welcome to the ilona show where you'll get the real headline with none of the mersey we are coming live out of washington d.c. i'm christine for south going in for a loaner as you finishes her week on a well deserved vacation although they will have laura lister on the show for our financial checkup she's going to break down the latest news in the eurozone and also look ahead to next week's breakdown jobs numbers we're going to take a look also at those riled fires raging in colorado scientists are connecting the dots and finding a few too many coincidences for this not to be related to climate change though no one seems to be talking about it we're going to have all that and more for you plus a dose of happy hour but first let's take a look at what the mainstream media has decided to miss.

well there has been a lot of talk lately about a thirteen mission in mexico that went wrong fast and furious debacle has been fun in so many directions but the final outcome happened yesterday the u.s. house of representatives voted to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. criminal contempt contempt of congress in contempt contempt of congress contempt vote and contempt criminal contempt attorney general eric holder is facing a potential criminal case where he will be the defendant the house voted almost entirely along party lines to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of course the dispute centers on the justice department's refusal to turn over e-mails and memos in the fast and furious scandal that sting resulted in the death of a border patrol agent the historic contempt of congress vote against attorney general eric holder heading into un chartered territory for the first time in history the house voted to hold a sitting cabinet member in contempt of congress more than one hundred democrats

boycotted the vote in a show of solidarity angry democrats led by the congressional black caucus boycotted the vote and marched out of the capitol they will accuse the republicans of overreach on this that this was on necessary and they were overly partisan in the cafe long bitter battle between holder and. house conservative state attorney generals basically dismissing both citations as being politically motivated we've never seen a cabinet officer held in contempt of congress. and now it wasn't just this incident that happened in mexico there's been a lot of talk this week also about mexicans and more specifically undocumented immigrants after the u.s. supreme court this week overturned the majority of arizona's controversial law s.b. ten seventy and mainstream media went crazy i second what it all means and of course who wins and loses politically now this is long been a centerpiece of talking points on the mainstream media that evil undocumented immigrants are draining our tax dollars they're bringing violence to our streets

and trying to steal our elections and our jobs take a look. always been pretty strong that people feel as though as there should be allowed to pass laws are going to make people safe how many laws will be broken before you go out and rate for a child before you go out and rob a bank or do any of the other things that illegal aliens seem to do in disproportionate numbers the state of arizona is under siege on its borders between the drug wars that are going on with the with the gangs coming across focus on illegal immigrants with dangerous and violent pasts cost taxpayers millions of dollars controlling illegal immigration and a proposed national id card violence against border patrol agents is on the rise more and more agents are being attacked by smugglers trying to sneak immigrants and drugs across our border medicare fraud medicaid fraud state has an affirmative obligation to protect its citizens that's. all right well what about the really major a vent about to happen in mexico this weekend and talking about the election there now it took decades of extremely contentious relationship but these days the u.s.

and mexico politically speaking have actually been more than neighbors they've been friends intelligence offer officers on both sides work together sharing sensitive information under mexican president felipe calderon the country share quite a few things that they want to work together and organized crime in mexico the drug war here in the united states but while that friendship has been cultivated by choice it has not been set in stone by any sort of formal agreement so what i'm telling you here is that after this sunday when the people of mexico head to the polls to cast their ballots things could change. now if you look at what's been happening in mexico over the last five to ten years it has been pretty terrible almost on a weekly basis there are reports of dozens of people murdered at a time their bodies often left without heads or body parts and are strewn on the side of the road there the militarized offensive against drug cartels has been bloody and according to a whole lot of people you can talk to the drug cartels have the upper hand even journalists trying to cover these conflicts in mexico have been kidnapped or

threatened or killed. now the front runner in this mexican election is and pena nieto of the institutional revolutionary party or p.r.i. this is the party that up until the year two thousand ruled the country for about seven decades often operating under a cloud of corruption now other candidates include andres manuel lopez obrador of the democratic revolution party holds the feet of us because most of the national action party. today of the new alliance party the mainstream media has been focusing on the evil mexicans taking over our country while totally ignoring a much larger story that could impact mexican americans and the rest of the world for years to come so you wouldn't know it because this weekend's election in mexico is just another thing that mainstream media decided to miss. all right it's time for our weekly financial checkup and as usual there's

