mission street only. possible government shutdown right around the corner so who will this hurt well take a look at or near plus it's not just the government that's screwing you but here who's legally getting out of paying millions in the taxes. and the u.s. has been here before a place where top economic giants are trying to make over the local economy we're going to have a live report on bretton woods two point zero. and as these economic leaders meet the question on everyone's mind remains what in the world is going on with our global economy we're going to try to have some answers for you in just

a bit. even though it's friday april eighth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lucy coughing of any watching party. now we begin this newscast with just eight hours left i'm sure our until our government runs out of money there will be economic social and moral consequences because of partisan bickering by the men and women that we elected into office but regardless of how this budget fight ends there's a bigger problem on the horizon which is how to keep this nation afloat at a time when our deficit our debt everything is just spiraling out of control now our leaders have told us that americans must already themselves for quote shared sacrifices which apparently according to these guys mean cuts in education clean drinking water fewer cops out on the street all in the name of fiscal responsibility but corporate america will not have to sacrifice you see these what

obviously individuals and corporations in this country have more and more ways to beat the system when it comes to paying their share this means paying just a fraction of the tax rate that most other people do at the expense some would argue this country's future so why are these corporate giants getting away with financial writer artie's christine for south has a story. to use the economy with innovation with jobs and yes with wind but it turns out not with tax dollars general electric one of america's oldest corporations is also one of america's most creative at least when it comes to doing taxes a new york times investigation found that in two thousand and ten g.e. reported worldwide profits of fourteen point two billion dollars five point one billion of which came from its operations in the united states but its tax bill in the u.s. was erode in fact g.e.

claimed a tax benefit of three point two billion dollars according to g.'s website the company paid what it owes under the law and g.e. is right thanks to heavy lobbying legislation passed allowing companies to keep much of their profits overseas are tax rates are lower. and it's not alone google also benefits from laws passed here in washington because it keeps its money here in ireland near its dublin headquarters well the corporate tax rate in the us is thirty five percent it's just twelve percent in ireland from their profits are sent to its remuda subsidiary a mailing address where the tax rate is zero if the practice bloomberg news reporter jesse drucker says is common the question is is it makes sense for a company that created intellectual property really us and has the majority of its employees in the u.s. is it sound tax policy to have the bulk of its profits overseas attributed to a mailbox in bermuda it's

a question many are asking especially in the midst of an economic crisis economists estimate that the u.s. is losing between sixty and ninety billion dollars in tax revenue and corporations say the tax rate here should be lowered the argument is if they bring home cash from overseas or give it a tax break to do that at all enable them to spend cash in the economy now but u.s. companies are already sitting on a record pile of cash almost two trillion dollars according to the federal reserve jordan asked about with national people's action says lawmakers wrangling over the budget are missing the point and it's not a budget crisis but a revenue crisis but the matter is governments on the state and federal level are not raising enough revenue. his organization protests against what they see as corporate greed bank of america in two thousand and ten actually got a tax refund of six hundred sixty six million dollars that's on top of their two thousand and nine refund of three point five billion dollars the. ice you don't

forget they gave america was given billions in taxpayer dollars in the bailout corporations are now campaigning for a tax holiday like the one in two thousand and four it allowed corporations to bring back profits from abroad at a tax rate of only five and a quarter percent. resulting in a two hundred sixty five billion dollar cash injection it was called the american jobs creation or one of the most interesting examples coming out of that tax audit was true at packard which brought home fortune ass billion dollars under the holiday that same year announced it was laying off more than fourteen thousand people perhaps because most of the money was used to buy back shares of its company it's not creating jobs helping these guys i was like pretty jaja just lining their pockets tis the season especially with tax day right around the corner to speak begrudgingly the government but the government provides services that people use enjoy every day whether they realize it or not and like road repair for the most

