hello and welcome to our tease the weekly today's news on the week's top stories keep battle in syria as the rebels of the regime fun for the country's second city the syrian army sent thousands more troops and artillery while the new one works for a new peace envoy after kofi annan steps down. the trial of. iran it divides the country the three women could get seven years four hours for it would be theirs and after performing a stunt and russia's main cathedral in february. protesters in bahrain and

saudi arabia are set for mass rallies in their countries who are united in their call against the ruling elite are talking escalating the crackdown. the u.s. is considered by many to be a place of high living standards but some critics claim the notion of general wealth and well being is just an illusion a leading u.n. health economist and renowned americans to titian now explains 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 thank you yes with the justice i call 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. 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 the 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 just made 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 why the. it's 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 or in many many millions last year paid a tax rate that was probably half of what you kate in case our viewers are interested in 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 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 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 include but when we talk about external military interaction we need to reflect on the fact that 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 indicted 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 u.s. 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 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 are 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 our 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.

today's news on the week's top stories the battle in syria as the rebels and the regime find for the country's second city the syrian army's thousands more troops. while the books for a new song boy trickle down steps down. the country the three women could get seven years behind bars for something after performing in. the draw and. protesters in bahrain and saudi arabia are such. people are united in their call against the ruling elite which are asking they think their crackdown. up next is

all the latest sports with paul. thank you very much karen welcome along to the sports headlines here is what's coming up. hillary much roger federer going head to head for a limpid gold in a repeat of the wimbledon final of just four weeks ago. saints go marching on signings in petersburg maintain their perfect start to the russian premier league season with victory over a fellow title hypos. and a russian are roulette. the wild irish audiences with a thrilling routine at the latest stage of the cliff diving world series. first the london olympics was the final day of competition in the tennis tournament

and russia could be in line for a bronze medal not even to throw over our maria kirilenko reaction later in the bronze medal match in the women's doubles they face a tough test against american generally so very mundane little cuba cuba is ranked as the number one doubles player on the planet. well the usa already won a gold the day after becoming singles champion serena williams along with her sister venus one but are both the americans so off to check under a cloud cover and losing product in straight sets six four six four. in the men's singles andy murray has just won his second set in the gold medal match against roger federer a repeat of the wimbledon final he concedes dominating in the first two sets he took the first one six two three just taken to the second six one it is a best of five and not gold medal match. meanwhile in the bronze medal match up argentina juan martin del potro has just beaten novak djokovic in straight sets to claim

a medal del potro showing no real effects of his american semifinal defeat to partner up in the semifinals. now there was a surprise bronze medal for russia in the women's marathon tatyana probe are run the race of her life to come in third in a time of two hours twenty three minutes and twenty nine seconds not so new personal best we go going to. hear pia who also set a new unlimited record for silver once in kenya as prescribed to. the mall a good day for russia in the gymnastics tennis outlaws and has won bronze in the men's floor event has retained scoring enough from the judges to finish on the podium there was china's kajal to one gold with japan's more that playing in silver and not to be out there are. also finished on the podium and playing drums of medal that was in the women's vote. meanwhile russia's female basketball team a secure place in group b.

at least after a sixty five fifty four defeat to france in the last group stage fixture of the seaside starting well played in the first quarter fifteen ten for the french then took control to seal the win. while elsewhere in london russia came up short of a golden triumph on saturday but there were at least a few silver linings for the country which has more on the ups and downs starting on the tennis court. well 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 sarina 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 and 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. was. 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 our country to do it the opinion that. salvaged a medal won in the women's heptathlon following a good last eight hundred metres was still a long way behind the eventual winner i was just ready for it said daddy of the shine in the cupboard 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 he had been taken to hospital i may be kept there overnight but his condition is small serious but better news for russia's men's basketball team who continue their find tournament

so far as may be the reigning european champions spain seventy seven seventy four the russian i have four and i know and according to if you a misleading this clue russia has certainly going to be one of the many many contenders for a medal i'm no surprise. no codes they go to coach the. pretty a pretty good system that puts a lot of players. no i don't think. the. course is a whole different. system. it's a lot of go it was an hour or so of russia in the weight lifting alexander even more finishing second in the mind for kilogram category but not for the first time of these olympics wind. richman bullied artsy london. now the so-called face of two thousand and twelve jessica ennis has been speaking