a lot of talk about the goodies and changes afoot for what happens next in the eurozone after a long and contentious meeting at the summit in brussels now here at home growth in the economy is simply stagnant despite attempts on many levels there's just not enough sunshine and water to produce any growth plus we're going to look ahead to next week when the june jobs numbers come out and it turns out that the banks in the u.s. are not the only evil ones barclays in britain was caught manipulating interest rates so as you can see a whole lot to discuss and. joining me as host is laura lister host of artes capital account lauren it's friday and going to be friday for stanford. great job hosting the show this week man it's been fun. i want to talk about the euro zone because the summit that's going on it seems to me it will brutal i remember there was a fourteen hour meeting i think britain left the room at one point to let the

eurozone deal with their own problems and the way this is being played out at least is that german chancellor chancellor angela merkel had to to give in a little bit tell me what happened here well my point on this is who cares ok people are touting this as some people are touting this a breakthrough this summit because there are some short term kind of fix is delivered in the situations of spain and italy which are and very precarious situations because they could teeter on that precipice of getting priced out of the bond market not being able to borrow. themselves on the market so what came out of this were some short term fixes some short term changes to the eurozone rescue fund some flexibility for the eurozone rescue fund which will allow. them to directly bailout spain's banks remember before that bailout was going to go through the sovereign which is kind of this vicious cycle tying the sovereign and the banks together their fates together and also it allows these bailout funds to directly by

sovereign bonds so in the case of italy that could help out down the line but the big issue here is christine spain and italy are giving to these bailout funds you know just kind of shows the ridiculousness of it that they're helping to bail out themselves and there's not enough money in there to begin with to really stem this situation so these are short term fixes that may help italy and spain in the short term with issues like their rising bond yields which get to dangerous territory to where they would need a bailout but in terms of any kind of long term solution and terms of any kind of really. efforts and decisions to deal with this debt crisis those are just not there you know talking about a banking authority or agreeing on a banking union down the line it's always down the line you know i don't know it's just a matter of time in terms of how soon the markets say ok we don't like your little

confidence instilling measure and we see those yields go right back up i guess i just sort of saw. a little bit of a shift in the relationship. germany has more in the pants for a while now and that might not always be the case or that there might have to be a little giving i guess right yeah you know them the tape. they don't want it when you know at the end they do but hey come on you they're still wearing the pants should be interesting let's look at what's going on here at home i know one of the terms floated around quite often here and i don't really know what it means is consumer confidence and often that is has a direct correlation to consumer spending growth i want to put the numbers on the screen that we've got that sort of sort of show the isn't really happening the consumer growth these are the wrong ones if you can put up the growth. here we go economic growth slowed from one point seven percent to one point six percent income rose zero point two percent in the month of may doesn't really look like anything

is happening no you're right so in come the numbers that came in for income from a from the commerce department basically they're flat so incomes are really rising at the same time consumer spending personal outlays pretty much flat to unchanged so what that says in an economy where it's driven to a large extent by consumer spending in terms of driving growth you're what you're seeing is those wheels which are slowly turning already coming to a halt people are making more money people aren't spending more money and consumer confidence their confidence in this economy is declining to so what that portends or may signal is already here say our word is recession and depending on who you talk to for example my guest karl denninger ticker guy you know i know in the balance as of this just confirms what he already believes which is that the u.s. is in a recession and if we see more bad data coming out confirming a trend that we've seen over the last few months you're going to hear a lot more people say that so you have this pattern of people not spending people

