billion dollars if the sale went through it would be wal-mart's biggest deal in nearly a decade wal-mart is not only the largest retailer it is a significant drug store owner the current market value of wal-mart is roughly two hundred sixty billion dollars. and germany has reported very low unemployment numbers for the second time in two months their unemployment numbers came in at three point five percent and that jobless rate is the lowest since one thousand nine hundred eighty and far below the average unemployment rate of five point six percent and speaking of great numbers the turkish economy grew by seven point three percent year over year in the fourth quarter of last year that figure beat what many considered an already upbeat expectations the seven point four percent compares with twenty sixteen g.d.p. rate of three point two percent. and e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt has set a plan to for a major rollback of the corporate average fuel economy standards known as cafe

standards to the white house for approval the fuel standards regulated by both the e.p.a. and the u.s. department of transportation seek to have a fleet of u.s. vehicles less dependent upon fossil fuels which caused global warming and could you know our problems for the country and the world with no specific numbers they're believed to be contained in mr pruitt sixteen page outline regulatory and industry expert expects specific deep cuts to the mpg rule requirements later this year administrative pruitt's move sets up a legal fight with the state of california interestingly which has a waiver under the clean air act to annex standards higher than the federal cafe standards while auto industry leaders are pushing for the rollback of the u.s. standards experts say one unintended consequence could be the defacto creation of a second u.s. car market in california and the twelve other states that have moved in sync with california on. pollution standards as one commentator noted the auto industry could

be like the dog who caught the car and end up having to produce two different fuel efficiency rated vehicles. and exxon has failed to block an investigation by the attorneys general of new york and massachusetts into whether the oil giant effectively defrauded investors the u.s. court of the a u.s. district court judge dismissed the request from exxon to stifle the inquiries and call the allegations of bad faith by the attorney general's a quote wild stretch of logic more i healy of massachusetts and eric schneiderman of new york are pursuing evidence published in the l a times an inside climate news that exxon publicly dismissed climate change while internal documents found the risk to be real and serious schneiderman's investigators have filed documents in the case that say that they show exxon used two sets of numbers to actually describe the possible proxy costs for greenhouse gas regulation one for investors

and a second one for an internal corporate use. with taxis are just around the corner many americans may be scared of a certain three letter word i r s but this year americans may not have to see them as much here to tell us why or to correspondent manilla chen joins us welcome manila they are going to be with you again as the dreaded tax day creeps up on americans this year more of us can rest easy because your risk of getting audited has dropped significantly due to the i.r.s. cutting approximately one third of its audit unfortunate staff audits are way down across the board for all income brackets but most dramatically down for those very high income earners those making a million bucks or more they saw a spike in audits back in two thousand and ten to eleven shortly after the great recession and the housing crisis about one in nine. the americans were facing

audits a few years back but now it's looking more like one out of one hundred sixty people those are the lowest number since two thousand and three and now the cash strapped agency is going to have an even harder time performing their duties to keep up with the work flow that will stem from president trump's newly minted tax reform passed in december of two thousand and seventeen meanwhile the i.r.s. is asking congress for a three hundred ninety seven million dollars cash infusion to the remainder of their twenty eight hundred fiscal year their budget citing that they need it to hire at least six hundred more full time employees and say that at least a thousand of those people are going to be needed to respond to the four million additional phone calls and taxpayer correspondence that the agency expects to receive due to that new tax law but more than ninety percent of that money will be spent on i.t. upgrades and other taxpayer assistance programs however the trump administration has other ideas in mind for another fifty eight hundred jobs that they're likely to cut that they deem obsolete this has triggered

a response from the national treasury employees union which represents about one hundred fifty thousand federal workers they say this quote this is an unsustainable situation for the agency that brings in ninety three percent of the nation's revenue and it will worsen with additional cuts proposed in the administration's twenty nine hundred budget of the union president has testified before congress recently asking lawmakers to reject the administration's proposal in a statement the i.r.s. says that they have collected more than three point four trillion dollars that's with a t. and processed nearly two hundred fifty million tax returns and other forms last year not to mention the over one hundred twenty million individual income tax refunds that have totaled about four hundred thirty seven billion bucks so bart a lot of folks here are applauding this downward trend on audits and millions of americans will see a greater refund next april due to these new tax cuts net. no telling what might

