well i'm charging in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture just two days after we dodged a financial bullet stock markets took a major dive today because of this max throttle joins me tonight discuss these uncertain times and who's actually to blame finally a compromise has been reached and the f.a.a. shut down so the democrats fold again and what will this new deal mean for the unions plus a deadly salmonella outbreak back in march is now in august forcing the recall of

ground turkey by the way the rise in food safety a priority for the republicans. you need to know this two days after a debt limit deal that was supposed to call on fragile markets was signed into law the dow jones plummeted more than five hundred points today the five hundred twelve point drop was the worst the market has seen since october of two thousand and eight right in the financial crisis and today's last caps off a ten percent drop in the market over the last ten days or a seen all of the gains made so far this year as for a reason behind the market nosedive today pick one between fears over tomorrow's release of new unemployment numbers a spreading financial crisis in europe and the debt limit deal that economists are predicting will shrink the economy and kill one point eight million dollars jobs

investors have plenty of reasons to worry about what is increasingly looking like a bear market remember john boehner saying he got ninety eight percent of what he wanted to the debt limit deal i guess we can pile ninety eight percent of the economic calamity we're hurdling toward at his feet. more on why the stock market is crashing and what the economic future looks like with tea party republicans steering the ship of state hostage taking politics i'm joined by max fraud wolf an economist at the new school university graduate program in international affairs and huffington post blogger max welcome to the program. thanks always a pleasure to join you it's great having you with us everyone keeps blaming the europe for america troubles that seems to be the main mean in the main in the mainstream media is it the other way around or is it possible to see their way around that european markets are crashing both because they see the u.s. economy in its death throes and because of of the damage done a couple of years ago by american bankers. well i mean certainly it's a feedback loop so weakness in europe and japan always reverberate in the united

states and of american weakness reverberates elsewhere clearly the financial crisis of zero eight zero nine started inside the united states and is intimately entangled with mortgage financing here the debt load of the u.s. consumer and some rather unfortunate financial practices not exclusively emanating from the u.s. but in many ways disproportionately from the u.s. and the problems in europe today like the problems on the u.s. government's books today are in no way shape or form unrelated to the financial crisis of zero eight zero nine so several major investment newsletters today started to advise the people to immediately liquidate all their stocks outside of gold stocks why would an investor want to jump into a market when they see the u.s. government encouraging gay gene or actually putting into law this week contractionary economic policies. well certainly whenever you see a very weak economic environment remember before the contractionary anomic policies

we saw terrible job print in june through june jobs that came out in july eighteen thousand now we're waiting for tomorrow morning's eight thirty am release and the whisper numbers are somewhere around eighty thousand with at least fifty thousand job losses from federal state local governments so into a week environment we've had a negative shock in the form of a contraction in government spending and we cut the federal government spending it automatically cuts state and local spending which are already in bad shape so that's something to fear the ongoing crisis in europe is problematic the japanese are having trouble rebuilding from a very weak economy and tsunami and nuclear problems and on the other hand we're starting to see some slowing in the emerging market space particularly places like brazil india china and so there's an awful lot to be worried about and in that context markets have done very well for the last two years on average and so the question becomes can markets keep doing so well that almost nothing else in the economic news is positive but is negative and in some cases getting worse might not

another another question be is it possible that the market skating well over the last two years was really just another bubble and the leverage in that began two years ago still needs to be unwound and hasn't fully fully happened. it's unambiguous the truth of the the leveraging process given the size of the bubble and the duration with which it ran will take a while and almost certainly isn't over and if you aren't sure about that or use become skeptical all you have to do is look at a housing market with millions of homes in inventory millions more in shadow inventory waiting to go on the market as soon as people think they can get back their mortgage amount of money on them and the ongoing weakness there which we expect for at least another year or so prices off thirty three percent probably on their way to forty at the bottom so clearly for the general public to the recession was something they felt and continue to feel in the recovery something they read about in the newspaper which either makes them mad or makes them feel left behind and the question is can corporate profits and stock markets do that well in the

