jobs that's all they're using the phrase of why not a downside talk about job killing bank of america they just announced thirty five hundred layoffs why are we talking about job killing bank of america why isn't that the main it's you know let's stop the semantics companies not rich people by and large are employing people they hire employees because those employees make them money they don't create jobs they hire people to do work and they do it because there's demand for their goods and services not because they got tax breaks let's just start being upfront and honest about this and stop the from franklin's focus group job creator nonsense and get back to plain english. coming up as our nation's capital prepares to honor the late dr martin luther king jr memorial this weekend one has to question as dr king's dream for black equality

in america has been achieved. drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to prove it through who can you trust no one who is human view with the global machinery see where we had a state controlled capitalism is called sackfuls when nobody dares to ask we do our tea question more. fun. for.

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour as we draw closer to the memorial dedication for one of the nation's greatest civil rights leaders as a growing racial inequality in america i'll speak with one of dr king's former speech writers on the state of his dream and later internet it's really take i'll tell you how means testing that phrase is the new secret weapon for republicans hell bent on destroying social security and medicare. yesterday the martin luther king memorial opened up here in washington d.c.

it was the combination of a twenty five year effort to have dr king and his influence immortalized in the nation's capital the memorial features a thirty foot high granite statue of dr king it will be known as the stone of hope president obama will be on hand sunday at the memorial for an official dedication ceremony today that marks the forty eighth anniversary of dr king's historic i have a dream speech take a look. i have a dream. but wrong thing. there's a major something we will rise up. and live about the current meaning of it scream . we're all grieved proved to be self-evident that all men are created. however the dedication comes during a troubling time for african-americans in america who are questioning whether or not dr king's dream has been realized and we have century after his death according

to a new washington post poll only thirty six percent of african-americans believe dr king's dream has been realized down from sixty five percent when president obama was inaugurated and african-americans have been hardest hit by this economic recession in two thousand and five and two thousand and nine african-americans have seen a fifty three percent decline in their total wealth whereas white americans saw a modest sixteen percent decline even more staggering today the typical white household has one hundred thirteen thousand dollars in total wealth a typical african-american household on the other hand just over five thousand dollars a shocking wealth imbalance along racial lines in america so as we honor dr martin luther king jr this weekend what would he say about the current economic system situation for african-americans in america and what do we need to do to make sure that that dream is fully realized joining me now is professor clarence jones attorney as well as a former speech writer and personal advisor to dr martin luther king and author of

behind the dream the making of a speech that transformed a nation professor jones will be on hand at this weekend's dedication professor jones welcome back to the point remote thank you very good to see you very very nice to see you thank you for joining us again in in our conversation you are one of our conversations with great minds over the website conversations with a great noise diagram and it was fascinating conversation you talked about helping when dr martin luther king put together if that spoil your son he loved us in this career and i'm wondering. your thoughts on the state of the dream that he expressed in that speech. you know that's. the dream the dark suit prophetic. hope. and his belief that america could be the best that it could be. his dream

essentially was that. america would be able to see the glaring contradictions between the way in which it treated some twelve percent of the population grows african-americans and the precepts the principles the tribes of our declaration of independence of. and and and the validity of his dream. still has merit it has merit because. he has such a belief in the put and the actual and potential goodness of the spirit and essence of the american people. given given if you give them the opportunity to clearly see what the issues are if you give them the opportunity to see more reality versus immorality if you if you played

fair picture to them clearly. that he believed that there was something so decent so basic in the american. psyching or let's be very specific about it in the majority of white people his genius and the power of his dream was that no matter how compelling and just. he made the case for any racial segregation and and and racial discrimination there was no way twelve percent a minority of the population was going to impose that on the majority population simply wasn't going to happen ok and spite of what some of the black nationalists might say you know you can go arm and try to take on a white man and it simply was not going to happen. his genius was to develop a program of nonviolent civil civil disobedience. in which he would get

