we have a top tier it is mitt romney rick perry michele bachmann ok but why because the iowa straw poll certainly didn't tell you that are we missing a certain someone here what is with the mainstream media ignoring wrong paul. big you most people are one or two paychecks away from losing now. and what happens then well thousands of middle class americans can tell you out on their asphalt we'll take you to a place where the american dream has faded into the sunset right alongside the million dollar advance. and the wheels on obama's job bus are going round and round so as he rolls into the midwestern towns two americans have any job hope for

a jump start on jobs. and coming to america we asked on the streets answered looks like we may have a little bit of london right here good old u.s. of a. it's tuesday august sixteenth i'm christine freeze out in washington d.c. and you are watching our team all right guys well i am fresh back from ames iowa where i covered last week's g.o.p. debate as well as the iowa straw poll i did spend some quality time in middle america and also got a front row seat to some of the early campaigning that's going on for the republican primary and i want to make some of the observations about what it looks like on the ground there the night of the debate standing on

a bridge overlooking the road where the candidates and the media come in a group of supporters for ron paul ran into a couple college kids who said they had little money but drove in from missouri to show their support another family who drove through. vegas for the same reason and if you watched the debate and heard the cheers in the audience you don't understand ron paul has a following and many of them were pleasantly surprised to see that he was asked a lot of questions by the mediators about fox debate i thought ok maybe the mainstream media is going to give ron paul a fair shot even try to talk to him about it after the debate looks like they paid more attention to you this time around they're moving my way. ok well ron paul's not convinced i was for a time but i've got to say you know the most astounding thing i saw was the straw poll itself if you want to around iowa state university each of the candidates had maybe a campaign bus and attend maybe a stage but ron paul had an entire wing of the campus games and stages most

supports hence i took some pictures of there's a bus that rolled into the parking lot as well as hundreds of people decked out in ron paul gear holding signs this girl how to dress specially made with her favorite candidates name on it pretty interesting what you saw you know the ron paul camp did to be fair spend a lot more money on the real estate at iowa state university but they needed that space they had a bus load of supporters and tons of people who not only showed up but voted here's the truth out of the sixteen thousand eight hundred ninety two votes cast ron paul came in second place behind us all bachmann by just one hundred and fifty two votes that was less than one percent but take a listen to how mainstream media interpret this. well grayson what we know today the republican nominee for president is almost certainly going to be one of the three candidates michele bachmann rick perry or mitt romney we have a top here it is mitt romney rick perry and michele bachmann here's what if you get

video share a pail and we're going to sound bite from her bring that back to us you can hold the ron paul stuff. i have gotten a ton of e-mail today from people saying look ron paul finished one hundred fifty two votes behind michele bachmann of the ames straw poll basically a dead heat why aren't we giving him as. well let me start with a certain question because it's easier to remember it was the latest for ron paul he's not going to be playing the united states libertarian he's not going to be elected we have got a libertarian country so what's the deal here the people are voting and ron paul's views on everything from gold ending the wars to closing down the federal reserve these are views that are coming out and starting to be adopted by more mainstream republicans his ideas have remained consistent for decades and yet he is still according to most talking heads on the air on electable well welcome to luckily the

ron paul camp is still full speed ahead and i want to just leave you with this this is a snippet of ron paul's latest campaign. to stand . still liberty. who can. restore america. all right pretty powerful hour there of course no matter who the presidential nominee is the one thing here she will be forced to talk about is a plan for jobs and the economy this is issue number one for so many americans many of whom have seen everything they've worked for slip away with economic disparities spreading across the country this is not just the poor who are losing their homes this is also people who were once members of the middle class in some cases and joblessness and the inability to pay rent has forced people to live in their cars or shelters or even on the sidewalk artie's were among the window gives us

a firsthand look at how this is impacting people in several cities in the golden state california. many americans who wind up living on the streets never thought their economic prosperity would eventually become economic ruin for move here i had a three bedroom. two. big front from kevin payton describes his financial stability when he was working as an electrician in louisiana after being laid off so he headed west to san diego in search for work but pain has been able to land a job in this expensive city and within months ended up on the street begging for change in a cinema will qualify well to me i do have money. but a cinema will qualify. on the job as pain is not alone when it comes to

formerly middle class americans able to find work and ending up on the street i used to be nurses. become a little hospital and elderly out of shame nina doesn't want to show her face on camera she saw embarrassed about her financial situation she hasn't come clean to her relatives about how bad things have gotten she now sleeps on a mattress on the street corner it's a rough life made even tougher as police and force measures to push homeless people out of certain neighborhoods while there are signs for vacant luxury condos right next door you can see the belongings of hundreds and thousands of homeless people who are not have a bed to sleep in tonight there are people all over the city in cars with more people finding high rents or mortgage payments impossible to pay sleeping in a car or motor home has become a widespread last resort they thought i mean not just leave.