macro economy doesn't and if so for how long and people are starting to ask that question and everything in the news of late isn't making them more comfortable with a probable answer just to bring it to us to domestic policy here you know with a minute or so we have left the twenty four states have cut taxes and cut spending and laid off government employees between that and some federal layoffs we've lost a half a million government employees since barack obama came into office on top of that we've got this this contractionary policy that was passed this week. my theory has been that the republicans from the day obama came into office has been to blow up the economy and then run against that in the number of two thousand and twelve whether whether my conspiracy theory is right or not doesn't look like that's how it's playing out. how much of the conspiracy here i think the disastrous mismatch of the economy is something that's sadly quite bipartisan in nature of much of the time however it is clear that if you are running against an incumbent you have

a very weak field of people opposing that incumbent for the presidency that a terrible economy which is part of the way prop obama got elected may occur to some strategist as the best bet for the republican party that's that's certainly true max thanks so much for being with us tonight. always my pleasure thank you. do appreciate i predict the republican strategy or at least my theory about it will work and the economy will be in much worse shape fifteen months from now just in time for the twenty twelve elections which is so voters see which party has been trying to sink the ship over the last two years. you need to know this two republicans have learned to play a hostage taker all sitting by the pool on vacation if a partial shutdown is now in its twelfth day at least four thousand f.a.a. workers furloughed another several thousand f.a.a.

safety inspectors working without paid overtime or expenses and over seventy thousand construction workers without a job is two and a half billion dollars worth of airport infrastructure projects are on hold without funding because republicans wanted to turn a routine f.a.a. funding bill into a weapon for their war against unions and it looks like once again they're going to get everything they want at least for now today senate majority leader harry reid said a deal has been reached to restore funding to the f.a.a. at least through the middle of next month september and then the debate will continue in a statement reid said this agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain but i believe we should keep americans working while congress settles its differences in this agreement will do exactly that and. those differences read mentions provisions to eliminate subsidies. to rural airports and democratic districts something the secretary of transportation ray la hood assured democrats you can wave moving forward but the real holdup is the in the f.a.a.

funding bill is about unions republicans slipped a provision into the bill that makes it harder for federal air and rail workers to unionize knowing that the senate would have a difficult time passing because of that provision this new deal reached today does nothing to strip out the n.c.a. language and the union language from the funny bill so what does this deal need is another f.a.a. shutdown just around the corner when republicans come back to washington to continue their war on unions here to offer his take is probably all the president the national air traffic controllers association of our great to have you with us thanks for having me so thirty years ago yesterday ronald reagan declared war on working people in america after he had promised patco before the election that he would actually go along with their demands if they voted for him in the present attack was a letter to everybody not tobar. it was a one hundred eighty saying vote for reagan everybody did so the thirty year anniversary this war going on against organized labor and i thought i find it very

ironic exactly thirty years and still coming to airports. what's your take on what came out of this. well to her but harry reid well we have in the ploy every read us and read for his leadership realizing that you know american workers should not be put in the position oh oh policy and you know part of. the politics of washington d.c. what we what we want is let them work out their issues but continue the extensions that if a real authorization like they have twenty times before this but this extension has built into it the anti-union language that says that if any of the airlines for example force against delta was one of the major ones lobbying for this if they force a or they can get. vote certification the union anybody who doesn't show up who doesn't vote that's considered no vote that's like saying you know we're going to change our federal election system so anybody who doesn't show up is considered

a vote for the republicans i mean it's it's nuts and that language is still in this bill which means it's going to be a lot harder to get it out again in september when they come back and we haven't had a bill in four years but we add extensions right where they were just passed extensions and continue to work their differences you know there will always be a tax on the working people of this country that there is there is the extreme right that doesn't believe in collective bargaining doesn't believe in what unions stand for and then there is there is you know the politicians that support workers' rights and believe that you know the way you get the best product out of america is to have hard working men and women standing up together and believing in the company and working for the best product so really that difference will never go away we will always fight the anti-labor movement we always have a you go back to one thousand nine hundred one things really haven't changed that motion eight hundred seventy. it seems like it's an ongoing struggle what what is

