well since the protests began the end of march is really forces have killed at least one hundred palestinians. the. political that. was. there. we used this kind of decisions by the is right don't go system. trying to humiliate the system against the civilians we have this many times and we are now we have video you see this concerns about the lives of these three review more and more.

this is kind of encouragement in the green light that the israeli. should be should think the worst in civilians not only should think also killing so this is the time that the international community in order to be on the side of the palestinian civilians against such a good violations committed by the israeli. court and israeli military. and there's a grim new assessment of the united states draw night mission in afghanistan government auditors say efforts have stalled out best and worst are feeling with more here don't quarter you'd think that after sixteen years the u.s. led mission in afghanistan would finally have something to show for its trouble well here's how the federal authority tasked with overseeing reconstruction seize it. between two thousand and one and two thousand and seventeen years government efforts to save the licencee cure in contested areas in afghanistan mostly failed

the us government greatly overestimated its ability to build and reform government institutions in afghanistan a pretty clear picture from cigar but top brass in washington though wants to assure you they have everything under control now looking ahead to twenty eighteen as president gandhi said he believes we have turned the corner and i agree the momentum is now with the afghan security forces and the taliban cannot win in the face of the pressures that i outlined you think they're talking about to completely different wars but they've been at opposite poles before just last year cigar said the u.s. failed to properly mentor afghan forces let alone give them the momentum to beat the taliban with the enormous personal and financial sacrifices already made by afghans in their international partners the country my have relapsed to control by extremists and terrorists and again us generals are reading from an entirely

different script. afghanistan special operations forces are becoming the best in the region and the afghan air force is unable in those ground elements there is more work to be done and it will take time however this remains a very very worthy investment failing or not u.s. military leadership doesn't seem to be that bothered about how much this war is costing either flashback to twenty fourteen cigar reported that afghan reconstruction had exceeded the true cost of the marshall plan you know the u.s. is project to reconstruct all of western europe after world war two yeah it sounds like a budget busting hefty price tag for american generals though it's a necessary expense to get things just right for a victory we should be seeking to win this war counterinsurgencies take a while i think we have gone a long way to setting the conditions for what generally would usually is the defining factor in winning a counterinsurgency which is to set the conditions for governance so that the

conditions for the rule of law set the conditions for economic opportunity go back farther to two thousand and nine and things already weren't looking so good then president obama had committed over thirty eight billion dollars to repair efforts in the region and that money was going to who exactly our office also initiated preliminary inquiries into twenty three allegations of fraud waste and abuse even then u.s. military leaders optimistically saw the situation as a great springboard for their military campaign i'm not prepared to say that we have turned the corner but i think we have made significant progress in setting conditions in two thousand and nine and will make a real progress in two thousand and ten it takes a lot to keep that optimism up all these years but one thing the u.s. generals might have lost sight of is that if you plan to keep turning corners you'll end up right where you began donald quarter r.t. . quite extraordinary story coming up tests on shellfish in waters off west coast

america have revealed the extent of prescription drug use in the u.s. we'll bring you in about ninety seconds. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars and. more than ten times tempting each day. eighty five percent of global will you long for the rich eight point six percent market thirty percent your home with four hundred to five hundred three per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building two point one billion dollars. but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need to remember one one as we showed you for a minute the one that only. twenty

five years ago companies would go public as a way to expand their would be a viable corporation you have to meet certain criteria to for being a viable corporation and then you are allowed to go public now there are no such criteria so if you're essentially burning through cash and going bankrupt you're using the public marketplace to bail out a losing position. welcome back to our to international billionaire philanthropist george soros is pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of selected district attorney candidates in california at the same time leaked documents revealed he's also spending more millions backing an brags that group in the u.k. and looks at how far the tycoons spear of interest extends. now with all this talk

of foreign meddling you would think that the activities of a hungry and billionaire pouring money into american politics might get more mainstream media play george soros is a long time liberal money man and right now he's trying to influence the election of district attorneys across the united states basically he's pouring money into the campaigns of prosecutors he thinks will enforce the law in line with his liberal politics my name is noah phillips and i'm running for district attorney we've got some work and some healing to do to rebuild trust so we can keep sacramento safe forever. now getting supported by george soros isn't always a plus the man has plenty of detractors what is the out of state billionaire funding no with phillips campaign not telling us you know with an unethical dangerous wrongfully deal. george soros has been sticking his

