welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour in a trying year for the occupy movement and especially for the journalists covering it how have police actions against journalists affected freedom of the press in america also president obama talked last night about a critical trade off between tax rates and investment in our nation was he specifically referring to and how could doing away with that benefit our economic wellbeing and if you really let a person star just assist us who is starving because we just continue to go hungry bless the approach behind one of our allies economic decisions i'll let you know why they're wrong what they should be doing.

in the last days that of the union address president obama talked about a critical choice that we as americans need to make about taxes and investment here in our nation here's what he said. right now because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates then millions of middle class households do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest americans or do we want to keep our investments in everything else like education and medical research a strong military. and care for veterans. what president obama was referring to there is the tax loophole known as the capital gains tax or what i call the capitalist gains tax it's how mitt romney can make twenty one point six million

dollars and yet only pay a thirteen point nine percent tax rate far lower than most middle class americans right now the capitalist gains tax is at the lowest it's been since the great depression and as the president pointed out this low tax rate on capital gains is sucking money out of our nation's ability to pay for everything from schools to the military to our nation's infrastructure so should we have more capital this gains tax financed with debt or tax cuts rather or should rich people pay their fair share so we can educate a new generation of scientists engineers and doctors here to offer his take on this is david selleck a federal tax practitioner and pro-business advocate david welcome it's home thanks for having me on i really appreciate the opportunity to discuss this issue ok great david in one nine hundred eighty six ronald reagan equalize the capitalist gains

tax with the ordinary income tax the he set them at the exact same level and in doing so he said his words this is fairness this is about fairness the people who are in their money with money pay the exact same rate as people who earn their money with their sweat now reagan is gone and that's all gone to help they were both the twenty eight percent the capitalist gains tax was twenty percent when george bush came in it's now fifteen percent why should paris hilton only pay fifteen percent income tax on the money that she earns from her inheritance while she's sitting on her bottom around the pool in her bikini and and you or i or anybody else is working for a living should pay up to thirty six percent. why was ronald lazar address the real issue. ok ronald reagan he was a great man was wrong on this one particular issue and i have to tell you something i take great exception to this misleading argument that the wealthy are paying

a lesser amount it's just simply not true there is absolute equality in our tax code now if you had a ditchdigger supermarket clerk or a harvard law professor and they had the wherewithal to invest their money and the patience to keep that investment for longer than one year they would all be taxed at the same rate of fifteen percent and that is equality but the polarizing politics of our president would lead you to believe that equality is unfair and it's hard to see my way out of it first of all sure not all of the artists piece it all tax to fifteen percent as you know the capital gains tax is a graduated progressive tax just like the ordinary income tax so if you only earn five or ten thousand dollars where the capitalist gains you only pay you probably pay zero or less than one percent you've got to earn a couple hundred thousand bucks or even a couple million dollars in capital gains before you start paying anything close to

that fifteen percent i mean you know your tax credits you know this so it ought to go out of the. i don't want to be pedantic with you but it is capital gains tax and if these people and that's not capitalist gains tax although we are a capitalist society like it or not we're actually not as fewer than one percent of us our capital is david if you were to take this money out before a year it would be taxed at regular income rates now i know it's a popular argument because you've got a lot of people who feel there's an equity many of these people or largely hoping for a handout from mitt romney from from david let me just let me a little david we just have them out with me because that's not going to just let me just ask the question one more time a very simple question why should somebody who makes their money with money pay a lower income tax rate than somebody who makes their money with the sweat of their brow or are there. but they don't because if they were to go out and get

a job they'd pay the regular income tax rate on their earnings harris healthcare is business is a fifteen percent money on the investments that she inherited i don't understand why should you say one there's a jewel and the woman that i just respond to that can answer it if it doesn't like saying that's like when you hold up an example of the government paying four hundred dollars for a toilet seat ok it's just not the right to file investor the rank and file investor is a senior citizen who is dependent on those capital gains and you're going to end up putting them out on the dole if you're going to strip these elderly of their dignity ok david david we're out of time but i got your point you made it very well thank you very much for being with us today appreciate my appreciate it one of the few occasions in history ronald reagan in my opinion was right when he pointed out the absurdity of capital gains taxes let's hope republicans revive reagan soon at least on this issue.

