percent beating some economist expectations of one point eight percent although it is down from the q four g.d.p. of two point nine percent for a recollection of what happened last year the economy grew at two point three percent for all of last year twenty seventeen which is actually a big increase over twenty sixteen of one point five percent and related to the commerce department we always report on and discuss those u.s. monthly employment numbers the unemployment numbers which were released by the department's bureau of labor statistics the b.l.s. on the first friday of the month so we'll get to those april numbers next week but something occurred to us which we thought merited more of an in-depth look at unemployment i like to say the numbers matter and they mean something and that's particularly the case in fourteen states which all have established new record low unemployment rates in the last year almost a decade after we saw those high unemployment rates topping ten percent in the wake of the great recession where it put millions of people out of work and here to help

us through some of these important numbers and the substance behind them is conservative t.v. and radio host steve malzberg thank you for joining us steve we appreciate it let's let's take a look at these fourteen states where are they around the country and one thing that we see is that the economic recovery is occurring in states that voted for president trump and those that did not we go from conservative texas to the more liberal california for example and what else do you see in these numbers what there are some commonality. well you know i've looked and examined and spoken to people there is no real commonality that you could you could point to as you alluded to you know texas and california have very little in common in any respect it's very idiosyncratic care what you have is various factors that affect the availability of jobs and they include natural resources of course of the state if we're talking states government policy of the state's business investment in those particular

states so there isn't a common thread it's just kind of an individual basis but what there is in common here and i hate to sound like a talking point and i hate to be accused that that you would part of delivering talking points but what every one of the fourteen states and the eight of those fourteen which have reached their all time low in the month of march is the policies of the a trumpet ministration the feel good nature of them and the real effect of them whether it's the tax cuts whether it's deregulation whether it's consumer confidence business confidence a booming stock market these all play into it so i think that's the commonality as far as any state by state commonality i just couldn't find any you may be surprised but i agree with you there is a lot now it may be a sugar high but you know i'm not sure that sugar highs were are all bad for the economy so i hundred percent agree

a lot of this is due to some of the things that are going on the markets and spurred by the tax cuts. who are the best performing states out there steve. yeah well. is is that down to two point one percent in fact part you have seven states that are under three percent unemployment talking hawaii colorado iowa idaho also nebraska new hampshire so you're talking again under three percent when four percent is considered full employment so when you're under four percent you know you have a shortage of workers you have even more hiring going on so it increases the cycle to an extent. but let's not forget california which is not under under three percent but there are four point one percent and that's the lowest unemployment rate in california since they started keeping state by state statistics back in one thousand nine hundred seventy six so again that just shows how diverse this this

trend is steve we appreciate you looking at these and helping us through them and i love the fact that we ended the week on agreement on politics policy and the economy steve malzberg conservative t.v. and radio host thanks as always for your time thank you for your. time got to squeeze in a quick break but stick around because when we return eligible hyla bitch gives us a look at the economics of getting along as the leaders of north and south korea have a historic meeting plus the media merger mania continues college park host of the big picture here on r.g.p. america helps us sort out the latest developments as we go to break here the numbers at the closing bell the dow still slightly below yesterday's close in the final minutes of the trading day we back into.

the one else seemed wrong why don't we just don't hold. any lol. to shape out these days to come out to and engage with equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

welcome back and auto industry news chrysler fear general motors and bolts wagon of all released their earning statements chrysler fia profits were up sixty percent to one point two four billion dollars lifted by factors including a thirty seven percent jump in sales of their jeep brand vehicles and general motors garnered a thirty six billion dollars in profit this quarter more than expected they also posted a two point six billion dollars in operating profits down twenty six percent versus the same quarter of last year weighing down the fact factory down time required for a transition toward increased truck production g.m. also announced an agreement with south korean labor unions that is expected to yield as much as five hundred million dollars in savings going forward and volkswagen posted an operating profit of four point two billion euros or five point

