tensions of nuclear proportions a new international atomic energy agency report is stirring of bad blood between western powers and iran so will the drums of war soon be meeting once again. and not the countdown begins of the twenty twelve election as president obama puts on his boxing gloves and gets ready to duke it out with his g.o.p. contenders but could a bad economy and high unemployment numbers it one two punch a knock out to his hopes for reelection will debate and president obama wasn't the first to struggle with about economy. this version of. the players on the conversion who are all i'm going to murder. and with the

u.s. declares its longest ever war outpacing the war in afghanistan by decades only this one is within american communities so with record poverty rates in the u.s. is this a war that simply can't be one. poverty actually looks a lot like me and could you sponsor one struggling financially if you saw the presidential candidates might not be willing to face a grim economic reality that archie sure is show you how the government may be lowballing its own poverty rate. it is monday november seventh eight pm in washington d.c. i'm christine you're watching our team this week all eyes will be on iran as a detailed report on the country is expected to be released by. the u.n.

nuclear watchdog group the international atomic energy agency and some portions of that report have already leaked out and show that many world leaders suspicions were spot on but tehran in fact is it working to develop its abilities to create atomic bombs iran says this is totally false the report has never been released yet still chatter has already started about possible sanctions against iran by some in this country and leaders in israel say a military attack against iran may be needed to let our country know that developing these capabilities is not acceptable but both russia and china say that is a very bad idea here's russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. a view of this issue is well known and it's not it would be a serious mistake with very grave consequences we can see that every day when we see how problems will be solved close to a huge iraq afghanistan other countries in the region military interference only leads to a need to be rising gets all the talk about the implications of this report what's

in it and what it could mean for the future i spoke a little earlier to ivan eland a senior fellow at the independent institute i asked him a simple question is this report or deal has tech. i think it might be a little bit bigger deal than in the past because they've said this report apparently says that they have the design and the capability to do it now they make the caviar but they haven't necessarily started down that road they had made a decision so they could do what your hand has done because japan has taken it all the way up to actually building a nuclear weapon they haven't done it they've shown they had the capability it sort of maybe that's what iran is trying to do maybe around will never build a weapon so we don't know but i think what the foreign minister said there was absolutely correct there's no good military option here if you want to make sure you get all the stuff you have to launch a ground invasion which would make the invasion of iraq look nice and it look easy

runs a much bigger country the terrain of the people there are not in a good mood towards america that are you have a lot of a lot of problems and now of course they could attack by air israel or the united states could do that and that's the that's the fear i think but there's just no good option. they're putting this. facility inside this mountain near the holy city of qom and i think that's what's generating these reports from the west i think you're right there is a certain amount of hype. related to this and the reason for that is this facility once they darian in this mountain you can't get to it with even bunker busting weapons or it's very difficult and so but even if they don't do that it's very hard to hit all the targets because we don't know where they are and despite this report not being released there are certainly a wide range of ideas of how different the world leader should respond in this conflict there has already been talk of an urgent sanction there are also leaders

in israel who say military action is needed but i want to play something that was said over the weekend i.d.f. the presidential candidate ron paul. i would say treat them differently and be less threatening but will you be leverage when you say treat them differently don't put sanctions on them so so what are we going to persuade them not to pursue a nuclear weapon maybe being offering friendship to em. right so this is kind of a sweet idea you know let's put the past behind us and move forward together is this realistic well it probably isn't realistic because the world leaders won't do it but they think sanctions are necessary changes are going to have no effect on this because iran is in a rough neighborhood they have saudi arabia israel other countries that really don't like them there and therefore and of course they want to keep the u.s. out and knew everybody learned from the iraq war. and then the libyan case that if you give up your nuclear weapons you know you're liable to get they did so by the

