and your visit in the row. This is a picture of the billboards that have been placed around the area commemorating your visit. We just really appreciate everything you've done for us. Thank you, Mr. President. It's a big honor. Well, it's the day of all the briefings. Those are all the briefings, Mr. President. First day of arts I've received. I don't think there's been anything quite like that. My goodness, that makes me very proud. We're going to try to go up and get this world book record and I'm as signature as we've got to put you to. Mr. President, if I can be a little personal about it. My daughter is one of your greatest admirers. And this was designed and done by a man who's a response to an eye area trying to get the young people and the purpose of this is to thank you for trying to put a smile back on the face of America. Oh, for heaven's sakes.  Yes, indeed, sir. Good news. Susan. Susan Sheldrager, sir. Thank you, sir. Well, my goodness. President, this is a little scrapbook of some of the pictures and the memos when you visited our science center. Did you ever remember when you were there for our appreciation? We saw it because he said that it was the wheelbarrow that taught our people to walk upright. Mr. President, may I invite your attention, that preceding page just as you just turned, may I, sir, the last sheet that you just turned? Those are church bulletins yesterday on your birthday. We refer to that as Super Sunday for all Americans and people in all the churches, many of the churches and synagogues, are signing these sheets wishing you a happy birthday. So those are yesterday's church bulletins in northeast Louisiana. And this is 30,000 before yesterday. We'll accept the churches and the churches will be coming now. Excuse me, let me point out, sir, there, Mr. President, those are pictures of places where those, when those stickers were put for people where they could go in and sign and say thank you and happy birthday, but those were all over the city, the TV was carrying it, the cable news network carried it, so all of them, we don't understand these polls, sir, the performance. We don't know anything about the 50,000 people who don't understand polls, so we just express our love to you in a very meaningful way and not knowing understanding the polls. We appreciate your having me deeply moved. I'm gonna look through this. Excuse me for a minute. And they have beautiful, beautiful letters to you. Of course, they all want a picture of you and a letter from you and all that sort of thing. They'll get it if there's any addresses in there. Incidentally, is your daughter's address in there? I sure will get it to you, sir. Please do. Communicate. Thank you, sir. I'm gonna be looking through this at a greater length, believe me. So new orders will translate immediately into new production and employment and so forth. Quite strongly given the slack of labor market. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I'll be proud of you. Yes, sir. Nice to see you. How are you? Nice to see you. It was a pleasure to have you. It was dear to all of you. I know you're crazy soon. What do you do? How are you? I'm good. Good to see you. David, you're on channel four. Good to see you. Great. And Matthews from channel seven. Yes. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Hello there. How are you? David, I can say you look all familiar faces you are. I'm glad, however, that when I'm watching you, you could stand and watch me because I'm usually in the dressing room upstairs, changing clothes. I had to go through the exercise. It's overcoming from it. But I'm happy to have you here at the White House. I do watch as I say your newscasts. And I'm well aware of this across the country. People depend on local news and they do have the national news and get their news from the local news broadcast. I know you've been briefed, or were being briefed, by Dave Stockman and Buck Chavitton. And you'll be hearing from Bud McFarlane and Kepp Weinberger a bit later. But just let me say that since economic recovery has been the lead story on most programs lately, it's awfully good to see. You've been seeing more signs that the economy is on the mend. If I could just mention a couple of them. You know, of course, that inflation rate for 82 is down to 3.9. But not too much attention has been paid to the fact that for the last three months of 1982, it was down to an annualized rate of 1.1. If that could continue to 12 months instead of three. The index of leading indicators up eight of the last nine months. Real wages have gone up in the last three months. They've been going down for the last four years. Housing starts are up. Housing permits are up. And sales of new homes has grown by 75% since last April. The auto industry is picking up. We all know General Motors has announced they're going to call back more than 21,000 people in the next few months. Initial claims for unemployment insurance down. And of course, I think we must have all been pleased to see at least the slight turnaround there before an intense percentage point turnaround on the average. And more than that, if you take the new method of counting, which I always thought should be the ending method, I don't know how we've been able to ignore almost two million people that are fully employed in the military. And yet at the same time, I don't know whether you're aware that every time one of them left the military, didn't get a job, he was counted as unemployed. But he or she were not counted as employed and they had those jobs. I think it's a more sensible way of counting. We've tried to be cautious with our projections, but I think it's interesting that the Congressional Budget Office, which is usually more pessimistic than ourselves, is now sounding more optimistic that we can have a better recovery. Alice Rivlin has just become so attractive to me. But we intend to work with the Congress, as I'm sure you've been told, to see that this stays on track for now. I know we only have a few minutes. Mr. President, what do you think about all of these stories that you're really not in control of the budget data and you've flunked David Stockman's multiple choice questionnaire? I've got a doll in my desk. I stick pins in there when I read them. I don't know what that, well I suppose I should have been too surprised. I think it happens to more than one person. I recall attempts of that kind when I was in Sacramento as governor. Then they called it the Palace Guard. But no, and I think anyone that's in our administration will tell you that it has anything to do with policy making, that I make the decisions. Maybe part of it has come about because of the change that we've made in the Cabinet system. As nearly as I've been able to find out, previous administrations back through the years have sort of used the Cabinet as maybe they'd come once a month and go around the table with each Cabinet head and give them a little brief verbal report of what his agency was doing. Well, I started something in California with the Cabinet that I brought here. And that was that it's a kind of a board of directors operation. We sit around the Cabinet table as we're sitting here. And instead of just the one person if he thinks that, well, it's his agency problem and he's the only one who can speak on that note. Everybody has a picture and we sit there and we discuss and sometimes argue when it goes around the table and around and when I finally heard enough, finalize my own decision. I make the decision and that ends the discussion there. If I haven't, if it's something that's so tough that there's so much right on both sides, send them a way to come back the next day and we'll take it up again. And maybe that was the way up to this. I noticed that it's always from those unidentified White House informants that this talk, this conversation comes, but I would turn my back and let the Cabinet members answer and I think you find the answer to which I made the decision. Mr. President, are you at all concerned about an apparent continuing perception among a number of Black leaders that the White House continues to be, if not hostile, at least not welcome to Black new points and that administration policies are working to widen the income gap between Blacks and Whites and also increase Black unemployment? I'm aware of all of that. And it's very disturbing to me because anyone who knows my life story knows that long before there was even a thing called the Civil Rights Movement, I was busy on that side as a sports announcer. I didn't have any Willie Mays or Reggie Jackson's to talk about when I was broadcasting majorly baseball. The opening line of the baseball, baseball guide, said baseball is a game for Caucasian women. And as a sports announcer, I was one of the very small fraternity that used that job to editorialize against that ridiculous blocking of so many fine athletes and so many fine Americans from participating in what was called the Great American Game. I was raised that way. I bless them, my father and mother both long gone now, but I can remember when I was only that high and one of the all-time great motion picture classics, Berkeley Nation came to our town in Arnold so my father simply announced that no member of our family would see that picture because it was based on the Ku Klux Klan and to this day, I have never seen the great motion picture classic. So yes, it's very frustrating, but none of it. And I wonder sometimes if some of those leaders aren't, maybe they'll even realize it, but aren't more interested in maintaining a kind of difference in a spite because that's their position and their line of work. But the truth is, none of it is true in this administration. I can cite you the figures on what we have done with regard to civil rights violations. I can cite you what we have done for the Negro colleges and their funds raising effort as for what we've done with regard to unemployment or trying to make a difference. I know this thing about supposedly the our tax program is for the rich. I've never been able to figure that out. We have a progressive tax system. You move as you get more income into higher brackets. In recent years with inflation, you've moved whether you've got a higher income, but just if you've got a pay raise that's simply that you supposedly break even, you didn't break even because the government puts you up in a higher percentage bracket. But when we gave our tax cut 25% across the board, yes, if you want to use the number of dollars, a fellow that's paying $100 income tax is not going to get as many dollars in relief as the fellow that's paying 1,000 or not up 10,000 or 100,000, but proportionately, they are. And if we had staggered our tax cut instead of level across the board, we would have in effect legislated an increase in the productivity, which as we know goes from a quite lower percent on up now to 50, but it once upon a time went to, well, when I was getting some of that if money in Hollywood was 94% and it used to curtail your picture making efforts because there came a point every year when somebody submitted a script and you said, not me, I'm not gonna work for six cents on the dollar. But I think that anyone would find, and with regard to unemployment, there's no question that this has been, and it's one of the things that I think for years we've been trying to correct, that when unemployment comes, and there have been seven spells of this since World War II, before this one, and always the same thing was true, that it seemed that black employees suffered more on a higher rate of unemployment. I have tried to convince many black leaders and labor leaders that with regard to the minimum tax for youngsters, for teenagers, for kids that want summer jobs, we should have a two-stage tax because before there was a minimum wage, I said minimum tax, did I, minimum wage, before there was a minimum wage, young teenage blacks had a far lower rate of unemployment than teenage whites. And as the minimum wage was put into effect and