part the government also fun working with people like firefighters. respond to situations that you actually need and those of you who say your tax dollars are going down the toilet. well maybe some of them may make one in the toilet go away from the source and that's not the only kind of waste removal the government pays for they also pay to get rid of your guard. every day services increasingly funded by those making the least well companies making the most use the system to get around it christine for south r.t. now unfortunately the story doesn't end there while the budget battle rages on in washington corporate titans and their lobbyists are going up for a different sort of fight want to overhaul the corporate tax rate to make it even easier to keep their massive profits out of the reach of uncle sam and joining me to discuss this disturbing trend is no me prince she's the author of this book here

it takes a pillage behind the bailouts bonuses and backroom deals from washington to wall street and we thank you so much for being here it's great to have you back on the program. you know i want to start by asking how do you think we got to this point to a point where it seems like the biggest companies seem to essentially dictate how this country's finances are handled for the first part of the biggest companies also pay for the most lobbying to create tax law benefits for the best and brightest and largest accounting staffs to help them navigate the laws that they create and in really game the entire tax system in there. for that for their benefits and so that's kind of how we get here and what's going on now is there's this philosophical myth that has been taking ten by storm it's always been around for some reason recently it's been in flames that somehow if

these companies that have shirked tax law they have taken a lot of their money offshore so that profits can't even be judged let alone taxed are somehow if they get a lower tax rate going to bring it all back create more jobs and i don't know fire their accounting staffs and take back their loopholes which is ridiculous but it is the argument that's going on right now in washington where president obama a democrat in his state of the union address promised to close these loopholes and reform the tax rate and now we're sort of seeing the administration itself on those promises talk about what's happening behind the scenes there and i thought you know this is a republican versus democrat issue right. it's a corporate verses regular people issue more than anything else and we we have a government that is not just run by corporations it's funded by corporations in terms of the laws but it's not funded by corporations in terms of taxes the revenues the tax revenues which were you just talked about in your earlier segment

which we don't have enough of which is why we have a budget problem we're two point one trillion dollars last year only eight point nine percent of them were paid by corporations so one hundred eighty seven billion dollars out of two point one trillion were paid by corporations almost eighty percent of what went in came from us it came either from social security benefits or direct individuals have access so we pay and corporations get the benefit not just of services but of continuing to dictate the policy that happens the united states will gum originally campaigned on a platform of of helping individuals of standing up to last treat all of that happened in a time where it seemed to him and it was politically expedient to recognize there was a problem that there was a crisis that banks had screwed everything up and now two years later the banks are sitting on a lot of profits they're not paying taxes bank of america is one of many six biggest banks have nine hundred city areas they've created offshore to avoid paying

taxes and in a particular part of their profits and it's not expedient anymore to somehow talk about this it's as if none of that happens and none of the crisis happened and we are not really as individuals footing the majority of the bill for everything that happens in this country one bank of america and exxon mobil and g.e. i mean the list goes on but you know you can from the conservatives and from from the president lawmakers that this country has one of the highest tax rates for corporations thirty five percent much higher than a lot of other nations and if we need to lower the tax rate or otherwise all these businesses will just go to our rivals how do you respond to that i mean the fool playing with the numbers here. well exactly and that's where we're hiring creative accountants comes in that the tax rate is thirty five percent and on the face of that is higher than that than most countries but the effective tax rate what actually comes in on average is only thirteen point four percent which is actually lower than a lot of countries it's not lower than the zero percent that you would get in an offshore account in grand cayman in the cayman islands but but it but it's

certainly lower then then then many other countries in the thirty five percent figure gets thrown around as if that's actually what was happening thirty five percent was the actual figure then instead of paying one hundred eighty seven billion out of two point one trillion dollars corporations would have paid closer to over a half a trillion into the two point one trillion which is still a smaller portion than individuals but certainly much more so than the five percent is really a meaningless number and therefore it is equally meaningless actually more dangerous to discuss policy right now which would reduce that thirty five percent to twenty five percent which is what's being discussed right now and all right. because that just takes us down almost see why bother collecting taxes at all from corporations that their percentage relative to everyone else is still very low so that's really the wrong direction obviously to go in and it just baffles me there were at this time where you know this entire country does actually finally seem to be focused on