not only did we hear the president's take on the state of the union but we also heard the republicans take on it when indiana governor mitch daniels gave the official republican response we also heard mr nine nine nine himself herman cain who had the official tea party response and yes cain did look right at the camera however less unexpected was the response from the occupy movement from washington d.c. in their response the movement's quote financially the state of the ninety nine percent is not strong that is an understatement never in our lifetimes of so many hardworking americans face so many difficulties so many uncertainties so many indignities it has been a very tumultuous year for the occupy movement and even more so for the reporters and journalists who cover the movement and its principles throughout two thousand and eleven reporters covering the movement were beaten arrested and ultimately

prevented from reporting on police actions against occupy protesters we all remember mayor michael bloomberg midnight raid on zuccotti park which more than two hundred peaceful protesters including dozens of journalists were arrested by police in riot gear as a result our nation's press freedoms have suffered a setback we like to think of ourselves as the most free nation in the world when it comes to the press but in reality we're not even close joining us to discuss more about the treatment of journalists in the united states today is delfina haugen the d.c. bureau chief for reporters without borders delphine welcome to the program thank you thanks for joining us you just released your press freedom index for two thousand and eleven where is the united states said how if we change from previous years and and why they us fell that twenty seventh place fifth year so in one year you have twenty seven nations intervene between us if so no the u.s. in or i won't index are at the forty seventh of the forty. it's not there's only

thirty four countries in the o.e.c.d. you know the richest edwards an eighteen or index we have must know those one hundred and one hundred eighty so on the bottom of the east we have north korea for why your big change as you mentioned of course because of their large number of journalists who were arrested when they were covering the movement so as you say dozens where aristide sometimes even exposed to police brutality and sometimes even charged and so we think that it's good maybe just to remember that the freedom of expression and freedom of information is guaranteed by the us constitution and that i don't have to to forget it but why big change so as i say it's mostly because of all arrest around the occupy movements but also because all concerned were not addressed yet like the protection

of services and the we used to have whistleblower laws here in the united states we no longer do yeah there is no federal shield law in the us. and that is to protect their sources and when i was there in most developed countries actually yes and when i'm i'm not talking one thousand peer we like. this if you like the new york times reporter. wheezes but we ask no to testify abilities compete on trial sources so we are talking about like real case is the us is part of this. does and does this have to do in any way i mean this this change in ranking. with the fact that the word press is blurring in the internet age increasingly you know so. when he gets five or ten articles published on the

huffington post suddenly there are a reporter where they can be designated as such you know as opposed to it used to be you know only a journalism school graduate was a real reporter kind of thing. does that have anything to do with us it has a direct link to or you're right because reporters without borders were defending the least toroid but we are also defending our freedom of information which means that we will defend citizen who can be put in jail because they publish something on facebook and in the u.s. things these kind of thing doesn't happen that we are all so alike following people who could be. in trouble if they published an information so so the concept of a citizen journalist is something that the you're respecting and frankly the world seems to be yeah and. we we think that we have to defend citizens there are in trouble they publish some information so when we have to

defend them as if they were there when the police when the when the police are making their arrests in the occupy movement should they have done should they i mean there were some reporters who had actually credentials should they have simply said ok your reporter you're not here when i brought a roster is that what you're suggesting. so it's right that crate down schol or. professional journalist or working for a well no newspapers or radio or t.v. has to be able to do their work but citizens who want to call verse. by movement as the same right and the same. history doesn't offer an expiration date thank you so much for being with us tonight thank you for the great work that you're doing thank you. the press is the only industry specifically mentioned in our constitution that's how vital it is to our democracy and it must be protected. after the break the united kingdom is trying and failing to use economic austerity

to help its economy i'll show you why this is the wrong approach and what they should really do. discover is. communicate with you want to. test yourself and become three. see what nature can give you.

