welcome back to the big picture i'm sam sacks in for tom hartman coming up in this half hour the occupy encampments in new york city to the streets of anaheim police brutality has been rampant all over the past several months what's gone wrong with police in this country and what can be done to ensure that they truly protect and serve americans and earlier this week harry reid accused mitt romney of not paying taxes for a decade and romney isn't willing to release his tax returns to prove reid wrong story really one of the men who hides his money in offshore accounts and who is the ultimate pirate capitalist to be our next president more on that in tonight's daily to. twenty one year old in jonesboro arkansas was that appears mysteriously shot in the

head while handcuffed in the back of a police car chavis carter was arrested on saturday for possession of marijuana according to police while they were searching carter's car they heard a gunshot and found carter dead in their squad car the odd thing is the odd thing here is that police reports indicate that two searches of carter never turned up the alleged handgun that police now claim he shot himself with while he was handcuffed with his hands behind. it all sounds pretty fishy right while carter's mother thinks so too she's accusing police of killing her son saying quote i think they killed him my son wasn't suicidal and the two officers involved in the incident been put on leave and a formal investigation has been launched this incident comes on the heels of police brutality in anaheim are we going to have a go police shot in our man in the back of the head. as he was filling killing him

that triggered days of demonstrations unrest in the streets of anaheim over the last several months we've seen repeated abuses from police forces began last year with the excessive force used against the occupy movement pepper spraying women who were peacefully organizing oakland last year was turned into a war zone as police shot tear gas canisters and flash bangs into crowds of demonstrators nearly killing twenty four year old war veteran scott olsen then a few few weeks later this happened at the university of california davis students sitting peacefully were doused with a chemical weapon at point blank range at least the officer you see there lost his job this year we saw the military zation of the chicago police as they prepared for the nato summit arming themselves with one million dollars worth of riot gear and equipment including deafening sound cannons and then anaheim happened and next it could be arkansas so what the heck is going on in america today now from new york is sarah jackie labor and media editor at alter net and ron your call ik

a contributor to alter net so long truthout and an independent journalist welcome to you both thanks so much for coming on the show. ronnie i want to start with you is it just me or does it seem like these sort of acts of police brutality clear militarization of the police is reaching epidemic levels in america now. oh no well this is been going on for quite some time but yeah it does seem like every week or so we're hearing about some suspicious incident with somebody being shot and killed usually a person of color and it does seem as though whenever a movement decides to participate in some sort of act of civil disobedience the police come in you know in huge force and they're dressed like combat soldiers and people on it getting shot in the face with pepper spray and hit with rubber bullets and god does seem like it's happening a lot more often at least it's getting a lot more attention yeah it really does in syria at the same time we're also seeing an increase in economic discontent in america we're seeing more people take

to the streets. is this sort of police brutality. not you not just you know police officers suddenly deciding to be more militant is it a sign of social decay going on in america a you know bigger picture well i mean yeah like rania said this is been going on for a long time it's not news that the police kill mostly young men of color with essentially impunity what is new like we're like she pointed out of like you just pointed out is that we are actually seeing protest movements rising fighting back we're actually paying attention to this because there are people in the streets calling attention to it right we are paying attention to people getting pepper sprayed because they're white college kids at davis because they were white women in cattle netting in new york city because they weren't the people that are getting killed every day by the police right well you say we're paying attention to it but we have to define who we are because it sure seems like the mainstream media and the

general public isn't talking about this at all i mean anaheim pretty much didn't get a blip on the mainstream news why do you think that is wrong here. well i think because the anaheim is something that is routine and communities of color particularly poor communities of color. and. you know it's just it's something that happens so often that it's ignored by most people like faris that with the occupy movement it was a little different for you know this was a time when a mostly white movement was of middle class people was seen being you know pepper sprayed and treated very brutally and that was shocking rape but these instances you know i want to bring up there was a report recently that was published by the malcolm x. grassroots movement it was last month and it got barely any attention and it was and what they found was after spending a lot of time researching they found that one hundred twenty black men women and children have been shot and killed in the first six months of two thousand and

