the be. builder of the elite group said to perhaps carve out the world is such a good meeting and new on the attendance list this year the mainstream media so what is this all about we'll speak with archie's lore and for an on the ground look plus we'll try to peep at what's on the agenda behind closed doors. and could the department of defense be next on the spending chopping block a lobbyist seem to think so a cia director leon panetta takes the helm so just what will happen with the g.o.p. when fresh blood takes control. and just because we're asking all the hard hitting questions are t. labeled as anti-american but is it really anti-american to tell the truth so why

then the war on r.t. . good afternoon it's thursday june ninth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lauren lyster and you're watching r.t. now this meeting brings together public and private leaders from the united states and other world democracies but it's a secret informal meeting and critics and activists allege it is anything but democratic it's called the builder group and the european union and the euro currency were reported to be its brainchild now this group is made up of heads of global companies big banks together with heads of state and leaders of nato and they're getting together right now for their meeting in the swiss resort town of st moritz now arches or and it is there and i asked her about the invite list and the agenda is here what we know about yours and she said we've already noted. we saw

you outside the house where i think how i'm going to be coming up is one thing i'll point out is big because the people inside of them also get got like how when this is ready to know who is who is inside because unlike the process from the people who have the merit the cost and they think i would change presidents the type of multinational corporation we noticed. after microsoft frequent the. place they have there is almost always akhil amar cool but it doesn't jam health risks are frequent and they want us in that we have a choice that he usually is in so many and of course keep up with you on a hill in new york were they alleged suspect they would. always have been out of business cos. that was it because yeah and apparently will

never be invited again. and he was like you post it and we are hearing it and we you know there's no match but what deal is that but they're all. the guys that want to. talk a good thing for him and yet he says it's only just part of it and he said the bills but what he chooses to be a new head of the buy and that he will take him in actually marching on one of the things that we understand would be only happened also you know if we've got the arab spring and the rest in libya and of course. there is that with saying at the moment but i didn't think one long lucky wolf in the late. but was interested in threats actually i think with the fact that i can talk about that because that is probably worried that being. an increase in the us congress who are in that is that we see what they can do i will see other people that i've got five hundred. and as you mentioned there are

a lot of things that are discussed at these meetings that are believed to turn into policy and not lead you know some critics to say that this is global elites getting together to carve up the world without any press there and without any accountability and maybe in some cases breaking their own country's laws but over the years it hasn't attracted much mainstream press you of course have been covering it you were covering it last year i'm curious because i have read some reports that it has attracted the more mainstream press this year is that accurate and what is the situation with the press attention this year on the ground there what is interesting actually when we would have to do it if it was already i. mean you would have to look very low to see actually i didn't see any of this i think and but it was by the weather here tiglath people the way back. the way the security subsequently you know outside the gulf but you kept outside of.

that which was at least a kilometer away from the well where the these people were whether those were if you like but you know we had and it was only when the police by there is there is an iraq when you get. left and it will well i'm the one in quite this week. because there have taken aren't any i mean you've probably got a lot of. the guys are going to think that was it we didn't even open in a big time pain in the press that will be. the day that we all pay the bills that will be coming oh i had fun with this quote always nice weather quite right and i guess there's nowhere for one is able to attack but i mean that's right which provides us with all of them to remember with this cold and so many by. i think he

had made it. but he didn't do the things you think penley just there should be a way. for interesting i know i did read that report i'm sure if you mention that gun protesters are expected to be there i'm curious what you've seen so far if there are protesters yet if it compares to last year how it compares and where they're from a foreign country they're all their own christmas is already i'd say not a great number though they did quite get the debates we need most is that a group took place to come away from nottingham in the u.k. on a on an emotion that they could build a bomb taking them. out would draw you in a little bit me badly but with a great deal in the way that people are quite dedicated trying to go out. and build a good read that they all i think a lot. more than the person they call god to say that we ought

