that would stop you know i know personally that there are people that are waiting on visas because they have a brother or sister live in the us that would be stopped so i think you know in terms of reaching a deal on this the democrats are not going to allow something like that to pass through the four pillars as they stand unless there is a lot more conciliatory tone and chomps part though so i mean he made the link by allowing people into the country and talking about the impacts of terrorism and so forth and then of course he said we made this declaration he signed the order to keep guantanamo bay detention center open i mean do you expect much opposition to that. you know it's funny because i really don't you think you think that i do because that was actually a big promise that barack obama ran on his campaign and that was that one of his great things that took an eight years to start shutting that down and begin the steps to shutting it down as one of the last things he did as president. and so he really wanted to stand up to that that was a big thing but even during his campaign it didn't come out much media but a lot of democrats were kind of opposed to that it wasn't really this democratic community all behind barack obama wanting to shut down guantanamo bay so i don't

really think there's going to be a lot of opposition to that at least not publicly because right now the democrats are more concerned about you know what's going on the fact that a lot of their constituents and i'm talking about democrats in congress now in d.c. a lot more concerned about the fact that their own constituents are getting more money because of these tax reforms might even be liking donald trump and they have to make sure that their voices are heard but at the same time not one each of us policies to reign free so get most going to be long below on their list i think especially now that we have reports that a lot of the people that were released from gitmo not just baghdad who of course was in iraq and released the iraqi authorities before before being released but a lot of the other get mo releases from obama did in fact join either al qaeda are isis on the battlefield and we have some of that confirmation and so i don't think they'll be much opposition to that i do think there will be lots of opposition to immigration well moving on as well one of the other points that he really emphasized physically at the end of the speech it was all the dramatic stuff that we saw you talk about north korea i mean and how dangerous it was how cool it was

to citizens why do you think he emphasized what he did and also the way that he did it. well i mean he did it in a very powerful way he brought a north korean defector there who of course had his own crutches it was a very powerful thing i don't think anybody in the world would argue that that wasn't a very powerful thing even bringing up the story this is a young man that went to china for a short time came back to north korea and the first thing they asked bringing up the story did you meet any christians there because as we know you know many global reports have come out that north korea is the number one persecutor of christians and so we don't know what happened whether this young man this a defector converted to christianity but i mean that religious intolerance there by the north korean regime you brought that out to kind of bring out some sentiment there we heard some reports stating that he was going to lay out sort of a solid plan for north korea but he didn't really do that it really just was meant to spark the emotions and within people i think within anybody watching we have to do something about this regime to free the people he started out with the iranian people supporting the protesters in iran and and so he ended that with north korea

supporting of course the people of north korea and wanted to free them from oppressive dictatorships and things like that in those regimes so i think that that was trying to ignite something that would hopefully unify any attempt to to go against the north korean regime or the dictatorship but he of course didn't lay anything out i think that was more of just an attempt to get our emotions our heartstrings pulled so that maybe he can get world leaders behind him and figure out some sort of plan to either bring an end to kim jong un's reign or figure out some way to bring peace to the people of north korea so let's just return to something that you did touch on. russia was only mentioned briefly one seen as we looked at it is really listening to what he was saying he mentioned the rival power of mean what you say you didn't speak more about russia. and so that was very interesting to me because i think that you know all we hear all you hear from mainstream media outlets throughout the u.s. constantly is russia russia russia this dossier trump alluding things like that i

don't think he wanted to give it any credence because it has been rather ridiculous there has been no evidence of any sort of colluding between trump himself and the russians or anything within the within the campaign so i think he wanted to really minimize that he wanted to focus on actual threats and other things like that he was very careful in his word choice in this speech where is he talked about rogue nations things like that he was very careful to mention russia as a rival not as an aggressor not as an enemy not as anything else like that not to somebody is subverted things like that and so that's what he wanted to do was make it so that it's we're going to touch on it and they we're going to let it go this is a rival it's a powerful country we need to play in the ball game if we're going to do this and drop obama has not played in that ball game so we're going to up that ante and so he quickly moved on and i think that was an attempt to even soften some of the things that even if cutouts recently from general madison cell stating that russia is our number one threat he did not use the word threat in this state of the union address trump did not but more rivals so i think that that was almost more of

