people think small business and that is the case but you talk about fat burger being twenty twenty four million that's not chump change so you know what are the sizes of these things traditionally what sort of the average. crowdfunding that you'd see out there well i would say you know look the cap in this industry is fifty million dollars at the moment although we believe that congress and the f.c.c. are going to twenty eighteen boost that cap to seventy five million dollars so far the largest crowd financed i.p.o. was thirty million dollars for a company called chicken soup for the soul that brands was right underneath that with twenty four million dollars and i've got some big news for you we're excited to share that as of this morning drake grammy award winning musician global celebrity has announced a regulation campaign for his company virginia black whiskey they've sold sixty thousand cases since they launched in september two thousand and sixteen he has one hundred ten million followers across all of his social media platforms and his fans

are going to be able to invest in this brand for the first time ever just a minimum investment of one hundred dollars well thank you for breaking news with with us on that one daring and we will go ahead and put it up breaking news our art to america and ask drake to go ahead and tweet to one hundred ten million followers derren marbled c.e.o. of crowd fund x. thanks for being with us thanks so much. tied up for a quick break but stick around because when we return we'll talk about the rural economy and farmers and ranchers with. the chief of staff of the national farmers union plus the toss to sweet talk trains and rail investments and as we go to break here are those numbers at the closing.

unfortunately it appears that once people learn that you've reported in a sexual assault or may have been involved in an incident that they become scared of you instead of being scared of the perpetrator. in the hearts of the swiss alps this is a place probably more secretive than the pentagon more mysterious than the cia. for. all the science is controlled by them and they impose the opening times for. us the procedures in place of the strictest in all europe must to pieces by artists like so and modigliani can't unsold inside this warehouse that's where the report comes in it covers a. naturally discreet commercially discreet but also discreet secrets they concern

fraud. some of those paintings are linked to dark secrets nobody knows how many of these secrets a kept inside the geneva freeport system you'll never obtain an inventory of all the works in the freeport who knows how many there are three hundred three thousand three hundred thousand it's a matter of confidentiality only is it the world like the our business. i had a great education a good job and a family that loved me. i never had to worry about how i would eat somewhere i would sleep. i'm facing christmas alone out on the streets of london well you look to be honest. i thought the glory like going to school you know the slogan though still give up food for the over the sea. but you don't really feel like some human being in that. and then. the guy just

came over to me saw me and gave me a change of this book. wal-mart has announced that they will be increasing their starting raid wage for new employees to eleven dollars an hour up from nine dollars an hour moments ago u.s. secretary of treasury steve maneuver thank wal-mart the corporation also will give a one time bonus raising from ranging from two hundred to four hundred to one thousand dollars to current employees who are paid currently more than the minimum wage workers will have to have worked twenty years to get the full bonus wal-mart

c.e.o. claim the increase was due to the tax cut but the tightening job market and pressure from competitors may also be one of the causes or cause target for example announced an eleven dollars minimum wage hourly for last september so one plans to increase the end they had planned increase it to fifteen dollars by twenty twenty the current federal minimum wage is only seven dollars and twenty five cents and has not been increased since two thousand and nine a government accountability office study last year estimated that forty percent of u.s. workers aged twenty five to sixty four are paid sixteen dollars an hour or less thirty senators have co-sponsored a bill to increase the federal minimum wage to fifteen dollars by twenty twenty four and index that increase to inflation. the trump administration is planning major changes to the community reinvestment act or c.r.a. the c.r.a.

was passed in one nine hundred seventy seven to prevent what is termed redlining which a french essentially discriminates against minority borrowers and sure that banks don't just lend to the wealthy the trumpet ministration and the american banking association want to effectively relax the c r a's definition to community development loans to include other loans such as infrastructure and small business loads which are more profitable than the existing portfolio of mortgage loans to lower income borrowers current mortgage rates are around four point two percent while small business loans are around five point five percent and every structural loans are about seven percent annual rate. we spoke to some in recent days about the farm and rural economy in light of president strums speech to the farm bureau this week and today we take one more

look and get a little different take we're joined by robin roux the chief of staff of the national farmers union rob also has a better to capitol hill in the u.s. department of agriculture where he and i actually work for a time together rob thanks for being here. ok so what did you make of president's speech of the farm bureau well first of all this was cued up to be a fantastic opportunity for the president will economy right now is hurting farmers are struggling so the fact that you have the president states coming to talk to a large group of farmers i think was fantastic set up unfortunately it was just a series of missed opportunities when we heard actually what he had to say now a lot of these presidents and all include you know our former boss bill clinton and even barack obama and george bush when they get out to rural america they talk about these general overarching things and that's pretty much what the president did this time to. unfortunately that's a lot of we heard we heard a lot of talk a lot of talking at folks but no solutions no real hard facts and ideas