inside my car i want to harm you or i will go to jail for angel who is also ashamed to show his face has been threatened by police for living in his pickup truck in venice california others have been arrested or ticketed for doing just that and we live in a city where people are one paycheck away from being homeless if you go down on skid row that's what you see people lost an apartment they wound up there and it becomes a cycle you can't get out of those trying to help the homeless sometimes are targeted by police as well this video shows activists being arrested for handing out food to transients in orlando florida one of several american cities where people in the homeless is outlawed. most people are one or two paychecks away from losing the housing and that's just the truth nationwide the official unemployment rate is doggedly stuck at overnight percent many economists how they claim the real figure

is twice that with many no longer bothering to look for jobs a record forty million people are now on food stamps but food pantries struggle to keep up with demand and if it weren't for the services who knows how many people might be on the streets. you know would make them richer richer. as the government struggles to get its own financial house in order little thought seems to be given to the housing of americans across the country leading many to wonder if scenes like these might be the new normal for america in los angeles. r.t. all right as we just find ramon's report many of these people literally living alongside the docks where some of the wealthiest residents keep their boat for ya. so to go deeper into the implications of this growing gap between the rich and poor earlier i spoke to richard a scout he's the senior fellow at the campaign for america's future well i don't

know nor most role in an increasing role i think what we've seen over the last twenty to thirty years has been an enormous outward distribution of wealth not only to the top ten percent but to the top one percent and not only to the top one percent but the top point one percent and on and on and on so we have this enormous interest period of well where you know huge amounts of money are controlled by the few and relatively small amounts by the many and historically this has always been a precursor of enormous instability of one kind or another but we are recklessly principally in policies that will perpetuate our problem and make it even worse i want to point out something that you wrote it's just sticks out to me in terms of a comparison that you made between the u.s. and egypt egypt being thought of by most americans as being a corrupt country where you write that rich executives can break the law without

being punished increasing poverty and hardship even as the stock market rises and now an async broken political system and a populist movement that could be hijacked by religious extremists at any moment and you also say that income inequality is actually greater here in the united states so talk a little bit on that comparison and answer me this why are americans then not out on the streets protesting as we saw in egypt. well first of all obviously egypt is a poor country to begin with so poor people in egypt are really struggling to survive and that's one reason but it's not the only reason people do reject inequality eventually and recoil at it in terms of why aren't americans out in the street you know it's a complicated question but people in great britain weren't out in the street until a couple weeks ago either so i think what you see often historically is a boiling point you know when what we're seeing is

a country our country that refuses to real i recognize the signs of impending trouble you know they impose austerity economics in europe and those economies stagnate riots break out across europe they oppose austerity economics in great britain that economy goes into the tank and riots break out there and what are we talking about in this country how much more austerity economics we're going to impose here so i think you've got a mad situation where people aren't watching the danger signs and in fact even though they're headed toward a brick wall they seem determined to press down on the accelerator maybe for the short term economic gains or political gains i don't really know but i think you know i think there are warning signs all around us you know when we talk about this gap between the rich and poor i always think it's interesting to look at the economy where the people making a lot of lead now i'm talking of course about brian live here in washington d.c. where it's far more difficult to feel the effects of the economic downturn when so

many here do have done the majority of course working for the u.s. government but i want to put up the most recent gallup poll this is one about economic confidence in this country washington d.c. not only on the top but only with the it's the only place with a positive score on the economic home confidence index the next two most confident states north dakota and nebraska with negative thirteen and negative sixteen points respectively i guess i want to get your interpretation of the story behind these numbers. well washington d.c. is the economic ideal the rest of the country should be a lot of people there are working a lot of people there have government jobs which means they have retirement benefits they have a secure income they have the right not to be arbitrarily fired and on and on and on and so washington d.c. is a little mini country that is the country the united states used to be and it's days of greatest prosperity and a lot of you again so naturally they're feeling good about themselves the

washington d.c. economy is being infused with national security money and other kinds of government money contractors are doing great in the military and security areas the government jobs are are still there so believe me i don't want this to turn into a diatribe against government because i think government is a great participant in society so that's not what we're saying at all i think what i'm really saying is that washington d.c. is benefiting from government's proper role and making sure we have a healthy economy but once you get outside the beltway those benefits disappear and that's where the rage and frustration and despair is coming from all across the country and that was richard asco senior fellow with the campaign for america's future. well president obama is on the road heading up the midwest and some of the smaller cities and towns hearing directly from the american people i will say that after what seems like the on talking about the debt ceiling the president is talking about the issue most people say he should be talking about jobs and the