nose into politics around the world for decades he started out funding anti communist dissidents during the late period of the cold war more recently he's been backing best for britain an anti brags that group in the u.k. george soros is foundations have along with a number of other major donors also made significant contributions to i would indeed through his foundations he's contributed four hundred thousand pounds he's been working to try and repeal the abortion laws in ireland his activities there have actually been deemed illegal with amnesty international being ordered by the authorities to return his donations that hasn't stopped him or even given him pause in trying to influence the politics of a foreign country that is just another example. also insurance. money did use. kids and it matters concerning our citizens in the ocean surface recently experienced a few setbacks in hungary central european university which is very close to was unaccredited so what did he do to move it over the border into austria george soros

has no problem crossing borders moving money and creating a ruckus in order to further his political agenda the man has actually gone as far as to speak of himself and divined i admit i have always hob with an exaggerated view of myself and putin's to put it bluntly i fancied myself as some kind of good or an economic reform alike or even both to a scientist like einstein with all this talk of washington corruption and big lobbyists don't forget about the big man himself george soros is globally oriented and he has no problem going to other lands and telling people how to live their lives they will mop and r.t. new york american journalist mark spigelman fell believes that many western media outlets are only interested in foreign meddling when russia is mentioned cook narrative that leaves out the real source of corruption in washington which is our allies buying influence and taking american policy over the brink in the middle

east the term collusion can certainly be applied to this lobbying this is the story i think that everyone in washington is missing out on because it's considered business as usual and it's basically collusion only takes place with supposed enemy states like russia. cohen is participating in influence peddling he had promised a million dollars to a qatari rowel for a meeting with the president there was a definite attempt by cohen to shop himself as kind of a liaison for foreign governments a foreign lobbyist a foreign agent if you will all of the attention or most of the attention in the u.s. media however has been on cohen receiving a five hundred thousand dollars payment allegedly from. from viktor of exel berg

who is said to be a russian oligarchs and had also donated as much as one hundred thousand dollars to the clinton foundation the media is obscuring what should really be the scandal. one instance where a foreign agent was not registered was michael flynn who is the national security director for donald trump and michael flynn had failed to report a legit contract with the government of turkey which allegedly paid him two hours to take down a tool of google and who is an exiled cleric and more interestingly than that if you speak to people in the media here in the u.s. about michael flynn they won't even know this detail they think that he had to leave and was taken out as a national security director because of his relationship with russia. collusion between trump and russia has yet to be established but we can clearly see

collaboration between trump and all of the gulf states particularly saudi arabia i mean this stuff just doesn't get reported the most activity on foreign agents is probably with the gulf states who are paying half of washington. there are enough opioids in the waters off seattle on the west coast of america that shellfish there have tested positive for the drugs scientists say it reflects the high number of people in the surrounding area who take the substance but what we eat and what we excrete goes into the puget sound telling me that there's a lot of people taking up to code on and you know in the puget sound area it's coming likely from the wastewater treatment plants or clean muscles were put into more than a dozen locations three of the areas were later confirmed to be contaminated waste water management are unable to filter out the opioids when the muscles are unable

to metabolize their drugs but other sea life can and may become addicted now this is the first time scientists have discovered the drugs in shellfish their unbelieve it highlights the extent of the opioid epidemic in the us there has been more than two hundred thousand prescription overdose deaths in the u.s. since the one nine hundred ninety nine between the two year and twenty sixteen overdose deaths have almost quadrupled six hundred fifty thousand opioid prescriptions are dispensed daily on policy research or me thinks that overprescription is behind the epidemic. the real problem is not that you can detect oxy caught on and shellfish the the real problem is that over exposing the united states to this highly addictive drug has led to an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths in the united states doctors are prescribing opioids for very common problems where opioids should not be prescribed these are good

medicines for treating pain at the end of life they're good medicines when used for a couple of days after major surgery but the bulk of the prescribing the bulk of the consumption in the united states is for long term common problems where opioids are much more likely to harm patients than help patients if other countries increased prescribe in the way we did in the united states i'm afraid that they will follow in our footsteps why not have your say on ballots or indeed any of the stories we've been talking about today and leave your thoughts on our team dot com you'll find lots more news on fuse we thing there stay with us. please we continue to discuss only about amateurs of the maastricht. but six

bots and we don't we are nothing to give to the next generation and he's going to reach to be proud to be european these is the reason all of us kept. fifty years ago pregnant women to come together as a sleeping pill does this is what i believe because of this said this is the sign of thinks what terrible but not on. induction on for book movie here not the. war. across europe victims are starting legal battles demanding at least some compensation in software in two ways first will the physical damage itself but as well there's a constant reminder that the people who actually perpetrated this crime has never been bought the justice and there's been a couple of big. that

