'Meet the Press' transcript for March 22, 2009

MR. DAVID GREGORY:  Our issues this Sunday:  anger and outrage over AIG and executive bonuses.

(Videotape)

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D-NY):  These people are getting away with murder.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA:  I think people are right to be angry.  I'm angry.  What I want us to do, though, is channel our anger in a constructive way.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Who should be held accountable?  And will this anger undermine the president as he tries to take additional steps to save the financial system and restore confidence?

Also, the other threat to the economy, crumbling infrastructure around the nation, which carries a staggering price tag.  With us, three leaders trying to put that issue high on the agenda.  They met with President Obama Friday at the White House and we'll hear from them exclusively this morning.  The founders of Building America's Future:  New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Ed Rendell; and California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Then, where do the president and his economic team go from here?  And is the country losing patience even as the financial crisis deepens?  Insights and analysis from NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw and anchor of CNBC's "Street Signs" and co-anchor of CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Erin Burnett.

But first, with us, three leaders on the front lines of this economic crisis. Governor Schwarzenegger, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Rendell, welcome all back to MEET THE PRESS.  I don't have to tell any of you that anger in Washington and around the country this week boiled over over one number, $165 million, the amount of money that AIG paid in bonuses to executives with its financial products division.  But you three have come to Washington this week with a different number in mind, $1.6 trillion, which is the amount that your group cites as the deficiency, the amount of money necessary to deal with that shortfall when it comes to the nation's infrastructure.

Governor Schwarzenegger, you met with the president.  Tell me about why that is the key to this economy, and what's the case you made to him?

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R-CA):  Well, I think that infrastructure is extremely important.  And I have been promoting and talking about infrastructure since I've come into office in 2003 because I felt that in California our infrastructure has fallen behind; in the last four decades we really didn't build much out there, and it's really something that is very important for the economy.  In order for the economy to thrive and to live up to 100 percent of its potential, you need to have moved people and goods around very quickly.  And so if that falls behind, then the economy falls behind.  And so we were very successful in having the legislature in California and the people of California approve $42 billion of infrastructure bonds so that we can start rebuilding California.  Now, my interest also isn't just in California.  I want those in America to rebuild because our infrastructure in the whole United States is falling behind.  And so we've formed this great partnership here because Governor Rendell is very much into building infrastructure in his own state; also, Mayor Bloomberg is interested and has done a great job in New York to build infrastructure.  So we kind of joined forces and created this partnership here...

MR. GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.  Right.

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  ...to put the spotlight on this issue.  We're very fortunate that this president is listening to that and, and is interested in rebuilding America, and so we're trying to let him know we want to help and help draft the plan.

MR. GREGORY:  So, Governor Rendell, first of all, it was Governor Schwarzenegger who said infrastructure's not a very sexy word when it comes to building political will.  What are we talking about here?  Bridges, roads, what else?

GOV. ED RENDELL (D-PA):  Well, it's not just transportation infrastructure. First of all, high-speed rail.  This country desperately needs to build a high-speed rail passenger system.  We need to improve our rail freight system. But it's not just transportation.  It's the levees that failed in Cedar Rapids and New Orleans.  It's dams, it's water and wastewater systems.  It's so much more.  And the message is fairly clear.  We started Building America's Future because we think this is about the future.  We think it's about generations down the road.  And unless we can rebuild our infrastructure, we're not going to be competitive.  Unless we can rebuild our infrastructure, our quality of life is going to suffer.  Unless we rebuild our infrastructure, things like what happened in Minnesota are going to repeat.

MR. GREGORY:  Bridge collapse.

GOV. RENDELL:  So our message to the president was, "Look, you've taken some great first steps." Infrastructure in the stimulus, his commitment to light--to building high-speed rail, the infrastructure bank, so important.  We took a poll, Building America's Future, and the poll showed the American people are willing pay for infrastructure improvements, pay more taxes, if they believe it'll be done in a nonpolitical way, if the choices made will be good choices based on cost benefit analysis.  That was our message to the president.  We're willing to support him.  We think the infrastructure bank is terrific.  We need to do it in a little bit bigger scale.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG:  The president deserves a lot of credit for trying to do what he promised he would do if he got elected.  He's trying to address the difficult issues that have gone on for much too long with Congress and the White House being unwilling to face them.  He's trying to do something about energy independence, health care, education, infrastructure, whole series of things.  And so he deserves a lot of credit for trying to just not sit back and say, "I'll take only the stimulus part of the problem." He's going to make the investments for the long term.

MR. GREGORY:  Though you said before the election that he should prioritize.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  Well, I've said that he's--number one, he's got to build a team, which he's working on.  That still takes a while to do.  But number two, he's, he--somebody said a crisis is too important to waste.  This is the time where he can galvanize Congress.  This is a time where he can galvanize the country to get behind these things.

Yes, the amount of stimulus in the--the amount of money in the infrastructure package is a small amount.  But Governor Rendell--who deserves all the credit, I think Arnold would agree with me, to putting this organization together--has talked about how you can leverage that money.  And today it takes a while to get projects going.  This president's willing to face the issues and he's going to have to work with Congress...

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  ...as are all of us, and we've pledged to help him in every way we can to start attacking the problems where our sewers systems and water systems are inadequate, our transportation is inadequate, whether it's rail or air or roads, or our ports are inadequate to carry this country into the future.