for how to move forward ok so what should he have talked about i mean you know we think about the things that the agriculture department sure does you know. rural housing business loans for electricity and infrastructure he didn't talk about any of that broadband for example you know he did do a broadband executive order comment on all that well there's a tremendous need out there in real america and one positive thing from the president's speech was the release of a study that kind of highlights those big needs alec and part of the need in rural communities is broadband as you point out there is tremendous lack of access to high speed internet out there and that's hurting not only farmers but rural businesses you know enroll residents at large and unfortunately this package though doesn't really deliver anything there were promises in there but the executive orders as you pointed out really did very little except to say that we're going to continue to do small things around the edges we're still waiting for that big piece

that big promise and some real infrastructure in rural america it's like a good thing in jerry maguire you know show me the money and write the executive orders just talked about coordinating better and maybe fit me to having one form as opposed to a couple of forms not sure they're worth the paper on which they were written what else should he have talked about rob i mean what impact people on a daily basis in rural america that he should have really highlighted well one of the things that the president did talk about that i think was again kind of just highlighting the wrong area and that is they current tax package that's recently had signed into law this has been using farmers really as the poster child children for for the success of that whether it's the state tax whether it's tax relief in general and afford. no that's not the reality out there most farmers don't fall or don't get any of the benefits out of this package and so they are being used out

there to sell it but aren't seeing any of the benefits so i think what the president should have done and what we certainly hope that he does in the future is really talk about things that impact on the farm level and provide that support that they need we have a farm bill which helps support farmers and consumers with nutrition programs and farm support that is coming up here in just the next couple months in congress we certainly hope the president's going to be there to make sure that he is supporting family farmers in a real way you know that brings up sort of the politics of it and you and i are both veterans of the we're hill rats right we've been there been there for a long time and at the department but one of the things that i know that we've talked about in the past rob that we both enjoyed about the issue of agricultural policy is it is not particularly part is it it's not about republicans democrats it's more about if you have you know corn and beans or you know rice and cotton the geography more than anything else so you would think that they would be able to get a farm bill done this year because it's not partisan but that hasn't proven to be

the case with things like infrastructure bill what's your prognosis i mean the farm bill is just authorized through this year what's your prognosis for whether or not we're going to get one done and whether or not it's going to be good for rural america and the rest of us well like probably most farmers i am an eternal optimist and while the optimism might be fading a little bit we're still optimistic that we're going to be able to kind of bridge differences and get a farm bill done out there however there are tremendous challenges to getting that done and accomplished not the least of which is show me the money as you point out the tax bill there was an opportunity which ended up spending over a trillion dollars that just go straight to our deficit and now we're being told that we may not have the resources to put into our farms and rural areas and even for nutrition support so i think we need to look at our priorities and where that money should be going were absolute chief of staff of national farmers you didn't really get to see it thanks a lot for being here. and

despite the fact that president trump is not submitted infrastructure build a congress as he promised various states have been making some big investments in rail and trains artie's natascha suite has more. but now in the larger urban areas of life we all come across access to passenger rail systems and some cities column metros others call it a subway and even a trolley and while it does happen the benefits like bypassing bumper to bumper traffic it seems as though the vast majority of people still enjoy getting around in their own cars. busy highways and intersections or a trademark for some major metropolitan areas if you're living in new york los angeles san francisco congestion on the roads is something you've likely already come to terms with. but it doesn't make it any easier and ideas to

fix the problem like the high speed rail in california or the metro connecting baltimore to d.c. are entice enough for many commuters if you recall back in prior to world war two the us had a fairly robust passenger rail system across the country. but post world war two is when things really changed jamie finch former director of government public and family affairs for the national transportation safety board remembers that world war two devastated europe's infrastructure to rebuild they hardly invested in rail but that wasn't the case for the u.s. even though the u.s. had a fairly robust passenger rail system prior to world war two president eisenhower took notice of the autobahn the german government built it benefited the country both economically and defensively it brought so many people into middle class it created jobs at several levels not just manufacturing but also car parts make notes

and selling which of course impacted the economy a great deal the auto industry exploded and changed the culture of driving in the u.s. economy travels on that bill and the americans love for their cars and their own sense of independence while americans do love their independence solutions to the endless traffic jams are on the minds of many. california high speed rail was approved by voters in two thousand and eight sixty four million dollar plan will bring in hundred miles of track stepping down the golden state if guns don't dry up and construction remains on schedule the train's first phase will be completed by twenty twenty nine but finch questions if this master plan is in california's best interest financially i would hate to see. this huge amount of investment going toward something that is just going to prove to be a. social experiment. it's a billions and billions of dollars that it will take to build but on the east coast