began to increase, this reversed. And I think that it's, of course, affected all teenagers, but I think that for youngsters beginning to win the workforce, they're not gonna take any adults' job away from them, they never did. They're learning a job, they're getting a skill, they're performing tasks that at a proper price an employer will hire them. But if you make the price too high, there are tasks that the employer feels he can do without. And so no one is hired to take those jobs. Mr. President, you just celebrated your birthday, happy birthday. Thank you. And the week before that, the week before that, the foot race began toward New Hampshire and Illinois, the Congress, what are you going to announce, your intentions about either that? Well, I think if you look back over history, that is a ticklish thing for a president whose first term, he makes a early decision one way, becomes a lame duck. If he makes it the other way, he's then accused of everything he does is political campaigning. So I think that you wait, and I have not made the decision the other way, because I also believe that the people let you know what the decision should be. Do you think you're ready for it? This is all the stuff you ordered. Well, I think this, oh, look at the other stuff. Oh, the other side, I can understand that. I look at it four years ago when it was, or no, six years ago when it was the Republican's turn for scrambling against a Democratic incumbent, and it was just much the same picture. We had a dozen or so out there. Right there for two years, I think. You were out there for two and a half years before his primary election. No, as a matter of fact, I refused to make a decision on that for quite some time. And maybe you're confused. There was a group that started in the country, and believe it or not, I didn't do it at all. There was a group that started. Would you be reelected if the election were held today, Mr. President, under review? Well, this would be the headline if I answered. I'm just confused by some of the polls. I know a little about polls anymore, and I know a lot of it depends on how the question is asked. But I get around the country enough, make enough appearances, that somehow I don't seem to run into many of those people. As a matter of fact, we have a kind of a standing thing in our family. Nancy's very critical of me, because when you go out and the streets are lined with people and you move away from Washington and so forth, and I know that much of that's simply because of the institution itself, the presidency. But the reaction of those people, but Nancy's annoyance is she says that I always somehow managed to see the one person in the whole crowd who is doing like this or making a vulgar sign or something at me. And it is true. I do. Are you watching the years? We've reduced it. But now it is unemployment in the economy. I could expect that. I'm very concerned about unemployment myself and tragically it's usually the last thing that comes back when you come out of a recession. But yes, I would think that that would be, if there is no recovery, obviously that would be a sign. Mr. President, in our area we're particularly concerned with a large number of federal employees, of course, there are local viewers. And how does the administration justify or explain to them the freeze and the cutbacks and the reduction in the long term and the pension plans, which are so much better than private plans are generally? Well, for one thing, we have not affected the people that are present in the employees, except there has been a change, that there's had to be an increase. Their pension plan is such that today many retirees are getting more money in retirement than the person is getting in wages who was doing the job they retired from. And so it was out of balance. And it was only fairness to ask with the built-in increases in those pensions that they contribute to a little larger share. Now we've also added, we are covering them now for Medicare. They do not have such coverage. And with all the talk about whether Medicare is being increased in cost amount of participation, which it is in our proposed budget, no one has added that we are adding to that for the first time, catastrophic care, that these people will now be protected against that catastrophic illness or injury that now and then totally devastates a family because there's no way that any individual could meet the cost. With regard to whether it's fair enough to ask them to take a freeze. First of all, a freeze in colas is not as significant as it was back when under the previous administration the inflation rate was 12.4% or even 14% at one point. It isn't that big of a sacrifice, but in the condition that we're in and in an effort to help this economy, we're asking that of everyone. And I was impressed, I don't know which one of your stations it was, but I was impressed enough to make a phone call with that young enlisted man over at Fort Myers that someone interviewed as to how he felt about having the military pay froze. If anyone has a right to complain, they do because up till recently they were far behind anyone with regard to pay that was commensurate with the work they were doing at all. Could we have just one more question? Mr. President, I would like to ask you about your relationship with Mr. Bagan. I'm sorry. There is a settlement proceeding on pays on the West Bank. There's tension between our forces and Israeli forces in Beirut. And I'm wondering if the Reagan plan is falling totally deaf ears as far as Bagan is concerned. Is your relationship, has your relationship improved at all? Well, I don't think that it is it is as strange as some would have you believe. I think that we established quite a personal bond on his visit here. It's true we disagree on this particular issue about getting out of Lebanon because we know that in our efforts to try and bring the Arab states around to the position that Egypt once took so that they can make peace with Israel. We have to be careful and one of the big contentions is the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. And Israel is delaying we believe unnecessarily in that. So Phil Abib has gone back again and with a proposal and a plan and we're hopeful that they finally will because the Arab nations are holding back and are reluctant unless they see this kind of gesture of goodwill. Also, I think that there's a certain moral point that we think Israelis are neglecting not observing. And that is the new government of Lebanon after all these years of revolution and appeal has asked all the foreign forces to leave. For them not to leave now puts them technically in the position of an occupying force that they are there by force in this country that has said to them we now want you to depart. So we're going to continue trying to bring this peace to Lebanon but we don't believe that we can move to the actual peace negotiations in the Middle East until the Lebanon situation is clear. And I personally believe that if this requires an increase in the multinational forces for the stability that we should be willing to do that and finish answering your question before I take yours. We thought that asking government employees to freeze in the increase in pay was not too much when you stopped to think the sacrifice that's being made out there in the private sector. Those that are unemployed in this particular but also those many employees that have taken voluntary cuts in benefits and programs and in salaries in order to help their employers that we could do the same thing. We are all concerned about perhaps the misuse or misinterpretation of words or phrases. One of those happens to be at this time the phrase we will not have make work programs whereas we understand and Congress understands that sometimes many of our viewers do not understand and they think it's part of the party Ronald Reagan saying that we will not have any solution to the unemployment program and I just wonder if you would expand on that voice. What you need when you say you're not for work, make work programs. In the past recessions there was always a tendency the one thing that was politically unacceptable was unemployment. So the government would rush in with a lot of artificial stimulants and government spending and so forth and large parts of that would be job programs where the government would suddenly go out provide funds to higher people. I was governor when some of those took place in our own state and I saw local communities and governments dream up things that they didn't need because the money was available but those programs then were supposed to be temporary and at the same time you were adding to the cause of your recession increasing the deficit spending and no one was paying any attention as to whether that increased deficit spending was taking away unemployment over here in the private sector but the worst feature was that many of those programs the smallest percentage of the money actually went in to paying the workers the federal government had a very high overhead and quite a carry in charge for those now there is a difference and Tipo and Neil and I have discussed this that it isn't make work if you simply stimulate or move up or accelerate a program of necessary public works. Now this is what we did with the gasoline tax everyone I know said well I said I would not take a palace crew before I would ever accept such a gasoline tax. The framework in which I said that at a press conference was when it was being proposed as just a tax for general revenues to increase taxes, tax gasoline but more than a year before Drew Lewis had come to me with the rundown on our highway system and the bridges and even the real great risk and danger just the other day we saw a bridge collapse with several deaths and a year before when he had come with that proposed a users fee a gas tax to simply finance that kind of construction I had to ask him at that time could he wait here and he did. When he came back this latter time the report was even more dangerous more threatening. The numbers of school buses in the country that in their zones where there are bridges come to the bridge and stop and the students have to get out and walk across and then the driver stays in and drives the empty bus across and picks him up again because they're afraid of an accident with all those children in the school bus so this time having told him to wait in here I said yes we'll go for it now this is legitimate this is work that has to be done the jobs are already going not to individuals that are suddenly given a job whether they fit it or not these are people workers and construction companies delegation from the road building industry in Illinois presented me the hard hat when I was out there because of the jobs in Missouri they've already started on their program of rebuilding and even building new ones. Now we have asked and it won't change the budget a bit that every agency and department that has got building maintenance work that isn't needed doing and has not been done and so forth to accelerate it. It's in the budget already don't schedule it for a year from now or six months from now if you can't move it up and do it now that would be legitimate work the the make work jobs I can give you one example of one that I vetoed when I was governor came from Washington and a governor could veto and if it wasn't overridden 60 days with the federal government might stay permanent. This was a program to put 17 able-bodied welfare recipients to work in a county park cleaning up the park and keeping it cleaned up why would I veto such a thing is that but because more than 50% of the budget was going to go to 11 administrators to make sure that the 17 got to work on time and I thought the percentages were a little long you have another meeting just tell us how you celebrated your birthday listen well yesterday we had to come down early so we wouldn't get snowed in and we just had a few people for a dinner that we had been planning for some