twelve alone by either police officers. security guards or. law enforcement types like george zimmerman that's i mean one hundred twenty people that's a lot of people and you know other than trayvon martin the mainstream media didn't cover one hundred twenty black people getting killed at the hands of people in positions of authority so yeah it's i definitely that anaheim is something that it happens so often that it's an invisible problem to people that have it doesn't concern you. if these hundred you know twenty something people were millionaires we'd be talking about that which were just there i want to bring to you i mean at the risk of sounding cliche the police are here to protect and serve infamously last year there was a report of how jamie dimon gave the n.y.p.d. something like four point six million dollars gift right around the time that occupy started spring you know the produce running action you know crushed occupied

so as protect and serve really been redefined for the police as protect and serve the millionaires and billionaires in america. once again though i want to point out that this is not new right one hundred years ago the police were protecting and serving the property and the wealth of the millionaires and billionaires who owned industry back then right the first time that we had an insurgent labor movement in this country we saw the police used as strike breakers we saw the police shooting people this is not new the police have essentially always existed to protect and serve property private property the more wealth the better you know jamie dimon giving a gift to the n.y.p.d. will even if he didn't mayor bloomberg controls the n.y.p.d. where the mayor bloomberg makes his money he made his money off of things like people that people at j.p. morgan chase did right like this is not a new phenomenon what is new is that the police departments increasingly have more funding to buy ridiculous military weapons so that you get riot cops showing up

looking like they're going into battle when they're going into battle against you know skinny kids and hide women and children you know you know women i don't want to say women like women aren't you know violent in ourselves sometimes but like you know it's ridiculous right i mean this is this comes out of the post nine eleven militarization of the police force that is in the last thirty seconds here we've been warned about the rise of the military industrial complex since the fifty's is there almost an incentive on the part of police nowadays to act like the military because there's all these contracts flowing in to buy sound cannons and by tear gas canisters. i mean you get all these cool toys and you want to use them right yeah i would say so we're out of time sara thanks a lot ron your people do great work for you so much. the primary role of police in our society is to protect and serve as i just said the question is though who exactly are they serving when they cross the line silence free speech and choose violence over cooperation with the people that's for sure it's undeniable

that as economic pain spreads to more and more americans than civil unrest will to a new study by the economic policy institute shows there's no relief in sight currently twenty eight percent of workers in america hold the low wage jobs and according to the report by two thousand and twenty that number will be the same curiously the top industries that employ low wage labor labor are growing faster than the entire economy so what does that mean well it means that workers are no longer getting paid for their higher productivity instead c.e.o.'s and executives are pocketing bigger and bigger paychecks pushing wealth inequality to levels in america not seen since the stock market crash of one thousand nine hundred ninety so as working class people are pushed to the brink and take to the streets and where they are silence and then beaten that it sure looks like the police are doing their part to protect and serve protect and serve the billionaires that is after

all america is now land of the billionaires america likes to think of itself as the richest nation on the planet it's basically considered common knowledge which country is the richest on earth america of course air from our politicians our school teachers our news media and looking strictly a total combined wealth we are the richest while it got into a two thousand and eleven study by a lie ons the united states has over forty one trillion dollars in combined wealth second is japan far less than half the wealth of the united states at just over fourteen trillion dollars so we're number one right well not exactly our nations combined wealth is astronomically high. but that's only because there are a heck of a lot of billionaires living here in fact about a third of the world's billionaires live right here in the united states of america that's four hundred twelve billionaires who live in america and second on the list is china with only one hundred fifteen billionaires so our total wealth is inflated

by all the billionaires who live here if you want to true measure of how wealthy the united states actually is and you have to look at median wealth or how much americans in the middle are making under that criteria the united states doesn't even crack the top ten in the world according to a report by credit suisse fifteen o.e.c.d. nations have a higher median wealth than the united states that includes nations like australia japan and israel it also includes european nations that are in crisis like spain italy and ireland that's because over the thirty years since we embraced reaganomics the middle class in america has been stated is the rank ahead of us. debt crisis in europe they have not sold out their middle class what do most of these countries with higher median wealth avin common universal health care strong labor unions generous social safety nets and high taxes on the rich all the things

that we used to have here in the united states side from universal health care until reagan came along in the one nine hundred eighty s. declared war on organized labor went to work on doing the new deal and gave the super rich a massive tax cut so that today we're not the wealthiest nation on the planet anymore we just have the most romney level rich people that are working people we're not even doing as well as the workers of taiwan. coming up richard nixon ronald reagan and even mitt romney's dad george released extensive information about their finances and wealth and not mitt what is mitt romney trying to hide and will his pirate capitalism come back to haunt him before november.