not earning more slow growth and it just means that we're not getting out of the doldrums as we know the first friday of every month the jobs numbers for the previous month come out so the next week we'll have a better understanding on what happened in june and this is tough for me because you know economists always make these predictions and then the numbers are compared to the predictions and it's really interesting but we will talk about it anyways right now economists are predicting basically and we could put those june jobs numbers back up on the screen they're predicting for things essential to say the same for unemployment to remain at eight point two percent. for there to be about three hundred eighty six thousand job applications. everyone wants to talk politically what this means for obama what this means yeah romney but what does it mean for the economy if we have another month where things don't really. it just means that more of the same i mean i think you point out an interesting point which is that when these numbers are released you get this reaction of they're good or bad based on what the market was expecting when downs not always

a gauge of whether things are getting better or worse for the real economy which is a great distinction that you point out that people should be aware of when they have these numbers reported at the end of next week but the important thing to know is that what this slow growth means or portends and what this lack of consumer spending all of these boil into is a slow growing economy that's not believe that it's going to be producing more new jobs so with the low growth that you pointed out that one point nine percent for the first quarter typically when growth is low like that it's not going to deliver the kind of job growth to bring not unemployment rate down so that's what people are expecting for this friday so that's just one reason why nobody is saying oh raw get ready for jobs to blow us out of the park on friday which is part of a larger trend which is that we haven't really been adding a lot of a lot of jobs in this economy unemployment has been stuck around this level for a pretty long time and it's just not improving out of there and when it does that a small part one percentage point or small house point of

a percentage point it doesn't really make that big of a difference i want to get to the story lauren out of britain it's pretty interesting to me to vero yeah give me the nuts and bolts of basically barclays bank in britain was doing some reading of the rates there yes but what i want to want to point out before we get into this is ok it's easy to say like oh barclays is the only bad guy in the u.k. i want to point out barclays is the first to settle so they're the first that there's a settlement they're going to pay four hundred fifty million dollars to settle with regulators over these accusations that they were manipulating live or which is a key interest rate what they. what's lacking from that is there are a lot of other banks that are under investigation for this that are under investigation they include citigroup they include j.p. morgan chase us banks not immune to this now they haven't settled they haven't met . wrongdoing or any of that that barclays has however you have to know that they're being investigated now so what this what barclays was doing and there have been e-mails that have been released that are just i mean just go look at them because

they're just so damning i mean just very flippant legally what they were doing just what they're just very flipped out in these traders working with other banks and helping other banks to manipulate the rate to or asking them to help manipulate the rates as well and they were manipulating the rates in order to improve their derivatives positions to maximize profits to minimize losses from two thousand and five to two thousand and nine for sure maybe more than that and this is an interest rate that affects lending much more broadly than just for barclays so not only were they manipulate in this to get a good deal but i have some numbers i believe that the live or rate is tied to ninety percent of mortgages yet ninety percent of u.s. commercial and mortgage loans are thought to be linked to this live or index so this is the german is going to everybody yeah and that opens up a whole can of worms in terms of lawsuits so we'll see what happens there but it's one to watch i thought it was really interesting though that the parliament there at least many members at least called for the resignation of the c.e.o.

of barclays bob diamond we didn't really see too many members of congress we probably saw a few call for jamie diamond's resignation i know a lot of different things but that's true but to be fair they just settled for they admitted that they were manipulating this rate i mean that is a wrongdoing this is a landmark a large settlement so it is a pretty big deal and it's you know i'm not saying that jamie dimon is getting off the hook i'm just saying that this is you know well interesting to see how much of it impacts every game here lately to the most out. of arties capital account thanks so much for that financial thanks christine. well time now for our first break of the evening but don't go away when we come back we'll bring you the latest on julian assange on quest for asylum at the ecuadorian embassy in london and we're going to talk to david roberts about the colorado. wildfires and why no one is talking about global warming is real and the disaster.