united states or some other car so i think this is of vital interest to iran so they're not going to respond even to the sanctions but i think what we should do is the person that you had on your. film earlier lyndon johnson had to deal with this in china when mao and the chinese got nuclear weapons now made direct threats to nuke the united states and of course lyndon johnson explored military options etc and of course they didn't take the chinese nuclear weapons probably for the same reasons that they didn't know where they were like iran so i think you can deter this we have thousands of nuclear warheads russia has thousands of nuclear warheads around what have a few and they haven't even put them on a missile yet missile design takes a lot of technology etc so they've shown that they can design a warhead that will fit on a missile hitting the missile over here we've seen north korea had a lot of problems with that so we're not in the panic mode yet it seems to me at least from what i'm reading that israel is the country that is sort of making the strongest threats against what could be coming out of iran and i want to get your

think that what about these claims to the u.n. officials are to the officials of the united nations that it was actually foreign scientists who stepped in and share this knowledge and there was a headline in the washington post that basically said that it was these foreign officials that gave assistance to help iran you know come over and get these capabilities. do you think about that well there probably was some foreign help i mean the united states helped india get nuclear weapons and probably helped israel get nuclear weapons so people there are nuclear transfers and that's a bad idea but and you want to try to limit that but the problem is you have free ranging people like a.q. khan from pakistan who is basically selling a lot of nuclear secrets and cetera so some people will sell secrets just to make money other times the intelligence agencies the iranian intelligence agencies out there looking for technology so that's a kind of

a leaky sieve i mean this technology is proliferating it is technology is not even new anymore remember the first atomic bomb was blown off in one thousand nine hundred eighty five so we're going to have to expect some proliferation but i think we need to focus on containing and if we can't contain we need to deter an attack and there's no reason to say that iran's leaders are crazy in fact they've been very pragmatic and if there was ever a radical it was now say turning in china at the time because it was in the middle of cult cultural revolution and cetera so i think the iranians can be deterred from attacking certainly the united states on the other side of the world and probably from saudi and certainly from israel they have two hundred two hundred to four hundred nuclear weapons already and they are very capable aircraft to deliver them so iran is not is not probably going to use these weapons in an anger i mean we've been talking about sort of the reaction from different leaders around the world to this report and the parts of it that have been leaked but there are

some and i want to mention is there some would argue you know this was totally predictable these reaction you know that the u.s. and israel have been beating the drums of war against iran for a for a long time they want to see the words very contractors they want to keep this country and some sort of perpetual war that is a criticism that many are saying in response to this what about that notion does that have any validity well i think there are. pressures we saw that in libya we saw in the second iraq war etc we've seen it in the occupation long term occupation of afghanistan i think what's really driving this is the iranians are moving that facility into the mountain and once it goes in there can be very difficult to take it down and so i think that's why there's a lot of bluster i think that's probably why they're releasing this report but more pressure on iran fated to give up its weapons program but i don't see them doing that so i think you're going to have to move to a. strategy of deterrence nobody's saying that right now but that's probably what you're going to do based on your research and based on history what are your

predictions in terms of how the various countries respond once this report is released well i think israel's going to be very strident and you're going to see bellicose statements i think the united states is probably less enthusiastic about that given the recent history of u.s. military endeavors and i think obama has always been a little bit reluctant to to attack iran iran is a totally different nut to crack than iraq or whatever you i mean like i say you have to invade on the ground to get this get these weapons out of there are not weapons but facilities and i think. you know basically them even a lot of military people would say there are not many good military options except a full blown invasion i don't know anybody who's going to going to. you know advocate that now if israel does attack or the u.s. does launch airstrikes i think you'll instantly turn the country into an anti-u.s.