right if you move. from funds to christian. stocks on t.v. dot com. a few days ago the indiana senate passed a law i call right to work for less they call it right to work using the. half heartly law to exempt themselves from the one nine hundred thirty five national labor relations act yesterday the indiana governor and bush economic advisor mitch daniels and the republicans did their republican or bottle following the state of the union. mission this mr doughboy or. today the indiana house passed a right to work for less law so now the senate the house this is the first time what makes this significant is that this is the first time right to work for a less has come to a midwestern industrial state this represents

a full out war on the right of workers to have democracy in the workplace and make money no mistake about it a workplace is not a democracy it is a kingdom and you know with kings and lords and serfs and a union is a democracy where it is there's a majority vote to bring it into existence there's a majority vote for its leadership everything but conservatives don't believe in democracy they want plutocracy in the workers in the workplace those pesky workers are we can't have those pesky workers in charge of things tom friedman in cities new york times wrote praising workers being housed in dorms in the fact in a factory in the factory quarter so that they could be woken up at midnight to work a twelve hour shift to help out apple make their teen billion dollars on forty six billion dollars of revenue great idea for america you know why don't we just have

our workers live right at the factories and wake them up in the middle of the night so that they can go out and make i phones by the way thirteen billion dollars profit of forty six billion dollars in revenue that's almost twenty five percent or maybe it's over you can't do the math that fast but it's in that neighborhood you would think that you know what you might make a little few billion dollars less but you could still be profitable if you made those things in the united states but that's not the idea of apple that's not the idea of tom friedman and that's certainly not the idea of mitch daniels or maybe it is for mitch daniels maybe says yeah let's make it the united states but less blood's bust these workers down to the point where they're making virtually nothing at all. right to work for less is a destructive destructive institution or a destructive idea law for the united states and we need to stop it although it looks like indiana tragically is going to go down this road.

it's the good the bad in the very very old trick but there are a silly ugly the good. mass of dar's city dobby despite being home to eight percent of the world's proven oil reserves abu dhabi is making strides in moving away from oil and towards green energy a government that small nation has invested billions of dollars into mazda our city which is a planned city development will be finished by two thousand and twenty five and one of the greenest cities in the world master will be home to forty thousand people who all use electric vehicles and all energy in the city will be produced through photovoltaic wind and geothermal power even though they have literally oil in their backyards dobby recognizes that now is the time to develop and shift to green

energy technology time the united states the same thing the bad tennessee state representative joe reagan and the tennessee state legislature raygun a state representative from tennessee read recently compared homosexuality to pedophilia prostitution and murder and also said that homosexuality could be controlled by mentally healthy adult human beings or by clinics run by michele bachmann's husband these comments come in support of proposed legislation in tennessee. fifty three what many are calling the license to bully bill because it would protect bullies protect bullies who harass students based on their sexual orientation along with house bill love and fifty three the state legislature will also consider a bill that prevents school teachers from discussing or providing information home social looks like rick santorum is going to move it and see what his presidential bid fails and the very very ugly oklahoma state senator ralph shortie file this

under absolutely insane legislation shortie recently conducted extensive research into his state's use of human fetuses in its food. after reading less than credible reports apparently on the internet webs it stated that companies may have used stem cells in the production of food at some point i'm sure to introduce legislation that would prohibit the manufacture and sale of food which quote contains aboard human fetuses and in an explanation to a local radio station shortie said there is a potential of there are companies that are using aborted human fetuses in their research and development for basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors who want to know that more and fetuses could enhance the flavor of our foods however when asked shorty was unable to provide any specific examples of human fetuses being used in food no kidding all stem cells can be used in nutrition and food

research we're not talking about embryonic or human stem cells nor are there actual human babies in our food. big thanks to big government which is looking out to make sure we don't eat babies and that's a very fear of. president obama said the state of our union is getting stronger unfortunately for our neighbors across the pond the same can't be said about the united kingdom and half a dozen or so other european countries as well it's been more than a year and a half since david cameron and his conservative party rose to power in the u.k. on a platform of bringing austerity spending cuts in government layoffs to a nation fighting a recession and mounting debt you know the same kind of us austerity that republicans here are trying to bring to the united states of massive budget cuts

after a year and a half the results are in austerity flat out doesn't work let's just look at the numbers in the final for two thousand and ten when cameron's austerity agenda went into effect the british economy shrank by a half percent then rebounded slightly in the first three quarters of two thousand and eleven but not exactly the type of growth that could turn around an economy and now today we've learned that in the last quarter of two thousand and eleven the british economy is once again going backwards contracting at two tenths of a percent the i.m.f. slashed economic growth forecast for the u.k. in two thousand and twelve and more and more brits are turning against cameron's austerity that was unclear display last august when young people who couldn't find a job and were watching the british social safety net fray decided to set london on fire for five straight days and for the last two years we've seen similar riots in