all right we've got an update now on wiki leaks co-founder julian assange as we recently told you the forty year old has been seeking political asylum in ecuador and while he's waiting on a decision from president rafael correa he is safe under diplomatic protection in the ecuadorian embassy in london but yesterday the metropolitan police showed up at the embassy ordering a songe to show up at the belgrade via police station and eleven thirty am today

declined to comply in a statement he explained that should not be considered any sign of disrespect under both international and domestic u.k. law asylum assessments do take priority over extradition claims so instead of will remain at the embassy until korea has made a decision in the meantime is lack of compliance will surely violate his bail conditions and many expect he will be arrested the next time he steps out of the building but since sweden which is seeking his extradition has not filed any criminal charges against him assigned argues asylum is necessary and that is potential transfer to sweden is really just to pave the way for extradition to the united states and we've already said this before but there are reports of a grand jury compiling and investigating putting together evidence against a sauna in alexandria virginia this is all for his publishing of leaked diplomatic cables in two thousand and ten as his spokeswoman susan bennett explains the wiki leaks founder claims to have specific evidence against the u.s. government case against him. u.s.

officials have said in open court that the beer f.b.i. file about the investigation has now reached forty two sounds and one hundred thirty five pages the u.s. department of justice it made yesterday that its investigation into wiki leaks proceeds. now ben also explained that they have evidence of a sealed indictment against a songe and that it will not be opened until he's forced to go to the u.s. so he and his reporters remain skeptical of britain's decision to extradite him to sweden where he still hasn't been charged with a crime. in the meantime i'll give you updated on quotas decision and the fate of joining us on. well in this recession every industry isn't suffering it turns out the facts toy industry is booming and i met with a man who wants to be the steve jobs of sex toys take a look. it's waterproof it's battery operated it has multiple patterns of vibration they are pleasure tools with power so it's sort of like several toys in one and it

turns out these toys for touching are actually untouchable there's three. three areas of the economy that tend to do ok in a recession alcohol makeup and sex toys. and sugar in baltimore maryland owner jack jones is having her best year of sales ever i used to sell like one or two a month maybe three or four now i'm selling like ten a week there is a little tiny ball inside this ball sales of these little balls thanks in part of the new york times best seller fifty shades of grey but she says sales of just about everything are up this is a trend that's happening all around the world and it's not just brick and mortar stores sales of sex toys online have never been better and it's bringing about new inventions and innovations sex toys have become a seven billion dollar a year industry worldwide and are set to bring in fifty two billion in annual business by the year two thousand and twenty at jimmy jane dot com another thriving

business it's not hard to tell the man behind the company has a background in electrical engineering and industrial design so form six is unique in that it is completely waterproof and are chargeable its c.e.o. and founder ethan bowden says he's hoping to be the steve jobs of the sex toy industry products that are really designed for extra not stimulation for clutter and stimulation are very popular this one takes the to the next level so what's taken the industry to the next level as there. i mean punched more people are staying home too and it's sort of an investment right something to do at home something people have been doing at home for more than a century but this vibrator is from around one nine hundred fourteen the vibrator actually just the fifth electric device to get a u.s. patent it's invention back in the late eighteenth hundreds is the subject of the new movie hysteria.

calling for the just because someone creates sick and that's what today you don't have to ask for them if they knew trojan vibrating trace for your message was there everywhere from drug store shelves to t.v. commercials so much better at all blow your hair back from taboo to trendy from novelty to necessity it's undeniable the sex toy industry is now producing gratifying profits as well as pleasure. christine for example r t. all right let's switch gears now colorado right now experiencing its worst fires this season in history at least one person dead from the waldo canyon fire and about three hundred fifty homes have been destroyed it has been devastating for the state and as firefighters work to try to contain the fire many scientists are scrambling to try to understand it this march through may was the second warmest period on record for colorado and it's been extremely dry as well dry conditions of