cauldron again now a lot of people are fed up with the current regime and they're not happy especially you see the arab spring arrives in a very weak position its ally syria is going government there there may fall fall over there what you've got in iran the arab spring can't be encouraging to the iranian leaders so i think you know iran is susceptible to pressure. whether they'll give up a nuclear weapon is another matter or their nuclear program i should say and we and we need to be cautious here were what happened in iraq and we can't conclusively say that they have a nuclear program that's. for weapons but it looks like they might but even if they do military action is probably not useful no matter what this will certainly be one of the hot topics i have a feeling for the upcoming presidential debate as we see our senior fellow at the independent institute ivan eland when if it's gears now and talk about matters here at home it's a look at the state of our economy and specifically poverty and what it actually

needs after all it has been at fifty years since president lyndon johnson made this speech in a call to all americans to join the army in a different kind of for this ministration. here and no explorers on virtual war on poverty in america. and our. urge there's congress and all americans to join with me in that effort. the war on poverty speech made on january eighth one thousand nine hundred sixty four for how things change today and how well is the enemy in other words poverty really understood and when will today's president declare a war on poverty and not just a cleric but send in reinforcements while help me answer those questions and many more earlier i was joined by michael snyder the founder of the economic collapse

blog with the latest u.s. census data and i asked him in his view if president obama has done enough to deal with this new information about poverty in this country take a listen. well the obama administration seems to think the stock market is georgina's everything is ok but the truth is that the order of the war they keep increasing global rockall boasting economy improving as you noted there are no exporting per cent of all americans are living in extreme poverty that is the highest level ever recorded when you just look at the regular poverty numbers to gore six million more americans lose under the poverty line those that was american born out of poverty. and if you look at that and the support of long term trends i can your to dos and long ago it was reminding americans living in poverty today we have one out of every certain americans living in poverty and i do i know you wrote

about this recently including a part of that you wrote in one thousand factories out poverty that will absolutely astound you and i want to put out just a few of those on these are sums of statistics from last year according to u.s. census data the percentage of very poor one in three hundred out of three hundred and sixty of the largest metropolitan areas and the poverty rate of children increased by twenty two percent with one of four children on food stamps also you wrote that the number of americans on food stands in general has increased seventy four percent since two thousand and seven also something that important we talk about children we also should talk about the elderly one out of six elderly americans now lives below the federal poverty line and i'm wondering do you think the majority of americans understand how dire the situation is. i think we're so isolated it's ok we all have our own jobs we all get on our cars live our own

little lives private office and sometimes we don't realize how many people out there are really suffering but when you take a look at the bigger picture people really really are hurting when you've got twenty two percent of all children of the united states living in poverty that's twice the level that we speak in countries like france or the u.k. so that's very very disturbing when you've got the number americans the stance it increases every single month every single month almost be said a brand new record today it's all forty six million americans that are on food stamps and as you noted that some creep but seventy four percent from second two thousand and seven so poverty is exploding but americans have become so inflated they might live in a wealthy community might live in a where they're not exposed to this but it's expanding all the numbers show it we're going to the number of americans willing to do banks and a place where they can get food but more than forty percent of its most recent economic downturn so sure that this whole class of americans today that are the

working poor they go they work their part time jobs they work they live perjures they work at wal-mart but it's not enough that you know the family that was the founder of the economic collapse time got conned michael snyder and we now want to show you some of the faces of poverty talent for takes a look at the stories behind the numbers. never dreamed he would be here your frustration and i think for you comp it was a duty in afghanistan a few years in iraq standing in a food. but after his unemployment benefits ran out food for others taking the only way to feed his ten year old son something he doesn't think politicians in washington understand i don't see them out here ok you know the. president yeah. we're living in a real world u.s. census figures show that forty six point two million americans now live below the poverty line twenty percent of the nation's lives below the federal poverty line

which is a number that was built thirty years ago and it's. twenty two thousand three hundred fourteen dollars so if you really look at poverty and you were taken just for the true cost of living today it would be higher and it would include people like mary lee ten or so when she was working earn five thousand dollars more than the poverty line for an individual just ten thousand eight hundred ninety dollars and still considers herself for some time she had a child. with. medication so. it should. be getting all the most americans because the homeless or the unemployed as the face of poverty in america poverty actually looks a lot like me. a person who gets up every morning goes to work gets on the metro comes may or may not have lunch that day and a lot of times you know that person is struggling financially because they go to

