host of the tom hartman so right here on our t.v. and i don't time you also if this is the object you know so much about you've written a book rebuilding the american dream where you looked into this in depth the numbers certainly saw it but what do you think are the clearest signs that the middle class is shrinking and shrinking well we've seen the wealth of the middle class wiped out i mean used to be that seven and from fact before reagan became president seventy eight percent of americans had defined benefit pensions in other words they could retire and they got a check until the day they died i mean that's down into the twenty's or thirty's now it's just wiped out before reagan became before basically what we're looking at is thirty years of things before reagan became president we were the largest importer raw materials in the world we brought iron ore into this country we made it into things like radios t.v.'s cars we were largest export of finished goods and we would lars what world's largest creditor we are now we've complet

and slash tom hartman and this entire show is available as a free podcast on i tunes and don't forget democracy begins with you when you show up when you participate sag your it will see them are. wealthy british style.

what about the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour it's becoming a trail of ghost towns across the south as residents from louisiana to mississippi leave from their homes fear of approaching floodwaters some projected at nearly twenty feet so cool or what's to blame for the severe flooding overseas another disaster continues to unveil as thousands of families dozens of miles away from the fukushima plant had to leave their homes this weekend to escape high levels of radiation over ever be a glimmer of hope for the people of japan and the debt ceiling has been breached does america have to break the roof as well as financial ties with allies before republicans get a clue. thanks to record breaking rainfall last month the mississippi river is overflowing for an enormous flood waters across the easy and a mississippi in missouri and tennessee several billions of dollars in damage has been reported the army corps of engineers is now relieving pressure on new orleans levees by flooding thousands of acres in the easy emma and desperate bid to save that city from drowning

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour we all know money can buy a lot of things but it can a buy innocence that's the very thing family and friends of former jailed or the jailed former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss are trying to do that is what so called news couldn't get any more by as we were reporting yesterday was supposed crazy most of the sunny parts business. it's wednesday means it's time for the liberal rumble or i take on two expert conservative commentators and some of the biggest news stories of the week panels and i daniel helper from the weekly standard and jamie weinstein from the daily caller editor of the daily caller. i think it's pretty awesome that if you think thanks for joining us yesterday the white house threatened to veto the defense authorization act which is headed toward passage in the house of representatives the purpose of the bill is to fund our military operations around the world but republicans loaded chock full of controversy all provisions including restrictions on the president's ability to reduce nuclear wea

the senate police for good legislation goes to die but i have a plan to fix this mess it's the tom hartman four step plan to fix the. here it is step one break california into three different states there's no reason why a state that represents nearly one eighth of the population of the entire united states should have only one fiftieth representation in the senate break into three states and you give four new democratic senators step to break texas into two states again why should a state that represents one twelfth of the population the united states only have one fiftieth representation in the senate by breaking up texas we create a new state with two probably democratic senators senators who i might add probably won't be pushing for secession and will let old texas keep well with slogans like don't mess with texas the lone star state they can also keep governor rick perry step three break up new york into two states why should new york with more than one sixteenth the total us population have the same representation in the senate as wyoming with less than two tenths of one percent of t

new york well for more on the dying middle class america earlier i was joined by tom hartman host of the big picture here on r.t. here's our conversation. it used to be that seven in fact before reagan became president seventy eight percent of americans had defined benefit pensions in other words they could retire and they got a check until the day they died i mean that's down into the twenty's or thirty's now it's just wiped out before reagan became before basically what we're looking at is thirty years ago it's before reagan became president we were the largest importer raw materials in the world we brought iron ore into this country we made it into things like radios t.v.'s cars we were largest exporter of finished goods and we really are as well world's largest creditor we are now we've completely reversed that in thirty years we are now the world's largest debtor we're the largest importer of finished goods and the world's largest exporter of raw materials we've become the mining operation for the world and the consumer and and as productivity is can steadily increase in the las

by tom hartman here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. the. mission is pretty good indication three times for judges three. arrangement three. three. three. gold sleeve blanquita cullum video for your media project a free media to our team tom. the love of. the. into the local council this is in the early polls along a little more. so let's talk well wolf. david. thank you both listen through this is in he will close along over i'm. probably the most a complete a bowler. i mean my name is gemma far from the village of isolation. and we have orange groves. ok and i know it's been our job since we were born. there's my father my brother and fire health. how well you know the day after the war was over i came back with my father joke and kind of what husband. gino summer had passed and then we have what are the groups like this mr mitchell this is our feet. when. it was the man that he stepped on one i was there for going on the way he thought it was a battery or something. i noticed it and told him to sort of take your foot off that is a cluster

by tom hartman here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. if. he. could.

