hello again this is all see i would check on the headlines and see where the decisive boss of all that goes escalating international peace efforts stumble was a mediator kofi annan heading for the exit to go out and slammed its own security council for failing to unite and work out a solution to the great syrian parts of. the trial of the russian punk group received ride of vioxx a chorus of responses from artists and politicians from all around the world the three members could spend up to seven years in prison for this forming an instance in the country's main orthodox cathedral. banning down to regime crowds had said

gatherings also in the gulf region saudi arabia's crown down on dissent is claiming more lives while dozens have been arrested in injured in bahrain where demonstrators demanded more freedoms from a despotic a. now the u.s. is considered by many to be a place of high living standards but critics claim they notional journo well son well being is an illusion he talks now to leading you on the house economist and renowned american statistician dr howard friedman for his views on the social and financial ills of his country. in the promised land of stars and stripes u.s. presidents have always reminded citizens how lucky they are and where people of every background can work hard and reduce your dreams the old fashioned american dream. yes we just have

a call of america is an exceptional nation of freedom and opportunity and 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. stands 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 have 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. rank better than america what exactly did you find out this is what i found to be one of the most surprising results in 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 the so called american exceptionalism the country prides itself on what you know american exceptionalism is really a tough concept because at some level there's almost it'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 y. the. it's true is an interesting question this level of inequality has gone 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 or in many many millions last year you paid a tax rate that was probably half of what you caved 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 turned out 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 to. any other wealthy nation allow private money to fund 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 and 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 in 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 positions 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 include 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 your pain 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 are 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 i would draw as the best talent in the world here students come here door 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 our 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 r.t. my pleasure thank you very much. wealthy british style it's a spot on the front. of the. market why no scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy in cars a report on r g wealthy british style. has been tied to the spotlight with.

the market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. top stories on all seen in syria they despise him but so far left over that's collating as international peace up at the phone bowl with me today took off the i'm not happy with the exit of the glandular slanted side security council for failing to unite and worked out a solution to the syrian crisis. also the trial of the russian punk group kristie riot of bucks a chorus of responses from artists and politicians from porn around the world the three members could spend up to seven years in prison for performing an anti putin stunt in the country's main that's the central. andante regime cross has gatherings also in the gulf region saudi arabia's crown down on dissent it's claiming more

lives while dozens have been arrested than injured in bahrain where demonstrators demanded more freedoms from its more like a. bandit last year and it's here with a supporter and i know the london games are keeping you know this of course but there's also plenty of the ball going on here in russia and indeed there is yeah the russian premier league is in full swing already this summer three weeks in no already the holders and meets in petersburg looking like the team to catch more not coming up in just a sec. thanks for joining us this is lead sports today and we have plenty ahead for you this sunday afternoon including these stories and bring. on grass serena williams claims olympic gold in ladies tennis blitzing maria sharapova in a totally one sided affair with. seen school marching on the needs in petersburg maintain their perfect start to the russian premier league season with victory over

a fellow title hopeful c.s.k. moscow. and russian roulette still change those irish audiences with a really good scene up and leave the stage of a cliff diving world. but let's start at the olympics in london where russia came up short of a golden triumph on the day of the games but there were at least a few silver linings for the country our correspondent richard dunne portrayed has more on sunday's all starting on the tennis court. but maria sharapova was looking to complete what would have been a golden saints or at an olympic gold medal for different grand slams but she's won so far in her career however she was blown away in straight sense poise serina williams six six one the school has been american to victory in just over an hour sharapova had to settle for the silver medal but there was some unexpected success for russia in the badminton women's doubles. i mean of these managed to win

a bronze medal for russia have really had much success in this sport in the past and in fact this was the first ever badminton medal that they had managed to win a b. olympics. the bronze medal match was nerve wracking but we managed to get our emotions under control we didn't want to finish fourth as we knew we would leave london without a medal however we played well and were the superior team of the day against our canadian opponents and i'm really happy that we managed to get a medal for a country. that. salvaged a medal in the women's heptathlon following a good last eight hundred meters but was still a long way behind the eventual winner i was just this great britain. the shining the cover got a silver medal for russia in the discus of the leaderboard shouldn't he was a major hope for russia but the two thousand and eight olympic champion fainted just two kilometers from home in the men's twenty kilometer war we had been taken

to hospital and we kept there overnight but his condition is small serious but better news for russia's men's basketball team who continue to find tournament so far as may be the reigning european champions spain seventy seven seventy four the rush of an eye for an o. and according to if you a misleading is clear russia has certainly going to be one of the many many contenders for a medal i'm no surprise. no code to go to coach the. pretty a pretty good system that's a lot of players. i don't think. the. course is a whole different. system is foods it's a lot of good it was anomalous over from russia in the weightlifting how does on the finishing second in the mind to pull kilogram caps agree but not for the first time of these olympics gold went. even richer bumble fleet all see