work so to speak so about earning federal minimum wage has never been enough to lift their family out of poverty if only one adult works earning the federal minimum wage will get you just fifteen thousand dollars a year meanwhile the poverty line is calculated only by tripling the cost of the most basic food. but harvey's group calculated the true cost of living in washington d.c. is just the very basics for housing food transportation and child care no car no cell phone only a landline and really only in the city and we know that for a family of one it's thirty one thousand dollars a year so to have a family of four living on twenty two thousand dollars a year when you know it really cost at least thirty one thousand dollars it's really just there's no comparison there experts say that if a poverty line was adjusted for economic growth in one thousand sixty nine when president lyndon johnson declared his war on poverty president johnson's war on poverty has this one goal to provide everyone the chance to make his own way it

would reveal that the real number of americans living in poverty is shocking twenty eight percent. so why hasn't america seen another war in poverty individuals living in poverty or facing so many challenges every day when the last things from their minds is who thought about for. and it's a word used here for politicians to. use to stick certain so on and come up with something that appeals to their core constituency it's a lot harder to some system despite one in four americans struggling to make ends meet tackling poverty has yet to be a leading issue in the two thousand and twelve presidential campaign in florida artsy washington d.c. . i want to give you an update now on the movement in this country to take money out of some of the largest most powerful banks and move it to smaller not for profit banks we told you about this last week how about eighty thousand people have

signed a facebook pledge to move their money out of banks like bank of america and wells fargo by november fifth this past saturday as came to be known as national bank transfer day or the movement was in response to a proposed debit card usage fee by some of these banks which later renamed gonna be still it turns out people were angry just of the idea that the bank would charge them take a look at these numbers last month credit unions around the country gained six hundred fifty thousand new customers also four point five billion dollars was moved out of major banks. and right here it is also one year to go the twenty twelve election takes place on november sixth which means president obama has about three hundred sixty four days to convince the american people he'll make this country better than whomever he faces off with again in the g.o.p. will it be mitt romney herman cain michele bachmann ron paul all matter who it is

there are some things that take into account first no american president since franklin roosevelt has ever won a second term when the unemployment rate on election day was higher than seven point two percent that was the unemployment rate in november of one nine hundred eighty four and ronald reagan won a second term landslide by the way right now it is that nine percent though many say that number should be much higher so will this year be different or will the economy be president obama's biggest enemy r.z. correspondent was wall takes a deeper look at this important question facing our country. well so well from the start. so when. he campaigned under the promise of hope and change one year until america lexx the president some ask where is the change obama promised he had a very shallow act following he really know all of that very much obama's approval ratings hovering just over forty percent americans on happy new to the nation this

small economic outlook recent data shows record poverty levels in the nation with over forty nine million people now living in poverty the middle class land by foreclosures and job losses unemployment doggedly stuck out over nine percent since world war two no one has been reelected to the second term is going to boil it is seven point two percent but some points away deadlocked congress ensuring no bill offering economic relief passes i really think he's doing the best job that he can do obama now scrambling to ditch his lame duck image issuing a slew of executive orders a move which allows him to bypass congress where congress won't act but is it too little too late some say his greatest hope may be his g.o.p. rivals this is such a cool state i mean come on live free or die. you know you gotta love it. if you don't have a job and you have not reached blame you'll say this is really have been

infiltrated from the democratic party that's giving them the lawns like we got to cut back lawn and saw a little bit you know a social security is running rampant and we'd all get we have the raided medicare is out of control is telling people listeners they're losing their homes so to get a job and afford health care while presidential incumbents are usually getting a political advantage with one year to go until americans head to the polls obama has an uphill battle with the dire threat the economy is and now americans are disappointed still hoping for that. they were promised back in two thousand and washing but less law r.t. all right so with one year to go the question on so many voters' minds is has president obama done enough in his first term or is it too little too late to help me answer those questions and many more earlier i spoke to erica payne she's the founder of the agenda project as well as neil mccabe a reporter for human events i started out by asking them what specifically would

