first session most of the seats are occupied by the muslim brotherhood and other parties who won an overwhelming majority in the first post mubarak parliamentary poll office where if an option and i joins us live from cairo with details on this good to see you so this session can be seen by some as historic with the formerly banned islam is party now in power but but how much change are people in egypt really expecting. both or if there is a growing actually here in egypt already that with these with this new poll and changes will actually not be as dramatic as people in the revolution demonstrators protestors have expected them to be the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice party has indeed more on the first vote in post barak egypt mostly because it had voted had promised people all aid tips to how to support such an transitional transition from military to civil power is something people have been calling for have been demonstrating for since the supreme council of the armed forces took

power from mubarak last february because to them they say that the ruling generals have been actually representing the old regime something they've been fighting against and something actually their revolution has been designed to gets read off but already today we have many signs indicating that the islam is in this new poll that the muslim brotherhood as well as salafist the second party that. a vote actually going most likely to cooperate with scoff and that's why many people who have been able to speak to here in cairo say they see you a little bit strange because they say the muslim girl they would have been we them have been we the demonstrators protesters have been with people on the streets all over egypt since the beginning of the uprising last january only expressing their opposition to the old regime. very soon and to mubarak but and this is act.

why they've gained wide support from the egyptian population the since the election the russians in the in the founder of people say they feel as if the muslim brotherhood no longer care about what's going on here in egypt they haven't been as active as they used to be before and that's why people suggest that the muslim brotherhood actually used to use this stance anti and to mature and to stop until barak sons to win the elections and now since they have got the power of the older crowd this is why many of those not all of them but many of those we have been able to speak to here in egypt say they no longer trust the muslim brotherhood and actually this is why we expect the start of rallies to dilate today before in front of the building all for calm and people are going to protest against this behavior by muslim brotherhood. or i think so at all times where it's often alive in cars.

the leader of libya's national transitional council mostafa abdel jalil says the country could be on the brink of civil war and follows a weekend of political turmoil with his deputy resigning over the suspension of six high ranking council delegates from benghazi it is the latest sign of discord in the country's interim leadership and comes amid a rising tide of discontent among libyans riots swept through benghazi at the weekend as thousands took to the streets of the city where the antique death the uprising began enraged the protesters accuse the n.c.c. of corruption being slow in bringing in reform and favoring former government loyalists as also criticism from analysts that the country is failing to unite. the gadhafi regime could control the whole of libya could find peace among all the tribes the new regime cannot even control something in one town or one area i mean

they turn libya into a war and of the hunting of black skins they're selling off their oil and natural resources and sovereignty to nato and now the thieves that is the rebels they're all falling out with each other so really this is freedom and democracy by nato it's all become very clear people of syria and the people of lebanon and the people of the global south have to see that what's happening in libya is coming to them if they're not able to defend themselves and stop this rolling western aggression against other countries in the global south. in just a moment it's corrina with the business but for now one solution to joblessness in the united states is a scheme where giant corporations create workplaces for local communities that are even handed government money to that end but somehow jobs still get outsourced to cheap foreign forces and. reports this allows big businesses to prosper while small towns suffer. in one of america's most economically depressed cities resides the world's largest producer of home appliances corporation is headquartered in

benton harbor michigan where sixty percent are unemployed ninety percent live in poverty and per capita income is roughly ten thousand dollars the citizens of benton harbor are living from one day to the next they're very poor and they're very disheartened i mean there's been very little effort on the part of the whirlpool that runs everything to try to. involve the community in two thousand and nine whirlpool received a nineteen point three million dollars grant from the federal government in part to create jobs and i think our u.s. workforce certainly. factory workforce if you will is that is the best among the world so we're very confident in the future of u.s. manufacturing for our kind of products one year later the corporation received nearly twenty million dollars from the state of michigan to expand its facility

which now serves as a gateway into benton harbor it's good for the community good for the state and good for your business as well there's a real art to that but as the u.s. based corporation has grown globally you know. more jobs have been outsourced to countries demanding less wages today the former blue collar community of benton harbor remains a victim of america's d. into. lizzie sion and growing poor population pool has seventy one thousand employees around the globe but no longer manufactures home products in its hometown it still remains a recipient of u.s. state and federal stimulus funding. whirlpool just closed the factory and that hurt my business my little business i lost a lot of clients this is their home base and it always has been and in the