five billion dollars that's a four percent drop from a year ago the german carmaker attributed the dip to a change in the method for evaluating derivatives and said that excluding that factor profits would have been up slightly and while it's not on the high level v.w. talking points of many of us recall last year v.w. paid the largest criminal penalty ever as part of a settlement with the u.s. justice department the two point eight billion die. our settlement was with regard to their famous diesel emissions cheating scandal. the wave of teacher walkouts and strikes that has touched the states of west virginia oklahoma and kentucky reached the western states of arizona and colorado this week teachers in both states walked out on thursday and marched on the capitals in phoenix and denver fifty thousand teachers and supporters wearing red for ed not ed schultz for education read for education church marched on the arizona capitol while ten

thousand marched in colorado colorado teachers planned two days of actions ending later today while their colleagues in arizona say they will strike until governor doug to see meet their demands which include funding to bring average class sizes down to twenty three students per teacher and bring staff salaries up from forty seven thousand dollars arizona currently ranks near dead last in teacher pay only mississippi and south dakota rank lower the arizona strikers what they're paid to be at least the national average of fifty eight thousand dollars as well as a moratorium on tax cuts until total spending on education per student reaches the national average per pupil spending in arizona is close to eighty three hundred dollars while the national average is twelve thousand five hundred dollars as reported here governor doocy of arizona previously fell short on his offer to meet p. teachers demands and that led to the walkout. and in world news real history

was made today as the leaders of north korea and south korea met for the first time with kim jong un of the north dramatically crossing the border to meet with president moon j.n. of the south the two leaders met without aides for up to thirty minutes about thirty minutes it within the de-militarized zone the d.m.z. that has officially divided both koreas since one nine hundred fifty three the leaders also signed a declaration of peace that committed the two nations to the new. clear ization of their shared peninsula and the formal end to the korean war as well as officially designating the d.m.z. as quote the peace zone as of may first while many specifics still remain to be negotiated to say the least a decades long stalemate that seemed to be veering toward a possible war under president trump suddenly seem to yield dramatic advancements towards korean reconciliation increased ability also promises to lift or at least stabilize markets that have been somewhat roiled by the prospect of

a war that could go nuclear and for more on this we bring our t. correspondent alex mahela bitchin alex what are some of the highlights from the talks between the leaders of north and south korea. you know bards not too often in this business we get to end the week and i'm happy you know and this is a happy note these guys met nobody thought it was going to happen the way it's going to that it happened in the demilitarized zone each of them crossing over the president moon from the south korea crossing over briefly into north korea with kim jong un pulling his hand across and vice a versa it was that was supposedly completely unscripted he was just saying i hope to visit you one day in the north and conduct and said come on i'll take you to the north right now so it's just one of those things that it's happier than we've heard it from coming from the korean peninsula in a very long time and as you mentioned nearly seventy years of war at least on paper between the north and south and now they're saying by the end of this year they're going to end that as well as the fact that we're looking at denuclearization and you know what a lot of people don't want to hear this

a lot of people do but president trump did have his role in all of this here's a tweet from president trump himself and he says war to end the united states and all of its great people should be very proud of what is now taking place in korea now we know president trump pilots talking so pretty harshly about north korea at times and there was an exchange between him and kim jong light late last year the but this all built up to such i guess critical because if you want to call it just built up a situation that looks pretty dangerous that it seemed the two koreas said hey we don't want any part of this and you have to give president xi of china also some credit here i'm sure he played a massive part in this as well now we're looking at president trump possibly meeting kim jong un next month as well as the north and south korean militaries meeting as well so yes this is a move forward any way you look at it and it how would you sort of look at speaking of which how would you look at some peace some reunification of the koreas now it's

a bit of a lot of people are talking reunification but i mean it's pretty interesting no let's look there's a couple of hurdles in the way and here we have a graphic for you that kind of explains why. it's going on it wages wages are a huge thing so south korea wages are three thirty nine thousand four hundred we're looking at the whole area here china sixteen thousand six hundred japan forty two thousand seven hundred and then you look at the approximate per capita income in north korea it's seventeen hundred now how do you get those two things to meet has to be a slow reunification this is not something that could happen overnight that we're not talking about east and west germany here which also was a troublesome re in a reunification this is much bigger and you have to put a couple of things into play here also does kim jong un want to step down from power because that's probably the way that it would go and for him maybe it's in his best interest take a couple billion sit back relax be a billionaire for the rest of your life and you know take it easy and not have to be worried about getting killed off likes them hussein or gadhafi also the north