mr. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

pepper spray that just burned gerard's right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. this is much stronger than anything if you buy a lot of sort of loses thousands of times we're stronger than any kind of ever put . into it only military mechanisms that do not work to bring justice or accountability. i have every right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. and

it's time for tonight's the good the bad in the very very ugly the good job back home it can be pretty hard to be a reasonable liberal in a crowd of ranting conspiracy obsessed conservatives sometimes and no one knows that better than back up the token liberal on fox news and a member of the five yesterday the panel was discussing president obama's now infamous you didn't build that quote which has been completely taken out of content so context she has me over the last few weeks and played incessantly on fox news and bekele at finally hard enough take a look. at how it's how in the world do you reach that conclusion i mean did you read it did you read what obama said yes i did read what he said he said what i said the but everybody gets it once again because it's up on the air that's

a flat out lie and will start rising. how does that line because it's not what he said in causing it it's even worse even more that he shouldn't broach it bridged let me ask you i am going to ask if i had actually. lying on fox what a surprise for the most part beccles been completely neutered over at fox news glad to see you still has something resembling a pair over there the bad reps diane black and luella ruin is the way that the race to the bottom takes new meeting in this tennessee congressional races both black and try to outdo each other over who is more islamophobia rather than discuss differences over economic or social issues the two are arguing over who is doing more to stop the nonexistent threat of shari'a law taking over america and rewriting the constitution saying income a black isn't doing enough is the way nick said quote i will work to stop the as long as i lose law my zation of our society and do everything possible to prevent

sharia law from circumventing our laws and our constitution. i'm glad some. it's on the case nothing like two conservatives duking it out to see who is more ignorant and misguided no matter who wins tennessee loses. and it's time for the very very ugly congressman steve king they said it couldn't be done they said it wasn't ever going to happen but king has shocked the world and become the first three time defending champion of the very very good we've told you about his recent comments promoting animal abuse in his recent endorsement of birth or endorsement of birth or ism well yesterday he suggested that liberals have devalued life and support the raping and kidnapping of little girls i'm not joking there is we need to respect humans as more than we do animals whenever we start elevating animals up to above that of humans we've crossed a moral line for example if there is

a sexual predator out there who has impregnated a young girl say a thirteen year old girl and it happens in america more times than you and i would like to think that sexual predator could pick that girl up off the playground at the middle school and haul her across the state line and force her to get an abortion to eradicate the of evidence of his crime and bring her back and drop her off at the swing set at that's an out against the law in the united states of america saying that liberals support the rape and kidnapping of little girls just because they want animals to be respected and treated humanely. i will end tonight it's good bad ugly the same way i've ended the last two nights steve king is a jackass and that is very very.

so senate majority leader harry reid isn't backing down from the accusation he hurled at mitt romney last week accusing the republican nominee of not paying any taxes for ten years reid made the claim in a recent interview with having him post provoking were new calls for romney to release more than just the two years of tax returns he's already released reid says a former investor in bain capital gave him the info on romney's taxes and when questioned about who his sources again on wednesday reid told the las vegas review journal quote i don't think the burden should be on me the burden should be on him he's the one i've alleges not paid any taxes why didn't he release his tax returns that's a good question why why don't you release them it well maybe there's something to do with the fact that mitt already did release all his tax returns privately to the john mccain campaign back in two thousand and eight when he was a big considered for vice president after reviewing those documents mccain picked

paling but there's another reason why romney's unlikely to release his tax returns that's because romney is the first real venture capitalist the first real all of dark to run for president the united states on a major ticket and in his world how he makes his money and whether or not he pays his taxes shouldn't be question romney is not like any previous candidate for president he's essentially breaking the mold for presidential politics at least within the two major parties and what exactly it means if romney is successful in running this campaign for the oligarchs is the subject of tonight's daily take. you know it used to be that politicians presented themselves as being just average people part of the american middle class or as in the case of a rich guy like f.d.r. at least understanding the needs of the middle class and working people the idea that a rich donor by give money to a candidate's campaign and then expect that candidate devote their way was shocking