offense questions why there aren't more connections for places like pittsburgh philadelphia to d.c. maryland lawmakers just oppose a high speed rail route which would make the trek from baltimore to d.c. only fifteen minutes lawmakers cited the amtrak as being too disruptive to communities but finch isn't convinced they do bring their own economic benefit to that community with the gas stations and other services in a restaurant and so on you know when someone takes an exit but if more passenger reels are going to be built safety and proper maintenance have to be a top priority according to finch that medically what are you reporting i thank you right after i got investigators concluded that the real mention washington state last month was a result of the train speeding nearly fifty miles over the speed limit as technology continually advances investigators are looking into the options of controlling the speed of trains were mostly regardless of advancement for instance

without proper investment safety cannot be guaranteed the board calls to fix it but also recalls watched now some questions the need for these passenger rail systems as a right sharing programs like uber left are also cost effective however the issue of traffic still remains in los angeles and toss just waits. r t. thank you natasha and you know that the president has yet to prove that forward the his infrastructure bill but it's certainly needed i've said before that you know if you want high speed rail in the u.s. you have to go to disneyland and get on a roller coaster and it's just a shame and as the taj as guests said it's not just about efficiency and being affective in our commuting it's now about lives that are being lost because of poor infrastructure so that's all we have for now thanks for watching this jam packed show be sure to catch boom bust on you tube youtube dot com slash boom bust artie

we'll catch you next time. in two thousand and sixteen in the panama papers showing the world with a tax haven the secrets to trillion united states dollars passed through most conseco in the amount of time that we did and in the panama papers exposure that's what it shows a lot of money it really is. journalism and it's a fact of journalism looking at things that people want to keep secret and i'm asking why would they want to keep these things secret. millions of most fun sikka don't commence where examine. all the people we basically have tried to get an advantage out of this thought it was newspaper. and probably other politician which were the. other politicians the media would point

to find their targets such as the kings of morocco in saudia arabia the president of argentina several prime minister spoke. in russian president vladimir putin the coolest. comical at that time. so i have sued so many newspapers for defamation some things don't just happen by chance it was very striking there were no more merit of symbols specially. of people from the brics countries specially brazil russia and china that this special project reveals what was missed in the media coverage. the panama chronicles. the two thousand and eight economic crisis turn some countries into pigs these are the countries with weaker economies that needed austerity policies if you are in

a situation of low bloat even the recession austerity is a very bad idea it doesn't work and it makes millions of people very unhappy those who are unemployed see their wages decline off to almost a decade how good are the results in your duties will by the people gathered in greece the wad of good people with your daughter june. eleventh treated be in full view she was i mean to for legal. challenge nothing more than this she did not was always think they see something and not getting paid while the same measures still in place to one of the consequences to weaken blue bird flu dispute over who will first. of this is the truth the consider is the consequences are actually quite acceptable to the decision.

one diplomatic blunder to another president trump polls owed of next month's u.k. visit a. over the course of relocating the u.s. embassy taking aim out suppose for the bush era decisions even reportedly launches into an empty migron time great deal. was kind of searching for the place everyone everyone but. violence continues in. protest against donald trump's recognition of jerusalem really. also ahead america's ball invasion the u.s. army's on the lookout for software can interact with potentially help to influence

social media users in other countries. one of the u.k.'s top schools for girls is battling its stuff from referring to pupils girls in a move to adopt more gender neutral we. live from moscow this is our team international great to have your company this hour i mean only in our top story the u.s. army is plumbing to step up its activities on social media it's not for software to which can understand and respond to foreign users' online posts but help to sway public opinion but it's not something the u.s. has been advocating against well there was an issue earlier to discuss with kevin.

the classic basel been out there for ages and we know what they're usually used for that is sending out spam messages in some cases performing hacking attacks but it seems that uncle sam is after something much more sophisticated here if you go online and check out the us federal business opportunities website you will come across a pentagon request from earlier this week and this was something that really caught our attention with the us army wants right now is a software system that will be able to translate between languages most notably russian korean farsi in arabic and we all know which countries these languages are spoken in this kind of technology of this kind of translation technologies radio that there was no hold on because for now i'm far from giving you the full list of requirements the tool is meant to understand and know how to use correctly dialects slang and even a mode g.'s plus it must be