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a shift that one. cannot settle for second one more. song so. much so it. can also be was if you have to move the multiple injuries among can't connect them to yourself you hold most of the work but it shows your you know mars on the phone to the bone lock on the feeling of the people who for most of the say yeah but i don't know but i'm more awesome for a month. and. hanumant nothing but i know how to laugh a lot will come across as not how i miss something subtle. on the young or something . else and to put my. political power maybe maybe maybe for that.

later on. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm part chilton thanks for joining us up on the program today for this broadcast we do something a little different and that we're going to focus the entirety of the show on taxes to help us out will be joined by the renowned professor of economics of merit is at the university of matches massachusetts richard wolffe plus the c.e.o. of stroll mark hillary for which looks at the highest and lowest tax rates around the globe and we have a special panel to discuss and i bet they the new u.s. tax law and where it is right now plus alex one hyla bitch will tell us about one

provision of the new tax law that may impact life love and even finances all that ahead on our tax theme program so let's bungle in the jungle and start with some. speaking of texas corporate stock buybacks hit an all time record of one hundred seventy eight billion dollars in the first quarter of the year the u.s. tax reform law approved late last year cut the corporate tax rate from thirty five percent to twenty twenty one percent and has been a boon for businesses and has helped boost the overall economy but most of the benefits have been used for companies to buy back stock as opposed to what proponents of the text. changes argued would be a benefit that would trickle down to workers and average families some are now wondering if they have been trickled upon with the release of several studies studies showing that tax cut benefits are going predominantly to stock shareholders a bloomberg analysis determined that roughly sixty percent of the tax cut benefits will go to shareholders whereas employees will only receive five percent another

such study by morgan stanley estimated that forty three percent of tax cut savings will go to stock buybacks and dividends and just thirteen percent to employees by way of pay raises bonuses or employee benefits. and harley davidson has announced that they are shutting down their factory in kansas city which employs eight hundred workers some of the jobs will be transferred to a facility in new york pennsylvania harley davidson is also expanding operations to highland some say the move is due to u.s. markets which is contract in recent years harley davidson has their sales have dropped by eight and a half percent sales abroad have dropped by three point nine percent the announcement of the plant closure came just days after harley davidson said they too would provide shareholder dividend increases the iconic motorcycle company was touted by both president trump and speaker of the house paul ryan as examples of businesses which would be big beneficiaries from the tax cut law and this is it

appears that the benefits from the new law are being used to outsource jobs and pay shareholders in a contract in market. or not to tax was once upon a time undoubtedly the question but as a civil society we've want to go past the point of if there will be taxes the question by most policymakers is who or what will be taxed and how much and here to provide his seasoned and professional perspective we are joined an honored to be joined by richard wolffe a professor emeritus in economics at the university of metaphors that and her professor thank you again for being with us and very grateful for your time is there a perfect tax a tax that is really fair and provides good for all the people. i doubt it and i think that taxes have been with us for

a long time and that they are basically a way that we hold ourselves together as a community. tracks is our recognition that some things are better done if we pool our resources together and if we go you know individually let me just give you the simplest examples if we want to have a lovely wooded area in our community to have picnics to go with our children we could each strider somehow i maintain a plot of wooded land but the absurdity of the expense is silly and so we get together pooling our resources so that we can have a central park in the middle of your or a prospect park in brooklyn or a golden gate park in san francisco that we can all enjoy and so we all kick in a little bit of money far far less than we unify ourselves in order to have

a collective resource we couldn't otherwise really afford at least many of us could most of us and the same. applies to roads and highways in our prayers and national defense and a whole lot of other things so that once you explain to people what it taxes are out basically building the institutions that serve us as a community of people they understand the logic of it and even when the paying full bill comes to pay it and the struggles begin about who should pay what only should of it that's when things get dicey and in their upset about not wanting to pay some groups begin to question the whole notion of the tax itself but as i say that's a kind of point of view that does not bear any serious investigation. what