korean people interesting early enough many that have defected to the south have gone back to north korea just because you look at south korea some of the highest suicide rates schooling sixteen hours a day to try to get into the universities are studying all the time most of the worst work hours per day there and we're looking at the love of the strongest economy in the world compared to a grey area north korea so there's a lot of things that come into play but you know what there is one country in that part of the world that's really afraid of this that's japan because the united korea would be an economic powerhouse maybe not today but tomorrow definitely party correspondent alex my hyla thank you very much a great weekend alex you tip. in the continuing media merger mania there is moves this week as comcast corp is bid thirty one billion dollars to buy european television operator sky p.l.c. the offer beats an earlier offer from rupert murdoch's twenty first century fox fox already owns thirty nine percent of sky but once at all but there is more to it

than meets the eye and here to discuss is veteran media consultant and more importantly the host of the big picture here on our team america holland cook himself howard thank you for being here sure appreciate it your best ok so try to explain this to disney's involved somehow it's hard to figure out where all the players are you can't tell the players without a scorecard but the play book will be eerily familiar rupert murdoch owns fox which owns a chunk of sky the big pay t.v. there are now nine percent and he wants to own more until comcast as in n.b.c. or perhaps your cable company stepped in and one upped his offer so rather than owning lots of sky murdoch could end up owning none of it because it is still with me so with you fox which murdoch owns and agreed to sell disney it share in sky and along with that lots of fox film and t.v. assets which makes disney now a distribution and content player in the u.k.

and will result in a bigger library of stuff they show us here at home so it's not a battle of the go elias but they do dance around each other and one that brings up this issue we've talked about it in the past that these big sort of the old standard television networks they've got more competition now from digital for advertising so they need it totally look at things different right they do and the scariest word in their world is programatic selling meaning the commercial inventory is now going to be bought and sold. on line in an automated option rather than will mad men and sales reps on all of that so their commercial rates are being depressed because the seller has lost control to the buyer so they need more commercial inventory and what senate for comcast and disney in the u.k.

is they also get into pay for play with a share in sky and as we see from netflix pay for play is a pretty good business model every month they're hitting my credit card it's invisible you know it really has changed when you think about it we've talked about it before you know the old school three networks and maybe p.b.s. and then you go to fifty seven channels and there's nothing on and you go to hundreds of channels now you have digital there's lots of competition for those advertising dollars we spoke last week you're kind enough to join us last week two of we talked about that sinclair media group deal trying to buy tribune well in the mean time sinclair has agreed pursuant to the f.c.c. the federal communications commission to sell off some of their. different stations including w g any in chicago but now there is a letter from twenty two different senators saying let me quote what they say stop making further changes to the nation's broadcast landscape until the agency has conducted a complete and whole tick look at the state of broadcasting the media and waiting

before waiting for a ruling what do you make of his letter translation hit the brakes i was actually going to ask you about this because you have two different camera angles on this having worked the hill for senator daschle you know what it's like when that phone starts ringing and when the e-mail comes in when the touristas pop into the office when the snail mail comes in the members of congress hear that loud and clear and having been a commissioner i thought of you when i saw this story because suppose instead of trading commissioner you were an f.c.c. commissioner would you be wary of the sinclair syndrome. ib hundred percent where i mean twenty two is a big deal with senators they can cause your problems but it's not fifty one rus non-majority so they definitely need to take it into consideration but by so i would tap the brakes maybe not hard on the brakes we thank you for being with us your show the note another new edition coming up what are we talking about tonight