the status of unionization within the transportation industry. within the f.a.a. the n n b provision which everybody keeps talking about first was not an extension so we can understand exactly why it was not in the extension it's in the f.a.a. reauthorization bill which is you're exactly right it's going to make it very hard to get that bill out with that provision it has no business being in the f.a.a. reauthorization go zero but at the end of the day the extension should have been clean should have been passed but we deployed a lot i mean secretary la hood there outstanding job of keeping the focus on the men and women we need to get back to where maybe i'm misunderstanding this that i my understanding was there was one piece of legislation that came out of the house that contained the the anti-union language we've been discussing and reauthorize the f.a.a. and continue the spending that's that went to the senate no we're not going to do that and my understanding is that today harry reid said ok we will do that just until next month so i have it raw. from what i understand is that the the n.m.d.

provision that everybody keeps talking about is not part of this insane in anti-union provision is not part of this extension it is part of the overall bill which is going to make it difficult to separate things yes these are the did the house passed two things you know they they passed and they passed the bill that had the anti-union provision in it and they also has an extension that said till september sixteenth we will fund the f.a.a. i see with harry reid is just going along with the second part just the extension which pushes them pushes this fight down the road and it certainly does and let them work out their differences like they have in the last three or four years but let's not take the four thousand f.a.a. employees and put them in the situation that they've been in for less two weeks let's not take seventy thousand plus. construction workers across america and furlough them let's not put these these safety critical programs that were stopped

over two hundred of them and hold them hostage for this bill let them work out their differences and hopefully they will if not continue to fund the f.a.a. as usual to maintain the safest most efficient system in the world and that's what we need there you go thank you so much for that but thanks for the clarification i'll have more on this latest republican hostage situation and i still say. also ahead this shadowy nonprofit organization known as alec is up to its old tricks this time a new orleans and for the first time with people looking over his shoulder we funnel explain next. drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions through who through deeply and made who can you trust no one who is you in view with the global machinery see where we had a state controlled capitalism in school satchels when nobody dares to

ask we do r t question more. the minnesota state government may be open for business again after a shutdown a few weeks ago but the legislators aren't working on new laws instead transnational corporations are the organization common cause just released

a new report that shows the number of bills passing out of the minnesota so the state legislature last session were actually written by the shadowy nonprofit organization known as the american legislative exchange council or alec that organization which is funded by the likes of the koch brothers and wal-mart lets lawmakers sit in secret sessions with the heads of some of the biggest transnational corporations in the world to write or approve corporate legislation among alec successes. minnesota legislation that makes it harder for people to vote legislation that protects corporations from consumer lawsuits legislation that prevents regulation greenhouse gases up of the polluting industries and legislation against tobacco companies tax breaks it reads like a corporate dear santa letter and as we speak right now alec is holding its annual convention in new orleans to write and debate even more corporate friendly legislation to shove through state legislatures all over the country joining me now on the scene of this convention is leaf investigative reporter and blogger at think

progress org paid lee welcome back. nice to see you and the good to see you too so what is alec up to a new orleans this week. well as you explained it their corporate front group started in the seventies and they really grew very quickly in the early ninety's and only and so now they face more scrutiny and as you mentioned during the day corporate lobbyist meet with state lawmakers state assemblyman. and how to hash out model legislation as they call it can be brought back to our state capitals across the country and introduced as legislation but right now it's not. the evening here in new orleans now it will are done with the legislation writing for the day and now it's the party time time warner as a part of the start about fifteen minutes where they're bringing out lawmakers from across the country and it's giving them gumbo and alcohol but they're

