so we're going to jump right in and start with a bit of an infrastructure place setting and then look at rail for that we turn to our to correspondent manila chan. president from the campaign for months and months on repairing america's crumbling infrastructure from the roadways to waterways railways to the airways and has recently unveiled a plan to bring america up to speed we're here today to discuss the critical need to rebuild america's crumbling infrastructure. and one understands and the people in this room really understand better than most probably hopefully better than anybody. that the problem the state savard local leaders have with funding the infrastructure is horrendous and we will build we will maintain

and the vast majority of americans want to see us take care of our infrastructure. infrastructure is the backbone of the us economy and a necessary input to every economic output those are the opening lines in the most recent report from the american society of civil engineers their study aptly called the failure to act a report minces no words in their frustration with the budget shortfalls in infrastructure and highlighted that america is consistently at about a two trillion dollar short ball when it comes to infrastructure according to the a.s.c. if this investment gap is not addressed by the year two thousand and twenty five the economy is expected to lose almost four trillion dollars in total g.d.p. which can result in a job loss of about two point five million people across the country u.s. railways once connected the entire country from sea to shining sea much of america's goods are still by rail millions of cargo loads of coal chemicals paper

goods new cars agricultural goods all the way down to other consumer goods like the i phone you may be watching on all get moved as train car go every year every day tens of millions of americans rely on public transportation to get to and from work without it america's economy would come to a crashing halt but without proper repairs to america's infrastructure the country stands to fall behind to places like china tens of millions of passengers use various forms of rail transit every year from amtrak to their local metro but with frequent delays electrical failures and in several extreme cases both amtrak and local commuter rails have experienced deadly human error catastrophes and although the president promised to fix infrastructure problems such. these former congressman jim moran is doubtful that he'll keep his campaign promise you know are in washington really believes that it will have

a there is going to happen is going to have to be done by states and localities and he just took away the money from this from the high growth states that needed that state local tax deductibility p.t.c. or positive train control was mandated by congress back in two thousand and fifteen following a deadly amtrak wreck which killed eight in philadelphia but after lobbying efforts by train companies congress pushed that requirement by three years to twenty eighteen places like europe and japan have not only had p.t.c. on their tracks for more than a decade providing a safer more secure by but now china has launched their most ambitious bullet train project that will also cut commute time by nearly seventy percent will america be able to catch up if we bring the private ingenuity like you know a mosque and other private businesses they can bill rail systems faster than the public can. we're still dealing in the public in rail with an

eighteen thousand nine hundred century model and we're still trying to think about how to do it the way we did in the old days of standard and poor in the early parts of the twentieth century but we're going to twenty first century and we're talking about the rest of the world having high speed rail systems for years and they're benefiting from that this is a short list of some of the world's fastest trains on the left side is the trains operational speed on the right the best recorded test speed for each chain is currently running maglev train barrels through a swift three hundred fifty kilometers an hour and their soon to launch foo xing train will have maximum speeds of up to four hundred kilometers an hour america certainly has a long way to go before seeing such technology on its tracks stateside especially. since infrastructure spending in the u.s. has remained flat since one thousand nine hundred eighty nine so with constant lobbying efforts congressional easement of safety requirements and bureaucracy that

stifles innovation america's railways may remain a relic of the twentieth century manila chan. americans are always on the move and mass public transportation is an incredibly important intra goal part of our infrastructure system especially in the urban areas of the nation but is that us transit system up to par or to sarah vaughan to texas on a little trip to find out as congress continues to fight political gridlock over various pro-creation bills hot button issues such as north korea and the wall there's one issue both sides of the aisle agree on infrastructure in the united states is crumbling and the congress and the white house continue to battle over the trillions of dollars and much needed repairs transit systems across the u.s. are literally falling apart here in washington d.c. the metro rail system has received more marks from the federal transit administration failure to repair significant issues with their tracks there is

safety features such as lighting radio connection inside their tunnels even service communication among workers have all contributed to their failing grade. back. to add fuel to mattress fires the agency is now engaged in a legal battle with the contractor that used to be concrete mix for walls at a new station in the meantime ridership to the mine and the agency is asking for even more money to billion for the next decade up from one point five billion from the previous ten years and while metro is making a push for more funds to improve the infrastructure it recently opened a gift shop with items like one hundred ninety dollars much hosting cufflinks and thirty dollars t. shirt screen printed with metro's rail system our reactions from riders came swift with comments like quit with the stuff. graciela tory t. shirts just focus on getting the trains to run on time and station new york city's transit artery that connects the island's amtrak rails to the rest of the country