it was considered bribery in one thousand nine hundred eighty two when senator richard nixon was running for vice president democrats pointed out that he'd taken eight hundred thousand dollars or one hundred fifty grand in today's money from some fact at donors americans were so shocked by that allegation that nixon had to go on national television to address them it was a second most famous speech of all time right behind his i am not a crook speech as he tried to reassure americans that he would never ever cast a vote in a particular way or and rich him self because of his position as a senator. i'm sure that you have read the charge and you've heard but i senator and it took eighteen thousand dollars from a group of my supporters let me point out and i want to make good particularly put that no contributor to those. no contributor to any of my. and you consider rich but he would not have. as an ordinary constituent. i just

don't believe and i we also like to candidates who are average people or at least could understand average people harry truman for example drove to missouri after his presidency lived in a modest home until his death jimmy carter walked to his inaugural as the washington post noted right afterwards but what undoubtedly will be most remembered about jimmy carter's inauguration was that long walk from the capitol to the executive mansion took in forty minutes to cover a mile and a half as he walked along with amy prancing jumping and dancing along at his side he was shattering recent presidential practice and legit the idea that a president must be remote and removed from the people after he left the white house jimmy carter chose not to get rich but instead to build habitat for humanity houses and work for world peace even richard nixon knew how important was to seem

like an average american when running for public office. i am going at this time to give to the television radio or other audience a complete financial history. everything i ever. everything i've spent. everything i own. and i want you to know i should say this that doesn't have a make. but she does have a respectable republican cloth coat we did get something a bit after the election. a man down in texas third on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog we got a message from union station baltimore saying they had a package for it what don't forget. you know what it was it was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that eats out all the way to. the checkers speech then came reagan

and greed is good with lavish inaugural balls costing millions paid for by millionaires and billionaires he was beamed by satellite to one hundred cities where other people had parallel reagan inaugural balls to paraphrase john steinbeck after the reagan era american working class people began to believe that they're merely temporarily inconvenienced millionaires and so today we have a quarter billionaire mitt romney who refuses to reveal the last decade of his tax returns or the full details of his net wealth although vanity fair is found that he has bank and brokerage accounts in a variety of tax havens that includes an account in bermuda the value of which was not disclosed in his tax returns and also includes an account thirty million dollars stashed away in the cayman islands where there are no taxes and there's three million dollars tucked away in

a swiss bank account. and romney also has an undisclosed amount of money sitting in bank accounts in luxembourg and ireland as well devon to wire of a.b.c. news notes that what little we do know about romney's efforts to hide his wealth both from the american people and from the i.r.s. are pretty surprising the company in question san katie high yield asset investors limited is described by government a financial documents as a bermuda corporation wholly own by w. mitt romney yet as both vanity fair and the associated press note in new reports it has never appeared on the candidates financial disclosure forms limited details on its existence only came to light recently when romney released his two thousand and ten tax returns under public pressure as nicholas shaxson writes for vanity fair even after examining that return we know i'd is in this company.

meaning that it's possible romney's wealth is even greater than previous estimates by the romney spokespeople insist the couple couple has paid all the taxes required by law investments in tax havens such as bermuda raise many questions because they're in jurisdictions where there is virtually no tax and virtually no compliance as one miami based offshore lawyer put it. well that was how he put it so now the romney coke rove pitch is keep our tax breaks and cayman accounts because when you hit it rich you'll want them to it'll be interesting to see if working class americans why this line you know that we're all one of these days going to become millionaires if they do then it means that the mass hypnosis the working people have been under since reagan came along with the whole greed is good thing. that all of us will be rich one day but that mass of

gnosis is still unbreakable. but if they don't if mitt romney is held to account and called out for what he really is a pirate capitalist who cares more about finding tax loopholes and increasing profits then what's good for our nation. then it could be our nation's first big step forward toward cracking down on all of our excellent banks toure's like mitt romney who drag the united states into financial crisis. stay tuned. and that's the big picture for tonight thursday august second two thousand and twelve if you missed any of tonight's show you can now watch it in h.d. on hulu at hulu dot com slash the. big picture for more information on any of the stories we've covered visit our web site at thom hartmann dot com free speech at origin r t dot com also check out our two you tube channel is there a link that tom foreman also tom foreman dot com check out all the different ways you can send us your feedback and don't forget to mark receive begins with you get

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