happen with the agency if they keep this up and they can't keep handling the work flow with a shrinking budget well as they say manila the more workers there actually bring in more money right the heaven forbid if i'm calling for more virus agents but the economics are there are key correspondent manilla chen thank you very much. and for more on this we're joined by c.p.a. victor theory of commerce c.p.a. l.l.c. who specializes in helping taxpayers with tax issues related to bitcoin and other crypto currencies addict thank you so much for being with us what do you make of the i.r.s. dealing with crypto currencies now we saw that request from koin base last year where they saw all those records but what's happening with those and are people going to have to report any gains on crypto currencies for last tax year vick yes they will actually give us some that on my firm you know we have a lot of the currency traders hedge fund clients i see mining clients and you know

i get that question quite often from people and the fact is a couple currency is treated as property so when one person trades for another ripple for example that's a tax of all of that and all this. it's all recorded on the exchanges so if people are not reporting it then and the exchange reported to the i.r.s. that could trigger an audit so it is a taxable event so people do have to people are responsible for reporting their taxes accordingly. they are different that this people can use to minimize the tax liability and you know to get proper consulting but that's something that should speak to us minimize their overall tax liability right that is that we're saying minimize their overall tax liability but there's something specifically that those who are invested in crypto currency can can do for example . if they are if we if you are investing in for example an

exchange that is overseas say it's coin check or some exchange that's not trading in the u.s. like coin base will that necessarily create a taxable event do you know that or not vick. we're going to pause there and get the answer later on that we've lost it was a bit but time now been for a quick break so stick around because when we return we are once again joined by the bitcoin queen of switzerland felled by smart valor and as we go to break markets are closed on friday so there are no u.s. market number but here's a quiz for you what percent of banks are investing in walking is it thirty three percent fifty two percent or ninety one percent if you watched our last broadcast you might know this one the answer after the break we'll be right back.

financials but i don't buy any i'm on a futures. almost friday so that's some of my ex from the future tracker guys. how does it feel to be. the greatest job in the world it's as close to being a king as any job there is what business model helps to run a prison now we do or don't like and nobody you know visitation i don't no one comes in anymore we don't have a sergeant anymore is called to do this and they want to do that knowing they don't give a damn if you do the chores or not there are actually paying us to put it back into . the louisiana incarceration rate is twice as high as the u.s.n.

breach what secret is behind such success. and. yes scotland yard did not look for the perpetrators they were covering up their trip. you know there's a month alone there's dear dearest kid there for you didn't rush it with lined out who did it and think it was ukraine who did. it is it of ukraine or good ones and russia to clash with the rest of the world. and welcome back and the answer to our quiz question what percent of banks are investing in block chain is it thirty three fifty two or ninety one percent and the

answer is ninety one percent to one lead the founder and c.e.o. of next change told us that last time on our broadcast hope you got it right turning to the tech sector microsoft is shifting their profit making strategy away from their most famous product the windows operating system those plans were disclosed yesterday in an internal memo that discussed the company's for three organization in five years under the plan microsoft would redirect their resources toward the increasingly lucrative missions of cloud computing and artificial intelligence the retrenchment is a kind of capstone to a series of recently abandoned projects at microsoft including streaming music service and a smart phone. and elon musk tesla's is conducting their largest recall ever related to the model s. sedans which have bolts that can corrode to the point that it results in power steering failures the recall impacts one hundred twenty three thousand model s.b.

eccles built before twenty sixteen the company says thankfully there have been no injuries or accidents and connection with the problems. and finally another down beat tech news hoover has reached a settlement with the family of elaine berg who was struck and kill. called by a so called self driving par in tempe arizona earlier this month the terms were not disclosed hoover likely was motivated to make the quick settlement to prevent the say the setting of a precedent with regard to liability in any future cases video from the incident shows herzberg hit by headlights as she pushed a bike across the street and the car's occupants looking the other way arizona governor doug doocy suspended car testing program. and here to discuss crypto currency issues and block change and much more is the

bitcoin queen of switzerland all the felde meyer who's the c.e.o. and founder of smart valor all got thanks for being here you just completed your crypto summit there tell us about it what were the highlights. hello bart nice to be here again well cripps assignments will us became one of the largest conference in europe in launching this this year and it's been very special because this time also was full attention and policymakers state secretary joint life it's a conference and this itself is actually quite a statement. also you know it was interesting to see how different perspectives for example he had. to mrs draper you know that if famous us investor and it was quite five years to see that his perspective and he how she sees

switzerland you know it's completely different says those of politicians that states that the secretary and so on so she pointed out since was silent so it's sort of this kind of flows in a little bit the steam in the overall race was a global block she helped write and we actually out of switzerland had completely is different because it's a v c i was so this is news you know you know global koppel crypt finance right so it was quite interesting you know just changes of perspective well there's lots that we had a guest on yesterday who you know john lee from from next change you and i met in hong kong or it originally as i recall and joe on we had him on yesterday all go and he was saying you know san francisco and london are really the hub but it really is all about what the regulatory attitude is to that's a major part of it so when you say you had regulators there in switzerland that kryptos some of that that's pretty interesting what are they doing what are the

