be a euro but i'm just not sure a full of twenty five countries in the in the block at that point all right chris well no i don't want to get you in trouble with the f.b.i. but did. dick did going off the gold standard have anything to do with the u.s. going bankrupt and what role could gold play if any in making it solvent again so i kind of pursue presume that work they're talking about dollar weakness they are saudi so isn't that just a presumption can you just as gold question as i said in my my book inflated gold is is symbolic is a store of value it has had a great following in the u.s. and you're right in the thirty's after your confiscated all the gold while he was devaluing the dollar to try and get the economy going. since then or even before then we essentially had the government. imposed their monopoly on the definition of money in the u.s. so today gold is considered a collectible it's not even

a monetary asset but this goes back to lincoln if you recall how did we finance the civil war with paper money bad money and the little banks fought it the big banks national banks were created to buy the government's debt so the devaluation in the thirty's was really later the refutation if you will of a gold standard starts with lincoln and ever since the government has used paper money to propel growth layers of leverage if you think about it so we create the fed in one nine hundred thirteen you have the collapse in the twenty's and in the early thirty's they confiscate all the gold and we continue you essentially equating the dollar with gold up until today so all of the leverage we've seen accumulated since the thirty's housing global lending institutions big banks everything else or all predicated on this use of paper money as a substitute for gold in a monetary sense and we've kind of run full course if you will so. if you go back

to your point max gold is a haven yeah i think it is but don't be blowing toller opportunities because gold hasn't quite kept up with the inflation of the paper money world all right let's talk about paper money and the u.s. banking system in particular bank of america now i listen to you you've been interviewed a number of times on eric king's king world news and i recommend anyone who wants to catch up on the banking sector very specifically to listen to those interviews because they are actually in but can you speak about the bank of america and where we are now with the bank america story you know there was that when it was down to five or six dollars a share there was i know even i believe i heard you say that it had a lot of risk on the downside of the stock price due to their and their problems etc can you give us an idea of where we are now that bank of america story in the u.s. banking as a whole your bank america you write went down to four dollars a share late last year largely because of the european troubles in their wisdom the european governments decided to prohibit short selling of bank shares because

they're so closely tied with the government so obviously if the bank shares were falling in value so would the political prospects of the various governments in the e.u. so unfortunately when the markets get anxious the still the us financials because those markets are still open and that's i think what drove bank america down to four dollars now goes to bank need to be restructured yes in my opinion the preponderance of litigation that they're facing involving mortgage backed securities the state of new york eric schneiderman the attorney general i think is going to be going after bank america for taxes because many of these deals were not put together properly so they were not exempt from state and federal taxes this is going to be a nuclear weapon max nobody is paying attention to and let me just jump in for a second christmas because what about obama's latest deal with these banks i mean again they seem to be getting immunity so. how's a factor into this know about a limited immunity. this was not

a great deal for the banks what happened was the attorneys general around the country many of whom want to be governor that's what a.g. stands for by the way aspiring governor. they needed to get a deal done now because we're in an election year snyderman the california attorney general of delaware attorney general all went along with this settlement on foreclosure abuse issues but it didn't get them immunity from more serious prosecution for taxes for securities fraud for other things that they're all facing bank america is facing over one hundred billion dollars in claims for securities fraud contractual issues from investors they're all going to go to trial and i would tell you right now i've been following this stuff pretty closely i think b. is going to lose in court so we there we restructure this company with the help of the bankruptcy court and bring this whole mess to a conclusion or we're going to face years more of headline risk when somebody like m.b.i.a. for example the insurance company wins in court against bank america and ends up

with a double digit judgment against them what are we going to do then that's why i've been saying you know we really need to bring this to an end and the way you do that is either with a receiver as we saw in the stanford group or with a bankruptcy as in the case a lehman brothers but to me that would be the good news because if we go down that road and we're going to be near the end are let me describe your situation maybe tell us more about my naive it's a then anything else but tell me what were your where my thinking is either on target or off target it seems that every time we hear about a bailout or a rescue package or a multibillion or chilean dollar cash infusion to settle these bank debts banks suddenly from the some place called the shadow banking system say oh no we have another half a trillion dollars in debt that we didn't record last quarter and it isn't ever going to stop right number one is there a limitation or are they just playing with us well they are playing in a sense i mean look at the foreclosure settlement the banks of the. already stolen