to be back to say that when that's pretty fast it's easy to live with a group we are organized. people in the if we want to but whether because the far right where is it so please call later and eat you just make a day trip out i think it will become this big but not necessarily. any any and maleficent perhaps they'll never get it on purpose having in such a remote resort town. host under their own. army that they have a reputation of getting to do what they did and you can do that and so i was saying that but also that you know it was the only balls and do it but they i mean if you. want to think you could one to be quiet as it were might be the right way and really quickly we know that some of the attention from protesters and from journalists and covering it is that as you mentioned it's

believed that these aren't a very democratic process having these closed doors meetings we know that there are reports that the euro and the e.u. in itself are brainchild of builder guys or any other real. real evidence that people cite that really draws them to pay attention to this of what happened if old were going to past i don't think that's you know yes hope it is like a credit line. you can say and beneath and you saw it. but you know that very misled the current. date so you can talk about the greek people most of the times the color. relations literally president bush and the plan include i'm not surprised with. the biggest the. biggest which is but what they bought with those guys but also did not. like the off topic came up with that's where you know if you're going to unite with europe

an entire people like that they are coming up with these schemes for why they pose no i'm sure this is just i was a real little girl who thought was just how do you. think that going to cost a half because but democratically elected governments. will. write a really good point that you make and you're going to see if anything comes out of those closed door meetings then escaped out of that resort onto the streets as dangerous that was our chief correspondent laura and on the ground in switzerland with that report. and as the u.s. government remains deadlocked over the budget and debt the credit ratings agency fitch has said if lawmakers can't agree to raise the debt ceiling this could endanger the nation's aaa credit rating if you feel you've heard this all before it's because this town needs it the three major credit ratings agencies have come out with warnings over the u.s. debt debate now as lawmakers grapple with where to cut spending with social

programs on the chopping block a new poll shows more americans blame the debt on the nation's wars than on those very programs domestic spending and the federal reserve is also trying to pump up the economy or have been with pouring more cash into it but that program is that to expire at the end of this month so what does all of this mean for the u.s. economy not to mention the global economy and financial system all here to help us sum it all up is renowned investor jim rogers jim thank you so much for being with us it's so nice to see you as always in new york and not in singapore and now my first question is should u.s. lawmakers be real concerned that now all three credit ratings agencies are warning them about the debt lauren it's nice to see you as well but lauren one of the rating agencies is doing america's already brain growth the idea that there's still tell you saying it's a aaa credit and they may lord is just absurd these low rating agencies have been wrong about nearly everything for the past ten to fifteen years don't pay any attention to them the u.s.

is in terrible trouble congressman should be worried about that not what the rating agencies are saying so what what should u.s. congress do about the debt ceiling should they raise it or should they just not worry too much about defaulting. they should cut spending dramatically they should take an axe no or a chainsaw they should take a chainsaw and cut spending america's going down the tubes we're the largest debtor nation in the history of the world lauren this is a very serious thing that's going on around us and we're just watching ourselves sink into the sea now one thing i want to ask you know you say cut spending this is something we see lawmakers going back and forth about where to cut and we see medicare being on the chopping block at this poll that i just thought that i think it's pretty interesting shows that sixty percent of americans blame the national debt on the war that the united states is in an iraq and afghanistan is not as much under meth expanding and on tax cuts i want to know what you think needs to be cut do you think that that the u.s. needs to take back to defense spending big time. of course we do lauren we have

troops and over one hundred twenty five countries around the world they're not doing this in the good they're just making in a mes all over the world we should cut defense spending with the chain so too but that's not going to do enough lauren we definitely have to cut this because spending but we've got to cut everything i mean this cannot go on much longer what will happen if the u.s. government officials if congress doesn't get it together a key country agreement on cutting down the debt and raising the debt ceiling. well sooner or later and probably sooner within the next couple of years you're going to see people just stop buying u.s. government bonds are going to stop lending money to the united states you're going to see interest rates go a lot higher you're going to see turmoil in the currency markets you're going to see to a more than all financial markets and therefore in real markets you know shops companies factories everything are going to be affected what about near term you