economy but for many people in america talk is cheap that's when you're unemployed and there is nowhere left to turn rhonda taylor is douglas herself and also advocate for others and her suze those who call themselves the ninety nine ers. and i want to talk to you about president obama's bus tour in a second but just give me a little background as to your story how long have you been unemployed. i've been out of. me. for our march. we are not a saving my life saving everything and i learned that in a group the last year and a half and i'm not alone. you know just like i'm not different so you're. part of the ninety nine ers people whose benefits have run out and it really is difficult for you i want to ask you president obama out on the road

hearing from all kinds of people i really think it's fair to say that he is aware of the issue of unemployment in this country but what do you think he still may not fully understand in terms of what people like yourself are dealing with. he doesn't understand that we graded three years i've been on an hundred and he may. why now all of them. direction are we bringing out the red and going on in washington there is a crisis or not treating it like a crisis or not dealing with it like they made our we didn't make them we did create a false name and job. they did it. and now they've left us with no like wind and for ten that we don't. even want the job you will never recover everything we have lost in this depression not a recession fresh it's been going on for too long he didn't drop matters.

matter and that's something that washington has not provided for years and i think that you you hear some of the same arguments you know i just came from the i was straw poll republican candidates out there on the stump. sounding from similar some similar arguments as you saying you know why why isn't the president creating jobs but do you think this is really something that the president has the power and the ability to do. i don't mind him for no job creation i laid him for not using only. for the last three years to spout off and whine about why is congress and not creating jobs he has a big zero vote in washington and he does not. want to take a real main street america i'm not a union member i name there are millions just like me we're not organized we don't

know how to run a voice together we don't have money back so therefore why are we. in that town that need the people who run and i think it's really important to point out rhonda that you know a lot of people when they think of this recession and they see the foreclosed signs and they see you know people living in their cars a lot of times people who have jobs think well you know this is just the lower classes anyways you deal with a lot of people and you yourself are a part of the middle class and you don't have a job and how don't talk to me about what you think is missing in terms of the message that's getting out there about americans in your position. that it can be you it can happen to you you're not immune to losing your job losing everything you own losing your aura one those things are not. that government didn't protect what makes you think they're going to protect you there's a reason why union jobs are being wrong we're not. economy we have not been

able to produce and without our you know well being. so first been first out we were first recession we should be addressed first get out the economy that'll be it and demand out there and it will trickle up from there since the politicians here in washington and the president don't seem to be able to help you and i think it's an important play that you're making that you were hit first and probably the hardest the politicians in washington are just having a rough time with all the politics i guess that they're having to deal with so who else do you think should be stepping in here who else can save people like you. my neighbors my family my friends people that are unemployed or ashamed live she has big all right good working member all right they've never had to ask for help

they've always been able. now they're stuck in the little rat or you're just lazy or just a drug addict or sorry there's no money. and they are stuck in this rolls and we're on. and we're neighbors around them need to look out their own doorstep reach out how can i help you what can i do how can i speak up for you because together in the unity of america america last was created because we left russia we didn't want to be across by our noble modern day noble we're going to have to go . and leslie off the government. run to whether we like it or not the twenty twelve presidential election season campaign is upon us i know you say that president obama is finally starting to talk about it but talk isn't good enough for you is there anything though that any of these candidates can say to convince you that you

might have a chance in the next couple years. i want results or an order i want the results before i rush and i'm not willing to be well i've waited for years over three years i don't have another year left but i'm going to live in a time when there are already millions of there that are losing it we cannot run our community any further than we are it's trying to run need to equal the people that built america related to america and made it what it was if not that no warning that only. a message is. well run we certainly do appreciate you sharing very sincerely what's going on with you i think you speak what a lot of people are going for a long run to taylor who's not only unemployed but he's also an advocate for the ninety nine er's. and whether or not you agree with the idea of the euro zone one

thing is clear the distressed economy across europe is having a direct impact on chaos and violence on the streets of many european cities and we've been watching in london over the last few weeks a lot of people there dealing with a lot of people here are dealing with and as a result they're taken to the streets we've seen cars and buildings burned and we've also think even social networks and websites temporarily shut down so to what extent will this disorder spread it's a question more from this the resident thought that ask people in the center of new york city here's what they have to say. is your neighborhood next to speak let's talk about that because it is very different because the we are out of much interest in what happened in our hall was in the driver saw them public. inhumane and barbaric and i think that unfortunately around the country we have situations where people