greece as austerity was shoved down the greek people's throats to that economy by the way shrank more than five percent last year how much more evidence to him. i mean that austerity is a bad idea or the austerity isn't for the good of the economy or frankly even for the good of the people austerity is a religion it's a belief system and there's no proof anywhere that it will stimulate an economy none but it does hit average working people and particularly badly hits poor people oh and by the way doesn't affect the lives of rich people a bit if think that may have something to do with why all these banks and millionaire pundits on t.v. and the millionaires who make up the majority of our national politicians in the republican party like austerity so much as long as the people are forced by austerity to pay the price for the damage caused in the two thousand and eight bush financial collapse and not the banks toure's not the billionaires in international

markets are happy and this is why it's both stupid policy and morally wrong. an economy is not just supposed to be a tool to be used by rich people to increase their riches and economy is a living breathing organism made up of all of us and depends on all of us or at least most of us to be financially secure for the economy to keep breathing people need to have jobs so they'll have enough money in their pockets to buy things each time working people go out and buy stuff the economy breeds but austerity stars an economy especially during times of recession or we keep the economic growth like europe is experiencing think of this as the living breathing body of the economy it's made up of all of us each of us are cells in organs doing our part to contribute to our bodies economy so that a grows and flourishes but when our body economy goes into recession it's like the

food supply gets cut off people lose their jobs people lose their homes no one is spending money the cells stop working the organs slow down or fall away the body economy begins to disintegrate people have no money so they're not buying things and they're not buying things company have has no demands they're not hiring anybody or a body economy starts to vanish pieces of it going away it needs food to stay healthy it needs an employer and a spender of last resort and guess where that food comes from that spender of last resort if it's not available the marketplace it's the government after world war two this is what germany looked like the german economy was essentially dead everything was bogged down but today this is what germany looks like how is the german economy saved here's a hint. it wasn't for letting the free economy do its work and it wasn't because the german government said we have no money so let's cut spending you know the

german economy and nation was saved through massive government spending through the marshall plan we gave huge amounts of money to germany to rebuild and the germans did rebuild they got the food they needed they got their economy back on its feet again and today germany is the fourth largest economy in the world and the largest economy in europe that's what government spending does when an economy is destroyed but austerity holds back the much needed food it cuts off the demand for goods and services the puts people back to work and resuscitate the economy and lets the anorexia of recession just continue to eat away and eat away until the body economy dies it'll make debt worse since people aren't collecting paychecks and paying taxes but instead are getting government benefits so revenues go down and expenses go up i ask world renowned economist steve keen why austerity is even an option and he gave me this blunt answer. pretty even without something as stupid as a master of trading austerity actually pushes you backwards and each time you

attempt to do it you end up with a bigger dip problem than you had beforehand why would these people buy into this notion that you can somehow cut yourself to prosperity i think it's because unfortunately a totally in sign theory of economics which is sufficiently plausible but fundamentally inside and has taken out of the economics profession yet this fundamentally insane idea is exactly what we're seeing played out in the u.k. and in greece and bizarrely it's what republicans want to bring to the united states let's follow europe down that rabbit hole into economic collapse through austerity an economy isn't here for the banks in the rich it's here for all of us and no nation in the history of this planet has ever cut its way to prosperity so let's stop try. that's the big picture for tonight for more information on the stories we covered visit our website to tom hartman dot com free speech dot org and dot com also check out our two you tube channels there are links to thom hartmann

dot com also at tom hartman dot com you can check out all the different ways you can send us feedback and don't forget democracy begins with you get out there and get active tag your it will see them are. wealthy british style. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser reports

on our. buying votes a new dynamic in russian elections as millions of people about their favorite presidential candidate by the internet which could play a pivotal role in race for the kremlin. un is under pressure to act on syria but i think the departure of six gulf nations from the arab league observers . torn country. and plans to enforce on on and. don't go and prompts thousands of people on the streets and afraid of cyber attacks on government websites.

god this is r t with international news and comment twenty four hours a day welcome to the program it's the online election battle front where nothing is off limits as russia's presidential campaign hot sub political activists are moving away from traditional tactics and gracing the internet where they're promoting ideas or spreading fear this web campaigning is playing a bigger part than ever before ortiz a country which over has a story by the fact that the one is that you were right is that guns are going to look at the grey suits and ties and slogans cold out from the poor d m r the traditional election season fair but they're no longer considered police. today's campaigning has gone online in a whole new trend in russia.