regulators doing to try and attract a block chain in crypto investment and even maybe domicile ng in the country. so there are several things you know that has going on in parallel right so the first so first you know major live this kind of flake hull financial regularly to deals with a plea cations for financial services companies in this field was exchange yes well that's and so on and it's been very positive right you've been able until now to get approval in the much easier ways and it will be in u.s. or london so it's one thing the other thing is what's going on was i see all it's right and until now here in switzerland we've seen probably wants out of all good companies all i.c.l. is fun treason we're going strong as a swiss companies and swiss entity separate and just recently it's been like last month's you know fin must was there greta issued i see ok rights which were rare

balance radically actually also very positive you know and confirms the stance that switzerland wants to attract so it's companies and fun treason but just for the top quality companies well let me ask you because it's one thing if the regulators do that you need that absolutely so that's really good news that you're reporting to us and to people who are interested in this space but the other part is really the money that i think can help you know fuel injectors things and that's the institutional money so you've got some big swiss banks over there used to work at one or two of them at least how are they reacting to bitcoin and other crypto currencies and blocking all the. you know bart i think different to different tools at least to put data right so while in us a lot of lives banks that you know say shutting down accounts of klein's a deal incorrect occurrences and you're not

a lot investment group the currency is ready to be completely different picture here in switzerland trades so you see in switzerland a lot of clients get interest it insists immersion in new alternative as a class rate and save their bankers laycock in their investments that end result the beans that you know several swiss banks started to work as crypto currency fell combine you know actually as it has been for years quite the big brand in switzerland involves management of private banking it started to offer a crypto currency straight so this is a mall in rage and as we see more and more interest from institutional investor sites right so will banks also just their strategy but on c.n.n. this site when it comes to work and it was a blog chain company so it was while it providers was exchanges or even you know it was i see all companies so this is from the all pretty much closed door so in

switzerland it's very difficult to open a bank account you know if you are on ziran up to ice you know so that's a problem that you're also going to so we're just about out of time although but what about u.b.s. and credit suisse that used to work at u.b.s. didn't you what are they thinking on krypto those. well i think you know they have working on the different initiatives hols they going to benefit from this technology and build certain applications on that they're they're mostly talking about permission to private blog chines rights which in my eyes you know have limited innovation potential rate which is a really new is you know it is just centralized money and internet of value rates and this is where we're talking about public low change. but but i think they're still very little locked in to work with looking companies and start ups and it's unfortunate very much hopes that they will change their stance on that. at some

point in the future well as you if you keep talking with them all day i'm sure they will you're very persuasive that's all the felde meyer the bitcoin queen of switzerland and the c.e.o. and founder of smart valor thank you for being with us olga welcome bart c.s.o. to you soon. the big battle continues not far from where we are right here in washington d.c. between the u.s. department of justice and a t. and t. and time warner which are seeking to merge d.o.j. says the merger would violate an i trust laws and we've covered this on several occasions on the program but now we have someone who's actually been in the actual courtroom every single day we're pleased to be joined by andrew barlow rather of doyle barlow and bizarre under a thank you for being here for the lay people who don't know sort of the constructs

of the end try to trust law what are the fundamentals here that d.o.j. is looking out for this case ok i guess that the first thing to say this is a vertical transaction so it's kind of exciting from and i stress a lawyer perspective because this is the first vertical transaction challenged in court in forty years. the and that's not to say that this is a novel case though because the and i trust division and the f.t.c. have been challenging vertical mergers just many of them when the defendants have have been faced with litigation have either settled the case or they have abandoned the transaction so this one's going to court so what is the d.o.j. trying to prove here what they're what they're trying to prove is that the transaction may substantially less than competition in a relevant line of commerce so the argument goes like this the d.o.j. is trying to prove that the merged firm will have will use the turner networks.