do you think professor are sort of let's accept that there were going to be taxed at the question of who are water how much what or what are you in your view are you looking around the world and look at the neck not economic for your whole career what are the most unfair types of taxes and where in the world do they exist today . well for me from my perspective one of the things a tax can do besides providing us collectively important resources like parks like highways like schools and all the rest of that one of the other things a tax could do is go somewhere toward alleviating aspects of our economic system that are no good in other words we can fix the broken aspects of our economy by the means of taxes and for me one of the most importance in holding any community together is to avoid extreme has

a wealth on the one hand coupled with extremes of poverty on the other so for me one of the extra benefits of a tax is that it can do something to lessen the inequality of a society so for me the most unfair tax is that tax that not only doesn't lessen inequality but actually makes it worse and let me give you an example here in the united states and we're not the only country of course that does this we rely on many many of our states on something called a sales tax that's for example taxing a shirt you might buy in a department store by adding five percent to whatever the price of the sugar is when you do that you charge exactly the same amount of money but say it's one

hundred dollars sure so then it's five percent that would be a five dollar tax you're charging the same five dollar tax to a person who has a very low income as you would to rockefeller are on jeffrey b.'s ost who with who counts his wealth in the billions i think that's. unfair that's a situation in which our broken part of be economy that lends some people have more money than they know what to do with while other people don't have enough or shelter ok and pay their kids' way to college etc this isn't an unfair tax which by the way was recognized in the united states a hundred years ago when we began the income tax and we structured it as what we call eight progress of tax and what that simply means is there's the higher your income the larger the percentage of it you are required to pay in tax

because you can know forty more you are asked to kick in more and the logic of that is again to use that tax system to offset inequalities that if you don't offset them will destroy your community create tension within it and eventually blow it up we've just got about sixty seconds but i want to try to squeeze in one more question so when you talk about wealth inequality and then various tax provisions like in the the recent tax reform law that was passed some would argue that well the wealthy are going to make all these profits and they will therefore buy a lot of shirts or buy a lot of gasoline and then the people that make the shirt for help get the ghastly they will ultimately trickle down to them how that how's that working out so far professor. this is not work at all because it was never true it was just a rationalization invented by rich people so that they could continue to get

a disproportionate amount of the wealth by telling us that if you do that it will trickle down to you because they will buy more the thing about rich people is that they are already consuming more than most of the rest of us can't imagine and by giving even more money than them you're not going to get them to consume or you're going to get them to make a lavish investments in other parts of the world you're going to get them do it invest in harebrained schemes a bit coin or god knows what ever speculation that's what we've seen the tax cut the end of december for example gave more wealth to big companies who are using it to distribute to their shareholders they're not hiring workers the way they promised they would they're not giving higher wages the way they promised those promises are made to get the money into their hands and then they're just as quickly forgot professor emeritus in economics at the university of massachusetts

richard wall we're always smarter after you have joined us our thanks thank you very much glad to do it. some companies treat their employees to perks such as sports tickets other luxury items however after passing of a new tax law some corporations are having to cut back on their gifts and or take it in the workers are to correspondent ashley banks with the latest new tax laws will soon be either a limit or eliminate al many capitals game tickets and your lawyer will provide in the near future changes in the law eliminate the deduction for sports tickets concerts other client entertainment and employee meals these changes were designed to help offset corporate tax cuts according to a survey done by wall street journal including eight hundred sixty five firms forty five percent of those firms say they will be affected by the new tax laws forcing

them to cut spending or make adjustments which will impact their employees big corporations will not feel the impact as much the cut in the corporate tax rate of twenty one percent lower the deductions value and as for small businesses their tax higher between twenty nine percent and thirty seven percent small firms also operate with thinner margins and are usually more sensitive to tax rate changes some businesses have annual client appreciation day at sporting stadiums however they may have to cancel this year due to the tax laws because under williams chief executive of a tech consulting incorporated says quote we have season rams tickets the invoice is sitting on my desk do we do this or do we not what is our return on investment joseph hine c.e.o. of voice and data networks incorporated says he had to sell off the company's extra seats because.