really not to the n.r.a. republicans and religion will never be out of our schools if republicans have anything to do with it and it's daily take state conservatives are laundering money from huge corporations to keep schools faith based. whose screwed seniors one thing that paul ryan isn't touting in the republican budget that he wrote with john boehner and and pushed through the house of representatives with every republican before voting in favor of it is that it includes a hidden thirty four trillion that's with a t. that's thirty four billion million thirty four trillion dollar tax hike on america's senior citizens. of the center for economic policy and research shows that if the republican budget plan isn't acted it over the next seventy five years

as medicare is phased out senior citizens will have to pay thirty four trillion dollars more out of their own pockets to receive roughly the same health care and while the government is saving money that thirty four trillion will go straight into the bank accounts of the for profit health insurance companies and likely bonuses for their multi-millionaire executives surprise some of the republican budget plan being billed as the largest tax increase on seniors in the history of the country for more on this i'm joined by mark reiss brought co-director for the center for economic policy research and weekly columnist with the guardian newspaper in the u.k. mark welcome back thank you great to be here great to have you with us first of all just just to set the table here what is the ryan plan really due to medicare the republican plan that was passed by all but four members of the house of representatives. all before republican members of the house of representatives well it basically fixes the big government is going to pay. for

medicare starting in two thousand and twenty two. and it says this is what we're going by fixes you mean establishes as opposed to repair yes and it gives you a voucher for that and then you have to purchase you will have to purchase your insurance from private insurance companies. and that's really a big tax that you mentioned i think a tax is a good way to put it just like a tax except you end up paying it to the private insurance companies and providers and so that's really it comes in because if you look at their congressional budget office which is nonpartisan their projections for what happens to health care costs that covers the smaller and smaller part of what seniors have to pay until seniors are paying you know more than half their income. for health care out of their own pockets assuming they can get insurance and all these other three plus a seventy five or eighty five year old person with high blood pressure and two are going to it's going to find insurance company to take any amount of money that's

right there's no guarantee but you know either way would be an affordable and so that's the the problem that's the thirty four trillion talking about it's just a transfer over the seventy five year period from seniors to these private companies there's another five trillion as well actually that goes from seniors to the government so there's a scenario there's enough to give that so just a basic question here you know there's a lot of numbers being thrown around about medicare and and and it's going to go broke tomorrow no no it's next week no it's next month what's the situation with medicare how short is it how much of a medicare tax increase would it take to just say ok we're going to keep it running maybe close the the part d. so the government can not close at the allow the government to negotiate for drugs you know just some basic cleanup stuff. one of the real numbers well the problem is not so much the real you know it's not so much that it's it will run into trouble

but the problem is that that's because of the projected health care costs for the private health care system in the united states and so medicare costs go up with that so we have this problem that we have health care costs that are a control that's compared to any. other country in the world in fact you can and we have this on our website you can plug in any other country's health care cross that has at least a higher at least as high life expectancy as we do so any of the rich countries but also some that are not so rich like costa rica but it's a little you know he said you can understand all too well that even all those who do unfortunately are life expectancy that there are compared to the whole world anymore. and so you plug in any of those any countries that have that. life expectancy were ours are higher and our deficit for the federal government turns into a surplus so in other words it's not that medicare has a problem it's that our health care system that's right and the solution isn't to

go after medicare the solutions to fix the health care system are you talking about some of the single payer system or a supplement on system like met like the veteran's administration and we have both a social system of the v.a. and we have single payer with medicare. medicare is much more efficient than the private says mess another part in the reason why the ryan plan explodes you know we've tried this already we've got in the ninety's we had medicare plus choice and we've had very controlled always holding it let private corporations medicare advantage right now still and it turned out to be much more expensive than medicare so it really is the private health care system that is the is the program did the i know there was a lot of sturm and drang when the president basically said ok maybe the holes that they drilled into medicare where they could allow private health insurance companies to come in and fill these holes are costing us a fortune it's stupid we're going to get rid of them and of course the republicans