america to see as i said earlier this contradiction between reality have treated people in its precepts well and then so that we would be able to make progress not get through this when that eighty eight percent of the population began to see that it was in its of interest. the less so so now all this talk about the jobs i think i think there was no preston i mean there's no question. you don't need be you you are doing it very eloquently put the statistics are devastating you know and have thought for a long time and have been for a long time getting worse they're just got less right been more since the end of which i think part of the problem i think part of the problem is that we haven't had enough truth tellers. and we haven't had enough organization of people based on the truth so let's i probably differ from many of my friends i consider

myself to be progressive but to see. i don't paint a broad brush on the tea party. i don't assume that everybody in the tea party is a bad person but they don't like african-americans that they don't like i think they just don't see their self-interest. i mean think about it they are electing people to congress who want to cut spending who literally want to dismantle social security. right now i've seen many of these tea partiers on her as well as i understand it and i've seen some television clips i mean i just i don't know i see some television clips for the so-called prominent members of the tea party going back to their districts and it affects some of the people saying oh broad we didn't know you were going to do this all right by the way when i when i was on the plane coming here coming from russia i think i heard there was an earthquake the very first thing i thought about

and i said oh. don't let this happen i was twenty five years have by going forwards and i said don't let the earthquake that's two of the. very first thing that i'm sure you find i'm sure of this but i'm concerned that the hurricane me may mess up the day there is a grilling on the twenty eighth well we'll see if. it's going to be. in any case that in that we have about two minutes left how how do you think that dr king right now would respond to president obama and to the economic situation and to the members in congress is seem hell bent on destroying the economy simply to destroy the obama presidency. first of all he would. he would respond with tears of joy over the election of president obama support for president. i

think he would. want to. cancel the young brother i think he would want to sit and have a one on one conversation with him. and to and to say that there is there is a way in which he can address the serious economic issue particularly in its essence affects the african-american community i think that president obama may be somewhat constrained the fact that he's an african-american he does want to move to doesn't want to be too aggressive as to be perceived as quote an african-american president and the fact of the matter is he was elected by all of america and he's a president for all the people but he would talk to came would be i think those i would imagine some tears would be coming down that statute over the situation unemployment because it's it's much worse now than it was years ago and years ago when he was one of the most prophetic and one of the most public

persons on the issue of poverty in america it's now the polarization of roth is just so much greater than it was when he was alive and it's been growing steadily for those thirty one years. actually just very very quickly we just have a thirty second. last time we talked you have been flirting with the idea of challenging not you personally but you know should there be a challenge to president obama it seems that there's a general consensus there should be and i raise i have raise that question of one point and then i wrote a blog on the huffington post which i'm going to coming up on the thursday which pays tribute to the opening but. yes there was disappointed with his leadership but i want to make it very plain that while it is appropriate for those of us who care deeply about the president for us to offer constructive criticism ok i even corrected myself after i wrote that i went back and second time i said hold on i

think it was an extreme and so i was are very very concerned about what might happen quickly with the supreme court if europe. gives the office some extra thank you some just thank so much for showing up here it's great to have you here with us forty years ago dr martin luther king jr gave us a vision of the future and while this week we are mortal eyes in the man in granite we need to continue to fight to make his dream a reality for men and women of all races all around the world. coming up in tonight's daily take how republicans are cleverly turning social security in a soon to be phased out welfare program. drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through a bit through being made who can you trust no one who is your view would have noble mission to read see where we had a state controlled capitalism is called satchels when nobody dares to

ask we do our tea question more. your take my take is our segment on the show where you have the opportunity to make yourself heard here on the big picture our first coming comes to us from the

