live from money center here moscow this is our t. top stories now the u.s. is warning the latest fierce battles in syria will be in there and president assad's constant announces youngsters are being increasingly drawn into the bloody conflict on both warring sides. with reverberations members of a russian punk band go on trial facing seven years in jail for protests down to the cathedral in a case that divided russian society. another campaign promise goes on fulfilled as barack obama spends billions to prosecute whistleblowers showing the u.s. government is as clouded as ever. while the

u.s. is considered by many to be a place of high living standards but critics claim the notion of general wealth and well being is an illusion r.t. talks not needing u.n. health economist dr howard freeman for his views on the social and financial ills of his country that in-depth interview next. in the promised land of stars and stripes us presidents have always reminded citizens how lucky they are and where people of every background can work hard and we want your dreams. american dream. yes we just this i don't call it an america is an exceptional nation of freedom and opportunity and i hope the story of america reads much differently when facts are taken into account the measure of a nation is

a new book comparing america against thirteen other wealthy nations to see where in fact the u.s. stance author dr howard stephen friedman sat down with r.t. i mean it was initiated by a conversation with my cousin when they were discussing the patient care and affordable care act patient patient protection and affordable care act and he had been defending the current system in america saying that it's the best in the world and i asked him how do you know that and his response was well i have no idea interestingly just a couple days afterwards i was doing some of my work at the united nations and i was looking at the human development report and it dawned on me that the data to compare the united states to other wealthy countries is readily available you can look at it you can see how we're doing and from there you can identify if we're doing better or worse and in the areas we're not doing as well one of the lessons we can learn from other countries so when you do the comparison what you find is overall the united states doesn't do that well on health safety democracy and

equality we get some of the lowest rankings for education roughly in the middle but one of the disappointing factors is we used to be one of the best in most of those categories in the case of social mobility you found that america is not the land of opportunity it promises to be as a matter of fact you say countries such as canada and germany. we rank better than america what exactly did you find out this is what i found to be one of the most surprising results of the book i grew up believing in the american dream work as hard as you can and you can go anywhere and it's true some people really do move up from work classes to the wealthiest but the chances of moving are much lower than in other wealthy countries someone who was born in the poorest part of the united states not just geographically but the segment of the population chances of them moving just even out of that group are almost fifty percent that is almost fifty

percent of those people are going to stay there and the rags to riches story going from the poorest to the richest group is lower in the united states than the other wealthy countries for which there is data that shocked me so what happens to this so-called american exceptionalism the country prides itself on where you know american exceptionalism is really a tough concept because at some level there's almost there's almost a faith it's a denial of facts i'm just looking at the side deals from a religious point of view and i find american exceptionalism as an argument to look at what i call competitive intelligence for america as a problem because people they would say well the united states is exceptional you can't compare us and i view that as just a self-defense mechanism or just a way of someone trying to maintain blissful ignorance on the other hand a frightening reality according to your facts is how america's level of inequality compares to europe and other wealthy nations so when you talk about income

inequality there's really two measures there's what's called the pre adjustment and the post adjustment period just meant is just that roi income you earned post adjustment is after you paid taxes and after the government has provided supports welfare social security as it turns out the us has the highest level of income inequality both pre and post adjustment wide. true is an interesting question this level of inequality has gotten much larger over time as we've seen changes in the pay structure the weakening of the unions degradation of the minimum wage in the united states as compared to other countries so a lot of factors are affecting that pre tax income inequality but for the post tax income inequality it's all about many of the changes that happened in our tax laws there was a time where we really had a very progressive tax system now with capital gains taxes being taxed much lower than regular income with hedge fund managers earning millions and sometimes

billions and paying fifteen percent look for example at mitt romney a man is are in many many millions last year paid a tax rate that was probably half of what you kate in case our viewers are interested you found japan spain korea and italy to be among those nations to have the best levels of wealth inequality switching gears how does america's democracy compare to other wealthy nations that's another one that's problematic there was a time where i think it was fair to say the u.s. was a leader we came up with that constitution the declaration of independence the whole idea of a modern representative government but now we've slowed down if you look at our turnout for voters it's one of the lowest of any wealthy country at the same time our two party system with a winner take all single seat election is unusual most countries don't do that and the reason why is that type of election ends up alienating