i'll yell he's destroying medicare and actually what he was destroying was medicare advantage the corporate programs. how much more is there to go how much and how much corporate program is left in medicare that needs to be stripped out well the. the most recently passed health care reform would take care of a lot of that and. so. that's you know i think not the biggest problem the big problem is that you know the ryan plan would make that almost the entire thing gets rid of medicare as we know it right so that flips it upside down and it takes the problem and calls it the solution and then amplifies it mark thanks for dropping by and i think your share your insights in the great work you guys of. conservatives and billionaires are betting that the time between now and the elections in november of next year that amount of time is long enough that we're going to forget what they've been up to and they're betting

that most people aren't paying that much attention but most more people are watching sports on news and that then news on t.v. or people are listening to music than politics on the radio and in the most americans they call themselves independents i call them low information voters really just make up their minds in the final weeks of a campaign based on the ads they see in t.v. and so these cons are betting that they can buy up all the air space saturate the ads carpet bomb us with television ads so no matter how terrible their pet republicans be aved know they can get them reelected and a year and a half let's hope it's about their lives. the reason f.b.i. numbers show the two hundred forty seven people whose names are listed on the so-called terrorist watch list were allowed to buy guns last year in fact since two thousand and four almost fifteen hundred people in the paris watch list have been

able to buy guns x. or explosives with a ninety percent success rate so will stop these guys at the airport we won't let them fly but we don't have a problem with them buying handguns and dynamite. democrats have a problem the very least senator frank lautenberg is been trying for years to close the loophole that lets potential terrorists buy firearms and each time he's been shut down by the republican party and n.r.a. backed politicians so doesn't this just reek of republican hypocrisy joining me now is law is no wolf last are seeing the sign in constitutional attorney and gun rights activist and all welcome to the program. will be a grammy on ok great glad to have you with us should be one here or this watch list be able to buy guns. you know some of the known to or not we now go to somebody you suspected of being a terrorist and all we have here is going to spend you know we don't know if you're

since it's only if you're being suspected of having to do it in a court of law didn't you're just a suspect why should you be denied your current and future. rive somebody is suspected of being a. drunk you don't want them to have a drive that's not that's a very imperfect metaphor because typically we arrest people a few times but if the f.b.i. on that case are you saying that we should allow people who are on the terrorist watch list to fly by that logic. it matters. no i'm really sorry i'm going to. our skype is not working so i'm i'm i'm a rabbit thank you for dropping and being with us nothing like a country full of well armed terrorists who have to drive instead of flying makes perfect sense but there's really a bigger picture here

a gun craziness we see today fueled by a multi-billion dollar weapons industry and their trade association the n.r.a. is not at all with the founders of our nation and the framers of our constitution frankly at a mind back in seven hundred seventy six the year that the declaration of independence was written ben franklin helped at that along with john adams and john j. it was written by thomas jefferson franklin also was the president of the constitutional convention in the state in which he lived his adopted state for what pennsylvania was in philadelphia and he signed the constitution of pennsylvania and seven hundred seventy six and here's a phrase this is a quote from this article eight of the pennsylvania constitution seven hundred seventy six this was essentially the basis of our second amendment it said that the people have the right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state and as standing armies in time for peace are dangerous to liberty they ought

not to be kept up and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil. and we accomplished subordinate in the military to the civil power by making the president of the united states a civilian commander in chief of the military. and we established that people had the right to buy guns or to own guns so that they could defend the state or themselves in the second amendment series of decisions over the years that was theirs but there's this whole world of thinking out there that the reason why the founders wanted that right to have guns and shrines in the second amendment was so that someday we could take on the government if it ever got oppressive which is nonsense it was the farthest thing from any of the founders minds first of all secondly it wouldn't work try taking on black hawk helicopters in the u.s. army i mean it's not work or it wouldn't work it hasn't worked in a lot of places in the world is not going to work here and and third the real