needs over thirty billion in repairs for its tunnels damaged during hurricane sandy the so-called gateway project is now political football caught in a feud with democrats and president trump when he ordered republicans term of four hundred million dollars set aside for the project in the fiscal year twenty spill and across the united states several railroad operators are struggling to implement trucking technologies that are set to automatically slow train down around her were several fatal travail minutes have occurred in recent years technology term positive train control or p.t.c. must be installed by december thirty first of this year although congress has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars for grants through the federal railroad administration to install the technology many railroad operators are failing to reach key milestones to ensure the december thirty first deadline to make matters worse president trumps recently released infrastructure plan has

struck a nerve with cities and towns around the country the plan calls for generating one point five trillion for new projects by requiring cities and towns to put up eighty percent of the funding leaving the federal share to no more than twenty percent of the projects total cost this is in stark contrast with the historical precedent where the share a federal funding for projects average between thirty and forty percent of the projects total cost the federal government can no longer go the infrastructure big development alone so we need partners at the state and local levels and that's balls looking at all term contracts like strategic alliances partnerships and joint venture it and this is what the eighty twenty rule is coming down from secretary of my child is really called for in response to critics the white house and d.o.t. secretary elaine chao have. suppose that cities and towns raise taxes finding ways to attract private investors without providing specifics on how that might occur or

even acknowledge that tax hikes run counter to the philosophy behind trump's recent tax cuts they're not the only option for financing infrastructure there are many other creative ways and that's where we're encouraging the state and local entities to examine their private activity bonds their asset recycling there are other types of. access to public markets private markets that would be in addition to those that you mentioned we're at gnostic as to the methodology and if there's any silver lining behind america's crumbling infrastructure perhaps is that it hasn't entirely collapsed just last year the american society of civil engineers gave the us a d. plus grade in infrastructure report card a d. minus in transit and while it may not exactly be failing a de have been deadly for america's highways railways and waterways that puts

america decades behind countries like japan china and the e.u. in washington fairmont test r t. twenty three u.s. presidential election both candidates former secretary of state hillary clinton and now president donald trump had a virtual bidding war on which one could offer more money for infrastructure proposal check it out i am asking both parties to come together to give us safe fast reliable and modern infrastructure that our economy needs and our people deserve. as president mr trump pushed for tax cuts instead of infrastructure and that certainly is parag of although the huge allocation of resources two point three trillion dollars over ten years for the tax cuts means that there is little money and less appetite for infrastructure concurrently mr trump a campaign promise on infrastructure spending is but a distant memory with seemingly no basis in reality as to what he actually proposed back in twenty sixteen rather than doubling what ms clinton proposed or more the

president has proposed less much less after taking more than a year to produce even a proposal earlier and twenty eighteen the administration finally put forth a fifty five page plan which included only two hundred billion dollars in funding i know what some of you are saying only in washington could this guy say two hundred billion dollars isn't much money i totally agree and to. hundred billion is certainly a lot of money it's huge but it isn't what mr trump promised during the campaign nor what experts say is needed for infrastructure repairs for gosh sakes politicians all of them need to keep their word or will end up not believing anything any of them say ever and as disappointing as all that is on the infrastructure and it's really the people who work in that capitol behind me on that distant hill those members of congress and senators they can pass legislation despite or in cooperation with not just this president but any president after all they are supposed to represent americans. over thirty plus years i've seen how

government works or not and infrastructure has unfortunately been little more than a few bullet point talking points for politicians for most of that time while the us was once the envy of the world with our interstate system roads and bridges it's been falling apart like a cheap suit for far too long experts grade our infrastructure in the us and a d. plus a d. plus for heaven's sake and it's getting to a place where it's a definite detriment to our economy and particularly precarious from a safety perspective many lives have already been lost due or to our poor substandard second rate infrastructure while the overall policy on the appropriation the money that is to address the infrastructure deficit are approved or more often not by congress there's another place not too far away from here where the rubber really hits the road it's time for a quick break but stick with us because when we return we'll look at ports and much more as we go to break here's a quiz question for you in what country was the first freeway or highway bill was it the united states germany italy or england will be back in

a flash. my son is doing drugs my nephews was still in drugs my sister just been doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse started going after the users in the prison population sewer we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill became convinced that the war on drugs was a mistake there are countless numbers of people who are in prison for. the long sins for whom our own are minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in ways. you can save by day as you're walking out of

a business it's just it doesn't get easier. when our mind when the content of our mind ease changed there are. still a shell of the level of the physiology that is at the level of the brain the brain as a form of plasticity can we wire itself and not just the brain but also the rest of our body responds. well i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think. trump in its context with the united states i just fear that the dominant view in this city is that it isn't nearly impossible until the united states kind of settle this domestic divide about the environment and in these seas you know i hate to see these bodies work toxic but that's exactly what it is and then i think it's in

a way you know you're damned if you do it you're damned if you don't. welcome back the answer to our quiz question what country was the first freeway or highway built was it the united states germany italy or england the answer is italy hitler is widely credited with the german autobahns in u.s. president white the eisenhower spoke about his time as an army general traveled along the wide road it was actually benito mussolini who instigated the building of the first major bridge way the eighty mile autostrada opening night june twenty fourth at five years ahead of such durban roads.