message boards over at tom hartman dot com of your wrote since the usa supreme court was never supposed to make laws and veto any laws that exist then what is the role of the u.s. supreme court supposed to be. well the answer is that it's a that is laid out in the constitution in plain black and white it's the first court where the nation goes for cases involving disputes about treaties embassadors controversies between two or more states between a state and citizen of another state between citizens of different states and between foreign states read article three section two of the constitution is literally all their second they also in article three section two the supreme court is the final appeals court when everything else has been exhausted if two people have a lawsuit and it goes up through the courts and it has to stop somewhere that somewhere is the supreme court and they and they alone in get to make the final decision on who wins and who loses both in civil and criminal cases but they have to do it under the laws passed by congress and signed by the president and they have to do

it the way the congress says they have to do it as the constitution says the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction both as the law in fact with such exceptions and under such regulations as congress shall make anybody knows that there's not a single word in there about what's known as the doctrine of judicial review the power of the court to decide what is and isn't constitutional that's not the constitution the greatest threat facing america today is too much power that has been grabbed by the supreme court an institution that was supposed to be the third of three co-equal branches of government what alexander hamilton federalist seventy eight called the weakest of the three branches of power but has turned itself into a monarchy it's time for congress and our president to step up and put the supreme court back on equal footing with the rest of the other two branches of government aid to pass a law endangered issue review or amend the constitution take that power away from

the supreme court and restore the vision that our founding fathers had of this country a nation where five unelected guys in black robes couldn't make work kill the laws of the land. our next comment is from the viewer rant line the republican spin machine has been in full swing blasting president obama's new jobs plan and it won't even be released the jobs plan until september sixth that is a spear points out republicans want to talk about jobs well sort of should be fair to the public and the party of treason if you would be naive or to talk about jobs it is about losing jobs we have too many federal employees that's one of the candidates for president in peter's like yeah a lot of people are going to use this job was filled with hate so pete times are tough that's the only time i hear republicans talk about jobs just couldn't jobs right and today over thirty million americans don't have a job or are stuck with a job that pays so poorly that they're broke too broke to buy things that would

stimulate the economy that the great republican why is that our country is broke if there's not enough money in america people back to work. during the great depression hoover and the other republicans tried to say the same thing the government couldn't help us out of a depression because our country didn't have the cash when f.d.r. was inaugurated he called them out on it saying that plenty we had lots plenty was at our doorstep. usually is in the very light of the book. the really the be a. man fine. then. and it needed. to create is.

needed in the land of the good opinion. but of fact and. f.d.r. then went to point out who was really a blame for the republican great depression. the money went. in the company. we. we still have those money changers today the banks toure's who have robbed the middle class blind and they sure that there have to campaign contribution checks to the republican party are big enough and influential enough to prevent them from ever being held accountable let's hope president obama's new jobs plan proves to the g.o.p. that this country is not broke and we can put americans back to work by investing in infrastructure and helping the long term unemployed get their jobs back. our next comment came to us via facebook will wrote i think it's past time that ninety

nine percent of this country or everyone who's not in who are millionaires zillionaire or billionaire realize that we are in this together you better what you call yourself republican democrat independent tea party or we need a new unite or die in movement it really is us vs the our guards who are truly hell bent on turning the us into an eye on rand libertarian acid test where we serve our billionaire masters so eat out or die it's really that simple will you are absolutely right it really is that simple for a great start on that go to van jones web site and rebuild the dream to work that's it for your take my take tonight if you like your comments or questions heard this segment of the big picture listen up we want to know your to send us your comments by visiting the tom hartman facebook page but twittering that tom underscore apartment or in the champ room on the message board you blog at heart and it also leave a message on a rant line to achieve by three sixty three hundred sixty agree disagree sound off

it's all welcome the remember the good comments made the news on the year. republicans are very crafty in the ways they want to get rid of social security and medicare while some like congressman paul ryan are overt in their plans to privatizing title months and social security and medicare as we know it others are a bit sneaky or they're sneaky strategy and really it is incredibly sneaky because it sounds so reasonable is something called means testing as in only paying our benefits to people who need them and withholding social security checks for millionaires. the way i think the fortune our society needs to participate is by taking away some of the benefits they don't need i would include that not only benefits the special security. in medicare which both should