our spending issues our spending problems now that the government shutdown is looming. and i just don't understand why nobody neither in the mainstream media and i there's some of the politicians i mean not all politicians are beholden to corporate interests so why is it that nobody is bringing up this point that we're essentially asking this country to sacrifice on the backs of the working class while giving these giant companies a complete break a prepared as i don't understand it. you know it's like those voices have disappeared certainly are not coming from the administration they're not coming from the republican party they don't seem to be coming from the democratic party and yes there are some politicians who might see this but somehow that the dialogue has transformed from the budget being an actual revenue problem not collecting anough taxes not having enough money to go into the government and almost have it having such a very small percentage coming in from corporate america anyway to begin with into us having a spending problem now our spending did increase our debt increased by four

trillion dollars in the last two years when the treasury department issued another four trillion dollars worth of treasury bonds to effectively help the banking system and the corporate system that funds itself through the banking system continue to chug along that's why they have an extra two trillion dollars of cash on hand that's why there's an extra trillion dollars just for the banking system sitting at the fed doing nothing except basically being there as a cash reserve for the base and you have money around you have revenue around you have the ability to to tax and to take back into balance a budget in a different way and instead the argument continues to focus on cuts and we can cut and the reality is if revenue doesn't get increased it won't matter because there is too much of a gap in terms of what comes in well it seems that the only thing that we're really lacking is courage from from our post political leaders thank you so much to me author of it takes a village. now before we move onto the next topic there's

something that i sort of want to reserve you guys while the mainstream media and our politicians continue to hyperventilate over the small issues we need to keep sight of the bigger picture at hand now the question of who we are as a country where we're headed as a country and what if anything we're prepared to do in order to regain our slipping role in this global world and remember america once led the globe in innovation education quality of life even imagination the same country that put the first man on the moon is now pulling the plug on the shuttle program the same country that just last week discovered a new elementary particle in potentially a new force in nature such a shut down the very lab where the discovery was made the legendary temperature on particle celebrator why because funding has run dry now our best and writers no longer seek to be brocket scientists or astronauts they now flock to wall street the dominant sector of our economy and also the culprit in part for this country's declining now we're losing economic clout falling behind in technological

information in the all powerful dollar is slowly but surely seeing the end of its privileged status as the global reserve currency these are the issues that our politicians must tackle these are the trends that a leader with courage would actually try to reverse so think about that as you watch the fight over the budget the wars the elections and think about that next time you go to the polls. so one place where people do seem to be asking at least some of the big picture questions is at a major conference now underway in new hampshire in part and woods you may recall that back in one thousand nine hundred four this was the birthplace of the world bank of the american dollar as the reserve currency and now it's a place where a think tank backed by george soros has brought together big names like nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz and former u.s. federal reserve chair paul of ochre to quote remake the financial order well joining us now live from bretton woods is artie financial correspondent for leicester lauren thank you so much for being here now tell us what is the signal

the historical significance of this gathering and what are they really trying to achieve here. well it's typical of significance as you mentioned this was back in one thousand forty four where united nations the allies in world war two gathered to try and did put together an international global framework for the economy and that was a time when countries and hit very badly with the great depression they were practicing beggar thy neighbor policies and this was the first time that he got a to establish kind of a global order when it comes to the economy into finance and this little order came at a time when the united states was a great war when the united states had the most power you could argue and therefore they became the reserve currency the u.s. dollar at that point became the reserve currency the international monetary fund. was put into place the world bank was put into place all these leaders are not the leaders of countries around the world these are economists some of whom you mentioned and they're brought together by a think tank that has been funded by george soros international billionaire

investor and they're coming here with a different purpose they believe that that framework is no longer valid they believe that the world has changed and needs to reflect that in its international financial policies and they're coming together to discuss a new framework and that with this needing it supposed to be about which is essentially just getting underway right now so could you say that in theory this is sort of about moving away from from the united states domination as a global economic leader is it about sort of looking at the next replacement or is it about trying to figure out the ways in which we could keep the united states in the role that it traditionally held well it kind of it will depend on how it comes out in the conference but looking into the thinkers that are here and what george harrison ideas that he and some of his close associates such as joseph stiglitz are regressing it really sounds a lot like moving away from the united states in a prominent position and really having a financial system that is reworked to reflect a world that has changed significantly where the united states is no longer global power it isn't a unocal or world this is