london. elsewhere on saturday a world record holder you seen both wasn't quite his imperious best in qualifying for the one hundred meters men's semifinals the defending champion clocking by his standards a sluggish time of ten point zero nine seconds the jamaican nevertheless winning his qualifying event american ryan fairly sent out a signal of intent after running the fastest time ever in on a live picture heat coming through in a blistering nine point eight eight seconds the five struck in the east london allowing his compadres just in gatlin to alter on the ten seconds in nine point nine seven while in chambers who is only competing for great britain after a ruling from the court of arbitration for sport overturned a british firm also qualified person the samis earning ten point zero two. of the title defense of the men's four hundred meters jump in the sean merits is over the american pulling up injured in his heat courtesy of

a recurring hamstring injury the twenty six year old suffered a similar problem in the diamond league meet in monaco three weeks before the game but even to quote conflicts hours of treatment were unable to prevent the problem. once again. staying at the four hundred metres for oscar pistorius has created history the south african becoming the first amputee to compete in the olympic games pistorius reaching the semifinals after finishing second in his. now is there any cool of. you this. move for him to be as well as emotion to you before you. rush. to pride one of the potentially biggest stars of the games has arrived in london but with question marks hanging over his fitness former one hundred ten metre hurdle world record holder to john paul died of

a diamond league meet last month with a back injury his coach sais there in our concerns over a foot problem two thousand and four champion and missed the beijing games with a similar company. before our departure from germany you had an examination of his food by german doctor who told us that the injuries not a big problem however he can't tell us how serious the problem is i think we'll have some medical experts to have a check and use food in the olympic village also will try to judge the situation through training in the next couple of days. ok let's leave the olympics behind and move to football russian premier league champions and have dealt an early blow to title rival saskin moscow the st petersburg squad recording a three one win away in the russian capital and he finished fifteen points ahead of c.s.k. last season on have already put clear daylight between themselves and the army men in this campaign the much as good as over after just half an hour to get some act

topping home and alexander chris rock of cross just ten minutes in three minutes later on it was to know this time some mark was brought down in the box allowing project off the chance to head home his fourth goal in three matches this season. confusion in the siesta box would then allow a similar to see in the points on thirty two minutes leading to city hall in the strike before half time and here consolation three wins from three for the reigning champions. you have secured their first win since returning to the top flight in some style as well but bloody fate going to turn on girls in the task aided by the dismissal of tara goalkeeper anton i will change after just two minutes the first half brace from brazilian necco plus stretched from. caution putting a lot new for the last time the visitors then. sent off

before office and. completed the spring in injury time five milan holiday i. the opposite side of the equation for law school on the day the real women seeing their one hundred percent start to the season shattered by a.f.c. cross the door despitefully. putting the visitors ahead of nineteen minutes but the home side would jump into life in the second half an early own goal coming up from oman public change. from the corner followed by a converted josie new penalty on fifty six minutes. the tie then put to bed by a contender for goal of the month ten minutes from time armenian international euro . showing us last three one cross that are them about the second local pool to. real madrid's christiane rinaldo says he hasn't ruled out the possibility of playing in america one day the portuguese stars currently in the u.s.

with i think owes on a pre-season campaign on the twenty seven year old says he could follow in the footsteps of david beckham who swapped madrid for the m.l.s. . and i think. they do it's the best i can i think is good but they can they can be better so if i if i can help to be a better soccer here i can help but i think it's. great they are in the good in the good way and coming here to play when they. thank you ali with supernal do very well well over on the greens jim furyk did just enough secure a one shot lead into the final round of the bridgestone invitational the forty two year old finishing with an even par seventy on the day remain on course for his first p.g.a. victory in almost two years the twenty ten p.g.a. peer of the year watching his sort of birdie on the second hole negated by a bogey on the twelfth with the american breaking even the rest of the way twenty twelve masters runner up is one shot by one of his three birdies coming here in the

twelfth all the twenty nine year old so that for invests in trust for his third three. he can bradley has lifted the trophy since the twenty eleven p.g.a. championship but the american i find himself in range four strokes behind the leader. finally jumping off perlis rock faces for a living is something that might not appeal to many but for the cliff diving world series for turned into a it's what gets them up in the morning welcome to initial more small islands off the west coast of ireland the stunning urea played host to stage five of the red bull world series on saturday stunning efforts for the course time competition jump in on the t.v. show just why he had dominated the sport for so long with a dazzling dive but even the most not enough to earn the colombian top spot instead he had to play second fiddle to our chim still chant at the russian claiming back to back wins in the competition for the first time with an electrifying new dive

arm stand with a blind entry earning him tender right across the board that results means he sits third in the standings two k. stays top wherever all words now are to be as orders for the penultimate city which . they call fun but is all your sport and i whether it's next year in twenty four hour r.t. .