argument at the time was whether or not we should have standing armies during time of peace thomas jefferson in seven hundred eighty seven when james madison his protege the father of the constitution the united states constitution and seven hundred eighty seven when the u.s. constitution was written madison mailed it jefferson was in france at the time he was the u.s. envoy to france and mailed it to his his mentor promise jefferson said what do you think you know what he thought and jefferson in a long list of well i like this in this in this and then he said and now i'll tell you what i do not like it here it is i'll tell you what i don't like first the omission of the bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sop ism for freedom of religion freedom of the press protection against standing armies restriction of monopolies jefferson although we didn't get the restriction monopolies just look around you of corporate america and he didn't get the elimination of standing armies but he threatened he got everything else he got the

bill of rights in fact he threatened explicitly james madison and numerous others dozens of letters and jefferson wrote around this time rabin from france that he was going to pull the entire virginia delegation all through embers of the virginia delegation out of the constitutional convention and refused to ratify the convention of the constitution if there was an agreement that a bill of rights or be attached. and that bill of rights would impart ban a standing army because he had seen over and over and over again that governments have been brought down by military coups i think pakistan for example in general was that was actually been a whole sort of civil so so. the second amendment was originally founded in that language in pennsylvania's constitution a pen franklin signed in seven hundred seventy six that said standing armies at during times of peace are the right to liberty. but in the debates that part got dropped off so they simply said well we'll have regular a well regulated local militia and that's why the second amendment says that the

right to bear arms as is part of the necessity of a rather regulated militia so the bottom line is it was never intended overthrow the government the timid phase of the world the militia movements is simply wrong and what's going on here is the national rifle association and smith and wesson these other weapons manufacturers they're making enormous profits and they're making those profits at the expense of people like gabriel giffords. coming up a daily take on how keeping the faith is screwing america's public school systems accommodating private institutions.

let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime right here in the us. i think. even on the well. we never got the says if you can from safe get ready because of their freedom. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so bleak you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you don't charge is a big picture. for

. you. and you know. into a little miracle that would make you do the work to bring justice for. i

have every right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. so i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. it's time for the good the bad of the very unwell little boy oddly the good senator harry reid the senate majority leader announced yesterday that he would bring to. the house republicans budget. privatizers medicare from the floor of the senate for an up or down vote basically is forcing the republican party to own their own radical ideas by voting to privatized medicare because he knows that no one can win in two thousand and twelve on a platform that they accomplish selling off medicare it's

a for profit health insurance c.e.o.'s who want to add millions to the private bank accounts good jobs that are the bat john mccain the man who is almost president as much of a student of history what's a solution to the libyan war continue to drag on an interview with press a.f.p. yesterday mccain said. i think we can do the same thing we did in the afghan struggle against the russians there are ways to get weapons in without direct us supplies supply. let's arm the rebels even though we have no clue clue who they are just like we arm the afghans back in the eighty's that worked out really well with give you know some of the nod all as weapons and they eventually went on to become the taliban that we currently are fighting a war against. i think i figured it out john mccain solutions are always about continuing wars not end you. and the very very ugly republican oklahoma state

representative sally occur in the state house yesterday passed a proposal to limit it from the live action in defense of that measure representative sally kern offered and roche's argued about how black people simply don't work as hard as white people she said i've taught school i saw a lot of people of color out of the study hard because they something government would take care of them. with racist talk like that i'm afraid to see how you run a classroom and that's very clear. that impenetrable wall that our founding fathers built in between church and state

is starting to crumble today conservatives around the country with the crude help of corporate x. x. saws that are chipping away piece by piece at this wall of separation and they're not going to be satisfied until the entire thing comes crumbling down to see exactly what's going on at the church of florida or the republican controlled state government is letting corporations suck money out of funding for public schools and diverted to private for profit religious schools that are making c.e.o.'s filthy rich and can teach our students a radical new curriculum basically corporations. whole separate entity here corporations are giving school vouchers to parents to send their kids to private schools and the state is then turning around and giving those same corporations dollar for dollar tax breaks for every voucher they end up. you see it's against the constitution for public money to pay for private religious institutions but if that money is laundered first through corporations by way of tax breaks and private