enough money from investors in terms of raping these mortgage backed securities trusts to pay for all the settlement so i don't feel sorry for them at all now the real question is what else have they not told us and this goes to your point about the off balance sheet vehicles grey market banking everything else that marketplace is shrinking it's running off and we're not creating any new assets and say private mortgage backed securities even fannie and freddie are starving to death because ninety percent of the new originations in the u.s. today are getting a guarantee from the federal housing administration interesting lee enough so yes there's more problems here and you're going to hear more about it in terms of things like litigation and liquidated claims that nobody's heard about yet you give a good example look at j.p. morgan and the into gesturing they're getting from bear stearns you know jamie dimon told us two years ago the bear stearns would not be material to their results but it's going to be very material because investors of lost more than half their money on the securities that they created so there's still stuff to fall out in

this whole mess we kind of know what the numbers are now max i don't think there's anything particularly new in terms of their exposures but the thing is risks that we haven't talked about like eric schneiderman deciding that these people owe him you know billions and billions of dollars for the taxes that's a new factor that nobody is thinking about now i we got a one minute left i just want to comment on something that's a bit on the technical side but i think it's very interesting while ben bernanke is talking about the need for lower rates as a stimulus you have been quoted yeah i've heard you talk about this then there's a need for interbank lending just be stimulated by raising rates completely against what you hear the mainstream got we'll have about a minute i'm sorry but can you kind of run through that a little bit because i think it's important that people understand this well again going back to the point about extreme swings i mean the fed has had to put interest rates at zero to just. trying to keep the u.s.

economy moving forward it's like a shark you have to have water going through the gills in order for the creature to survive and yet at the same time by putting rates at zero you're taking only incentive away from banks to lend to one another why would you bother doing repo for example where you lend treasuries overnight for nothing you're not being paid for the risk and there is risk in that transaction like was the hole in a bank market's going to listen to jamie diamond in the most recent conference call he confirmed that they're not doing any on secured lending with other banks this is a disaster so what i've been saying is that the fed should gradually let short rates go up to half a point maybe three quarters of a point so we can again start to see the private short term credit markets revive because today all you've got is the fed the banks are dealing directly with the fed they don't want to deal with one another if we don't get credit to expand max we're not going to fix jobs we're not going to fix the global economy but it's going to be private credit expansion the central banks doing what they're supposed to do but

they've done it for too long and we get out of slowly let rates go up and imagine even if we had half a point fed funds rate that's still historically very low it's probably negative in terms of inflation but at least it would give people a reason to do business again right banks make money lending money so less rates are at a level that they can make some money lending money and you're not going to get any bank growth therefore no well that's right you know the great editor of the economist bag host said it well he said don't keep rates at zero for too long. what that we're out of time thanks so much for being on the kaiser report thank you backs look forward to it again all right and that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report with me max kaiser and stacey arbor and i thank my guests first well and you can follow him on twitter at r c whalen course you can follow me on twitter to max kaiser can send me an e-mail at kaiser report r t t v are you until next time x. guys are saying. the

u.n. general assembly about to vote on a syrian resolution and backed by the arab states and the west this while violence in the country escalates as a high ranking religious leader is gunned down in damascus reportedly for his pro-government stance. fears a pending confrontation between tell of even take wrong bro following reports that iranians are arrested during recent thailand bombings were targeting israeli diplomats. after this fulfills the last to be used by a lot of demands but many greeks feel the nation won't work cover from austerity

measures that harm their health care system but leave the military unscathed. midnight in moscow i matras are good to have you with us here on r t our top story a new showdown is expected at the u.n. general assembly later on thursday as the members are set to vote on a new resolution on syria the text sponsored by arab states and supported by a number of western nations could turn up the heat on the assad regime i'm joined now from new york by our teaser marine important with the latest so marina russia says it won't back this new document what exactly is the bone of contention over this proposed resolution. well the bone of contention remains as it was a russia believes that the draft resolution that was proposed twelve days ago in the security council in the one being proposed in the general assembly within

a few minutes is not a balanced resolution and that is because it calls for in part for the excuse me for syrian president bashar al assad to step aside it doesn't have that exact wording but what the draft does do is that it fully supports the arab league plan and the arab league plan does call for a government change within syria that is something that russia has been opposed to saying that it is saying instead the syrian people need to decide the future of their own country this draft resolution also condemned condemn syrian authorities for violating human rights fundamental freedoms and using force against civilians and even killing protesters but on the other side it does not hold according to russia does not hold the opposition accountable for any of the violence that has taken place over the past eleven months in syria now russia did propose some of its

amendments to be. made rather to this draft resolution that you mentioned is sponsored by arab states and co-sponsored by sixty member states of the united nations but according to reports russia's amendments were rejected and now some of those amendments were highlighted by russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov during his visit to vienna let's take a listen to what he had to say. those new tools that we've been asked to vote on a resolution that only asks government forces to withdraw from cities and basically hunter them over to armed groups but it's very unclear who these groups are there are muslim brotherhood members army does their actors but there's also al qaida it's not by chance that al qaeda is leader has called on everyone to unite in a fight against the syrian president assad's regime used to who we would hand syria over if such an approach one. now merino we