ports are the watery gateway to global markets and an important component our economy but they can't continue if our port infrastructure doesn't meet the demands of the future our key correspondent natasha's week at war ports make up a huge portion of the u.s. economy from new york to new jersey alone while those ports make up roughly twenty percent of the nation's gross domestic product and here the port of los angeles ranks as the number one container port in the country braveness some three million jobs but the question remains of just how long things can operate the way they are now. seaports help connect american farmers manufacturers and consumers to the world marketplace in fact every u.s. state will mines on roughly fifteen seaports to handle imports and exports totally unprepared eight billion dollars with goods each day every one billion in u.s. exports fifteen thousand jobs are created in fact twenty three million jobs are

supported by seaports alone four point six trillion dollars are tight economic activity surrounding us seaports and this infrastructure holds twenty six percent of the u.s. economy united i'm calling on congress to produce a bill that generates at least one point five trillion dollars for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs during the scene the new president struck me that not clear he was dissatisfied with the country's infrastructure as a whole and recently comparing it to the three hundred country supports which is what drives the economic growth nick vyas us the professor and executive director of the center for global supply chain management agrees with the president we are almost like a third world country especially when you start to crawl into asia like china and some of the emerging markets where. they're really emphasizing in terms of sport

investing in this infrastructure i think we have actually really taken a backseat vias believes the main issue looming over the country is the vast political polarization happening in congress spinny more time argue mean one thing getting things done i don't think you could be a global power or global economy and be the superpower without having the infrastructure and for michael schmidt running for dare i says forty ninth congressional seats says the issues surrounding the country's infrastructure is enough reason to declare a national emergency that would allow us to do things like suspend the davis beacon are now the davis beacon eric was a a good idea at the time it was done in one nine hundred thirty three during the depression and the idea was because people were so desperate for jobs not not for them to be taken advantage of with below market wages are you do you think it's possible when the president is saying we can do things ahead of schedule under

budget right but the behemoths that has become a national the federal government regulations contributes to a lot of the problems in getting those things done the country's freights is projected to grow some forty five percent by two thousand and forty five and the u.s. has trade volume is expected to quadruple after twenty thirty by twenty thirty seven the u.s. will export more than fifty two million should be containers through domestic ports and to meet this boom demand price is the country's infrastructure needs to be updated we have now come to the point where we simply cannot ignore the fact that we need a massive upgrade doored infrastructure sports or ports mass transit highways and intermodal the rail network and all distance has to be connected well the white house has not laid out a specific plan for the country's infrastructure. just yet but it is something that

will and deed will congressional approval to move forward as a part of life angeles and hospice suites r t. l for roads and highways and assisted by the very able alex one highly. as a canadian who has crossed the border a multitude of times from canada to the us ever since i was a kid i have to say what the most striking differences when you cross over is that the roads get really bad especially when you go to some parts of michigan or new york state many are saying that now more than ever roads across the country are in dire need of improvement not only are there more cars around than ever before but because of the crumbling infrastructure getting behind the wheel is more dangerous the united states has four million miles of roads ranging from interstate highways that are fifteen lanes wide to residential streets in two thousand and sixteen alone u.s. roads cured more people and goods over three trillion miles that's astonishing and believe it or not equates to more than three hundred fifty round trips back and

forth between earth and pluto with so much motion on beat up roads people are getting hurt and many are dying according to the national safety council there were an estimated forty thousand one hundred motor vehicle deaths in two thousand and seventeen while some blame factors like high speed limits and distracted driving infrastructure also plays a part this is see in particular with the rise in recent years of cyclist and pedestrian deaths showing that there is a clear need for revisiting the way streets are designed to make them safer for all lots of traffic also translates to lots of congestion with american drivers being stuck in traffic for estimated total of six point nine billion hours in two thousand and fourteen this is obviously frustrating for many but it also means a loss of money a lot of money. according to the a c. e. traffic delays cost the us one hundred sixty billion dollars in wasted time and fuel in two thousand and fourteen at the environmental impact of congestion and you