know china is something that you know quite a lot about and they're saying that the u.s. is playing with fire if you default on its debts china holds obviously a huge amount of u.s. treasuries that the u.s. is the largest foreign creditor they want to share it that they're in faith hands does the u.s. so that that china lowering wouldn't you if you were the largest creditor i mean if you if your brother in law if it was whoever it was a get your sister your mother you would want to assure us is true i would too i wouldn't lend any money to the united states government and i'm going to american citizen of course not how many americans in serious trouble other people are starting to catch their own artists not just you and me and the rating agencies other people are catching on to china russia india brazil everybody is saying hey what's wrong with you people you've got to shape up and we do do you think that these countries will actually stop buying u.s. debt. yes eventually they're already starting to cut back as you probably know the chinese and the koreans and some other countries are lending less to the u.s.

now than they did before and eventually they'll just stop flat out now one of the things that is a real issue and a sticking point also between countries like china and the united states has been the u.s. its policy and the federal reserve policy i should really say of quantitative easing they have the second round of bond buybacks which is now scheduled to end at the end of this month then he spoke earlier this week made it sound like there wouldn't be another quantitative easing program i want to know what you think is going to happen and also what will be the effect if there isn't more quantitative easing on the financial system globally or and yes they will stop q.e. two because they've said it so many times they have to but then when things start getting worse again you're going to see them come back with q e three they may not call it that but it may disguise that they may call it cupcakes who knows what they'll call it but it's coming back what is the expense of that on the global

financial system and the u.s. economy. we learned we have serious inflation in many parts of the world most of the world already and we're going to have more inflation throughout history when you print money it leads to inflation the news pretty simple so america's debasing its currency at a rapid rate there's going to be more of it surely as i said before it's going to lead to higher interest rates higher prices please i hope everybody watching this show starts protecting figure out ways to protect themselves how are you protecting yourself i know you don't really need a lot of protection you're here you've done very well but i mean what should average people be thinking about. well i mean if i would average an average person and i happen to own commodities including gold and silver you know lots of things stock up on rice i mean the price of everything is going to be going i or learn about buying commodities or it doesn't have to be a dangerous and scary thing to do inflation by definition is prices rising well

only things that are going to be rising in price own some rice own some silver own some natural gas these things are going to go up much much more in product and price and there is a role that many people believe that quantitative easing has played in the rise and some of those commodities and so on those prices you mentioned but it was supposed to help the u.s. economy do you think that it has or that any amount of getting money into the system could help the u.s. economy lauren you're bad for my nervous system it hasn't been wasn't there you know the people who got the money in this in a lot of they've been throwing money out the window the people who've been catching the money certainly are all yes some parts of the american economy are better off than most of us are not and all of us are now deeper and deeper and deeper into debt this is going to end with a disaster on this we do something quickly and even then it might into the disaster oh great that's a good prediction mr rogers my question for you though you live in singapore where

bureaucrats are paid a lot of money i read that the elite bureaucrats are paid two million dollars. our lawmakers can't seem to get it together on the economy or on balancing the budget or debt figuring out a solution to the debt in the last. are people on to something and think up or is that the recipe for a better government or a government that works. well we do know that the singapore singapore has been the most successful country in the past forty years so it works yes their theory is if we pay higher prices two or three things one people don't have to take bribes because they've got enough money secondly it attracts very high quality people into government and to help running the government you know if you look at america most american congressman they're the people who did well the playground when they were in school they're not very smart people or they would be working for the government so do you think that the united states needs to do something to attract them brighter talent into the government but they certainly do one thing might be to to

pay much higher prices most people who go to into government in the us are not the brightest and smartest people and i'm sure you know that. another thing that i want to ask you about you know it's not just money that the united states and china have sticking points surrounding another one is taiwan and we saw the cia director who's now being going through confirmation to the head of the secretary of defense we saw him bring up the issue of taiwan in those hearings and he said that it appears that china has a near term focus on preparing for a potential contingencies with taiwan including possible u.s. military intervention and that the u.s. should continue to closely monitor china's military capabilities to preserve peace now i know that you are very much an expert on all things investing but i'm wondering if you feel comfortable way and i geopolitics to tell me if you feel like china is going to have plans to swallow taiwan and if the u.s.