were looking also at our earlier at live pictures from the u.n. general assembly there now for some of our your viewers this may seem like deja vu because we have already had this go on during the search the council and now this is coming before the general assembly what's the difference between those two groups when it comes to those voting. well the major difference here is that a general assembly resolution is nonbinding it doesn't have the same legal implications as they would have if the security council had adopted a resolution which we saw did not happen twelve days ago now it is likely that this draft text will be adopted by the general assembly and there was a previous draft resolution resolution in december condemning syria by the general assembly that was adopted but at the very most it sends a very strong symbolic message on the international stage against the assad

government and it puts pressure on the assad government so while it doesn't have any binding implications does send a strong symbolic message and of course as you mentioned matt this the general assembly is gathering in the hall right now of when they cast a vote if and when this draft resolution is adopted we will of course keep our viewers updated absolutely artie's we're going to live for us in new york thanks for that update. just to remind you we are showing you live pictures here from the u.n. general assembly meeting the members are about to cast their vote russia says it won't back the document because they say it's on balance this is similar to what happened earlier the u.n. security council moscow pointed out that all the text puts the blame for the violence in syria on the authorities making no mention of the armed opposition groups in the country that are alleged to be carrying out attacks there we'll bring you an update in a live report on the results of the vote. the syrian opposition has

accused the government of stepping up attacks on a rebel held city as latest as the city of daraa ra meanwhile a high ranking religious leader was gunned down in the capital damascus reportedly for his political views this after the president's announcement of a referendum on a new constitution that would create a multi-party system for the first time in the country but the proposal doesn't seem to help curb the violence artie's various notion or reports from damascus. says a damascus has started with a new so this is a nation the shake of one of the most done one of the districts of the capital was killed as far as local media is reporting he was shot a dad with five shots this area may dawn is known to be very conservative people living here a supporting a very much government approach president but at the same time there's been many offices and people living in this neighborhood as well and tensions between these two sides have been very high specially recently just last month and this ever is

so as to start boehmer a type one twenty six people were killed and more than sixty all these speculations appeared as well that they say was killed because of his political views people we have been able to speak to here on the ground have been telling us that this man has been supporting presence bashar al assad's policies continuing in the southern part of the country we are hearing from the opposition activists that the army of bashar al assad has attacked the city of daraa targeting free syrian army soldiers actually just travel to the city of daraa on wednesday and we've been able to speak to the governor over this area on the ground and with many military there and they've told us that there is no free syrian army in this region right now and actually in generally they say that it doesn't exist such a thing as well called united opposition military force they've confirmed that this fight scene almost every day the military operations but there. against.

which i. think this is did they say all of this and foreign soldiers the u.s. has expressed concern that iran and russia are providing weapons to syria that could be used against the rebels moscow says it's only selling non-conventional arms damascus under business contracts and that they're not used in the conflict let's talk now with martin mccauley a russian specialist at the university of london so what kind of weapons does russia supply syria with and what kind of role do you think that can play in this crisis. they would be non-offensive weapons they say that the provide croft and the tanks and things like that but these wouldn't be used these have been used against the rebels so far because the army doesn't want to use really heavy artillery tanks and so on in a place like homes because street to street fighting they would lose too many for

the for the not using those and russia say is not providing the rocket propelled grenade which osu devastating. the a k forty seven as that device and so on presume that the syrian army has enough of that because of the been many conflicts between russia and syria over the years and the russian trade in the city is very well and know one another very well. the e.u. has adopted a resolution calling on moscow to stop selling its arms to syria how likely do you think russia is to do this. well russia would say we have a legal contract if there's a conflict between city and russia there's no reason why we should not continue to supply the. because if you look at britain britain is the buying. offensive omma to the free said syrian army or the rebels if you like to call them

that almost certainly kept in saudi arabia over providing. and one presumes that iran and hizbollah osu providing arms to president assad's regime so therefore you got coming in from many many sources russia stop providing arms president assad would find with some of these a very likely black market for weapons in that area and it would be very difficult to acquire more with them now i'm sorry just a correction or a clarification for something you said earlier you had said that there weren't planes and there weren't tanks that were being used by the syrian army against the resistance however there is a reuters report i'm looking at here among several others because i remember this one that there are tanks i mean opposition is saying there are tanks attacking the city of homes at least so is this just conflicting media reports or can you clarify that statement a little yeah they have there are t. seventy two tanks which originally russian and so on but the pictures i've seen they haven't been used offensively because they have advanced but they haven't