can just imagine the true cost is much more. the problem lies here for years u.s. infrastructure including roads have been underfunded currently there's an estimated eight hundred thirty six billion backlog of highway and bridge capital needs this includes four hundred twenty billion of repairing existing highways under twenty three billion for bridge repair one hundred sixty seven billion for system expansion and one hundred twenty six billions for system in has been such as safety and handsome its operational improvements and environmental projects now if investments are made not only will roads become safer and less congested but according to the federal highway administration if proven to also translate into lower vehicle maintenance costs and higher fuel efficiency as well as reduced emissions now this can be done with more funding from all levels of government some people are saying you know what we need more taxes to pay for this but there's also the theory that we can divert money from other places like for example foreign wars

and start investing in american infrastructure and the american people in toronto i'm alex mileage r.c. . internet access is best becoming a subsidy as the world goes digital but is america's broadbent up to snuff r.t. correspondent dan cohen takes us online to find out. twenty five megabytes per second or higher that's the speed the federal government says is needed to support modern internet use in the united states or what's known as high speed broadband but more than twenty four million americans lack access to the federally mandated speed according to the center for public integrity more than half of them are in poor and rural areas where the median income is less than forty seven thousand

dollars per year that includes twenty nine percent of farms and ranches throughout the country but the federal community. commission's repeal of net neutrality in december two thousand and seventeen public broadband has been touted as a solution to ensure fair access to want is a member of the city council in seattle where she has a lead the push for public broadband it has to be concluded on one hundred percent that access to the internet having even a cellphone having phone access having access to. the multitude of. necessity that. in many ways you know the website is are the first portal to access those services then you will see that you know the internet is is not a luxury but access to the internet is not a luxury but a necessity in countries like finland switzerland and taiwan have already implemented public broadband but it's not necessary to travel overseas to find it

here in the u.s. twenty nine states have proposed their own open internet regulation and five democratic governors have issued executive orders that bar the state from doing business with broadband companies that violate net neutrality the city of chattanooga tennessee created what they call the electric power board a municipal owned utility that provides internet speeds of a gigabyte per second in total more than one hundred thirty communities in twenty seven states have done the same chattanooga's move dealt a blow to comcast the local cable provider who speeds can't compete with the public option internet service providers launched lawsuits against chattanooga's public broadband service and when they lost the company's appeal the court decisions it's not only cities that are turning away from private providers on june twentieth the consolidated cooperative in the town of delaware ohio announced plans to implement fiber optic services in michigan

a republican led effort attempted to stop government funds from paying for broadband in the. city of fort collins colorado a group backed by private internet providers spent nine hundred thousand dollars to block public broadband service that effort failed as voters approved a bill that authorized the city to build a network the telecom industry has spent huge amounts fighting the movement for public broadband just in twenty eighteen they spent more than twenty three million dollars in lobbying efforts today there are twenty states where public broadband is roadblocked or outlawed the efforts to block public broadband are likely to increase as larger markets like los angeles and seattle consider adopting it not only do these corporations have millions tens of millions billions of dollars of their disposal to fight and need to look at it attempts to make access you know available to everybody they also have politicians in their pocket they have

political parties in their pockets they have a multitude of lobbyists you know crawling all around slimy lobbyist calling crawling all around that he thought that he hall state legislatures in the u.s. congress and the white house. reporting in washington d.c. dan cowen r t. that's it for this time but we have lots more on tap for next time as part of our special look at the u.s. infrastructure deficit please join us you always catch us on direct t.v. channel three twenty one dish network channel two eighty we're streaming twenty four so don't go to me the free t.v. app channel one thirty two were always get us up at you tube dot com boom bust are cheap ok. for people feed the economy because they buy scratch tickets scratch off lottery tickets they you know when i was living in the ghetto in new york you know the red

apple grocery store uptown had the highest prices in town right and the liquor stores are open and you'd buy you know more expensive in the ghetto and that's how you build an economy it's always built on the backs of the poor america was built on the slave market america was built on prison labor to give them a look that they the good times of america the ne'er do wells it's all very swishy and swell that's over we got to go back to basics. what politicians do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or somehow want to be preached. to going to be the person that's what will make for freedom or can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters of. course.

where is that country call russia no one has ever known one. and you never even heard about most. of. the.

elite. elite. perk of washington expresses concern over russia's new hypersonic weapon saying there are no objective countermeasures god missiles will successfully carried out on wednesday. a wave of protests spreads across after the death of a journalist who set fire to himself protesting the difficulties of being a reporter of the country's economic problems. pays a surprise visit to iraq to me.