time and that's when the birthday was I just received a very heart warming set of unusual gifts in the other room from some people from Monroe, Louisiana and among them there was a framed picture I'll take this as the celebration a framed picture of the billboards that they put out all over Monroe regular billboards same happy birthday to me and thank you me for coming down on the flood and another one was a fact similarly of a check that the good fellows of Monroe contributed for flood for the $83,600 their normal annual contribution is around $370 and so that was enough of the celebration you really don't celebrate when you get to this age you just say thanks he's afraid that his daughter sent you he's a dooder too well you tell Monroe I'm very grateful no I gave that up I've got a there's a gym up there and I'm doing different sets of exercises no I tell you I gave it up I've been doing it about 15 years and I began and I don't seem to be as tight as ever I was hard and finally a man knowledgeable in that field told me that that was yes it was but it was also stretching the muscles and since those muscles there was no place else for him to go but to bulge I quit and I've got another set of exercises what's your favorite exercise what's your favorite exercise well it's a it's a whole variety of main to different muscles and the same gentlemen gave me this schedule of two for all in days there's a little modelist machine up there with the weights and the pulleys and so forth and I didn't think at my age you could grow muscle but I'm happy to have some coats let out not down here thanks for coming thanks for coming alright thank you all and what we're saying is that we probably won't get much more discretionary cut the something out ladies and gentlemen so we'll talk to you again the second day in a row same answers that's a bigger question let me see Eleanor by now you must all know everything about the budget all the physical affairs and I wanted to come in for a few minutes at least and welcome into the White House I know many of you have been here before but we're always glad to have you back we're well aware of the impact an editorial has not only on the folks at home but on some people up on the hill an editorial in the hometown paper can very often mean much more than any call from a lobbyist or even a call from the White House there's a news story I'd like to emphasize today that you've been hearing about is that all the signs that we're now seeing point toward an economic recovery or have you two covered that very well you wouldn't I wouldn't be going counter to you if I I said as long as you say the recovery is here as long as you say the recovery is here well that's what I want to make sure that you agree on because that's what I'm going to say yesterday a lot of attention has been paid to the 1982 inflation rate but I think even more significant and everyone seems to have overlooked is that while it was 3.9% for the year for the last three months of 1982 it was running at one point on an annualized basis at 1.1% and I think the fact that it had come down to that and left that other lower average something that we can focus on is offering a little hope here we know of course that unemployment rate went down last Friday I'm hopeful that one of these days now that they've changed the method that they will stick with the change method instead of giving us two sets of figures and it was only a few months ago that I found out that they were not including the military in the unemployment figures and there's almost 2 million Americans that are fully employed but what really triggered my reaction was when I found out that when one of them left the service and didn't have a job he was considered unemployed but he wasn't employed or considered employed when he had ones and I'm sure you noticed that the set of figures, this was the first time January using them, the set of figures if you include the military went from a 10.7 rate then of unemployment to 10.2 in the old fashioned way it's still 10.4 down from 10.8 but there are other figures one of the most significant was that actual employment rose by 350,000 in January which means that businesses are hiring and re-hiring workers we've all seen the announcement of General Motors more than 21,000 over the next few months of those were indefinite layoffs the average work week went up an hour in January which brought it almost to the full 40 hour figure housing is coming back housing starts are up, permits are up, new home sales are up 75% since April of last year also supporting the recovery ideas, the fact that there's nearly a 12% increase in new orders for durable goods and of course as you've probably been told the leading indicators have been up 8 out of the last 9 months now if some of you were suspicious that my emphasizing all of this on top of what you've been hearing is in the hope that you might take this as the message to take back home your suspicions are absolutely correct that's what I had in mind I'm optimistic I'm going to do all that I can all of us here in the administration are to work with the congress to make sure this recovery stays on track but now that's enough monologue I know you've been connecting a dialogue so far and you can continue with that someone has a question Mr. President I come from Baltimore which is a city that in the past week has lost 2,300 jobs at western electric and about 950 jobs at the sparrows point of land affected by steel one of our big concerns is what happens to a steel worker who's been on this job for 25 years and suddenly his job is gone how do you feel about retraining how can this country retrain its work force and in what direction well we know that there has to be retraining because as you probably have been told already part of this unemployment problem is structural for example over a 2 year period when we first came in here there were 3 million new people into the work force for the first time and the new jobs because of the recession were not being created to put those people to work there will be changes I don't know whether the lay has gotten to the point of someone with that much seniority laid off I was in an automobile plant the other day you know out in St. Louis and in that plant the person those people still employed the one with the least seniority were 16 years there because the layoffs come designated by seniority or lack of it but the one job training plan that we've gotten past that we introduced and has already been legislated into law is designed we think better than many of the previous programs first of all where some of those job training plans only about 18 cents out of every dollar went to actual training this one better than 70 cents out of every dollar will go to training but we're going to direct that in cooperation with local officials and business and industrial leaders in the communities to train people for those jobs that are vacant there in that area and you all know from your own papers that on any representative Sunday you have quite a package of help wanted ads now I mentioned that once in a press conference and immediately got challenged that I was indicating that people were lazy and wouldn't go to work I wasn't doing anything of the kind we didn't have this job training program in place at the time and what I was pointing out or trying to was that if you read those ads and I've done so many of the papers the last time was in Los Angeles they were 45 and a half pages in the Sunday LA Times but you saw that they called for skills and here to me was the greatest indication of the structural unemployment with 12 million unemployed in the country we could have that many pages of help wanted ads in an area which was above which was around the national average or above it indicated that there were job openings and there must be a lack of people with the training to fill them so we're doing more of this and in the present budget we have made proposals about using unemployment funds in cooperation with the states that have their own unemployment funds for training for relocation and so forth I think it can be done but that's the direction we must go instead of giving someone an imitation job temporarily Mr. President there have been some reports that you made leading toward recommending or endorsing some kind of jobs program could you tell us exactly how you feel about this the thing that we have talked about and that is again provided for already in the budget is that where there are legitimate we got this idea from the gas tax program and incidentally with all this talk that I am going to take a palace coup to make me accept the 5 cent gas tax that was when they were talking about it as just general revenue tax increase but Drew Lewis secretary of transportation had come to us over a year ago with a complete report on the state of our highways and bridges in the country and the desperate need in the almost emergency situation then at that time I asked him if he could hang on for a year and come back a year later which he did so that really was a users fee the gas tax was passed to get this necessary work that needs to be done get it in work now what we have said to all of our agencies and departments is that the budgets for all of them maintenance work construction things of that kind that are called for and what we have said expedited accelerated don't wait if you've got it on schedule some place down the line it's already in the budget it won't add anything to the deficit to do it go to work on it and start doing it to help in the recovery Mr. President are you prepared to accept compromise reductions and the $239 defense budget no I think the only political mistake we've made there with the defense budget is that in the old fashioned way that has persisted so long in government where you pad the budget a little bit and then go up on the hill and let the congress cut it where you already knew it could be cut we didn't do that under Secretary Weinberg we've been trying to find the cuts ourselves and where we can promote savings so a considerable amount of money was actually found by us when inflation went down faster than we thought fuel costs and everything going down management changes that were put into effect and from the original five year proposal of 1981 we came in we'd reduced that about $41 billion ourselves then congress added another chunk to that in the 83 budget and in this one when our people up on the hill said if there's anyway anything we can find and I say cap was corroborated there were some things we hated but I insisted that we stay with whatever we found must not delay or reduce our effectiveness our ability to redress the military situation that had been allowed to carry rates so badly and we came up with $11.3 billion now maybe we should have been smart and left the 11.3 and let the congress find it but the minute we went up there with that cut in place then they seemed to think well that must mean there's room for more I think if there was we would have found it Mr. President what would happen if your NX commission comes up with a recommendation contradictory to Secretary Weinberger's recommendation well that's the purpose of the commission we'll study that find out what it is they recommend and I realize that I'm the one that finally has to decide what we'll take up to the hill as a recommendation to congress but I'm hopeful that the commission can come up with something that will be acceptable but at the same time we'll meet the need for correcting this the balance that exists I must say to all of you that here the drumbeat that has gone on consistently about the defense spending and all all during the campaign this question was thrown at me by audiences every place I was amazed how many the American people were aware that something wrong had taken place with regard to our military I would get the question it comes down to a choice of rebuilding the defenses or balancing the budget which would you do and every single time I said I would come