needs to ramp up militarily as a result. the u.s. doesn't have to worry about that at all i mean there is not going to be war between china and taiwan the taiwanese don't want it the chinese don't want to the americans may want to but this is all balderdash this talk about war between china and taiwan this peace now that that war is thinnest the past five or six years everybody is totally changed their mind it sounds like people in washington are still saber rattling but there's no there's not going to be a war between china and taiwan is sure you and america keeps talking that way it's not doing anybody any good including america do you think that it is do you think that that is an excuse for american leaders to talk about china as a military threat and continue to rant military spending as well as resources that direction of course it is lauren they talk about north korea they talk about taiwan they talk about anybody they can in order to ramp up military spending what are we

going to do with all these jets that are old in asia well who are going to fight there's no there that kind of war doesn't exist anymore if there war is now it's the rule of wars not stuff where you need a huge jet fighters and then jim just one last question what would be your big picture solution to the u.s. economy and do you think there is one. you've got to change the tax system entirely it you've got to stop taxing saving and investing you've got to encourage saving and investing you've got to cut spending with an act of the chain so you've got to cut taxes dramatically you've got to encourage people to say we're going to you've got to change the whole litigation system in america we spend something like three or four times as much as other people on health care but it all goes to lawyers. no i'm sorry have a drink of water do you think that that will ever be possible that's a very tall order do you think that will ever be possible and how much would have to be cut as far as spending. it can be go and the lord throughout history

people never do anything. that's a crisis thank you very much me in this interview even though you're having a coffee intact thank you so much that was a renowned investor jim rogers now we spoke a little bit about defense and about leon panetta the head of the central intelligence agency is facing off now with u.s. lawmakers very publicly in his confirmation hearings to become the secretary of defense now he's president obama's choice to replace the current defense secretary robert gates he is set to retire at the end of this month now for one mystery that is known to be a cost cutter according to analysts so what does this mean for military contractors who lobby hard for the status quo defense spending in washington well here to help us assess that is rain mcgovern he is a former cia analyst himself one of several who prepared the president's daily brief during the first bush bush administration as part of intelligence goes and he joins us now to talk about what panetta will need at the helm thank you so much for being with us so my first question for you in your career in intelligence did you

work with with leon panetta and what is his legacy at the cia you really loved government by the time i reached the levels to put it on when i was with the white house what what is the legacy that he leaves behind when as far as you are as far as your understand what we had agreed hopes to those of us who say the torture. kidnapping running like prisons are a good idea we had great hopes for him he very quickly fell into the spiral of the operations people well if the loot tortures kidnappers were in this place and became their lawyer it director so i want to spurs with congress he famously said it is confirmation hearings two years ago i'm a creature of congress that is a very significant statement and if you're looking for him the real spending from the defense budget i would say look for it carefully there's lots of fat there it probably will be able to cut some but it will not do anything to alienate the

affections of his and his former colleagues in congress that's interesting you say he's a creature of congress and as opposed to he says that he's a creature of congress and one of the i doubtless scenes of him taking over at the d.o.t. is that people believe that he will be more aggressive in cutting down weapons programs then his predecessor as secretary gates was and also you we've i've even read some quotes from defense lobbyist that they are nervous about this are you saying that nobody has anything to be to be worried about their professionally nervous about these things as i say there's lots of fact that can be cut but i'm more interested in what he said about afghanistan and what he said about iraq because we have two words going on there right now afghanistan and he said yes we can't lose we will be able to prevail if we get the pakistanis to close the border and stop the infiltration now that's very disingenuous i mean it's true in the face