a lot of voters most countries use proportional representation where the representatives in congress actually reflect the voting they also use other systems such as preferential voting where you rank order your votes so that if i have a candidate i like but maybe they're not from the largest party i could still vote for that candidate and not have to worry about my vote being discarded. any other wealthy nation allow private money to find and fuel presidential elections the way the united states does i didn't specifically look at that but i can't underestimate the impact of money on the american political system and in fact there's some interesting analysis done by political scientists that showed that people from the top third of the economic class have a very strong voice and government people in the middle third have a weak voice in government and it showed that people in the bottom third of the economic group the united states have no measurable influence that's hype of

information is powerful and if you look at the politics of many other countries around the world it's shocking to think that there would ever be true the voice of people who are in the poorest third of their nation still have a powerful voice and i think that's a real challenge in american democracy is to make sure that we really are in a world of one person one vote instead of dollar equals vote are you hopeful that the candidates currently running for president could make any reforms or changes that would elevate america to better global position right now i'm not terribly optimistic in the reason why is there hindered by a few things and the factors that i think are preventing the united states to from really moving forward or one most americans just aren't aware of how we're doing they're just not aware of our situation they think we're doing much better than we are the second is complacency. we're relatively comfortable in our world situation

so people aren't dying in the streets so there's not a as much of a passion to see change the third one which is very important our democratic process really resists change if you look at our structure of government it's basically designed to not move much and it unfortunately suppress the voice of a lot of the americans who really could benefit from change so we have those factors that are all playing in the last factor is there are groups in america who've benefited greatly from some of the issues that we have that are preventing us from being great in health or from excelling in education or safety or democracy or equality and those groups that have benefited well they're going to do their best to protect their profits that's the free market. it's not just corporations though for instance the two party system in america right that's not a system that enables lots of americans to have their voice heard but at the same time those two parties will defend a two party system so corporations are certainly one aspect but even the groups

that are benefiting from our political system will defend the current political system and i give you a great example. for the presidential debates there's a committee that was brought in that said you have to have at least fifteen percent polling before certain dates to participate the only reason why that rule was put in place at that high level was to prevent third parties from being on that stage with the candidates of romney and obama the american government has always position to itself as a global leader of human rights and justice however you say that the u.s. is the least peaceful wealthy nation what exactly do you mean by that what we looked at was crime rates we looked at incarceration rates those are internal measures of safety at the same time i also took a look at external that is our military spending our tendency to have extra wars

so internally looking at measures of violence and crime and extremely the type of safety the war interactions and as you look at it what you see is our incarceration rate is multiples higher than any other wealthy country at the same time our murder rate is much higher one of the things that most americans don't realize is our gun policy is completely different from any other wealthy country at least the ones i included but when we talk about external military interaction we need to reflect on the fact the united states plays a very different role than other countries the other countries that i compare in my book many from western europe canada for sure and in south korea they receive somewhat of the protection of the united states so that's the one example in the book where the actions the united states takes really do impact the actions of other countries by the united states spending far more on military and being at least viewing itself as more of armed to protect many of these countries it ends up

letting those other countries spend less and that's exactly what you see in the dynamics. in what areas does the us find itself in a leading position among other wealthy nations there are a few areas where we excel we have some of the best colleges in the world so that tertiary education our graduate schools are outstanding some of the strongest in the world our hospitals our technology overall is world class and overall those types of advantages are would draws the best talent in the world here students come here in order to learn and hopefully we can keep the opportunities for them not only to arrive here but for them to stay our technology that allows us to innovate and create some great companies that still exist and are entrepreneurship the government rules that allow us to create new companies and to patent things really is outstanding us universities and hospitals may be excellent but if the student

debt bubble is above one trillion dollars and roughly fifty million citizens are living without health care how are americans benefiting from their nation's excellence they're all emblematic of one of the things that's true about the united states which is we have the extremes of excellence and a public system that seems to drift behind if you take education our undergraduate school or some of the best in the world and they're extremely expensive that's a challenge so it's only accessible to a certain percentage of the population but for those who can access it they're excellent are graduate schools same thing our medical system for those who can afford it we really do have a great health system our public health system is way behind that's all the time we have dr friedman thank you very much for sitting down to speak with our team my pleasure thank you very much.