down on the side of national defense and I never made that remark to an audience that I did not get in many cases a standing ovation but at any rate an ovation and I think this steady drumbeat and this criticism from up on the hill has created a false belief among too many people in this country that maybe in one or two years we've solved the problem but we've got a long way to go before we really can say that we're able to meet the first prime responsibility of the national government which is to be able to guarantee the safety and security of this nation and our people the truth of the matter is everyone seems to overlook that as a percentage of gross national product the defense spending is a smaller share of that than it has been at almost any time in the past except for the preceding few years when it was allowed to deteriorate so badly and even the outgoing administration had recognized that because they had submitted a plan for a five year build up of the military and we now are adding only about three billion dollars a year to what their plan was and frankly part of that is because they could not have bought for the money figure they put in all the things that they had put in as required weapons systems and improvements Mr. President we have to ask you about the big news of the day which is the Israeli administration's report on Sabra and Shatila it was a recommendation of General Sharon Resign and there may be some change in the Israeli government imagine you've studied it by now do you have any comment? well this is a very easy one that's a strong democracy over there and that's an internal problem and I just don't think that we should be commenting or injecting ourselves into that internal problem thank you Mr. President we can get on the way around well I'm sorry thank you so much thank you all for coming here we'll see you again thank you Mr. President


International guests here and also because we are webcasts at live so we will hopefully have people also joining us from other places There so if you in the in the discussions and so on we need to use the microphone We have to remember that so you can also be heard. So welcome. My name is Johan Shilanshanna I'm the executive director of the Stockholm Environment Institute It's very nice to see quite a lot of new faces, quite a lot of young faces Being here today, which is great actually because today we are setting the agenda Which actually affects you much more than me to be honest If I managed to stay along I actually will retire at the same year as the SDGs should be fulfilled I'll be 65 then but for you. This is a startup And it's interesting even from a personal perspective because twice started my career That was basically when we had the real conference in 1992 So the sustainability agenda was high then as well And I was very excited by Rio agenda and agenda 21 and everything that was Linked to that and I hope that you will be equally excited what the world leaders in New York in their wisdom will decide Hopefully today about the new development agenda and finally again getting Environment and development issues back together in a comprehensive way So today we will have the agenda being agreed upon. Hopefully you have seen a lot being written about this Some are very much in favor of the SDGs organizations like ourselves. This is sort of the core of what we are doing some are Quite critical about the SDGs. They are saying they are too broad. They are too wide They don't really focus and so on And of course, it's gonna be interested to continue that discussion But from our perspective from a science perspective, this is exactly the case Sustainability is not a very simple straight way forward It is a complex world if we want to address poetry development climate natural resources Equity, this is a complex agenda. Everything is connected But nothing will really happen if we just Stay at that global level The world leaders have taken the first step Everybody knows that these Agendas these goals these targets have to really be brought down not just to the regional EU national level, but even to the local level that was the That was really the the strength of agenda 21 once that it was brought down to the local level and really engaged people The SDGs are still far up here So countries need to start working on this and this is what we are going to talk about today Which is actually great because Sweden cannot play a leading role in this clearly together with a number of other like-minded people or countries Every country has a responsibility. It doesn't mean that the goals or the responsibilities look the same for each country What we need to focus on what we should do and what we need to How we need to support other parts of the world if we all have our Priorities we all have our challenges, but the agenda is global Implementation becomes national and local and we have to interpret that Fortunately, I have 200 colleagues who are much more knowledgeable than I am about almost everything we do So I will hand over now. I will hand over to Nina writes I'm happy that you're here Nina because you have been common media star today already been in radio twice Because of the SDGs and this is actually quite good because I think the SDGs have been too Far off the agenda for too long a lot of folks on climate. It's great But now we need to get these broader agenda So Nina is great that you will take us through a little bit the report that we launched not so long ago About Sweden and and we will also then have inputs from our Man in this case in New York who is there right now? I'm on the needle stop and then later on we will also come back and have an open discussion We're not just you know Q&A you asking questions and we try to respond but also your perspectives I mean provide comments feel open to also You know state what you think is important as we move forward and then my colleagues will ask all Or answer all the tricky questions and I can take the same once but still Nina if you can join me up here And I will hand over the microphone to you Okay, I wanted to just first quickly introduce what what SCI has been doing in relation to the SDGs over the the past three years We've been involved in the development of the new global goals for sustainable development and that's What's previously been called a post point 15 agenda and the sustainable development goals? Since a few days back its agenda 2030 and the global goals for sustainable development So SCI has engaged as part of a group of other international research institutes and provided independent analytical support to Members of the open working group who was tasked to draft the goals And also we've been supporting individual member states We've also done research on certain aspects of the agenda particularly on integration and policy coherence And clearly clearly as you all mentioned most of SCI's research agenda sort of informs these goals in one way or the other The UN process then has Quite naturally focused on the primarily on the global level it's focused on setting the global goals and the global targets and On facilitating a dialogue on the means of implementation and then also on formulating an indicator Framework for global follow-up and review But guidance on how this global framework will be translated to the national level And how countries will act on it has been quite limited And an important principle then of the STG's or global goals as I should now sort of Re-learn to say again Instead of the STG's They apply to all countries. So it's not an Aid agenda in the same way as the Millennium Development Goals were They will also be implemented according to To national circumstances and the agenda States in fact That each government will set its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition But taken into account national circumstances and that each government will decide how the global targets should be incorporated in national planning processes policies and strategies So the question then is how countries can approach this task and if they have yet realized the scope of this exercise Yes, one month Okay, just for your plans we have yet I mean, yeah, and then you excellent. Yeah perfect So this is also then the focus of this report that we've launched Last week where we present an initial analysis of which goals are relevant for Sweden What these targets can mean in a Swedish context and discuss some key opportunities and challenges for target setting And implementation at the national level So we've put this forward as sort of an inspiration To government representatives and other stakeholders that are the ones who will in fact need to lead and take ownership of this Process of interpreting the global framework and set national targets And I will come back to later that technical assessment can only get us some distance in this task So I think we should leave Shift over to months Here he is Okay And months can you hear us he continues to continue, okay See if we get a chance to that would be like a live update from the actual summit where he is in New York So we'll see if he can come back with some some news for us So I'm more on the report then First of all, I'd like to mention that as kind of his face Implementation and considering what what actions it will take they will need to consider three different levels of implementation one is the mystic agenda Which are issues on the domestic policy agenda in Sweden for example Equality social inclusion education sustainable management marine environments to mention a few We'll also need to consider what Sweden can do within the scope of its development cooperation agenda This is likely to be more The target similar to those that were in the on the G's For example on sanitation on access to energy water and food Or reduced maternal mortality for example Within the international agenda And Sweden will need to consider its contribution and how it impacts on international sustainable development and global public goods and resources sustainability And our report here has focused on the domestic agenda as we saw I need to test the framework on on a high-income country and also in shifting the focus away from from just a Perception of the agenda is one for for the for development cooperation So as the first step of our analysis we reviewed which targets were relevant to Sweden's domestic agenda for this screening We excluded 52 targets that are on the means of implementation and They appear both under each goal and that's a separate goal in in goal 17 And we first looked for which of those remaining 117 and 107 sorry Targets that are applicable in Sweden so that is if if those targets actually address phenomena that can exist in Sweden and Our screening found that they are all applicable and this has been one of the UN's ambitions as well that the framework should be universally applicable Secondly, we'll look at which of them we could confidently say were achieved in Sweden and would probably remain so until 2030 and On this basis, we could exclude 26 targets primarily those MDG type of targets extreme poverty hunger access to drinking water energy and basic education for example So that means that 81 targets or 76% of those that we reviewed would require some action in Sweden So clearly the agenda 2030 that is now being agreed upon is not just an aid agenda, but very much relevant to Sweden Our screening also flagged up six goal areas as potentially more challenging than others for Sweden This included the goal on education on sustainable economic growth on reducing inequalities climate change Sustainable consumption and production and marine resources It is of course problematic to point out and prioritize certain Areas and targets as more important than others in particular as many of those targets interlink and they're also highly political so this should be taken with a Some more as flagging up goals that appeared in As a few examples from goals on economic inequality, gender equality and sustainable economic growth Target 