a tool that is capable of analysis all these millions of posts comments and replies and we all that these things can be really dodgy are to be at a loss for emotion and sentiment that's how complicated it gets key question is again it's probably overused but what's it going to be used for potentially they want the software to be able to communicate with users online maybe not one hundred percent like a human being but somewhat close to that just take this requirement that i have printed out right here it is the ability to generate at least three or up to ten unique statements derived from the original social media statement while retaining the meaning and the tone of the original again the software will monitor and analyze its own impact from the messages that it sends then a just plus it also needs to be self-taught in a way that it can learn from its own mistakes and then improve an upgrade which

provides potentially unprecedented. opportunities for influencing opinion on life course company you're going to notice the irony of this big plan is that it's on the heels of the u.s. leaders complaining about all the potential fuss about online interference from other parties other countries really haven't been the case when russian troll farms and bots they're all over the media news about that the first question that i asked the pentagon what is your intention guys for this particular new projects we sent them out your request to comment they didn't get back to us for now but the languages are either regions will give you a hint and also some experts have already told us that it's part of the u.s. campaign could be to expand their online influence in capabilities something that they have been up to for years but really the sophistication of this new project machines being able to analyze the emotions and the sentiment of comments online

that are something alarming we spoke to n.s.a. whistleblower william binney and former m i five agent only must shown about the push to develop advanced bots they outlined some of the implications of using such technologies. what they really want to do is be able to monitor royce communications or any kind of communications text and be able to assess it and. check it for threats or things like that or even. from some of the manipulation programs even respond. and try to manipulate the other person at the other end so i mean our intelligence agencies have had this is one of their objectives white papers are generally circulated among contractors who do business with the government so it is a little unusual to see these things out in the public as far as i know the most obvious interpretation would be that this is

a pushback against the allegations that have been made consistently for the last eighteen months about so-called russian troll farms influencing elections across the west and it's interesting to see that the languages that they're advertising for are the language of iran and of course north korea and russia so that would be a bit of a sort of give away about which countries they want to be targeting. moving on our president from post poll data visiting britain next month to open the new u.s. embassy in london he says it's because he's unhappy with the one point two billion dollar relocation project. the reason i can so much here to london is that i'm not a big fan of the obama administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in london for peanuts only to build a new one in off location for one point two billion dollars but deal wanted me to cut the ribbon no the spike that trump our still appeared after new embassy but

a wax copy the modern tussauds statue was placed outside the building to the delight of construction workers locals delves deeper now into the president's decision not to visit the u k. this is what all the who is about is the new u.s. embassy in the area of nine elms which is being regenerated into sort of an embassy quarter. to the public next week donald trump was supposed to arrive in february which is widely expected that you'd be cutting the ribbon then that's not happening any more clearly the old building of the u.s. embassy on that was on the sort of grand old square in the very heart of the city in the center of mayfair which many people know is the most expensive location on the monopoly board but the interesting thing about the president's tweets is that there was a slight error he accused the obama administration of selling that old building for peanuts it was in fact the bush administration before him and there have been

suggestions that this whole embassy rau is a way of diverting attention away from the fact that perhaps the president didn't feel like he was going to be particularly welcome in the u.k. almost two million people has signed a petition against him coming here claiming perhaps the most british reason of rule that it would embarrass the queen donald trump arriving here and the mare of london hasn't been too welcoming either take a listen to what city khon has had to say about donald trump it appears that president trump got the message from the many londoners who love and admire america and americans but find his policies in action the polar opposite of. this just reinforces what a mistake it was for it's a reason to rush and extend an invitation of a state visit in the first place on a special relationships go this one looking special for all the wrong reasons right

now we know diplomacy hasn't been donald trump strong suit but perhaps a year into the job he is managing to support us even himself because he has reportedly insulted highty and i'll tell you just of all the nations as well on top of this right. with the u.k. according to media reports he referred to high tea and a number of other countries as quote undesirable second rate countries and not in those words the white house hasn't even denied that he said it instead they've issued that quite a bit plex things statements saying that certain washington politicians choose to fight from foreign countries but president trump always fights for the american people so. with haiti now rumors that the island nation could be recalling its ambassador to washington and probably a few bridges to build and fences to mend for u.s. diplomats all in a day's work or should i say a few tweets for the u.s.

president. well the u.s. president has been quick to reject reports offensive remarks about a number of countries he's tweeted that his language in the meeting was tough but he didn't use the words attributed to him went on to accuse the democrats of making up the allegations that he was derogatory about haitians suggesting he should record all of his future meetings but one democratic senator who was after meeting him did make the crude remark is not true. the truth to be said that when people. come into the press. one of them. the u.s. has revealed our country iran is part of it's only going operate in syria after the fall of islam mixtape among the key reasons our military presence will remain there the announcement was made.