bag the big picture on tom hartman coming up in this half hour one nation under sex plus the woman who was apparently victimized by i.m.f. chief strauss had a secret weapon at her disposal player when i was just a few months and the sixty day grace period is over for the so-called war in libya so will president obama finally get the congressional stamp of approval he needs to continue that war. as we all learned of the high profile such scandal broke regarding i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn a guy who was likely to become the next president of france if he didn't try to rape a hotel maid in new york city a week ago allegedly. just today new york police confirmed that semen found on the maid's dress does indeed belong to dominic strauss kahn but the case of strauss kahn highlights another more important issue that of women of no power being able to fight back against men of enormous power too often a who would you believe more frame determines the killed or innocence of powerful men accused of rape which then discourages future women from reporting incidents and given the dominic st

the big picture first night for more information on the stories we covered visit our website of tom hartman dot com dot com. you can also check out our you tube page has a you tube dot com slash the big picture artsy and see. tom and this entire show is available as a free video podcast on the i think. begins with you get out there get active show up your it signal. that. mission free couldn't ation free. churches free. arrangements three. three stooges free. video. free.

i think for the big picture united for more information stories we covered this in our website tom hartman dot com and artie dot com also check out our youtube pages of youtube dot com slash does the picture r.t. and slash tom martin and this entire show is available is a free podcast and i tunes and don't forget democracy begins when you show up your it get out there and get active will see them out. to you for sure. pulled from the.

well i'm tom hartman here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. president obama expressed his support for immigration reform in the star state toadie performance as an economic heritage sort of money hungry g.o.p. controlled house to take the bait. from the problems at our borders to our classrooms teachers on both coasts are staging sit ins to protest education cuts political demonstrations prevent their salaries mean for this life. and the days of spending idle time on the net downloading music and video may be coming to an end how companies are cashing in by expanding bandwidth at the expense of your bill. you need to know this what's been on president obama's to do list recently by the osama bin laden check created nearly a quarter million jobs last month check so what's next on president obama's agenda . immigration reform today the president was in el paso texas to deliver a major policy speech on immigration and to encourage congress to get to work drafting immigration reform legislation here's what he had to say. first we know the governme

all about the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour sound the alarm police violence against civilians is increasing at a shocking rate so officers be held responsible for their crimes investigative report is out surrounding the deadly explosion at a west virginia mine that killed twenty nine people last year details of how the accident could have been avoided who ran the ball and the next time you're out of the grocery store don't expect to see dolphin safe tuna tell you what we have to do about the world trade organization and other so-called free trade agreements and i still take. last week a year long investigation of the cause of the upper big branch mine explosion in west virginia that killed twenty nine miners was released written by an independent panel of safety experts the report finds that manmade errors led to the disaster areas that could have easily been prevented the report says of the explosion at the mine own by massey was a completely predictable result for a company i'm quoting the report for a company that ignored basic safety standards and put too