really gone into the city it's possible now that they're going in because they feel that they're safe because if you look at the tank crews. on the person the caretaker crews they keep their heads down because of sniper fire and so on and it's very risky to actually go into a city street by street and the be using to really. be g.'s and so on to attack the rebels in this way to defeat them and then they must have reached the stage where they feel they can act advance know with tanks and they're the not using croft. this maybe new that maybe if i can use a graph but then that using tanks. they happen to use tanks in the past to any extent it would appear in the think there is a position where they can use the tanks which would mean that the think is the end game they can move in and destroy the opposition and they've also been

a meter reports that syrian forces have been using chemical weapons against elements of the opposition with out of russian experts moscow angrily dismissed those claims do you make anything of that is there any grounds to that. it's very difficult for an outsider to actually say yes or no because chemical weapons have been used we know that the syrians have chemical weapons the iranians have chemical weapons the release of chemical weapons. and the iraqis had chemical weapons of the foe there's a lot of chemical weapons around and they would only use a presumed chemical weapons if they found themselves in a very dangerous and very very difficult position if they were the offensive they would really need need to use chemical weapons so one presumes that if there's any basis of truth in this that they're in a difficult position but it's very very difficult for an outsider to accuse judge. right like so many things in this conflict well thanks very much for your insight martin mccauley russian specialist at the university of london. thai police say

israeli diplomats were the target of a group of iranians arrested after prematurely setting off explosives in bangkok that claims are expected to further fuel and hierarchy in a rhetoric that tell of eve has stepped up after bomb attacks targeting israelis in georgia and india. has more from tel aviv. seems like the battle drones are growing louder and louder with israel continuing to this really harsh rhetoric towards iran accusing them essentially of terrorizing the entire world community just today there was a harsh statement from tel aviv which called to impose paralyzing sanctions on tehran all this while iran has just made it clear that they are indeed ready to sit down for talks to continue talks on its nuclear program but the prime minister has made a statement saying that iranian aggression should be stopped so there of course that brings forth many theories that the military confrontation with iran is imminent and nowhere are these fears more prominent than in israel according to the latest

polls less than fifty percent of the israelis support the idea of going to war with iran most of them believe that israel has enough problems of its own already already exists saying that you don't really need another confrontation with iran there is of course the issue of palestine which never really completely goes off the table then there is the rather strained relations with lebanon which some fear may escalate into a renewed conflict and the latest of those concerns of course is the issue of egypt where the muslim brotherhood said that they are going to they might reconsider a peace accord which they do have with israel in response to u.s. pressure in regards to the scandal so a lot of people in israel primarily are thinking that perhaps israel should stop the rhetoric it does carry on right now and focus on its internal problems and the problems on those borders rather than really push forth with aggressive rhetoric

towards iran agrees i was fulfilled the last conditions demanded by the e.u. in exchange for a second bailout still there is no rush in brussels to release further aid with a decision postponed till monday the austerity measures are accepted in the face of public outrage have hit the health care system pensions and public sector. workers but while the human cost of the cuts keeps rising nato secretary-general anders fogh rasmussen heads to athens to secure the country's military spending at least has one of the largest military budgets relative to its g.d.p. with only the u.k. spending more as r.t. jake agrees reports the nato chief visit degree suggests the military may remain largely untouched. the mini athens has been a battleground in recent years fighting against unpopular stare to sunday's events are showing there's little hope for a cease fire one shot being fired by those discontent is a discrepancy in spending when it comes to the military something serving m.p.'s from a defensive on relations with turkey remain for some as ever present

a threat as a current debt crisis and nato partners don't seem very keen to help us not to need to spend so much i mean think about it we have been through we are being threatened from a member of the alliance that we belong and the alliance doesn't do anything. so we have to spend huge amounts of money but there is the nato chief arise in athens the talks other things may be on the table among them weapons for cure meant i believe that means there is a kind of negotiation if i may say sure between our major partners which are german of course in france. if we spend more and you procurement of course that major part probably to function general jim france she is the major criticisms but was talks remain afloat another threat looms it be may nice but what we've been advised to do is to sell copies of medicine relations of

patients are being forced to put their hand in their pockets put treatment this problem persists in other hospitals i've worked in dimitri's account comes on the back of cuts slashed medical staff pay a letter desperate shortage of equipment including affordable prescription drugs this is the very human face the term austerity measure and increasing number of people can't find the treatment need in the current health care system and desperation to turn to aid agencies like this regime nova care into athens immigrant population the midday queue at this center shows just how sort. after that treatment is first of all are seeing more and more people coming to us that are days that we might see up to three hundred people and the numbers of the greeks are also increasing the present many greeks remain too ashamed of the situation to be filmed those won't.