a party to offer that there's about five or six different private receptions where corporate lobbyist after feeding people legislation now they're feeding them food and booze yeah any day any details any secrets that you've uncovered. well we've got a couple big scoops we haven't recorded them on paper iris but i'd like to break a little bit of news on your program tonight this has been reported yet i'm here in new orleans with my colleague scott because he also writes for progress a very talented reporter we were actually denied prescott going to us this morning you know i've attended and covered this conference in the past and when we went and stood in the second floor lobby we were ambushed we were to tackled by the hotel security and they grabbed us twisted our arms to you know we can fully complied said we walk out and leave the building as soon as they asked but they started pushing us and wrestling with us for no reason scott if his hand was cut

then. the two security guards were all there wrestling with then and myself and i have small kind of my hand and i mean there was no reason. for them to be so violent we said we would leave but they were intent on being i guess a little bit goodness with us and they said that they were acting on orders from the alec staff that's interesting there was a case reported like that about another reporter earlier in the day or maybe yesterday afternoon and it turned out that the hotel said it was in our people it was private security they have been hired by alec are you sure it was the hotels here. well they had hotel security badges and but they were very sick secretive we asked for their names they wouldn't give it to us. we asked for them to you know maybe open a conversation to talk to face they said they were working frantically said you know who told you to twist our i'm sure you know kick us out in such a violent manner and they were in elaborate so it's not clear we've spoken to otoh

management which talking to. alex management. they haven't been very forthcoming. and isn't this is one of the largest gatherings. today there are many many walkers here we've seen folks that were i'm very proud in the ohio legislature pushing on it but there was the case it covered a circus side we've seen a lot will lawmakers from north carolina and minnesota i mean this is a really important time because of the sweep that republicans had last year in the midterm elections i want to talk about how congress changed really what changed is state legislatures time to get was a sea change and i want to have some of the most conservative state legislatures and in modern history we have the most republican controlled once and in recent times and they're pushing up to let her go you cited the minnesota example by you know oh wisconsin ohio north carolina are just as applicable coming cause i'm covered at least four bills that passed just out of the minnesota state legislature

that are current copies of alec legislation and this is the tip of the iceberg of the legislation that alec is pushing around the america on behalf of big corporations in the state legislatures. oh sure i mean look across the board. get done i don't and some the franchise corporations work with alec to create laws that suppress the living wage so in a state will pass a law that allows that disallows the city from increasing the minimum wage peabody coal and coke past and i climate legislation all of these corporations work together to pass anti voting rights laws because that helps them across the board elect more corporate friendly candidates and even tonight tonight as i mentioned there's a time warner cable party going on just a block away from my hotel and alec members have been given legislation to basically ban you know civil broadband and you know alec bills itself and this is from its website as a jeffersonian organization devoted to individual liberty and democracy i don't see

how banning it will grant broadband so that companies like time warner and cox communications have no competitors i don't think that has anything to do with what thomas jefferson had in mind thomas jefferson is rolling in his grave how does the just the way this for viewers who may be unfamiliar with this how exactly does the alec process work. sure there are a core legislative staff in d.c. that helps coordinate everything they put out a regular publications action alert and maintain listservs but then they have corporations that sign up as members and they can pay anywhere from twenty five thousand to one hundred thousand dollars a year this year b.p. and a couple other companies are paying one hundred thousand and they get invited to events like these in new orleans and they get into sessions and they have little strategy sessions the lobbyists hand out bills that they propose and then supposedly they come together with lawmakers and approve it as official alec legislation and then

it's just routed to it to the hundreds of members of alec and although it's mostly republican there are many conservative democrats that are or aren't members of the organization. and from that point using those relationships we've tracked some of this money and not only did it are they handed legislation once they are. introduced as and pass this legislation in their respective state then you see the money flowing corporations will step in and give large campaign contributions as it's thank you notes i suppose they'll run ads to make sure those members are reelected they help get the job done they work with state based lawmakers to ensure that the legislation actually passes so it's a it's a very well oiled machine where you can have one organization actually has an office in all fifty states this sounds an awful lot like. elected officials i mean you take an elected official and like that official you put them in a room with