on the big picture we have a record number of women running for congress this time and you will be intrigued and i predict amused by two that will introduce you to tonight and we're going to talk about boycotts economic boycotts against radio and t.v. talk host and more recently against starbucks and we have a couple of school teachers from this mammoth job action going on in arizona so that's all in the big picture tonight seven and ten thirty eastern on r t america ten eastern are around the world on r t international holland cook we thank you i am already intrigued won't miss it thank you my friend you bet commish. thanks very much for watching we'll catch you next time have a great weekend. and is getting international recognition with the help of israel at least in the world of zoos and then builds dismiss it to do it look like you know. this isn't like

complicity is going to sunday all maybe. he does with. the only palestinians is who gets the most help from his to resume counterparts i don't think it is of those who in the world and the vision to know who can do this . and that is all of us not just you have to display any of the most of that you have i don't know if you compete in the doesn't seem to do more commitments also there are some positions. no. no.

no collusion found the u.s. house intelligence committee clears donald trump of allegations his presidential campaign was working with russia. continues to fuel the allegations says a new interview by the russian lawyer he met with from campaign officials back in twenty sixteen she admits to being a russian government informants we look at the revelation to see if there's anything new. to the flu just struggles with the consequences of chemicals and radioactive materials used by the u.s. and its allies fifteen years after the iraq war started. and as the new u.s. secretary of state takes a swipe at germany claiming it's not paying its way when it comes to nato defense

we go to the berlin germany showcasing its latest military hardware. it's not just the professionals that get to sort through the air using this tactical simulator of a helicopter i can even flying a mission over this small children town. proper a bumpy ride with me in charge. for getting to. international. no collusion the verdict of the u.s. how. intelligence committee which found quote no evidence donald trump's twenty sixteen presidential campaign had been working with russia but the democrats still refused to endorse the findings and to continue with the probe with more on that report is chaplin. if you've heard it once you've heard of a thousand times but here it is once more for those of you in the cheap seats the

russian active measures campaign against the united states was multi-faceted they leverage cyber attacks covert platforms social media third party intermediaries in state run media the house intelligence report begins with a novel idea the american people rightly want to know what the russians did and how and well each section starts off with accusations of what the kremlin did where the evidence is meant to be there is just a bunch of blacked out text nevertheless the committee concludes that russia's goal was to sow discord in america and cast doubt on the democratic process that's apparently with point zero zero zero two percent of u.s. election related advertising on google and with an equally huge amount of ads on facebook twenty five percent of which were never seen by anyone that's in the report still the aim was apparently achieved and is the sole reason for the expanse of divide that has grown in america since the election rush's active measures campaign achieved its primary goal of inciting division and discord among americans

for more than a year us politics have been consumed by busy recriminations charges and countercharges about the attacks it's wholly unclear how russia's alleged actions are responsible for the political chaos that has ensued since trump took the white house it wasn't russia reporting that term's former campaign manager has connections to ukraine spelled out collusion one of the many theories that the report shoots down the charges against the for president transform a company manager perceived more than seventeen million dollars in secret payments from a kremlin linked to political party in ukraine but it was the american media that hypothesize that trump jr is meeting with a russian lawyer proved moscow was supporting trump donald trump son think he was about to get help from a russian lawyer with ties to the kremlin this is looking more and more like treason and all these strange behavior from the president it's all explains now a stream of lee. by the intelligence community condemned by the report as damaging

national security wasn't orchestrated by the kremlin they were also learning from your sources that intelligence officials they denied n.b.c. news is learning from intelligence sources u.s. intelligence sources tell theby s news or even taken basser kislyak half of team trump was accused of meeting with him and that's threaten their jobs but the report says there was nothing sinister there also there the controversial russian ambassador sergei look of course of the pictures of course a shameful picture where the united states press corps was kept out by the russians were allowed in there is an open question whether there was collusion cooperation between trump associates during the campaign and russian officials all of that discord was home grown so after a year of searching that included seventy three interviews nine hearings and briefings and the review of countless documents were left with the conclusion of no collusion and as much proof as we had before the report was released meaning little to none would talk of russian meddling almost always involves a mention of this channel as a so-called to of kremlin influence and this time the apparent reason is