of it but he knows that there was a formal nation with recessed request december that said that if it actually are there's not a snowball's chance in hell that we can get the proper stymies to stop the infiltration ergo it's a fool's errand he knows it to be a fool's errand and as i watch the stuffed shirts of the fancy ties up there. i think about the people for grunts and the lieutenant colonels on the ground and if you have just one more minute i have a recent email from the lieutenant colonel who travels all around the country but if you notice that they have a sign he says quote the mendacity is getting so egregious these yarns of quote significant progress to quote well being covered up by the blood and limbs of hundreds i see hundreds of american uniform service members each and every month and you know that the rest of the summer is going to see the peak of the bloodshed that's what he said so you don't think that this is going to go very well one of the things coming out of these hearings is some people believe that and that it

would be far more significant troop withdrawal in afghanistan you say that's not no dice are not well likely to happen i think you'll be for whatever obama is for whatever the congress will tolerate the mean the main point here is simply that it is a fool's errand people going to have to be pulled out and when they're pulled out people like senator lindsey graham are going to say you bush africanus they were big through that before vietnam really quickly though i want to go as far as panetta it sounds like you're saying to me that you think that if he is director of the secretary of defense that there will be more of the same as far as u.s. wars and u.s. defense spending i say you know difference between between him and robert gates all right that there's your analysis sums up as we're watching these confirmation hearings thank you so much for being here that was former cia analyst ray mcgovern now when it comes to defense spending as we've been speaking a lot about the u.s. right now is reportedly spending two million dollars a day for the nato led mission in libya now according to the financial times the

pentagon estimates they're on course to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more than they expected on libya now r.t. interviewed secretary general of nato anders fogh rasmussen about the libyan mission and first we asked him what it means for syria here's artes and he said now with that interview the u.k. and france want a u.n. security council resolution condemning the syrian government and your opinion are we having for libya two point zero here you know i would like to stress that nato has no intention whatsoever to intervene in syria. remember those words you may need him later now asked about libya r t if there are prospects for nato boots on the ground here with the answer to that. we have no intention to put troops on the ground in libya what if gadhafi doesn't back down. well i do believe that the combination of a strong military pressure and a reinforced political pressure will eventually lead to the collapse of the regime

it may happen tomorrow even a takes on weeks but we will stay committed on until we have fulfilled three very clear military objectives firstly a complete end to all attacks against civilians secondly that withdrawal of gadhafi military forces and paramilitary forces to their parents and certainly we need to depend on hindu humanitarian access to the people in need so we will continue our bunch of these are here to share our note. of the post-war libya seems premature it doesn't it even william hague's and him seeing stating that nato as he sees it will be there until after christmas this of course are all despite a nineteen date line why do you think you'll leave the libyan people at peace well i'm not going to guess about any timeframe what i can say

is that we are prepared to stay committed as long as it takes to fully implement the un mandate and that is to protect the civilian population against any attack now and he also asked about missile defense and the interview or anything i point out that negative for years has been proposing a joint european defense system yet it seems that russia and nato aren't exactly on the same page here's what he had to say about a possible cooperation between nato and russia. but i think the best way to join efforts would be to true independent systems corporate there with the aim to protect the russian people as well as people in nato conference rus are constantly claims that nato can't guarantee. that its interests will be protected why can't nato ensuite these guarantees the best guarantee whatsoever would be to engage in close cooperation because close cooperation between russia and nato would

clearly demonstrate. our missile defense is really a difference and it's not aimed at russia. let's face it. we do not consider russia. to nato and nato does not constitute a threat to russia that was r.t. correspondent anything now is speaking to us oh excuse me nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen now if you'd like to hear the interview in its entirety you can see it it's all there go to our t. dot com but that's going to do it for now unfortunately we are all out of time but i promise i will bring you the entire war on our t.v. segment we want to get to the bottom of what is behind these claims that r.t. is anti-american and kind of you know see what's see what that's all about and see if we can convince you otherwise or what the merits are of that for more on this or three covered. usa also check out our duty.