a let's touch on this but let's move on let's just show that we're going to continue it was more of a deterrence talk we're not going to build our military attack we're going to build it to show that we can play in this ballgame now with these other powerful leaders i mean you said yourself i mean that there was very subtle use of the wording that rivalry as you said not a stretch of challenges america's interests and values we wish i think he was referring to. well i think with what the rivals the challenges america's interest you know i think that that really comes to foreign policy now you know we've seen that russia has had a very important role to play especially in syria with what's going on there fighting isis in syria russia's been very successful in doing that but also gaining up allies within the middle east because that's one thing that the u.s. has always done and so now russia has lots of allies not only in the middle east but throughout much of the world have built a very strong economy and in some of those interests i think he's talking about are are some of the alliances there for example some of the russian alliances have been

with the syrian regime and the u.s. categorically under the truck administration as well has not been for the assad regime so things like that i think it's just really talking about u.s. interests in a region where the u.s. either has an interest in the region allies in the region or thing like that so it's not so much our values our way of life but more u.s. interests in other nations where russia or china might have a stake or an alliance or some kind of policy agenda and that in that other nation that doesn't quite align with the united states and i think that's what he was referring to in terms of you know we were that's the national interest that we would be coming up against a tiny jennifer i mean what reaction do you sense from the republicans and democrats do you think that be able to find some common ground on some of these proposals but donald trump. i hope that they would i really do because i think that this was an important speech i think it was i think it was a well done speech it was a well thought out speech there are some things that he made that were good you know there are people making more more money more wages higher wages but hopefully

there are going to be some common ground areas that they can come to i don't think one ton of a bay is going to be a huge backlash i'd be very surprised if it was there are other things that are cries need to focus on right now for their party but i really do think that republicans and democrats hopefully will try to come together but if it does happen it's going to be secretive you're not going to see it in mainstream media outlets all you're going to see is them across coming out of the next hour swinging and kicking and screaming about all the things that they don't like because that's what we've seen is really this tension and this is disharmonious environment within the united states congress right now within washington d.c. between democrats and against president trump so hopefully republicans can work more with democrats to try to find common ground hopefully we can get that things look public and not look like we're constantly at each other's throats just because our political parties i don't not positive note we'll leave it jennifer braden attorney specializes in foreign policy international law and religious terrorism thank you very much indeed thank you thank you. groups from all sides of the

conflict in the syrian war have been involved in a heated day of talks during the peace summit in the russian resort of sochi and it seems they have produced a tangible result what i guess day of reports. first of all they've agreed on twelve points twelve points along which a future syrian state will be built it's it's a guideline the document itself made the rounds at geneva multiple times but ultimately it got nowhere it was finally side here in sochi and it's a road map that governs everything from syrian from syrian government itself to syrian sovereignty to how the military will be overhauled the other big thing that was agreed on is a constitutional reform committee to amend or rewrite the syrian constitution the interesting thing here is that seats on it will be saved for those that were unwilling and able to attend these talks this will be passed on to the u.n. so of the u.n. will oversee this new committee and the u.n.

special envoy to syria will personally guide this initiative there was also of course drama nobody saw it coming this morning there was no into bit but from late arrivals to cancel participation even arguments and shouting matches there's even heckling i want to express my sincere gratitude to our colleagues. friends again i would like your attention if it's long live russia then let me speak please. there was sides as i mentioned the. unwilling to come to these talks we're talking here about the hardcore position of the high negotiations committee that is based in saudi arabia and compromises many rebel groups they've sent