10.1 is on reducing income inequality at the national level And speaking of relative poverty then this is one of the poverty targets that is Perhaps most relevant to high-income countries and for Sweden, which is one of the most equal countries And consequently close to achieving the target Income gaps are widening. So trends are looking negative and despite being close to achievement this merits attention by by the government in recent Suggestions more redistributive reforms have been proposed And are then specifically targeted to benefit those with the lowest income and to strengthen Income equality between men and women So this is an example of a target that was actually one of the most straightforward ones. It's quite clear But under the same goal We struggled with the target 10.2 for example Which states that by 2030 and power and promote the social economic and political inclusion of all Irrespective of age sex disability race ethnicity origin religion or economic or other status This is clearly very multi-dimensional and includes ambiguous wording and does not clearly express an end state of what is to be delivered Our second example here is target 5.2 which addresses violence against women and also includes trafficking This is an example of a target that in part addresses issues that cannot be handled only within the domestic agenda as a cross-border phenomena trafficking require international cooperation and Secondly, it's a target where data is difficult as violence against women is known to be heavily under reported Although this is improving in Sweden. It makes comparison over time very difficult But despite these challenges then the target brings up important issues for Sweden Statistics show that sexual violence against women and trafficking is increasing Although this can in part be explained then by by the improved reporting rather than an actual increase It's reported it's been reported more than 27,000 cases of assault in 2014 and almost 3,000 cases of rape in 2013 So eliminating gender-based violence is a priority of the Swedish government as part of its gender equality agenda And a new national strategy was presented in June this year My last example of the targets then is target 8.4 Which addresses resource efficiency in consumption and production and decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation And this is a target that is tricky from a domestic perspective as it addresses global resource efficiency And the scale for decoupling is not clearly stated in the target Sweden has decoupled environmental degradation within Sweden from economic growth and emissions have decreased by 22% since 1990 But for more high-income countries the emissions from domestic consumption is more relevant Especially if we're talking about global resource efficiency And emissions from Swedish consumption have increased since the early 90s and an increasing proportion is taking place abroad So assessing this target is tricky, but it's clearly raising relevant issues Especially since there's been limited practical and policy efforts To date towards achieving Sweden's own national objectives of solving its own environmental problems without increasing pressures elsewhere So in addition to the scale issues of this target, which makes Expectation at the national level unclear. It also includes ambiguous wording such as promote Which gives no clear end state And also statistics that link Swedish consumption with impacts along supply chains Is lacking What then are the implications of this for Sweden in terms of setting up implementation of the SDGs? We found As I've stated that all the global goals that are being agreed upon this weekend Raise issues of relevance to Sweden and a majority of the targets Are not yet achieved Few of the targets, however, address completely new policy areas to Sweden and they therefore need to be integrated in existing politics and policy This is a great opportunity to integrate Sustainability in existing policy processes and politics align sector objectives and align domestic and foreign agendas But in order to know exactly what to integrate and what to act on there is need to explore in more depth What those globally proposed agenda will mean define what the Swedish priorities are and identify possible entry points for Implementation and this cannot be made by an independent research institute like SEI Although we would be very happy to support the work But technical assessment has shown very clearly that it only takes us half way The nature of the agenda is political and it requires both political decisions and priorities and Target setting and a meaningful national implementation plan requires Therefore a government led process for interpreting the agenda for the Swedish context This process is critical for capturing the opportunity to make the SDGs more than a reporting framework to the UN Making it one that actually drives relevant action in order to get the priorities right and Build ownership this process would also benefit from being inclusive including various ministries local government and agencies as well as civil society and business in terms of leadership then Parliament will have to play an important role to keeping the SDGs high on the agenda and Ensuring also ultimate accountability and the office of the Prime Minister Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Will have an important and coordinating role In this and we think that Sweden is well prepared having a minister for future and strategic development issues and also it's Secretariat within the Prime Minister's office the comprehensiveness of The agenda and the many interlinkages between targets does also put higher demand for integrated planning and action Across policy areas and this may require new or adapted organizational structures How responsibilities for the agenda is to be assigned is a very tricky question And is being worked on But it may not be to split up responsibility based on how the SDGs are organized at the global level but rather by identifying cross-cutting themes that contribute to those achievements and Identify how various ministries can work towards these within their current mandate In any case coordination knowledge sharing and learning between ministries will be important for successful implementation So in approaching this task governments can be supported by analytical frameworks That ensure proper review of coherence and cooperation between different policy areas and also between national bilateral and international policy levels And the Swedish government has begun to explore its policy for global development as one entry point and policy coherence for sustainable development as a supporting framework And we think that continuing this work with will be very useful in moving forward Finally accountability will be key to progress And our analysis has questioned how effective the global indicators are as drivers of change Successful implementation will depend on getting the actions right and there is risk that global indicators Divert attention to other for Sweden less relevant areas So instead our findings suggest that greater emphasis should be put on national indicators And monitoring frameworks which can ensure accountability towards citizens on those relevant actions and Such indicators will need to be developed in conjunction with the national target setting and can be complementary To the framework that the UN is now establishing for tracking the global progress I'll stop there. I don't know if we have months What's up, maybe it can you join us as well because I think the Q&A you'd be part of this So maybe you can also use the cell and use this mic We'll share it. Hello, everyone. I'm also passion. I'm a researcher here at the AI who I had a privilege to work with Nina on this report. It was very interesting but also very Demanding in terms of effort so Nina did all the hard work screening all these targets, but It was very informative actually to read through them all of them. It's a very comprehensive and sort of super inclusive framework Yeah, great. So join us here and Just the only thing I would like to say is that while the report you have available Yeah, you can have additional copies if you want to bring back to other colleagues We have also put in the back there a lot of other material which is linked to for instance this what Nina mentioned independent research forum Which has been an international collaborative Network of organizations supporting countries in the process leading up to New York now And also some other things that we've been writing blogs and so on and one of the few times I've also been involved is actually trying to convince a couple of people who are critical towards the whole SDG That I thought they were wrong, but I realized very quickly that that was a hopeless battle Longboury was one of them by the way. I don't know if you saw his Article in the insurgenble art a few days ago But read that one otherwise. I think it's an interesting way of how people really still Misunderstand what the SDGs are all about. So we have a huge task really to explain What they actually mean and what they are for because I think people have misunderstood that anyway Let's have comments and questions and the discussions or debate or critical points or whatever you want This is an open agenda here now. So Anyone come on. You are the next generation. So I'm expecting you to Really have some yes good It doesn't work like this, but it's for the web I was thinking it was really interesting to hear about the sustainable development goes from a Swedish context And I was thinking about the millennium development goals that has a just focusing on the developing countries and When this sustainable development goals had this massive Participatory process consulting a lot of actors and I was thinking how did it take into account? If you know anything about how they took into account the Swedish actors in other words How is the sustainable development goes tailored for a Swedish context? Okay, can you we take a few comments and maybe then we can come back to some Responses from your side anyone else who likes to comment. Yes, maybe say who you are also should have I'm Rick at stay and very Richard stone from Stockman University and I'm studying the effects of agriculture on the Swedish environmental goals right now And also I wonder how do these goals correlate with With the switch and my mental goals Anyone else who wants to add something now or we can take up more later So so I mean the first question is interesting about the involvement the UN is Clearly stating that you know millions of people have been involved all over the world We have been working a lot with this mainly on the international arena. So what about the national level? But what about Sweden? my perspective perception is that it had been quite Limited the discussion in in in Sweden, but the Swedish delegation was one of Fewer that actually included civil society organizations As part of their delegation and there's been continuous consultations as well Throughout the process of setting the global goals Where the foreign ministry for example has been leading the the negotiations from Sweden has involved? Consultations with those organizations as well Yeah, just add a brief comment on that I agree with you Nina that's there has been consultation But I would say me reflecting back on what you said you and that it's been To some extent perceived as this developments Assistant agenda, so the ministry for foreign affairs have been Consulting with stakeholders, but there hasn't really been that sort of Systematic consultation on the domestic agenda sort of For example, how do they match with the environmental quality objectives? And I think this is not absolutely not unique to Sweden I went to one of these meetings in New York with the negotiators and from one other European high-income country when they said what they were sort of doing on this it was completely sort of within the development