course make for dangerous conditions when it comes to wildfires and there are indeed several direct correlations between a warming planet and more wildfires take a look according to the national wildlife federation snow is melting between one in four weeks earlier than it did fifty years ago several regions including the southwest of experience more severe drought and higher temperatures also mean that beetles can survive two generations in one summer i mean about sixty times as many beetles to infest trees and make those trees more can. bust of all are around there just a few connections through the very few people are talking about these and joining me now to discuss this is david roberts senior staff writer at the grist dot org hey there david let's first break down these connections i laid out which are the most important one and i'm missing. you go to about right the main thing is the dro . earlier and more severe droughts that the west is seeing and then you combine

that with all the trees the drug trees from the beetle infestation. there's been a season of whims. that just makes the entire area. i know that one area i didn't talk about is the cost so if you want to look at numbers and sort of compare then and now the cost of wildfire suppression is about three billion dollars these days and that is about three times as much as they were a few decades ago back in the one nine hundred ninety s. i know the u.s. forest service takes a kind of control of this what do you think we should kind of glean from these numbers. well you have to be a little careful when you're talking about damages economic damages because our part of the is through increased frequency and severity of fires but part of that is also just more dense settlements and more people are more how's the road and suburbs encroaching into previously wild areas so the number of factors that go

into producing damage i'm out here are incredibly complex and climate change is just one fairly st signal among others in that calculation although it is an important one and it will be increasingly important obviously in coming decades let's talk about sort of the debate that we've been experiencing over the last few years in this country about climate change i know a lot of people didn't really know anything about global warming a lot of people were sort of introduced it to it in an inconvenient truth that film that al gore put out. but a lot of scientists have been talking about this they've been connecting the dots. and at one point a whole lot of people decided that these scientists were actually frauds i want to put something up a reminder of what for a short time was referred to as climate gate. scandal some are calling climate gate someone hacked into their e-mail account and showed a bunch of e-mails between scientists which opponents of climate change legislation

said proves that they are breaking. the science and trying to hide information that runs counter to this theories where every day somebody new comes out is really totally both the science behind this whole thing that they're very copenhagen for do you think these scientists should since they've proven themselves to be. hacks do you think that their work should be disregarded this scandal will literally cost you trillions of dollars. so i guess i want to get from you david to where are we. where are we now with that climate gate. dandle. climate gate is a testament to the conservative movement's aptitude update leading the media but that's about all it's a testament to there have been i think four five separate independent investigations now all of which of phone the same thing which is the basic science underlying you know the climate change consensus is solid and nothing in the emails

materially affects it as a matter of fact it was just a case before a federal appeals court you know that u.p.a. is now regulating carbon and of and a bunch of business groups and right wing groups have sued it and so the the court review this evidence they submitted a bunch of climate gate stuff as evidence and you should it's interesting to read the court's ruling because the court having reviewed this evidence is just us up at the idea that it that it has that it materially relates to the science itself there were some scientists who who were who made intemperate comments but that's really about it i bet you know there's been a whole lot of coverage of these colorado wildfires i think new mexico is experiencing some fires recently as well and you don't hear a lot of people sort of making this connection you don't hear a lot of people whether in the media or elsewhere connecting this to global warming and climate change i mean what do you think is the reason for that. well there's

you know for a given fire there are lots of causes some of which are closer and more immediate than climate change and for instance the colorado springs fire the one that is devastating colorado springs right now was caused by lightning so i mean that's the most proximate cause that's the most immediate cause and then beyond there you have the dryness and the drought in the trees and the wind and the settlements and then sort of in the back grown you know in sort of one or two percent shifting of margins you have climate change so you can understand when people are in kind of a panic and people are suffering and there's actual you know there's actual fire happening as we speak that these more distant causes are not on the top of people's minds but i do think it's it's incumbent on the media to not let it fall out completely and not to remind people you can expect more of this there will be more and more and more of this as time goes on and most we do something about this problem yes certainly that public service to the people or all of the media means

that they doing bring all the factors in there david roberts senior staff writer at the grass thanks for sharing brain us here and thanks so much. time now for another quick break on the other side find out what conservative commentator when the two nights told time for his insane theory about justice john roberts don't be talking to lauren kelley about why urban outfitters it's barred from a baby. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china.