a delegation and the turkish pressure reportedly that came to sochi but they refused to leave the airport they stayed for about ten hours at the airport of sochi and they took offense at the various banners that were hung up in the city for these talks the turks tried to get them to come but to no avail nevertheless there were many other parties many denominations at this city's christian he's leading muslim susan she is certainly a lot of debates internationally turkey russia iran three big players the guarantees of the astronaut peace process they were all here in the western part of this for example united states they really sense junior representatives and from what we've been told by sergey lavrov they haven't displayed much optimism much enthusiasm for this sochi peace peace conference as the true new year to go towards yes it's way more difficult to negotiate when it's not like minded people who sit

around the table like in paris and washington but opposing sides but agreements by opposing sides are way more stable moen lasting and sustainable the news achieved in an industry of like minded states taking decisions for the syrian people and the syrians can decide the fate of their country give the thing that organizes and the russian foreign minister wanted to make very clear is that sochi is no will turn it in and it is not competitor to the geneva process the geneva process will continue under the auspices of the un controlled by the un and overseen by the un and the u.n. security council the u.n. special envoy to syria he was here as an observer seeing what was happening seeing that. discussions. there were intense discussions in the room today and you are proving it. is normal in a democratic environment so we don't really normally we now have the text we have

the theory we have the documents that have been signed by everyone what when means to be seen is whether they'll be put into practice you know whether they'll be enforced and what will come of this the u.n. special envoy to syria staff and mysterious says the such a meeting offers a unique possibility for political rivals to join in crafting a new constitution but we never had the government and opposition actually getting involved in to the discussion of a new situation because they were not given a green on the possibility of creating a constitutional commission which to end it would be left to the u.n. to set the agenda that i think we have reached that point. i'm staying with syria where one person has died and two have been injured following a bomb attack on a turkish military convoy in italy that's according to the turkish army two of the

victims were civilians including the person who died the attack was carried out by kurdish militants the convoy was on its way to it live to assist in the creation of the deescalation. meanwhile an iraqi kurdish television channel has film some of the damage in the kurdish enclave of afrin in syria afrin has been under attack by turkish forces for over a week the video shows the aftermath of shelling as well as civilian casualties. here as inspector general for afghanistan says the pentagon told the office to keep quiet about how much of the country is controlled by the government and how much by the taliban and other insurgent groups however the spokesman for the resolute support mission in afghanistan says the data isn't constant find and there was no intention to conceal it he says human error is to blame for the misunderstanding here's what the inspector general's office said in its report. this development is troubling for a number of reasons not least of which is that this is the first time sigur has

been specifically instructed not to release information marked unclassified to the american taxpayer the instructions are coming from the pentagon and they are given to the special inspector for general afghan reconstruction and from what we understand they've instructed him not to give out certain pertinent information especially about casualties among afghan forces but one of the key things that they've told him to leave out of his reports is the balance of power on the ground he's essentially not being permitted to reveal what territory is controlled by the taliban and what territory is controlled by the afghan government what territories controlled by the i still forces and that's key information if you want to understand what progress is being made and how the war is really going now at this point the usa has been to afghanistan. and for almost two decades it's had its forces on the ground there have been air strikes and such and we actually have a kind of an admission from secretary of defense james mattis that not

a lot has been achieved during that time this is what he said sir i understand the urgency for you to understand it's my responsibility we're not winning in afghanistan right now and we will correct fish now at this point there has been a little bit of a change in strategy in afghanistan the usa is escalating its airstrikes and bombing of afghanistan at this point of four thousand three hundred bombs were actually dropped in the year of twenty seventeen that's more bombs that were dropped in two thousand and fifteen and twenty sixteen combined however it hasn't really had the effect of changing things on the ground in fact the i still forces and the taliban forces have actually increased the number of attacks that they've carried out let's take a look. now

at this point the usa is sending mixed messages about the possibility of negotiations with the taliban we heard in october rex tillerson the u.s. secretary of state say that the usa was not willing to negotiate with the taliban entirely but that it was willing to negotiate with what he called moderate voices among the taliban now. we've heard from donald trump that there will be no negotiations with the taliban no talking to the taliban whatsoever there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban and we're going to

finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it now we've heard a response from the taliban essentially mocking the united states and saying that if the usa wants to find them it knows where their office is located in the city of doha at this point we are not hearing moves from either side the taliban or the united states about resuming negotiations so at the moment it appears that the violence and chaos in afghanistan is going to continue. middle east expert alley risk believes the latest move by the pentagon is tantamount to an admission of failure in afghanistan seeming so horrific attacks launched by the time of taliban and by isis which have now begun to target kabul the afghani capital previously we saw that they know there were attacks by these extremist groups but they won't focus so much on kabul kabul was considered to be relatively secure what we've seen

now is that even the capital is no longer secure so a lot of these failures in this who you were swore i think that the pentagon burned basically or the american mistreated as a whole had no choice but to take this step to try in the heart of the reality which is going on on the ground because i think that if the american people are exposed to the real situation there will be huge amounts of popular pressure for the u.s. to go just cut and withdraw from that country. in the west bank u.s. officials had to flee an event in the city of bethlehem after angry protesters stormed the building they were in lucknow. the. call that had been a business meeting at the bethlehem chamber of commerce and industry protesters arrived with a banner condemning donald trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital after my natasha's the meeting was cut short before leaving the building

the americans were given a clear message. and the story didn't end there palestinian protesters then ran out of the building and threw tomatoes at the diplomatic cars that were trying to flee the scene. i. their escape wasn't that easy either as you can see from this video palestinians trying to get into their vehicles artie's posterior has more of what sparked all the trouble. but this is just the latest incident in a string of protests that have been taking place on the palestinian street ever since the american president donald trump made an announcement back in the beginning of december saying that he recognized jerusalem as israel's capital also

on choose day there were protests in front of the palestinian prime minister's office in the west bank city of ramallah now there they were protesting against the reduction of services being offered by where the united nations relief and works agency for palestinian refugees the agency was forced to downgrade the services after the americans announced that they were cutting millions of dollars of aid this the americans say is until to quote there is a fundamental reexamination of how the agency operates these protests and go on the palestinian street have gone as far as to into the israeli parliament or the israeli knesset where just last week the american vice president mike pence was visiting as he stood up to speak a group of arab lawmakers who constitute the third largest faction in the israeli parliament started shouting and holding up banners with anti american messages should or should.

now mike pence during his speech at the israeli parliament only further infuriated the anger that is already here on the street by announcing that by the end of next trip. the americans would be moving their embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem since president trump made that announcement on jerusalem back at the beginning of the same that they have been more than twelve palestinians who have been killed more than a thousand have been injured and hundreds have been of a state so this is a situation that just won't go away and witnessing tensions continue to climb. well for more on these and plenty of other news stories go to our. at the top of the hour or a c she will be here with the latest headlines but for me i think. i

. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm bart chilton. and coming up we cover president trump's first formal state of the union speeches nicholas o'donovan considers the president's year one economic report card and we discuss economic measurements like consumer confidence and markets with financial author jeffrey small plush ashley banks talks with c.e.o. of peak prosperity chris martenson about what he calls the everything bubble and before we go our way and with my take on what i hope the president will say and how he might say it all that's coming up but first let's hit some business and financial headlines amazon berkshire hathaway and j.p.

morgan are partnering to create a new separate health care company to serve their employees they also say the effort will focus on the long term and will be quote free from profit making incentives and constraints analysts suggest that the high powered partnership could change the health care market amazon is the world's largest retailer and j.p. morgan chase has the most assets of any u.s. bank. but the new company also faces a steep learning curve as they venture into the health care arena amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos acknowledged the challenge in his statement on the initiative saying the health care system is complex and we enter into this challenge open eyed about the degree of difficulty shares of some health care insurance stocks fell on the news. twenty seven european union minister had voted on monday to approve conditions for further brecht's it talks that state britain will not have a role in the e.u.