assistance Sector, so I think and we had a report actually from Mars this morning He'd seen some new material that it is very much the frame of the Developing country agenda, so yeah, that's what we're trying to sort of question and start a broader discussion about I think I mean this what is important in this point is also what will actually happen in terms of where the Responsibility of the implementation in Sweden will land It's a bit of a discussion within the government right now that some of us are well aware of and We should hope that it doesn't land on Actually the ministry for environment I would say because then it becomes like agenda 21 an environment issue or at the ministry for at least Not that part of the minister for foreign affairs dealing with ODA I mean it's more interesting if it ends ends up in the ministry for finance or or something I mean somewhere else where you have a more overarching responsibility for me. Yeah So but I still want to the ministry for environment to be involved, so Absolutely, but I can say I was talking about you know also your question Has this been a negotiation or discussion in Sweden I think in general not just have we not been so much involved even though you have a good example where this has worked in part of the formal involvement through civil society, but I I Was speaking in in sort of tell you municipality some weeks ago for instance and I asked them I mean these four were people really working on environmental issue primarily and ask them So what do you know about the STG's how many know any of the STG's in here one two people out of 40 And that's still you know, so we have some uphill I think to work and and okay, they haven't been involved in the development now the implementation is another thing So any other comments or questions? Come on, come on, come on Okay, good If no one's got a question anything I would like to question The goal number eight from from a from a you know growth slash development standpoint because it's Studying studying economy ecological economics and others. Do we really need? Economic growth Or do we need economic development? It's a question of quantity versus quality. I guess So sorry from from both actually but first of all since it was a critical Critical goal as as that's a critical goal. It's primarily Swedish context Okay, any other who wants to add in on this Hopefully quiet Okay, so how did you approach this? I mean did this become a discussion when you were trying to assess it has it been a discussion also at the global level When you've been to your retreats, this is a very sensitive issue about growth development whatever it means Yes, I Think first of all we've focused more on the sort of second half of this Target and they show up decoupling Oh, sorry, I heard just yesterday one of the priorities In general for the agenda from a Swedish perspective will be on decent jobs. So that's also in there This is not one of the targets that I have focused more on I don't know do you have No, but I Mean growth I think opportunities to grow has been a clearly very important issue for developing countries in this whole process and some Wordings have been taken out like any things sort of implying limits to growth. It's very sensitive But then on I mean, I think your question in a way Raises a bigger question and that is the extent to which these goals or targets angles are kind of Ideological or if they are kind of more what we call policy Targets, you know, it's yes. There is consensus. We want to have good education opportunities for Children, it's not a you know critical issue, but this sort of how should Societies grow is more critical and what we tried a thing to say in this Report is that we think maybe domestic policymakers when they sort of get the the minutes from New York on Monday next week and start looking closely at the targets they might React that these are quite political targets. They are not sort of just Nice kind of Uncontroversial targets, but they do raise questions and that's why also we feel that they need to be a subject to proper political debate at the national level and not just Not not just within government, but really they should be debated in Parliament If I can add also compared to Agenda 21, which I think was an extraordinary document in itself And the Rio principles which we have tended to forget about Unfortunately, because they are also quite excellent and many of the Rio principles have actually been integrated into global policy in terms of for instance, blue-tri-pace principle or Common but the differentiation responsibilities or even in the Rio principles. We had the whole responsibility about we are Not supposed to cause harm in other parts of the world from our consumption. They were all there These I mean these targets are quite specific still as you say also. I think that when Governments beyond those that have been really involved in the STG setting and they start to realize what we have signed on to This can actually create a lot of interesting discussions. I mean some of the targets that you mentioned here also Nina regarding equality regarding harassment regarding, you know Even workplace decent jobs and all that That will become interesting even in a country like Sweden, I think please Yes, just small come yes, my name is Susanna Lucas. I'm an internet sida. I You're a latin division and just a comment on your comment that as I see it that you cannot I Mean in this economic system you cannot This is the English you cannot Yeah, this account the importance of growth. That's I mean that's kind of the base of the economic system Then you can discuss how the economic system should perhaps be changed. Yes But and I have a question for you regarding Let's see where it is. It's Yeah, this eliminate all forms of violence five point two in the gender quality goal What kind of policies did you because you had you saw that the policies were? Yeah Positive in the positive direction When yeah, and I wonder what kind of policies did you look at? Yeah to include in that research For the policy screening all of this is sort of a a quick screening overview of existing policy efforts interventions And I think for this particular Target seeing that it's a positive trend that there is a actually a new Strategy put forward That the where there has also been like a critical review of the interventions that have been done to date And it's quite critical to to the the interventions that have been made and and also clear suggestions of how to how to revise and how to how to shift it Yeah It's the over yeah Absolutely, we haven't gone into like specific policy mechanisms for example, so it's an overview But it's a really interesting point because that's the risk sometimes with these that we stuck get stuck with Do we have the policies? Do we have the legal framework? So oh, yeah, we do so that's fine So, you know, we are really in the right direction and I mean if you look at most countries that are violating human rights or Most countries that have huge problems with environmental issues. Most of them actually have Most of them good policies or you know good legal frameworks. It's just that they are not implemented So it's an interesting point in general and I think even from a Swedish perspective it might be Interesting to later on dig deeper into some of these areas and see how policies are or not translated into real changes Yeah, just to reiterate one of the big points We're also trying to make in the report is that this shouldn't we would like to see in the reporting on this agenda both to national At the national level but also when Sweden reports to the UN we would I think like to see a lot of reporting on actions taken not just these 100 or 300 whatever indicators that are now being Discussed so it's just one big measurement exercise and you don't have a clue if the sort of performance on that indicator was caused by actual Taking action or other circumstances like general economic growth or whatever so we would like to see not just this obsession with numbers and indicators but actual sort of review of Policy taken and for example the OSTD perform environmental performance reviews on the environmental sort of domain of sustainable development Which could be a model so that's I mean this type of reporting is done Which actually it says more we think about the bigger picture Yes, Rob This is our communication director director robots so because he will forget to introduce himself Yes, hi, I'm Rob everybody I have a question at which is are there any insights from this recent report? Or from other research that you've done that might be applied to What we might call a developing country or in a developing country context You want to add a while you think there is not one My name is Ida Ragnarsson and I work at LSU the National Council for Swedish youth Organizations and I have I think my question links into your question in that it would be interesting to see you mentioned that there were three Sort of policy or agenda levels and it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on If there are any linkages between those three levels that would be interesting to develop as well I mean if we if we in Sweden and are focusing on on one thing there could be or should be Interesting connections into how that relates to our international cooperation or a development cooperation agenda as well Or if that's going to be completely different, but maybe we can also learn from Someone else in our own agenda if we focus on the same things Of the easiest question Who wants to Okay, I'm very tempted to hand over to Nina The very good questions both Rob's and yours And it's quite difficult to keep all these to one hundred and six nine targets sort of at the top of mind but Let me say I can't sort of Think of targets immediately that sort of would be you know, where Swedish performance is sort of informative to developing countries challenges But I mean the whole sort of lecture I think our lesson we drew was that I mean Yeah, 81 targets are still need to be dealt with so it's not sort of There's still a lot to do and some of these will be Sort of in common with developing countries and I believe for example also something like De-coupling and consumption based emissions. That's also growing problems in places like China. So this is that's another sort of World view that we think and not just we many think we need to keep in mind is sort of more New bands world we have lots of emerging economies as well. And it's not just the north and south As in sub-Saharan Africa. So Sorry, I can't give a more precise answer than that But maybe you can know But more like an overarching one is the I guess that The challenge and like the time that needs to be invested in actually doing this interpretation That it really isn't just applying this framework that we're now looking at it And like I said like from a quick look they look quite specific and it's just like okay now We know what to do But they need to they it gets very political and and tricky when applying it to a specific context and especially in develop many developing countries where data is much more scarce than I Mean we were able to do like a quick review quite easily Excessing data So that will be a challenge and then I guess on some issues where Sweden Can sort of set an example for example on gender equality for example there. I'm sure lessons to learn I mean, I think the I mean these questions are really interesting and I mean If I understood you correctly in your question one one aspect that for instance is included in these in this gold framework Which I think is quite fascinating is trade all together because trade for instance has always been very sensitive to talk about Outside of WTO or whatever, you know, you you try to exclude it from these kind of discussions, but it's there So no you can't you can't exclude it and actually that I think is is fascinating because we we have managed finally to get a Goals framework that doesn't shy away from those