a growth in popularity according to the report moscow uses google and its services to spread propaganda via r.t. accounts saudis reach two million subscribers on you tube the lawmakers are also disturbed by the fact that artie's taken in the same manner as quote legitimate news sources and. thinks that congress is mistaking alternative point of view for interference the only thing that we can maybe point to is that these people called the russians russian government russian actors people with russian names i don't know but these people that we will collectively call their russia. put out a tweet facebook story that did not encourage armed revolt by the american citizens that i want to send something it merely presented allegedly the point zero zero two whatever percent of this but presented stories

that other american actors and politicians in folkson and activists were alleging as well so it just so happened that this horrible russian examiner's of dissent or whatever was a story discord happened to me are exactly the same thoughts and sentiments of actual americans who may have had a different opinion from hillary clinton it's the only story in town at the american public has been so habituated to this means that they want to hear more of it they believe there is evidence when there is no evidence no no i'm sorry to say this isn't stopping i hope it does but i'm afraid it will. right after the reports was published a new media frenzy took old russian lawyer who caused a stir over her meeting with trump campaign officials back in two of the sixteen is making headlines again now the mainstream media claim she's confessed to having connections with the kremlin. the russian lawyer who promised dirt on clinton to

the campaign worked with latimer putin's kremlin this is natalia vessel that sky as she was twenty sixteen meeting in trump tower acknowledging that she's a lawyer but that she's also an informant listen to what she's telling us now about her ties to the chief prosecutor of russia in fact a mark that i. have not got them. even in front of this story of course they were back to twenty sixteen as we heard in that meeting between verse and it's going in trump tower between her and trump jr paul and jared couche and that story subsequently hit the headlines in summer of last year much media reports are on the story as a smoking gun all rather one of the battery of smoking guns here in that russia collusion probe now. is a top attorney she's worked for the prosecutor's office before something which she's admitted in congress that's the million other interviews as well and she has stated before links or rather her contact with the top prosecutor general and

russia with government agencies in a professional capacity as a lawyer this for example is one piece she gave to the wall street journal last year i now the general prosecutor personally in the course of my investigation i shared information with him now as we say diverse in this case has worked for the prosecutor's office she's represented clients from various countries nationalities interest groups both. perhaps russian government linked groups as well as private clients who have fought the russian government in financial and criminal cases now she gave an interview to us also quite a few months ago in which she stated that her visit to the united states her meeting was in a capacity as a private citizen as a lawyer and in no capacity as a representative of the kremlin in any way shape or form this is what she had to tell us when i had to have that meeting as part of my job as a lawyer for mushing citizen in the u.s. it had nothing to do with politics it didn't have anything to do with russia. i

think it's beyond a doubt here that missile is certainly a top attorney she's very well connected and she has come into professional contact it's fair to say with russian top prosecutors with russian government bodies as she has in her role as you know as an attorney for the prosecutor's office at the beginning of her career the way this has been presented was she some sort of representative. coming on behalf of the kremlin to lobby to influence some of the election certainly that narrative has come into question of course the other question is why this is come now this comes out after that report by congress denying any links between collusion rather between trump and the russian government it's interesting to see now what impact this will have on mueller's investigation author and russian analyst martin mccauley thinks there's nothing special though in the so-called revelations that the lawyer sometimes works with the prosecutor's office this agrees they should know the televisual it is in fact

a criminal agent doesn't stand up because as a lawyer she can give advice to the prosecutor general's office and meet members of the prosecutor general's office and as a lawyer that's quite legal nothing there's nothing illegal about it and you can go to the united states and represent a client it's just another meeting and tribune you met her. and he said it only lasted twenty minutes they didn't speak about very much if the opposition of. then can find evidence that they were conspiring together they were trying trying to undermine hillary clinton so it's up to them to do that but on the face of it just no duty. would have to prove that it had other. rover objectives in the meeting and you find it very very difficult to prove. it's been fifteen years since.