decision making once it leaves the union or during the transition period planned to begin in march of twenty nineteen the e.u. ministers also said that britain will be subject to e.u. laws including any new laws during the transition and for two years after that u.k. bret's secretary david davis play down the announcement and claim that britain will have the right to negotiate pacts with third parties during the transition but the a use lead negotiator michelle bar and yet it says the twenty the twenty seven other members must unanimously approved any such agreements u.k. prime minister theresa may faces rising discord within her conservative party as pro and anti bracks that factions jostle for influence and rival rival maneuvers to to succeed may as the leader of. the federal reserve's open market committee begins two days of meetings today it's the last f.o. mc meeting run by outgoing chair janet yellen who is completing her four year term

federal reserve governor jay powell was selected by president trump to replace yellen and the u.s. senate has confirmed him to be the new chair there are a lot of questions about what it will take not only now but this year and going forward by the federal reserve and with regard to the economy plus other central barks are charting their own course while they stick to their plans admits some signs that an economic correction is on. on the horizon we'll get into it all tomorrow with danielle de martino booth at the f o m c wraps up. and it has been just over a year into the trump administration time now for an economic report card look at year one here with a closer look as our team is nicholas o'donovan. donald trump came into office under the promise of puts in america first on every front and obviously the economy

was and still is an important part of that message and we're going to start spending here we're going to start spending. and with that being said we're going to protect our country over the past year the stock market has boomed g.d.p. growth has improved and unemployment is at an almost seventeen year low good numbers that allow trump to be optimistic we're heading numbers that nobody thought possible certainly not in this time and the numbers going up are going to me watch better than anybody anticipates in fact they're going to say that trump is the opposite of an exaggerator if we take a look at the markets the dow jones has set record highs seventy times rise in five thousand points in a year for the first time in history and corporate tax cuts have been met with enthusiasm by the u.s. business and financial sectors with low unemployment good paying jobs in our

priority and although donald trump inherited an economy that was already on a good trajectory wage growth was actually less than what we saw in twenty sixteen despite his protectionist message more the ninety three thousand jobs were eliminated due to foreign competition since trump's election that's according to a study by the labor good jobs nation these numbers are more or less in line with what we've seen in the previous five years then there's the international trade deals of the trade deals. i get a headache thinking about who made these deals another big issue has been company outsourcing trump now it has often used his populist rhetoric to make sure that particular his. actionis message came across we will never let the bad things happen with respect to the economy of our country we're not going to lose our

businesses again like has happened over the last number of decades america is coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before trump scored an early victory on this front when he announced that a major carrier plant would stay in the u.s. instead of moving down to mexico but the truth is that a year later kariya has already eliminated hundreds of jobs and is still out source into mexico fold also announced that production for one of its new models is be moved out of kentucky and will be go into exist in plants in china but donald trump's tax plan may start having an impact on wage growth companies such as starbucks wal-mart or apple could use that tax saving money to boost salaries in all donald trump has completed his first year in office with

a better school card than predicted by many and consumer confidence is highest levels in seventeen years with the question now is if trump's reforms will have a long term positive impact on the majority of americans nicholas o'donovan. we've seen consumer borrowing rise to some of the highest monthly gains in sixteen years due to increased consumer confidence in the economy with borrowing levels rising to nearly thirty billion dollars just last november it's still just been a month into the new year but are we on track to see a continued increase in borrowing levels and consumer confidence let's ask jeffrey small the president of arbor financial and art author of turning financial planning right side up geoffrey thank you for being here household credit has hit a peak of thirteen trillion dollars what do you make of all that and it's good creating debt and probably defaults right well there's no doubt defaults are rising

and auto loans and credit cards but also to come besides the household debt rising thirteen trillion it's because of net worths of the average household are close to ninety seven trillion nationally here in the united states so when people feel good about their wealth they borrow more and they borrow more when they see the stock market going up thinking that that if they if those guys on wall street are so smart maybe i is ok if i spend money well there's no doubt consumer confidence is an all time high small business confidence is an all time high investor optimism is an all time high and when things are peaking people feel good from wall street to main street and we reported on this program jeffrey yesterday about the savings rate being the lowest point since december of two thousand and seven does that worry you you know it really does i'd love to see an incentive legislatively where we start to give an incentive to folks to start saving more because we have a major retirement gap from the folks that.