beginning of the large development they promised us that they would always be due to the recession the corporate banking myth of home appliances hasn't paid us income tax since two thousand and eight by two thousand and ten nearly ninety nine percent of benton harbor residents were receiving food stamps while the whole thing approximately eighteen billion dollars in annual sales. that think i've purchased my last whirlpool appliance i don't even think i'll call for we care because too often and for too long those that have gotten rich has forgotten who's helped them to get there and they're willing to step on us and that just doesn't sit we'll with my soul a soul living in one of america's poorest cities clothed in poverty and accessorized in corporate success arena porton party. you know just a few minutes or an hour to our debate joe cross talk takes a look at

a new financial black hole opening up stateside with the ongoing billion dollar presidential campaigns i do stay with us for that and of course corrina who is next with the business. with. hello and welcome to our business here in r.t. i will go straight to our top story the european union has formally adopted an oil embargo against iran over its nuclear program it involves an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with iran however all existing contracts will be valid until first of july energy strategies garrett who is davis from b.m.p. perry by believes that any e.u. led sanctions against this middle eastern country will only lead to minor fluctuations in the ore price. the e.u. sanctions on the oh no i don't think that's significant around exports right about two point two million barrels a day of oil. all of that goes to europe it's only represents run about one quarter

of most goods to to asia so we expect that the impact of the e.u. sanctions are quite limited but the u.s. sanctions that might take effect towards the end of this year. removing all of the rain you know sports two point two million barrels a day of that i think will have greater or price impacts. crude prices are slowly heading higher as e.u. nations impose or borrow against iran light sweet is trading at just under ninety nine dollars a barrel while brand burned is at one hundred and ten and a half dollars a barrel shares in europe are trading in the black at noon britain's benchmark stock index inched higher boosted by gains for banks and all stocks investors are still awaiting news from the debt talks between us here in russia the markets are trading mixed in the afternoon the r.t.s. is adding one percent one of my six is shedding almost a quarter of a percent now let's look at some top movers otherwise ex russia's largest oil company ross nev has recovered from early losses and is now trading in the black

bear bank has also narrowed losses and is now dropping a point two percent and the lender has completed acquisition of the troika gallagher investment back and mobile operator and yes is trading flat the sell. well that's all for now but remember you can always find more stories on our website r.t. dark thanks for watching. oh

sure is that so much as i know which of course is why money comes in here it is the biggest and most expensive elections money can buy this is how many americans see what are called political action committees or super pacs. wealthy british style.

markets why not. why not what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on r g. three thirty pm here in the russian capital this is odd see if you had lines to mask rejects the arab league's transition plan which includes a demand for president assad's departure calling it quote a flagrant interference in its internal affairs the e.u. is reportedly stepping up its pressure on the regime by imposing a new set of sanctions. brussels has also adopted a total block wide embargo on iranian oil

a move that could ultimately backfire on europe's fragile economy. russia's policy on internal migration folds into the focus of prime minister presidential run a lot of me a putin as he presents another set of plans as part of his election program. are those are the main monday headlines here on our team but up next peter lavelle and his guests discuss the political posturing and multimillion dollar lobbyist handouts in the ongoing u.s. presidential campaigns crosstalk. and you can. follow me and welcome to crossfire computer look at all the biggest and most

expensive elections money can buy this is how many americans see what are called political action committees or super pacs are the super pacs good for democracy do they really inform and voters and are elections now only about money. and you can. start. to cross talk political action committees i'm joined by seton motley in washington he is the president and editor in chief of the less government also in washington we have greg coleman he is a government affairs lobbyist for public citizen and in los angeles we cross a room he is the founding editor of the independent newspaper are gentlemen crosstalk rules and if that means you can jump in anytime you want and i really very much encourage a room in los angeles i go to you first and in researching this program i came across i thought it was a very interesting and if not funny statement everyone loves to hate super pacs one critic said that they were quote

a new political animal that is ugly loud and anti-democratic would you agree or disagree with that statement. well it's certainly is fundamentally anti-democratic you sensually have extremely wealthy people who can come in corporations that can come in with no disclosure they can coordinate with campaigns spend huge amounts of money distorting the political process they can basically broadcast whatever propaganda they like and i would ever time and we live in an age the second gilded age in america where there's just enormous concentration of wealth and we know that there are billionaires running around whether it's someone like george soros or the koch brothers who have a vested interest and tried to game the political system and we have to see this also in the larger context of how money is used in politics in the united states there's something like seventeen thousand registered lobbyists in washington d.c.