are disappointed with leadership in various parts of the world and they're rising up and trying to do something about it whether you're in the middle east in europe you know fortunately we haven't had that type of unrest here in the states but i could totally see it happening i think because in taiwan most people very. fine life they don't want to have this kind of thing happen if they were angry enough that what was going on do you think that would push them to the limit. yes yes sometimes like you look at election times people are going crazy but not to the far like is so horrible. but there are demonstrations in creation but they're peaceful day with the burn the flag you know they will break even though and steal from the story so why are these british people doing that right now i think it's always you know some people's taxes for political reasons and peace around the

break and still you know it's. you know in the old days people when they came on hard times just worked hard to try to get harder and you know sort of it's a hard hard look whereas now everybody expects everything on the plate you know so if you go back in history and look at the hundred for example you'll see many of the same comments and there is papers published. over the stream of history where in the same course. so what can we do to change that if anything. whether or not you think looting can happen in your city and the bottom line is the rise of social media and the growing disparity between social classes could be a recipe for violence anywhere. and the other thing of war is the rise of social media a growing disparity of social classes and this is a good thing to point out when considering whether or not it could happen in our

neighborhoods so joining me from new york is how it will recess and philosopher phil rockstro. hey phil you know this is. interesting thing to talk about whether or not the protest in london could actually come here come to me about what you've been observing as you've watched these protests take place and also have you as you've watched sort of the political craziness transpire here in washington and around the country well under new care a lot of cognitive dissidence i mean i was listening to your last report and it seems to me that most americans have internalized the propaganda that consumerism tunnels implies them. so we internalize this system we can't emphasise anything different i mean a number of people were speaking about well a lot of people break windows and steal consumer goods i mean of course in britain and elsewhere have have been pummeled with this propaganda what do you expect them to do go out and loot a good job and good education. if only it were that easy i want to point something

out interesting that i saw two men in england i think there are you know twenty one and twenty two years old they were just sentenced to four years in jail these guys you know they set up a facebook page and encourage people to come out and protest and riot they did admit to inciting disorder but their red faces were quickly shut down but because there was some chaos and the threat of violence looms these kids were basically spend the rest of their early twenty's in jail i think this is pretty harsh for a country that is considered civilized and believes in rights for its citizens. well. i mean the unspeakable of capitalism is i'm it's a free floating hot crime scene and the job of the police is to protect the upscale criminals it's not surprising and you know one of the things that happened in the u.k. uprisings is the poor rosa well one thing about neoliberal capitalism in particular

is to keep wages down you have to have a lot of unemployed people to compete against each other so you know the message here that they're sending is well you might be unemployed you might have no future but you damn well better behave yourself but to what extent still does it actually benefit these you know as you call them like upscale corporate criminals what is going to benefit them to have so many poor people in the streets you're going to at the time if more people continue to lose their homes and their jobs where you know these wealthy businessmen are going to have to step over homeless people on the streets i mean there is a relationship between the poor and the rich whether they they want or the are not . well only the rich i mean i doubt they'll be stepping over the ridge on the street so be on their helicopters taking off the tops of buildings and wall street and midtown manhattan and flying to their ghostwritten gets first to drop off their

booty and all of scum offshore accounts and then i have to get by for the weekend search and never touch ground so that the leaders classes in this country don't touch the ground and you know just because they're a leaders doesn't mean they're smart i mean eventually these do stick a did dried up dreams of the pro-war b.c. vizconde for a gracious happened and but it's happened throughout history is a venture really dried up dreams of the poor catch fire and cities burned so you're an ambitious convict you know when we when we see the highly paid politicians here in washington i get up on their stump and say we need more small businesses to create jobs low and middle income jobs politicians who are campaigns are funded by some of the wealthiest corporations in america you think that there is not being sincere at all when they say you know we want more jobs or for you know the middle and lower classes. well i was much is it strange credulity that politicians might

not tell the truth yes of course they are they say this because they have to be elected but as you pointed out there came pain dollars they have a whole different constituency than small business owners or the laboring in middle classes they serve the agenda of their constituency which is giant corporations that are in a relationship with with government and these major media outlets they're all you know their tacit agreements that try to protect the status quo when the going status quo at this time is corporate neo liberalism spread across the globe works really well we're going to say that real quick yes or no question fellow you think that the mobs in a protest could and up on the streets of the u.s. well you know the and united states is a sort of a different place i mean you know we have no history anymore.