issues that are highly Political contentious, which we've done in the past Which may then the goals irrelevant in a way So whatever decisions we make there are really critical in terms of you know Linkages to other countries and in particular emerging economies foreign direct investments You know connecting up to the private sector Global investments and so on so as you are saying, you know, it's really when we start to analyze what these mean in practice I think that's when we're going to see, you know What we are saying we are connected and whatever we do however we we act on a national level We'll also have implications outside of the country. So it's not just about demonstrating examples. It's also about Making it more explicit that you know, we are part of a global community And we're affecting a global community much more than just through ODA and so on which has been the classical thing in in Development discussions previously, which is just this much of the total So any yes in the back and then here so we take two more. My name is Anders Eslín I work as a consultant and I work a lot with landscape projects like biosphere reserves and model forests and things like that and Working with those Projects or initiatives. I find that that a lot of people do have problems Interpretating what sustainable development is to start with and that's kind of the main question What is sustainable development for us? Do you think that those goals could help them guide them in their discussions and The other way around do you think those kind of landscape laboratories can add value to the public debate or or the development of the concept Innisfedish concept and and further out in international concept. Thank you. It's a small question that one Hi, I'm Claudia Strambeau from here from Stockholm environment institutes So I'm just picking up on the the comment on trade and the fact that it's quite interesting to see such Critical and difficult issue coming up in a new policy sphere, but at the same time, maybe it's because we're stuck in the normal The the normal policies where that we start talking about it in another sphere So I was wondering since you've been a bit Involved also in the discussions and with negotiators to what extent issues like trade or environment that have quite specific institutional institutions and regimes where they're discussed and negotiated on a continuous basis And to what extent like there is this feeling that I will can't deal with it anymore. So let's try in another way So I have a sometimes to leave this microphone away Thanks, so first a question on biospheres and landscape laboratories and and you said it's like how to interpret sustainability. What does it mean? And I think when I Started following this process, which was a bit later than Nina. I Also sort of was looking as a Scientist, okay, what's their definition of sustainability? What kind of principles or theories or frameworks are they gonna apply and this surely must build on some kind of clear definition, but I Couldn't really see that there was that so in a way I think if you want to be very sort of strict to me sustainable development in this UN context and the global goals it Relates more to the fact that we need to integrate environmental economic and social dimensions is not so much about what's the Sustainable level of resource use for example a kind of maximum sustainable yield Regarding fishery that sort of sense of sustainability or natural capital And I think you just yeah need to accept that's the case. So you will find lots of I mean the word sustain ability is present in a lot of the targets But it's very open to interpretation But I think Yeah, I mean it would be really interesting to hear what it like if you take this framework to the People you work with like what they would you know if it would help them or sort of stimulate discussion And I think now is the time I mean if these laboratories which sound interesting, but if they could Have a sort of you know, you could do sort of an exercise discussing what do these goals mean in our context I would be really interesting to show as a kind of early Start with this agenda and provide an example how it could be worked with but yeah, I'm can't give any more concrete Suggestions I'm afraid now, but you know have a have an experiment I would say I don't think I have much to add I agree with what you said and also on your Question cloud yet to it hasn't been of any of the the limited To the limited extent that we've been involved in negotiations And we haven't been in in the formal negotiations But just in the preparatory work of the open working group and also in in that setting sort of outside of New York and outside of their Political context some more in like in it was more about making sense of like guiding principles For example of the framework. What does universality mean? What does integration mean and so on? So I I don't have any insights actually on the negotiations in terms of the trade issues Thank you, but it's interesting Claudia to come back to your question on trade again If you read the article, I shouldn't advertise it too much But still I mean it's interesting if you read the article by Lomborg Then a few days ago critical again to the STG's and he for instance says that well, you know 169 goals, but if you really look at it It's only about three or four that would solve everything one is free trade So and then you start to think well, you know, but for free does free trade work if you have failing states and you know So again, it's you know just taking an economy very strict economic view making an analysis invest in this You get $30 back, but you don't look at all the externalities for instance So it's yeah, this is a Danish Lomborg who is so who is writing in Svenska dobbler that on a regular basis as a guest Edit yeah leader writer comment. So so you know, I think we have a lot to do in terms of Explaining that many of the sort of simple solutions that that seems to come back in terms of how to Save the world or develop countries With for instance trade that they actually do require quite a lot of other things to function and to also be sustainable on the long run But I don't think it's hopeless and I think this framework helps us to set that That's why it's so important that trade for instance is included in the framework and is seen as a critical factor That economic growth is part of the framework so it can be discussed within this context Etc. Etc. Etc. So I mean let's this is starting point. It's no question about it I think and what I really I mean your question about or your your your comments and questions I think just like you're saying We are just starting I mean what what needs exactly what happened with agenda 21. There is no clear political process Okay, say thank you. Okay. Now. It's gonna do this We need you know hundreds and thousands of different initiatives and ideas and tests and you know How do we really translate this into action? So I urge in particular all we had a lot of interns here today from the ministries you should take this forward I mean you are those below 30 now. I mean you you should drive this agenda. You should push You should take initiatives across Your the ministries and say that okay, this is going to be our agenda. Let's take the leading Role here now to push this this agenda. It's not just for you know the old guard up there It's actually our agenda. So, you know, it's about being innovative and really dare to take this forward that I think is key here So any final words from my colleagues about this? Do you think SGS will check or the agenda 2030 agenda will change the world? Depending on what the countries do with it scientists Yes, or no What do you think also I'm not convinced they will all be achieved by 2030, but I do think they will hopefully I hope they will function as this sort of glue in International society. So when there is like division in other arenas climate negotiations or trade negotiations countries or civil society can sort of You know bring the SDG reports and sort of remind people that's actually there you have committed to this as well It's voluntary, but still there is a sort of reference point so That's my hope Do we want to I mean say anything about the future work on SDGs and sort of also that we Yeah, I think No, I just want to make the point that this was intended this report as a sort of stimulating discussion So if you and your various institutions have you know Views and ideas. We're very interested in engaging In dialogue with you. So we didn't have time this time to do this super comprehensive rigorous statistical analysis But we still think this is they can provide this Basis for discussion. So we invite you, but maybe you want to I can just comment that we will hopefully in the coming Years, I guess Both be working with Still through the independent research forum. So we were sort of which allows us to make good comparison between countries and It's research Institute based in in very different countries Allowing us for drawing lessons in implementation across those And we're hoping to be involved in the continuous implementation in Sweden as well. So we're just setting up a Project around that So thanks lot. Did you have a final comment or was it no you just wave in happiness? That's okay That's fine. So anyway, so I we hope that you actually feel not leaving this You know that when you're leaving now that you don't feel depressed and everything going the wrong way or whatever quite the contrary today It's actually a happy day. We hope they haven't passed. They haven't Yet I think so let's be a lit, you know optimistic with care with with some care still But otherwise, you know, see these as a really positive and interesting agenda to move forward and something that actually will Keep us really engaged over the next 10 15 years. So you have a fantastic Work life ahead of you in implementing the SDGs. So thank you very much Also, and Nina a warm applause to you for this one and thank you for coming and joining us here today Don't forget to take stuff in the back there if you're


The music factory project that will get custom music composed for you freedom family starts with meeting the guy organizing everything. Meet Ben the composer. Ask your questions down there in the comments below anything to do with music music composition if you want to join the team after you hear from Ben. Take it away! Hello freedom family I am Benjamin Mason at I wanted to give you a bit of background about who I am and why I've joined freedom. I work with George back in 2009 back when he had started TGN and then I actually went off and started my own business and I started Minecraft server as well so I have a lot of experience online on YouTube but most of my experiences in music I've been composing music for just over 10 years and I have been playing and performing music for about 14 years. I have a background in tuba performance I played tuba on a professional level as well and another thing I have experienced it is building and building and creating music studios so I'm really excited to be working with freedom in the process of putting together a music studio. One thing that we're currently doing is building a team of composers it's going to be about we're hoping for about 10 total composers we want to have people in different backgrounds currently we have two EDM composers and two classical composers myself being one of the classical composers and we're looking for people with backgrounds in rock music jazz music and you know other things like that so if you do have any experience with those genres you know please comment below let us know that you're interested in joining we are looking for people who are interested in helping us grow and help us create the music factory and as I'm sure you've heard George talk about at that eye right there he's discussed the music factory in the past and explained that the music factory is going to be a website where composers can collaborate with