the vast majority of them controlled by corporations or trade groups and they exist essential a influence the process to write laws and regulations so that money flows towards them and this is what citizens united and the super pacs are all about it's arrived at the point that we have the best democracy that money can buy ok craig what do you think about that in washington d.c. that's run as a pretty strong opinion but do you think about it. you know i've got to take that opinion even stronger or super pacs are perhaps the most dangerous trend we've seen in the financing of american elections recently you know this. supreme court five justices on the supreme court opened an absolutely disastrous floodgates of unlimited and largely undisclosed money in american elections when they ruled just two years ago this is the anniversary by the way of the citizens united decision in

which five justices ruled that corporations are to be treated as people under the u.s. constitution and therefore can make unlimited expenditures now that's bad enough that we're having this flood of unlimited corporate money flowing into elections and it which is largely going undisclosed but then to make it even worse we've got this new phenomenon called super pacs that are directly and very closely aligned with each of the presidential candidates he's our candidate specific groups that are receiving unlimited corporate money and limited union money unlimited wealth from individuals specifically to support a candidate either romney gate bridge or bamma is setting up his own as a result we're going back to the pre watergate era in which the very wealthy get to buy these election if i go to seed and i have to point out to our viewers here is that i was a small boy during watergate and i can remember afterwards

a lot of people say that at least the the positive outcome of this scandal called watergate was election campaigning reform and it is that all gone now with the with the decision in two thousand and ten because it looks like we've just decided for a few decades go ahead. unfortunately know it's not all gone i'm sorry you guys are so in effect a cult of free speech. money is speech in our society money money is groceries in society you can argue that it's not but try leaving the grocery store with some groceries without money money is speech in this country and i'm sorry you guys are so obtusely offended by all this free speech going on the reason super pacs and this is because we still have stupid anti first amendment campaign finance laws on the books you want to complain about lobbyist lobbyists is one of the few jobs it's actually mention the comp constitution petition congress. grievances the problem is government is so incredibly huge that it requires so many lobbyist to

try to hurt it and beat it back off people's particular industries if you want to work campaign finance reform were do says size scope and sphere of influence of government and then won't be any needed to bribe all these politicians ok what do you think about that i mean. if it's a free speech issue here i mean it gets down to you can those that have free speech doesn't have the money if you have money you can have free speech well of course this is based on the absurd notion that corporations are people and as justice stevens. is sure that this is you know in a way in a way you know who are already since our asian a lot away allow them to run for office why don't we allow them to vote you know i think i would be more on this why don't we have president exxon mobil i mean i think a good example of this is just to please our and it is just a bigger terms of the corrupting influence of money in our society is that over the

last few years socially the energy industry and its allies have been pouring about three to four billion dollars a year how's that working with kids to lie distorting there's a. change. they're basically interested in. trying to distort what is. proven science that the climate is shifting now. species that are because you know their habitat unless you do you remember the climate unless you believe. that the planet itself is this fraud where spring is coming earlier where ecosystems are are shifting you want your stories only like you always want to see if you know. the crags are going to. create. money let's talk about the money issue right let's talk about the money

issue as opposed to the policy you talk about i mean it's money if you want to see it. ever says watergate ever since watergate we recognize that when you have any individual or corporation or any entity that can throw in too much money to a candidate you can potentially corrupt that candidate so now that we have and so with the watergate era we set up it was amazing we're going to hear romney's one how much money can go into politics we've lost those reasonable limits and now can and that all groups corporations anyone can throw in five million ten million to support a presidential candidate specifically that candidate and that candidate is going to know who who feathered his or her bed to get elected president that is a very very easy to use a little upset that the free market people can now spend as much as the unions always could these were ok seating can i ask you