MR. GREGORY:  Did you get a commitment from the president?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  The president started out by saying he got it.  We gave him a briefing paper.  He had read the briefing paper, and he assembled a team to say, "OK, these are my people.  We're going to work together.  Here's who you contact." We established the dialogue.  President wants to get this done.

GOV. RENDELL:  And the president understands, David, that we have to do it in a new way.  If we let ISTEA be reauthorized next year, same old, same old.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

GOV. RENDELL:  It's a disaster for future generations.  We have to change. We have to do something like the infrastructure bank; creative, innovative, visionary.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.  But there is still the question, Governor Schwarzenegger, of, of who's going to pay for this.  And are Americans, especially Americans who are none too pleased with where their tax dollars are going at the moment when it comes to the economy, are they really willing to pay higher taxes for this?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  Well, I think that Governor Rendell has just mentioned that in the latest polls it shows that the people are very interested in rebuilding America and they're willing also to pay for it.  Because look, everyone gets stuck in traffic.  There is no reason why we should get stuck in traffic.  I mean, what we have to do is have a plan in America to see how do we move people and goods around?  Is it through rail?  Is it high-speed rail? For instance, I am a big believer in high-speed rail.  Is it through roads? What--which direction should we go?  People want to move faster, companies want to move their goods much, much faster.  We want to upgrade all of those things rather than getting stuck with that.

MR. GREGORY:  Is an increase in the gas tax a place to start?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  I think one has to look at it.  Look, there's--that's, that's the next question maybe they do, how do you finance all of this.  But I think the important thing is that there's a willingness amongst the people to pay for it.  It doesn't all have to be done through public money.  We are talking here about public-private partnerships.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  There's many companies that are interested in coming in and financing the high-speed rail or other rail systems, light rail and so on.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.  And we talk about private equity.  There's so much money in this economy on the sidelines with nowhere to go and nobody wanting to assume any risk.  So if there's this kind of private sector money, how would it work?  If they--if private equity or hedge funds want to put up money for a light rail system, fast rail system around the country, what's in it for them?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  Well, it's a, it's a great investment.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER:  I mean, that's what--it's like when you look at British Columbia or other places where they have a public-private partnership, where everyone is happy.  Businesses are happy, the people are happy, labor is happy, the politicians are happy.  I mean, everyone is happy.  We want to do the same thing.  We should--the United States should copy that kind of a principle so that you can go out there and build.

GOV. RENDELL:  There's so many innovative ways to, to use the tax code to get private investment...

MR. GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

GOV. RENDELL:  ...involved in this.  There are innovative ways.  David, we don't have a capital budget, a federal capital budget.  We're the only governmental subdivision in the country without one.  You could finance--for $30 billion a year, which these days is not a lot of money, you could finance almost $400 billion to put up front in an infrastructure repair program administered through something like the infrastructure bank.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

Let's talk about economic reality for a moment.  Mayor Bloomberg, you say there's nothing like a crisis to mobilize political support for long overdue reforms.  But this week we got socked in the, in the, in the jaw here with the reality about this government's budget deficit and the long-term debt picture. This is how the Associated Press reported it:  "One trillion dollar deficit seen for the next 10 years.  The CBO, Congressional Budget Office, figures...predict that President Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink between 2010 and 2019, $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget. ... The latest figures, even worse than expected by top Democrats, throw a major money wrench into efforts to enact Obama's budget. ... The dismal deficit figures...inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends, or paring back his agenda." How do you, as a matter of political will, make this kind of long-term investment when the country just can't afford it?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  The political will issue is the president's greatest single challenge.  There is a crisis of confidence in this country, and it's up to the president.  He comes in--he's been in office two months.  He campaigned on change, everybody wants him to succeed and he's got to now explain exactly that to the public, why it is so important to make the investment and to commit ourselves down the road and our kids down the road to pay back all of the money they're spending today.  It's--we're in a situation where we can't not spend.  We've got to get people back confident that they're not going to lose their job, that--their jobs, that they're not going to lose their houses. You know, I see it every day.  I talk to people on the subway, they are worried.  In this country people really--even if it hasn't hurt them directly, they see it with their neighbors.  And so we've got to stop focusing on some of the publicity issues and focus on the real issue here.  We've got to get the banking system liquid again and get them loaning.  We've got to get the people being willing to spend.  We've got to have business downsize or right size, but more importantly find ways to do things more efficiently.  We live in a different world than we did a year ago.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.  But, Governor Rendell, the question of priorities.  Can the nation afford, can the government afford to make long-term investments now, even if they're good programs, with this sort of crisis of confidence and this immediate liquidity problem in the banks and with this deficit picture?

GOV. RENDELL:  I agree with Mayor Bloomberg, I don't think we can afford not to do it.  But I think the president is making good in this year--in this budget.  The, the, the high-speed rail component of it, the infrastructure bank, $25 billion.  He's making good on that.  So you have to under--I think the American people don't--aren't against spending, they're against spending they can't see.  The bailouts, they can't get their arms around it, they can't touch it.  They can't say, "Well, that's what happened for our money in the bailout." But for infrastructure, if we do it right and we're committed to seeing that it's done right...

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

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