religious schools the politicians they own can skirt the law and as states lose out on critical tax revenue thanks to these vouchers they then have to cut back on funding and shut down public schools so private schools wealthy c.e.o.'s when religious schools when corporations with massive tax breaks when big public schools and their students lose out big time and our founding fathers like thomas jefferson went to great lengths to make sure that the government doesn't outsource work to churches are rolling in their graves as they watch the slow creep of christianisation in our public school system it's simple today's republican party wants to get rid of public education in america that the tea party brags about how they want to destroy the department of education and at the same time republican politicians want to hand off as much money as they can to religious leaders so they'll get their support from the public but at election time is two reasons why

this is going on conservatives today have an unholy alliance of corporations who see big bucks and transforming free public education into a money making for profit private education and to conservatives today have an unholy alliance with the religious right that figures if we're going to push kids in a private schools it may as well be religious schools it's about reeducation. and it goes beyond was just happening in florida last year the texas board of education voted to completely rewrite american history with a conservative slant and since the texas board of educational standards but their massive buying power for textbooks and political agenda sets the standard for school book content nationwide then we all end up feeling the effects of this politically motivated rewrite students will now learn that our founders thought merging church and state was just fine but the american revolution was a christian revolution will be taught less about the importance of martin luther

king the civil rights movement and more about the black panthers and violence during the civil rights but also learn more about civil rights legislation that republican supported rather than the legislation that republicans filibuster and learn about the unintended consequences of progressive legislation like the new deal the great society affirmative action title nine at the same time learning about the benefits the right way movements and groups like the borel majority and the national rifle association i'm coming in this out there putting the moral majority in the n.r.a. right into our textbooks right there where thomas jefferson used to be the learned that the the communist witch hunts by republican joe mccarthy were justified and productive they learned that the economist milton friedman the guy who inspired reaganomics and crash our economy is just as important economics is adam smith and john maynard keynes the learned thomas jefferson's ideas didn't

inspire the american revolution but instead religious thinkers like john calvin and st thomas aquinas did right jefferson wrote the declaration of independence is not important to enlightenment thinking it neo calvinists who argued that rich people are chosen by god to be our leaders are in fact to a large extent their stripping jefferson out of the textbooks well together. i guess that makes sense considering that thomas jefferson was the most vocal about separation of church and state and about the importance of free public education the two things that these right wingers are trying to dismantle students will also learn the jefferson davis has started the american civil war have legitimate concerns with out it with abraham lincoln and it wasn't just about slavery i mean you can't make this stuff up when michele bachmann was spewing out her conspiracy theories about reeducation camps it turns out in a way kind of twisted way she was right our students will be completely reeducated

in coming decades thanks to a handful of right wingers in texas who've managed to whitewash american history no pun intended but that's not all in tennessee republican lawmakers are trying to revisit the scopes monkey trial to force teachers to teach that evolution is on an even footing with the world having begun six thousand years ago even though the and i are of the scientific community has accepted evolution as simply the way things work so from someone on a public schools to for profit private schools the majority of which are religious schools that were seen in florida to retell in american history through the eyes of ronald reagan to discrediting the science of evolution in favor of religious answers that question things like global warming are raising an entire generation of right wing zombies right now today in america that's vastly different from the

one that our founders created. in one thousand nine hundred eight. percent wrote because religious belief or non-belief is such an important part of every person's life freedom of religion affects every individual religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faith or of no faith undermining all our civil rights moreover state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people and leads to corruption within religion itself a wreck in a wall of separation between church and state therefore is absolutely essential in a free society a much clearer president jefferson have said it and in regard to public education in one thousand and sixteen jefferson wrote how important it was that we institute in his words a system of general instruction which will reach every description of our citizens

from the richest to the poorest and one of the republicans in the texas school board don't want our kids learning about jefferson seven hundred ninety eight jefferson wrote whenever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government but unfortunately today conservatives are going to great lengths to make sure that the people are not well informed and as a result our country and our small d. democracy are more in peril than ever before. i see the big picture for tonight for more information on the stories we covered visit our website. at r.t. dot com also check out our you tube page is that you too back obsolescent the big picture and slash tom hartman and his entire show is available for free podcast on i tunes and don't forget democracy begins when you get out there when you get active when you show up stag yorath the seat of.

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