a question here i mean it's well known it's common knowledge that most of these super pacs that are supporting candidates as was just pointed out their former staffers from the candidate there's no sure i nice chinese wall there now but i mean that's what they're supposed to be so i don't care about its own constitution . no wall it's an unconstitutional wall here telling people how they can spend their money this is why i mean isn't. that somehow corporations are people ok ok obvious here's me who forms corporations people do they don't lose their rights because they form a business or form of people who drive cars so what i mean is are just going to do things correctly or you're going to use more graduations are and i really want to and i is why down gentlemen craig if i can go to you again i'd like to go go go back to these things i mean super pacs ok they have a lot of money we've all agreed to that ok but it's also a way to deny it's an adult deniability you know we have the candidate saying well

this this ad ran and well i have nothing to do with it i didn't have any involvement in it but of course it's that candidates former staffers that are going to knowing there's a force to my law to say that i'm asking craig i think that that's exactly that's exactly right what we're seeing going on in the republican primaries where the republican candidates are criticizing their own super pacs for doing these negative and false ads and it really is just a whole bunch of bluster these super pacs are doing exactly what the candidates want to do they pretend that they don't even see the ads that the super pacs are running yet every time one of these presidential candidates gives a speech they're echoing exactly what the super pacs are saying the super pacs are are the dirty mechanisms they're the ones that can do all the dirty work for the presidential candidates coming up with the lies slanders or just negative campaign ads well the candidates themselves try to distance themselves in arm's length and say i criticize what that super pac did but you know this is the message so it's

really all bluster i mean all these presidential candidates therefore. are exceedingly beneficial ok seated why are they forced to these arms control laws as those stupid law says that they can't coordinate. with the super pac and now you're criticizing them for a hearing to the stupid law that you're insisting upon but they are coordinating that's our coordination rules our coordination. on the restrictions i. believe for one second and that coordinating former staffers from canada are not a problem with them coordinating but then you have a problem coordinating i don't have a problem with them coordinating this is free speech. part of the important point is that this keeps getting back to the issue of free speech and many constitutional scholars i'm going to ask that is actually the five four majority

decision swept aside more than a century of precedent that this was a radical illegal. area that was overturning all sorts of president in terms of. the supreme court so there's such a great. scholar and you can and i want to buy your position there some corporation well how. are you going to get is will leave and we're going to for years a bad precedent. all right general i'm going to jump in here we're going to make sure we're going to show you a story in a row we'll keep the discussion going to continue our discussion on super pacs state are. you. going to.

discover it. test yourself and become free. see what nature can give you. plenty. to day. game fled up the fees are the images the world. and canada. challenge corporation. league.

play and you can see. the. welcome back to cross talk on your lapel jumanji we're discussing whether super pacs are good for democracy. and you. say it's. ok to ask you do these super pacs and these really dreadful ads are they put on television or do they actually inform people is there any information valuable information there to make decisions. sure sure and i'm like everybody else on this panel i actually trust the american people to discern and delineate what's useful and what's not and make a rational and intelligent decision these people seem to think that the american people are sheep in eighty it's and can't figure out what's true and what's not in these ads well i mean if you're crowding out the public sphere and you're only

getting certain messages it's hard to make a decision greg you want to jump in there go ahead excuse me the internet is a cornucopia you can get whatever you want or need to tell you internet these ads are not swaying people well going to mean see if you would probably agree with me that then if it isn't the case then why are they spending so much money on it go ahead craig jump in more because it's part of the grass or a very negative ads these are very negative ads these are this is not useful information these are very you know you'd better go mitt romney mitt romney who had previously supported abortion rights reg and gingrich for supporting abortion rights which gingrich doesn't i mean it's misinformation that it's coming out here and negative advertising this is not constructive not only turns off floaters towards the election but it also increases the cost for buying campaign ads for the candidates on the parties who have serious messages to offer no this is drowning out yeah they didn't really have a lot of good serious message the d.n.c.

is full of. excuse me i had a question when it went a.b.c. long rewarding when n.b.c. lies in their reporting they're not they're not held to this accountability standard that you're applying to private citizens why is that. yes they are their own laws it's practice journalism no no no no look here's the thing about. the whole citizens united and super pacs we have to see this in the historical context of the destruction of the fairness doctrine in one nine hundred eighty seven by the reagan administration there with their another. public airwaves they are public it is in the interest to regulate the public airwaves to have a healthy democracy and by these corporations and wealthy individuals being able to funnel in tens of millions of dollars they are essential to controlling the.