need to happen to give the president another shot well i think the president needs to sort of gather himself and reconsider his strategy what he's doing right now is he's pursuing a strategy where he needs to energize the base and sort of excite those sort of occupy sort of spirits but he's in danger of aggravating those wounds that he promised to heal and i think he's going to he may win but he may win such a damn which country that it's going to be even more difficult four years in the second term erick all of the responsible. well i mean the fact of matter is the countries are already damaged and it's damaged basically because of eight years of conservative and finance and said the best in the present right now is to let everyone know the ways in which conservative policy it's brought to. the brink of collapse and what he's trying to shore it up and those that. think that disguise

can work harder than i am i think if you look across. her public and you know i mean i graduate every day is that it's the best reality t.v. has ever seen you know if it's even beats. the world series you know i mean certainly when president obama first came into office people argue that president bush certainly did a lot of harm to this country and a lot of even republicans would agree with that statement but here we are three years in showing the economy be in a better place than it is well first of all i don't accept the premise that george bush did a lot of damage in this country i think obama had a fantastic opportunity though it was a new start and there were a lot of republicans a lot of very conservative people myself included who were hopeful that obama would sort of unite the country and we could mobilize together but he's just been so diverse of it's really it's really been shocking to

a lot of people i think frankly when i talk to people on capitol hill they're almost hurts the way the obama administration has ignored them has dismissed them as sort of when they give a press conference they sort of pretend that they're reaching out but you know he literally goes months without talking to republican leaders. erica over the weekend some interesting predictions of the chances of the races came out this would be and i want to just put this out there this would be of romney ends up being the g.o.p. candidate if it was a romney obama election if there is a zero percent growth in g.d.p. in twenty hold there is an eighty three percent chance that romney will win the election president obama has just a seventeen percent chance of keeping his job but if there is just a four percent growth and twenty twelve romney has a forty percent chance obama a sixty percent chance of winning so the economy needs to grow just a little bit but what do you think erick how do you think it will well mean the

highest and growing and the great i'm told story of this unemployment crisis and i and i just got to be clear i was critical of president obama as many other people have been as a as a lifelong progressive i definitely. much more aggressive on some of the issues that i care about from our street reform to job creation but that it is same time you know one of the top stories of the last three years that we have across the board a slow but steady. number of jobs that are it great now is that enough to make up for the fact that george bush lost seven hundred fifty thousand jobs last month he's not best now but it is not in the right direction and in a negative poll on those upward numbers are that the public sector is being fired you know they're being irish op because tea party.

it's basically the tea party established this a studio which is going to make the economy. you know i mean you're looking at the situation in europe where they're probably ok but no young people who aren't with the tea party well it's crazy i mean you have to choose between austerity for people who rely on the government to you through government jobs or government programs or government contracts or austerity for contract for the taxpayers you know the democrats the progressive the liberals whatever you want to call it they seem to have no problem with getting this huge austerity program of higher taxes on taxpayers and so the tea party i think is just saying well i think we're paying enough right now but i was founder of the agenda project erica payne and reporter for human events on the cable well if you can't beat em you might as well get naked in front of them i was the decision made by a couple of activists in italy over the weekend i want to show you the scene in st

peter's square outside of the vatican on sunday following the pope's sunday address . all right this one then along with another one apparently protesting against the anti feminist policies of the vatican that they say impose patriarchal medieval concepts of social and cultural positioning of women they say they're angry at the worldwide n.c. abortion lobby the attempts by the catholic church to quote restrict the attire and appearance of women and they say they're angry that the pope has condemned the use of contraceptives the activists were arrested by italian police and they spent four hours in detention you can join our interesting story i'm going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered check out our youtube page at youtube dot com slash r.t. america you should definitely also follow me on twitter i'm at christine for the big picture with some.