in a way to substantially less than competition and how would they learn it just look at the current networks or c.n.n. and what our c.n.n. t.b.s. t.n.t. cartoon network ok so that their contention is they will use those turner networks they will use those turner. now works as a weapon right and what they will do is raise prices to pay t.v. companies distributors of programming and then those costs will be passed on to consumers so that would be the harm they're also alleging that the and there would be no competition because you really start with that your option well that's your option you know the whole question is is it truly must have programming now what has happened at the trial well at the trial the the d.o.j. has put on witnesses these distributors cox communications dish and comcast

so far very early and so the competitors can the competitors or depending on how you look at it competitors or customers right because they're customers in a way because they are purchasing the licensing rights from turner turner networks and broadcast the programs to broadcast the programs exactly and what we have here is that. you know the d.o.j. saying well. since the a.t.m. t. also owns directv well there's an increased incentive an ability to raise these prices to the distributors and if why would there not be well. the it wouldn't be because there is also an incentive to make sure that turner programming gets in front of as many eyeballs as possible right now you want that content in every pay to t.v. service that you can find and this is one reason why turner has been licensing its

programming to not just the the traditional pay t.v. provider such as satellite and cable and the telcos but they've been licensing their programming to virtual video program distributors in their i mean their they've provided the programming to sling dish has a protocol sling to google you tube live and a sony view so so these virtual competitors are also part of this case so that is the reason why you could argue that there is not they don't have that incentive you know i mean do they have the ability well yes i mean you could have the ability but do they have the economic incentive to do so so that that's a big debate in the courtroom we're talking about the distributor witnesses and what they're saying what would have been sort of the if you had to mention two or three sort of big highlights so far with the with the witnesses well i think you

know with the distributors you know they've come in and they've supported the case you know they've said look after this transaction they're going to have more leverage. able to well not comcast there's it's mixed so it's mixed so so dish and cox communications have come in and testified that you know there is are going to cite the prices could go up and. that they feel vulnerable right especially dish and it's sling product that relies on turner but you know the big part of this is is the contact is the content really must have. the argument from the distributors and everyone actually agrees with this is even the de turner executive the c.e.o. he also agreed that turner does have must have programming because of their sports contracts with the n.b.a. and march madness now what's interesting about that is sort of most have to educate

people about it or leave it as right but at the same time there's a lot of sports out there and turner doesn't have a monopoly on sports right there sports on c.b.s. n.b.c. a.b.c. fox they don't have college football they don't have the n.f.l. they don't have hockey. you know but they do have you know major league baseball they have the n.b.a. but its share contracts is a big deal because if you think about this way slaying offers a product that doesn't have some of these major networks and that means that when the super bowl the granddaddy of them all. they you can watch it on sling . and you can even watch march madness on slinked you can watch all of the programming because if you only had access to turner networks you wouldn't get every march madness game so what do they do what a sling do they encourage their customers their subscribers to subscribe to c.b.s. all access right if you subscribe to c.b.s.

all access you get all the march madness games so it's interesting there's a tit for tat here you know every time the d.o.j. is trying to have a building block if you think about it in building a house maybe. counterargument and the cattle arguments come in and you know we are very very early in this case we've only had several witnesses and like i said comcast had a different view they don't believe anything will change after this merger you know they don't believe incentives chains so it's interesting the other thing is we're going to do it we're going up there but i can't thank you enough and you told me before we went on here that you worked for the government at d.o.j. thank you for your government service thank you for being here andre barlow a law firm doyle barlow and mazhar we really appreciate you coming here thank you. and that's all for now but be sure to join us on monday when we have beer here alex mahela of it should fred kaufman will join us to explain plus line of why no media

will join us to talk about censorship in china you know want to miss this one that's it thanks again for watching be sure to catch bombast on you tube at youtube dot com slash boom bust our to see you next week. about your sudden passing i've only just learned you were a south and taken your last term. here at the time to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest piece things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feeling started to change you talked about war like it was again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our

ark and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave the funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with this one to. speak to now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its make. the most expensive fish in the world each one is selling for tens of thousands of euros it continues to grow its entire life if it was thirty years old you might have a two ton fish out there and yet they don't get that big today because we're way to good catching. it's only a whim themself a much larger population was once there that was much more widely distributed we have politicians that are in office for a few years. they have to get reelected everything is very very short term our system is not suited and is not geared for long term survival and that's why we

have because. on that one of them was someone said all of them mama. i don't mama little bit of that of. the old you a little frisky. i'm not critical of a lot but if they're going to be chilcote for you know. sort of. what i mean and you come in with a he's going to get stuff but mostly to do with not stiff the question is to yes but oh yes the chest but by the best of every one that is. of the.

seventeen people killed and over a thousand injured israeli soldiers five bullets and use drones and tear gas accusing palestinian demonstrators of inciting violence at the gaza border. u.s. diplomatic staff are leaving the american consulate in st petersburg ahead of its official closure on sunday the move comes amid an escalating standoff over the poisoning of a former double agent in the u.k. . police fire water cannon in tear gas against protesters letting off flares this during a demonstration of the expulsion of environmental squatters in the french city of not.