you.

know stories this are not to be the u.s. is warning the latest fierce battles in syria will be a nail in president assad's coffin that says youngsters are being increasingly drawn into the bloody conflict on both sides. broke with reverberations members of a russian punk band go on trial facing seven years in jail for a protest in the cathedral and a case that's divided russian society. and another campaign promise goes unfulfilled as barack obama spends billions to prosecute whistleblowers showing the u.s. government is clouded as. the stories with the news team a little later and me in the meantime unions with the sports news and team russia seem to be enjoying their time on the judo matt there in london union they

certainly do it seems every time they go they come back with a gold medal and today is no different bell we have more on the very latest right now ok. thanks for joining us this is sports day plenty ahead including the stories in brief this hour. our team russia secure their second gold at the olympic games and again it isn't you. make double scull pearcey captures his second p.g.a. golf type of victory at the canadian open. from dream to reality russia's first ever professional motor sport truck is tried for the first time. russia have secured their second gold medal at the olympic games just like on day

one day three top place finish came in judo months are doing the business in the men's minus seventy three telegram category beating japanese ricky in a kayak with some the two it must be said desire of earning the first point of a clash after bringing it down to the floor with a lock which proved good enough to win gold on saturday arsène opened his scoring a kind but first place in the men's sixty kilogram judicial. the first gold of the day went to rumania in the men's ten meter a rifle allan george. surprise winner of the royal artillery barracks the twenty nine year old who's not even run to the top twenty five in this sport beating world number one the cool camp reality although it's only it's a second place while india's tag on the running round of golf the podium the wind marking were many his first goal to. china meanwhile increased their advantage in the overall medal table winning gold in ten meter synchronized diving also earlier

on monday how you on one plan dominating the final three months on chosen garcia navarro mexico finishing way behind the leaders while the. americans david boudia nicholas mccrory took the brunt of. a busy day for russia on sunday with four medals in all added to the country's coffers the gongs coming in cycling fencing and swimming richard from port for eight reports. russia's steady progress of the london two thousand and twelve olympics continues a spate managed to add three bronzes on day two of the gold medal that they managed to win on the opening day. of things on the way and the women's road race somewhat a race it proved to be of a russian she wasn't really fancied going in the race but she produced a fine performance but with an hour to go also group of free riders including civilians go over made a break from the peloton and they share the lead and write ins of the closing

stages but of course is up against coaches not renowned as a great finish a great sprinter i just didn't have the legs to keep up with her opponents civilians go it was more than happy to win a bronze medal given the circumstances given the opponents but she was up against the initial search of the claim or the thing is when you reach the last part of the race i have no choice but to make need although i knew it would be g.'s my chances of winning the race is beyond you know the finishing sprint is not my big scale and i was mentally prepared for the third place to be honest he said of the high hopes of russia's fencing team at this olympics but that's more in the team of enrollment in individual events and never less russia's men say betty managed to win a bronze medal for nicholai a couple of issues to control it's much easier to win something at the olympics when you are not the fever until she will people who fall all those to do sticks or think they can predict the outcome of this or that competition but it doesn't always work out the way people expect or final bronze of

a day went to rushes for by a one hundred men's swimming team freestyle team who managed all of them or lost or a sub pones such as myself will strain to gain a medal in fact it was a very good achievement to get on the podium whatsoever they were up against the likes of france australia as i said and the usa but they put in a fine performance to clinch a bronze rich of a ball fleets r.t. london. in golf the canadian open reached a thrilling climax on sunday american scott pearce he eventually claiming the title seeing off the challenge of composites william mcgirt and robert greig us pearcey managing to finish a shot ahead of this country man after his third consecutive score of sixty seven left him on seventeen hurt and grievous ending a stroke of both the chance to win it firstly mcgirt this attempt at par in the heart of pharaoh he to force the play off and then fail to sink