each other and join in a group that they can collaborate with partners as well so there's a lot to do and there's a lot to talk about but this is just a short introduction I look forward to getting to meet everyone and getting to talk with you and if you have any questions for me please leave them in the comments and I'll respond as soon as I can so I really appreciate it and appreciate the opportunity George and look forward to meeting you it's about time it is long overdue and I look forward to meeting you in person too Ben thank you for that great introduction and now let's talk about the George challenge which is these videos that you have been sending us of you doing exercise so you can stay healthy stay fit here is my contribution for today's daily ritual roll it hi freedom family today we're gonna add some weight to doing the stairs the weight is called Kira and we're gonna go from G to 40 with her on my shoulders ready set go and here we go and we also have a partner we have this person who are you here she's gonna do the stairs with us this is my seven-year-old seven-year-old oh are you gonna wait here we are on the sixth floor are you tired yet Kira here we are 25 and Kira's getting tired look she's running out of breath here we are on 31 Kira's falling asleep I want you freedom family to do this challenge yourself I'm not saying put a baby on your shoulder but give yourself more weight more challenge let's do it get fit together oh we're here at 40 what time is it ask my partner Abby she did the climb with us my name is George and today's ritual is done keep sending links to how you've accepted the George challenge to the videos down there in the comments below so I can add them to this playlist and everybody can get motivated and fit together that's what this is all about being healthy having a clear mind and a healthy heart so we can make better videos and grow faster together because that's the spirit of freedom we all help each other grow together as a family and who am I I am Papa George George son pie and many other names you the beautiful freedom family has given me today I'm not wearing my freedom shirt I am George CEO and founder of the blue shirt that doesn't say freedom for freedom and the freedom family and the music factory which will get you a ton of great music I am George and you've been watching click that I to partner with freedom and join the freedom family so we can all grow together you get many perks like position music you also get epidemic sound a lot of other access to royalty free videos sponsorships and many things to help you grow just click the links down there in the description below to get involved in our community our forums our discord chat servers meet our graphics team meet our community team all of that on discord and the forums what are you waiting for get started and we will grow together as a family because this is the freedom family you are part of it we are all part of it and we're all growing together to get more George click that big F that will subscribe you to freedom central home of the George show click the freedom family plus one video to see I'm having a new baby number four and the 60 million dollar video to see the 60 million coming to freedom to help you grow


Since we have been talking about assessment and its related procedures, this is very much important to understand that in certain circumstances, all the kind of assessment we are interested in is not available. In those scenarios where the assessment procedures, the assessment tools and relevant questionnaires are not available, we have to construct them. And while doing the test construction, it is not that easy that we are going to just develop a test on the basis of certain interviews, on the basis of certain indicators available to us through previous literature or things like that. But we have to follow a certain protocol in process of test construction. Psychologists who develop tests and other assessment techniques use appropriate psychometric procedures and current scientific and professional knowledge for test designing, standardization, validation, reduction and elimination of personal biases, and recommendation for use. So test construction is a specialized field of psychology in which there are certain rules and regulations that we have to follow to construct tests. Simply, we cannot create a question area, a tool or a survey by collecting some of the clients' batons. Rather, we have to validate them. We have to see its content validity index. We have to see its face validity. We have to see that either this test is going to pass the factor analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis, the exploratory factor analysis and then we will do its reliability analysis. We will see which items we have to delete, which items we have to retain, how we are going to develop a complete comprehensive test, its sub-scales, and that is a complete statistical psychological assessment, after which we make a valid tool and compare it with other already developed tools to establish its convergent validity, then we have to see its discriminant validity and concurrent validity and things like that. So by saying that I want to explain that test construction is not a simple thing. It is a specialized and very much trained field in which we have to do different logistics to develop a test, but yet psychologists have to do that because at time they are constrained with the assessment techniques and they have to opt the option of test construction. Interpreting the Assessment Results When interpreting assessment results, psychologists take into account purpose of assessment as well as the various test factors and the other characteristics of the person being assessed, so they are not only the score which they are going to look into, but all the factors which are associated with it, either at that time the mood of the subject, or associated factors like noise, lighting, health, personal preference factors, biases, certain stress results can be accurate or inaccurate or invalid, so we have to see all those factors as well and as much as a psychologist can control those factors, it is very much important to control them so that they cannot be our confounding variables. Then all those characteristics that might be affecting the person being assessed that might affect psychologist's judgment and reduce the accuracy of their interpretation. If we will be unable to accurately measure all those confounding variables and we don't make them as control variables, they are certainly going to affect the test interpretations. Assessment by unqualified persons is another important thing to be talked about. Psychological assessment techniques by unqualified persons are not promoted. Overall psychology is not being promoted by you know if they are being practiced by unqualified and non-professional persons, but specifically with reference to test administration, if this is going to be done by anyone who is unqualified, this is going to be highly unethical, except for training purposes with appropriate supervision. Then another thing is that we are not going to use the obsolete test. Assessment and intervention decisions cannot be based on the tests that are outdated for the current purpose. As I mentioned earlier, that tests are revised with time and those test versions which are for a specific time period and after time they need to be revised, so we have to see that we are not using that test assessment in the current time which should be used in the scenarios 10 years ago. Let's say we take the example of intelligence again. The construction of intelligence will be differently measured in today's age as compared to it has been measured 20 years ago because of that global change we are living in. So we need to see which version we are using. Similarly, for different personality assessments, with the change in DSM, different versions of DSM are coming, 4 or 4 TR and currently we are at DSM 5. So the classifications of disorders are also changing. So accordingly we need to see that either the test we are using is of revised version or it is not made according to the old classification or cluster. So it is very important to see this technically. Then test scoring and interpretation is another important thing. Psychologists who offer assessment or scoring services to other professionals accurately describe norms, validity, reliability and applications to the procedures. If we don't fully follow the scoring process, in its interpretation, if we have to transform raw scores, if we have to recoding or recoding it, if we have to reverse coat it and if we have to classify it, we didn't do it. We didn't properly deal with its sub-scales. So maybe after the original scores are transformed, we can't give a true meaning. So expertise in this domain is very much important. If the scoring is fully followed, like there is a test, TIPI, it has 10 items, it makes 5 sub-scales and after adding every 2 items, a personality domain is reflected. Some of them have to be reverse-coded, some of them don't. Who should be totaled? This needs to be understood very carefully by the student of psychology who is doing any such kind of assessment to get proper and appropriate results. Scoring and interpretation services should be used on the basis of evidence of its validity and other appropriate consideration. Whatever scoring manual is provided to you, it is very important to fully follow it. We can't interpret it on our own. If any scoring has to be done on any software, if any quality of life scale is to be scored on RAND, then you should score it on RAND. You just can't score them manually. If the provision is not being given to you, then it is not in your preview that we should assess it ourselves. Similarly, whatever domains are given for assessment, we need to fully follow them while scoring any of the questionnaire. Explaining the assessment result is also very important. Colleges take reasonable steps to ensure that the explanation of results are given to the individual or designated representative unless nature of the relationship precludes provision of an explanation of research. For example, in some security screening, you may not describe the results. In any organization consulting, we may not be able to discuss the previous things and for forensic valuation. So there are certain cases where we are not giving accurate information to the participant but we need to give that law enforcing agency. Similarly, if we get a clue during the assessment that we need to inform the police department, then we are going to inform that to the police department rather than to the subject who has been consulted us about that. Let's say that an individual comes for his journal assessment and his psychopath tendencies are very high-show. So we need to be very vigilant rather than telling them directly to the client, we have to tell them to the state-protected agencies. Then maintaining the test security is very, very important. Psychologists make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of test materials like the manuals, the instruments, the protocols and test questions and other assessment techniques consistent with law and contractual obligations and in a manner that permits adherence to the ethical code. You can't open your test construction by giving the manual to each individual to assess your scale score and publicly use it on the profit. We have seen that all the kind of psychological tests are always being copyrighted and they are being taken into very much secrecy and we have to access the manuals while sitting in the lab. We just can't photocopy them. We just can't take them out of the lab and we can't openly sit and assess them because we are being ethically restricted to use them into a closed setting and into a supervised environment. So this is something which is very much important related to not only test construction but about the test maintenance, its interpretation of scores and moreover its test security.