be means tested as we let the age of the security gradually rise to age seventy by the year two thousand and thirty two and we means test the benefits people who are at the top end of the socioeconomic spectrum can stand to sacrifice a little bit in terms of the benefits they receive at the back end and started security every effort to make sure that social security stays up adjusting the age looking and the benefits. sure this seems reasonable i mean why should billionaire warren buffett collect an eleven hundred dollars on social security check why should billionaire charles koch get medicare thus the means and means testing if somebody has the means to pay for their own retirement or health care then they are eligible to get a social security or medicare system it sounds as i said so very reasonable especially with so much stress already on the system because when bush added medicare part d. he forbid the government from negotiating drug prices so medicare is painful retail

for millions of pills but the v.a. the veterans administration for example could buy it wholesale for pennies on the dollar so the average person. looks at businesses you know means testing seems to make sense but in reality needs testing is the poison pill that will kill off social security and medicare as we know it and that's why these guys are pushing it sir. why will it kill it off because once you means test these critical programs as in only give benefits to people who have who actually need them don't have the means then you just turn social security and medicare into welfare programs and they're no longer the cover every every person in america insurance programs they were set up is and we all know what happens to welfare programs eventually they get caught take for example what happened to lyndon johnson's great society welfare

programs that cut poverty in half in the one nine hundred sixty s. by the bubble driven go go nine hundred ninety s. very few people were thinking that maybe one day they would need welfare maybe one day they would need a long term help because the country may have a severe recession or even another great depression so predictably fifteen years ago president bill clinton drank the republican kuwait in pledged to end it welfare as we know it he fundamentally changed the way welfare was administered in the united states by placing strict new requirements on impoverished families to collect benefits as a result he did and welfare as we know it and he didn't end poverty and his welfare reform ripped huge chunks of the social safety net away and that social safety net is now it wasn't so badly needed back then but it's now pretty badly needed but no longer exists as this chart shows the ruritania years of the one nine hundred

ninety six when clinton signed welfare reform into law sixty eight percent of this would be ninety six or sixty eight percent of families living on poverty receive some sort of federal assistance to get pot to pay their bills to put gas in the car to put food on the table. but today in the midst of the worst economy since the great depression and persistent joblessness while we have millions more people facing economic disasters only twenty seven percent of families living in poverty qualified to receive the assistance that they need and the rest now have to max out credit card after credit card just to hold out of their homes cars and thus provide ludes there are no special interest groups no high priced lobbyists no deep pocketed bank stars who care about welfare programs in fact all these guys are trying to hand public assistance programs over to wall street so billionaire campaign donors can skim a little bit more off the top if you watch fox so-called news they devote huge

chunks of programming to railing against the nanny state and government handouts and welfare queens and because poor people can't afford to hire lobbyists or make campaign contributions or even buy the things advertised on fox are courtney's frankly nobody gives a rats ass about them welfare is demonized in america right along with poor people that's when it comes time to cut welfare is always the first thing to be put on the chopping block just look at what's happened so far this year it's at the top of the list of things that republicans want to cut welfare programs food stamps child health care energy assistance to low income families help for single mothers you name it if it helps poor people republicans want to cut it and they're not even shy about it many of them brag about it so the moment medicare and social security are means tested and does become a welfare programs then one day

a year or two or three or four afterwards they will go on the chopping block to. instead of one hundred percent of seniors getting social security checks it will drop to ninety percent and seventy five percent at fifty percent and twenty percent just like clinton's welfare program reforms and soon no one will get them after all we need to end welfare as we know it right so the point if very straightforward heroes don't buy into this means testing gimmick because it will be the beginning of the end of medicare and social security these are insurance programs always have everyone pays in everyone gets something out and we need to keep them that way that's the big picture for tonight for more information on the stories we covered visit our website so tom hartman dot com free speech or. also check out our two you tube channels there are links to thom hartmann dot com this entire show is also

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