a multi-polar world and that developing nations that are growing that have gone. astley increased influence in the world need to be taken account in to international policy the bric countries brazil russia india china and those are some of the missions that the think tank talks about and law i this framework needs to be reworked that they need to examine how to incorporate more of the changes of globalization and trade and current and he did better reflect the world today than it was forty four years ago that does sound definitely like a move away from the united states as being in the lead role in the league position and you see this i think the most clearly in the the very it's kind of terrified reaction by conservative bloggers to this conference where they essentially blame george soros of trying to recross the world and undermine america's position knocking it down a peg or two as a huge threat to america and america's position in the world so i think it's not a reaction you can really see that people feel threatened that in america some

because of exactly we're talking about a move away from america's dominance that afternoon back after world war two when we saw their regional bretton woods summit to place i mean this is different countries coming together to actually agree on massive changes and in this system this gathering here and it's nice what they called it for p.r. purposes bretton woods two but it's really just thinkers it doesn't have the backing of policymakers behind it and so do you get the sense i mean this is just a p.r. stunt do you think that this could potentially lead to actual concrete changes or is it more to get folks like us to pay attention to the conference yeah i mean lucy even in meeting but this that are for the whole makers you don't often see a lot of action that comes out of them so i can imagine that more will come out of what is a talk shop and definition there is not policy it is expected to come out of this there are people that are influential influential and making policy people like former federal reserve chairman paul volcker will you remember was instrumental and

obama's legislation had financial reform with the volcker rule of course larry summers who was obama's. top economic adviser until recently so there are people that are involved in making policy but this is not a policy conference and when we can compare this to things like the g. twenty and i am at work leaders gather to make policy and still don't know. exactly hard to imagine anything will come out of a think tank so you're right i mean bretton woods is a very nice name and it's the same set in it that happened that conference in the forty's but this is not a policy conference and it is not the nation's getting together to get it out at all and it's interesting timing of course our own government here in washington tries to scrap together a budget before the lights go dark it be interesting to see how the folks on the ground there will be reacting to the developments there thank you so much lauren i know you'll be at the conference all weekend long and we'll be checking back with you we will have lots of for free. all right. all

right we'll be at the conference all weekend long like i just said i think we're having some technical issues next segment. as some of the biggest names in finance gather out britain was discussed remaking the global economy. what people around the world think about this or harshness of the resident got now decided to take an economic pulse check on the streets of new york take a look. bester george soros is holding a conference to be attended by the world's richest and most influential people the agenda to reform the global monetary system how do you think the world's economy this week let's talk about that world number one this go you there and these people who are getting together with you know trying to figure out how to fix the economy they're trying to reproach a way which is already going on which is the government's long since lost control over want to re will it was because. corporate

sure. what i do i'd actually draw a line between the two corporations and government which right now that line is very blurry i think of the city economy is actually the problem for the economy of a good environment actually in terms of fuel efficiency and still needs a lot of the problems that are causing the economy could be remedied by fixing environmental issues my and most important economic trait which is triple bottom line which means you look at what's best for not only the businesses nine only for the employees involved and businesses to society as well so that becomes your economic standard then you're improving not only the companies and the global economy but the. the area that that companies working in as well from the from your perspective everything seems to be going to catechise the ball of parity with the american at the moment so i wouldn't trying to march a would. do more for

a try to grow once. it's going to be global argemone as well they will probably with whoever without having very is which is not necessarily good for the missing economy but from an international perspective it is a lot better there's a lot of people feeling like it's time for the dollar to step down because there's always been animosity against the u.s. by. as with best. cars it tells. you i think a lot of. what we have were a free country you can come from nothing and make a million dollars or you can lose it all but you. do you think people are willing to bet a global economy on a petty emotion like jealousy i love the americans and everything it stands for and i think america. will pick up and it will get better time do you think that whatever america stands for is still something that the dollar can stand for out