a birdie attempt here meaning he too had to sell for joint second place the davis belonging to las vegas native pearce. john there was a big. turnaround for me and i got a lot of things figured out and got a week off and got a rest and then i you know picked up so i'm so excited. couple times showed he still got plenty of plot left in his golf club after winning the senior british open the fifty two year old demonstrating on the twelfth old just why he was renowned for a long powerful rise in one thousand nine hundred two monsters champion aren't going to finish a nine under for the tournament couple sealing the deal with a touch of class this long putt screen him a first ever win on british soil the american versus getting to take home the mature version off the floor. turning our attention to m.l. b. baseball now with a struggling red sox have given their fun something to shout apart after beating historic rivals new york for the second straight day boston getting off to

a good start in a hostile environment ryan sweeney handing the visitors a two zero lead with a double at the top of the second inning. martin ever was very much intent on keeping the home team in its connecting with his second homer in the last three games before making it to two with an r.b.i. single to tie game would head into extra innings where recent boston acquisition paid to. see the deal with the dominican hitting what proved to be a winning single three to the final score boston have struggled this season in the least but if anything's going to give them a boost it's a win over the yankees. versus first ever world class motor sport truck has been tested out in the moscow region for time for the one champion among those in attendance for the renaud world series event constantine but top off was there as well. four years ago of you dram to moscow would have its very own world class more

a sports wreck today even a month ago you could heal only workers here and the quickest car was nowhere near formula one levels but the dream finally came true and high octane action has found its home on the outskirts of the moscow region make an impact in international motor sport now a very real possibility for russia the building of the track began in two thousand and eight with a total cost to reaching one hundred fifty million dollars when it comes to it wants to get the best red money can buy they call herrmann to look at the global renowned architect who's designed numerous f one tracks around the world it's a very technical track we have one part also talk is fast as a half is so slow and barely barely chickie if you push too hard then you go a little bit over the limit then you know is a lot of time and you have to have in mind that the combination also calling us you don't need to concentrate on the cause you are in now you have to concentrate also

on the next to call them in five to four years of planning and many more years of dreamy russia finally has its very own motor sports track to help with now that the racers can develop their skills and their own country and maybe even fast track their way into their one ranks. one man already did that dally be thrown into when it's in the book your kid became the first russian to make it into the sport stop actually owns securing his first podium finish at the season opening a struggling grand prix the following season and after two years bella tran are the twenty seven year old driver now races with get around f one. action in the dark a. better than personal. i think they make it was all the focus is the thought of michael it's boy you know is no bump in the. way about that it's

it's quite difficult you know it's it's a lot of low speed corner second or third here and it's really difficult to find a fix on the corner if one is for another day however the rana world series taking center stage this week not only was the first prime tries to test the track it also hosted the first ever international motor sport event russia. saying that they have the idea. and that isn't. striking such a short piece style this stalled. tried what you can accept formula one test like this now prime russia is already set to join their one calendar in twenty fourteen it's another circuit in the winter olympic of sergeant over the moscow raceway should group with solid plan b. and some of the sports still swans most likely be held here with dream finally

a reality constantine but out of archie. finally the following athletes in germany have their own interpretation of what's going on in london currently the if mud a lympics bringing together competitors who don't mind getting done and dirty to reach the top the lighting of the ceremonial torch in hamburg only slightly less spectacular than a similar ceremony on friday at a limping come ball first on the menu with team members more than likely having trouble distinguishing the opposition from one of their own sleighs are usually reserved for the winter games but i really raced through the mud was among their peers spectator favorites here about local footballing powerhouses so f.c. schlamme muscle beat me on a volunteer for the gold all that dirty fun for a good cause the proceeds going to a local culture. i. can tough it seems and i was all this

for for now whether his next. the.