a corporation or lawyers for the corporations or write legislation that gives the corporations tax breaks or limits their liability or lets them pollute the legislators then do to flee internews that legislation and vote for it and then the corporation showers them with cash is this criminal. that's a very good point because in a lot of states i can speak for maryland care of california and a few others that you know each state has its own lobbying laws and when i represent of a corporation i also as a lobbyist meet with a lawmaker helps them write legislation they usually have to at least graduate or so the public knows but because they're using this alec frank group and billing it as a jeffersonian democracy organization they never registered they never disclosed that a corporation has written x. climate bill or or why a living wage bill so it's actually kind of a racket where they can funnel all of this money and coordinate to this degree with

lawmakers without ever having to disclose because if you were just a chosen a living in maryland and you see your state senator introducing all this legislation and they've never registered as i was working with a lobbyist or you know coke is never actually registered to lobby in maryland. you're left in the dark you don't really understand the true drivers of how your laws are made absolutely sure we thank so much for your great reporting. it's time to actually pay for having me for you always a always a pleasure here we have a life good lawmakers letting transnational corporations billionaires tobacco companies oil companies write their legislation to maximize billionaire and corporate profits right out the open still don't think the corporatocracy is trying to replace our democracy. crazy alert a wedding certificate written in binary used in couple niguel hansen and diana wesley last got married last week at their wedding wasn't presided over by

a religious leader instead it was done by a computer the couple describes themselves as tacky and wanted a nontraditional wedding where a computer officiated the entire ceremony even their vows were exchanged via an i phone the health of their computer to the good of job for the newlyweds or just the peace still had to be on hand to make the wedding legal nonetheless this will likely be the first of many weddings in the future to be presided over by computers i guess things sort of went downhill for watson after winning jeopardy. the power programs in me by the state of texas. has been if you make the. it's the good the bad and the very act x.

server asli ugly first good former republican senator alan simpson simpson was one of the co-chairs of the president's deficit reduction commission and one of the guys and said the tax cuts of loopholes for the wealthy are unsustainable and emissary see simpson blasted republicans who are opposed to closing loopholes and in particular republicans who are slaves to their anti-tax overlord grover norquist. the only thing the grover can do to you he can't kill you he can't burn your house the only thing he can do to you is defeat you for reelection and if that means more to you than helping your country out of a terrible situation you ought to be there well said senator unfortunately that is most of our elected representatives care about the bad. eric cantor period on fox so-called news yesterday the backstabbing house majority leader offered an interesting take on airlines that are now making big bucks off the f.a.a.

being shut down with the f.a.a. shut down the agency can't collect taxes on the airlines but instead of passing those savings on to customers in the form of cheaper tickets the airlines are many of them anyway are just stashing the savings away in their corporate coffers and cantor thinks that's swell. but what airlines have done is have stepped in and said well if we're not going to pay the money the federal government we're going to keep it towards our own bottom line and i guess that's what business does you're absolutely right ari that is what business does which proves the entire republican argument about corporate taxes is wrong lower tracks taxes don't translate into savings for consumers and translate into more profits for the corporations and the very very ugly frank gaffney. right wing islamic fold with whose words influence for which a terrorist under his breath is added again besides claiming that pretty much everything out of the sun from president obama to david petraeus to even see pak has been subverted by the muslim brotherhood gaffney now thinks that brevik himself

was an agent of the muslim brotherhood speaking to think progress you have to have this observation about brother manifesto. it tries. to ruin this image right history with facts in a. piece of his own creation no where to strike not to worry sure. whether it actually was meant to do anything. contribute to shari'a this year for it's to express or it's going to weirdness it's a target. at a time when our nation should be learning from the violent consequences of muslim fear mongering spews more muslim fear mongering at the time to call gaffney out for what he really is and that's the stochastic terrorist which is very very. still i had bad news for ground.