Governor Ed Rendell at the IOP Forum Live Blog

6:05:  Governor Ed Rendell is here at the JFK Jr. Forum for a conversation, moderated by IOP Director Trey Grayson.
6:10: Trey Grayson welcomes Rendell to the forum. “Rendell was called one of America’s most interesting mayor.”
6:15: “Students all day have asked me advice about politics. Don’t run for an office people know you don’t want to hold.” –Rendell
6:20: If you like being at the center of the action, you’d be a mayor. If you do it well, the citizens will come to trust you and believe that you can do anything. If there’s a meteor heading towards the city, people would look to you. However, being governor gave me the resources necessary to reform education.
6:22: Trey Grayson asks Rendell about education.
6:23: Education is the key to economic development, and if we want to have a good economy 20 years down the road, we better find ways to improve our educational system. My best achievement was to raise funds for education. Pennsylvania 8th graders were able to achieve high marks after we allocated more funds to education. We did a good job doing it. We didn’t just do it by raising money, but everyone knows that quality Pre-K education makes a big difference in K-12 education.
6:27: “I raised the second highest tax increase in the history of Pennsylvania. We did something, and the lesson is that people don’t care that you spend money as long as there’s a return from the investment. People need to seen the tangible results. We tax and we cut.” -Rendell
6:28: Trey Grayson asks “How would you have handled the stimulus bill if you were elected President in 2008?”
6:32: “The President talked to us about the stimulus plan, and I know vice president Biden very well. I told him that the President now has an 81% approval rating. If Congress wants to load it up with Social Welfare stuff, make sure to get it passed quickly. Have it on the President’s desk as quickly as possible, and sign the stimulus bill! No one can say that President Obama did nothing to increase jobs.” –Rendell
6:34: If you ask people on the streets of Boston whether they got a tax break from the Obama administration, what do you think the people would have said? You have to give people money to spend in order to stimulate the economy. Why didn’t the Obama administration do that? Because the economists convinced Obama that if people got checks for $800, they would have saved it instead of spend it.
6:34: Trey Grayson asks Rendell what he would say to Obama, and what constituents should hear.
6: 38: Obama has done some terrific things that he didn’t get credit for. Many people who voted for Health Care ran away from it in 2010. A lot of people love what the healthcare bill will do for them and their family. Credit card reform was a great achievement. The Occupy Wall Street movement has a good point. There is an explosive gap between the rich and the poor, and something’s got to be done about it.
6:40:“It is time to tell people the truth, and if we do that, it’s not class warfare, it’s fact. It’s fact that we have to change. We have to change how taxes are done.” –Rendell
6:42: President Obama can win if: 1) Economy turns around 2) If Republican nominates someone that’s one the wacky side, which is almost everyone 3) If Republican Congress continues to stumble on taxes, budget, and jobs.
6:43: Trey Grayson opens it up for Q&A.
6:43: Question: What role do you think the national government has in education, if at all?
6:47: “I think the federal government has a great role in education. I think the government should focus mainly on the early stage of education (Pre-K), because the most important time to invest is when the foundation is being laid. Reward progress, and reward achievement.” –Rendell
6:50: Question: You’ve advocated a lot for infrastructure spending, I was curious about your thoughts on spending on railroads.
6:54: It’s absolute essential that we do this, infrastructure is crumbling. They just ranked us a month ago as 15th in the world, our railways are 18th in the world, and our air infrastructure is 32nd in the world, behind countries like Chile and Panama. It’s killing our economy because goods movement is so important right now. Infrastructure is the single best job producer. We should build railway where there’s density in population. Spend money, but spend it wisely!
7:02: Question: What kind of advice would you give to city governments in order to solve problems of the average citizen having mortgages underwater and debt?
7:08: “The weakest part of my resume is finance. What I can tell you is to get your most creative experts in the room, and figure out how to help the people who are in trouble. Let people know you’re doing it. I’m not saying that we should become a welfare agency. There are people out there who know about this stuff, and we should use them in order to better the current situation.” -Rendell 
7:12: Question from Trey Grayson: What’s up with the Eagles?
7:13: “Eagles went for the big names, and made a big mistake. They didn’t address linebacker, and they didn’t address offensive line.” -Rendell
7:15: Crowd applauded Ed Rendell and thanked him for speaking at the JFK Jr. Forum.