after being crowned heptathlon champion the british athlete train gold on saturday to the delight of the home crowd but admits there have been times in the build up where the pressure has begun to tell. her if you know. my fiance and you know wondering if it is all going to go by the way i wanted it to or whether some of it would happen and fall apart is a huge amount of pressure but again just such a unique position i was in i would make the most of the opportunity and just make sure that i trained hard to live it on those two days and thanks but i can sit here and say i did now one positive for team russia so far has been success on the judo match three gold one silver and one bronze medal put them on top of the sports medal table and the returning stars arrive back in the russian capital hoping their success can act as a springboard for other russian athletes. very sweet it's a historical achievement for russian judo there's no doubt about it we are very

proud to be the first outlets to win this medals at the olympics and hopefully it may help our country mates do better in other sports that does that for me personally the success of our judith's he means a lot especially in terms of bringing this sport to the masses i really really hope that after these olympic games many kids in russia will start practicing judo right . now away from the olympics and to football way in the russian a premier league summit of encryption crowd coming to the end of their matches currently as you can see one one there in the final few moments. but the away side won the lot they need twenty second minutes but on the half hour mark. carol quite a lengthy cry for the home side meanwhile later on this part of moscow will be looking to keep their one hundred percent record alive and move joint top as they travel to rock bottom but now and i'm jean host i'm called. well on saturday defending champions in

a delton early blow to potential title rivals last car must go with a three one away when the much as good as i was just half an hour so i samak tapping alexander because you can't cross just ten minutes in three minutes later to know this time samak was down in the box because you cough the chance to hit his goal in three top flight matches this season confusion in the car box with an hour or so mark to seal the points on thirty two minutes even guys who can handle strike before half time a consolation three wins from three for the reigning champions. it was the opposite side of the equation for lokomotiv moscow they were one man saying their one hundred percent start to the season shattered by f.c. class nadar that despite three places see the opening in this is ahead on one thousand minutes. but the home side would jump into life in the second period an early goal from a public chain car followed by

a relative zero zero zero pounds around fifty six minutes it's hard when put to bed by a contender for goal of the month ten minutes from time. international your m o c c on showing his class three one class there are second to. have secured their first win it since returning to the top flight adding some style to the bloody cup cars outfits going to town on telly grozny their task aided by the dismissal of tiger goalkeeper anton. just after. a first half brace from brazilian danniella necco strike from thomas prisk in posen. for a lot of time the visitors then had another man sent off in the second period for us in the last week of the school. is how it finished. well over on the golf greens jim furyk has

a one shot lead her into the final round of the bridgestone invitational the forty two year old finishing with an even par seventy on the day to remain on course for his first p.g.a. victory in almost two years the twenty ten p.g.a. player of the year watching his soul birdie on the second hole negated by a bogey on the twelfth with the american breaking going the rest of the way twenty two of martyr's run as a blue runner up the west hasan is one shot back one of his three birdies coming here on the twelfth the twenty nine year old south african that's on trial for his third victory of the year gladly hasn't lifted a trophy since the two thousand and eleven p.g.a. championship but the american now finds himself in contention for strokes behind the leader. found finally jumping off perilous rock faces for a living is something that might not appeal to many but for athletes competing in the cliff die. having world series is all part of the day job this is in a small a small island off the west coast of ireland

a stunning area played host to stage five of the red bull world series on saturday nine competition champion orlando duque a show just why he was dominated the school for so long but even that wasn't enough to on the colombian top spot instead he had to play second fiddle to archer i'm still jenga the russian climbing back to back wins in the competition for the first time with an electrifying new dive a black arm stand with a blind entry and again tens across the board that result means he sits third in the standings world in case there is talk. to an alternate space. well that is all from the world of sport for now but i'll be back with plenty more from the olympics and everything else in the world of sport in just under two hours time here on r.t. joining that.