there as well absolutely yeah just about the middle east i got crushed by the. thirty percent of the dollar's losing weight no matter what we look i remember back you know used to get through in the sixties to the dollar now it's maybe a hundred a soviet time for a global monetary system now you can either a socialist. no matter what you or i think should be done to improve the global economy the bottom line is those decisions will always be made by those with the most money for better or worse. i will join me now for more on bretton woods and the global financial system from peter schiff he's the president of euro pacific capital peter thank you for being here now you know we have some of the biggest names and the economy gathered at bretton woods trying to remake the global economic order or so they say but do you

get the sense that this is nothing more than a fancy burial funeral sendoff for the u.s. economy. well i don't really know what they're going to discuss i know what they should be discussing the problem for the global economy is the dollar dollar serving is the reserve currency and that is the problem because the dollar has no intrinsic value on its own if the prior to the dollar becoming the reserve currency gold was the reserve and gold has intrinsic value you cannot simply create gold out of that air it costs a lot of money to find it and extract it from the ground and so it's scarce and it has real value but you can print money out of thin air then burn act is doing and the united states is abused the privilege of issuing a global. reserve currency and we are exploring exporting our inflationary irresponsible monetary policy all around the world and we are poisoning the global monetary system so the only solution is to jettison the dollar and to reason blaise

goal as the reserve or the currency so that they would no longer be c dot so they would be backed by something of legitimate value and central banks would raise interest rates without having to worry about the impact that that would have on their currencies rest of the dollar because part of the problem is interest rates are too low and that is fueling asset bubbles and and misallocations and distortion the resources but the reason they're love is everybody's afraid of crashing is dollar and the reason the united states is able to run these huge budget deficits is because the world is lending it the money and the world would not lend us all this money if the dollar were not the reserve currency the pain of the reality is that folks are not talking about moving back to the gold standard in fact we're talking about yet another round of quantitative easing q e three so what in the world makes you think that people here in washington and people over new york will somehow wake up and see the actual and economic impact of continuing to principle tending to print without any thought of consequences but i don't think they're

going to say i did i said what they should be talking about i mean there are. so there's such a lack of understanding among the hierarchy or the elite about economics people actually think that a cheap money is good and basing your currency is good look at the japanese they had this huge earthquake and tsunami and they added insult to injury by debasing their currencies that of letting it rise which would have reduced the cost of rebuilding after their weight now they're making it more expensive so you have this conventional wisdom that is wrong and there's also this wisdom out there that the world needs to prop up the american economy so we can keep consuming what they make but that is why the global economy is so weak that is the source of these imbalances we can't afford all of the products of the world's best selling us the world would be better off consuming those products themselves rather than vendor financing americans who are too broke to pay them back in our government is spending

a tremendous amount of money and we're spending money and it is depriving the rest of the world of the money that they need to grow their own economy. explain for our viewers again a very concrete terms of what would be the consequences of printing yet again of going to this quantitative easing around three what can americans expect to see in their own life change what will be some of the actual on the ground consequences well the cost of living is going to rise the reason or oil is a hundred twelve dollars a barrel today the reason commodity prices the are being hit a new fifty two week high the reason prices are rising and the cost of living is going up is because of q.e. two and a q.e. that took place before can we one when the government creates money to pay its bills it causes prices to rot so there's two ways the government can paper its bills it can tax it it does and literally take money away from them and then spend it or it can inflate it could print money and spend it and steal the purchasing power from its citizens and so that later on our actually looks like they're taking

option two we're out of time peter but thank you so much peter schiff president and arrow pacific capital. now that does it for this evening show for more on the stories we covered please go to r.t. dot com slash usa and check out our you tube patience you tube dot com slash r.t. america and as always feel free to follow me on twitter as well it's out lucy coughing up one word well to write back an hour and a half an hour. we . think. we're never going to get there safely get ready for the freedom.