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour could the business of selling medical marijuana become the next entrepreneurial boom house democrats are actually working to make that happen plus greenpeace has released a new report citing the latest radiation levels in the japan coast is the ravaged country out of the danger zone and free public education for our nation's children is a right as it's a nice daily take i'll tell you why some republicans believe it should become a privilege. because democrats are crusading for medical marijuana rights rogerson pete stark jared polis and barney frank no shrinking violet introduced a series a bill of bills that protect medical marijuana entrepreneurs the legislation classifies medical marijuana dispensary as legitimate small businesses those able to take advantage of federal tax deductions just like any other small business it also gives immunity from federal prosecution to any person or business in the medical marijuana industry as long as they're operating in compliance with state and local laws in addition to the

back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour now that we've hit our nation's debt limit will republicans finally negotiate in good faith to conservatives yes and it's a long liberal rumble and later a daily take on the failures of governing by gangs. you need to know this is a perpetual war about to become a law the land the house arms services committee recently passed a national defense authorization act a bill that authorizes funding to the department bounds and the constitution actually requires must be passed at least every two years and very deep within the bill in section ten thirty four there's a provision that reads congress affirm. terms that the united states is engaged in an armed conflict clicked with al qaeda the taliban and associated forces and that those entities continue to pose a threat to the united states and its citizens the president has the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict pursuant to the authorization for the use of military force until the termination of hostilities with that in english

from here depends upon the public supporting alternative independent journalists like like you tom hartman if maybe for give a kind of work that i have done in public broadcasting. corporate journalist tend to be. tend to be tethered to the value system of the corporations they serve and that's really to perpetuate the old power. we've seen as you said an enormous concentration of media power in the last twenty five years in particular and as that is happened as corporations have come to have a vested interest in the worksheet and in washington politics subsidies tax breaks special favors the journalists have tended not consciously but unconsciously to buy into those values and to assume a way to censor themselves so that they're not really telling the story and look at what n.b.c. did not do when n.b.c. when g.e. sold in b.c. to comcast it was very little coverage of this new merger of two corporate go i asked own in b c that's an example of how the media censors itself in response to the perceived values of the corporate giants they work for and it has meant that more and more they try t

hello i'm tom hartman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture streets of gold may be turning to hard concrete for goldman sachs c.e.o. lloyd blankfein and its former executives you have it suggests they lied about cheating their clients out of millions of dollars so how are these banks toure's able to pull off the scheme meanwhile the koch brothers university funding programs are spreading right wingers using their own cash to change clothes staff and ideas over five. universities billionaire oligarchy succeeding reshaping our country's worldview and could there be a fifty first state i'll tell you why thousands of arizona liberals are pushing for a session from the radical republicans are on the north of the state. yesterday raj rajaratnam a billionaire hedge fund manager was convicted of fraud and insider trading he faced twenty years in prison the jury found him guilty of making more than sixty million dollars based on insider information one of the only cases in the last twenty years whe

on obsessing on fear and war so far over ninety percent of you voted no for the ground log on to tom hartman dot com to let us know what you think the poll be open until someone. coming out even though he's retired to living the good life in his gated community home in dallas george w. bush is receiving praise for the killing of osama bin laden and event that happened under president obama's watch details coming up why right wingers believe also that torture played a key role in the killing of bin lot. let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime right here in the uk. i think from a beautiful morning well. we never got the says here good can you say get ready because of the freedom. you know sometimes you see the story and the scene so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else here see some other part of it and realize everything you saw you don't i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. now that we got bin ladin it's time to give credit where credit's due like which were to be pushed that's right the right wingers were quick to start lavishing praise for former presid

go back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour two muslim passengers proved no threat at all the crew of passengers kicked off a delta airlines flight with no explanation as of yet no apology why is this type of discrimination happening in our so called all created equal country plus even though the unemployment rate crept up this last month the number of jobs actually did increase but are they pain the many job seekers are holding out for and getting a great education and a well paid career are no longer being promised to most of this country's most deserving and plenty of us. take our veterans are being pushed out of the american dream. last week ended with new job numbers released from the month of april even though the unemployment rate take back down to nine percent now that there are more people looking for work in america our economy did add more than two hundred forty thousand jobs last month highs again in five years good news right. as investigative journalism any crawl pointed out a recent article when you look a little deeper into the job numbers som

all about the big picture i'm tom hartman come. up with dispatch our white house says no releasing photos of slain extremist leader osama bin laden meanwhile right wingers continue to praise former president george bush for his capture i discuss these topics and more insights from did we front and later we all know fox so-called news has a habit of separating fact from fiction as far distorting the image of the government but surprisingly it didn't start.

go back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour a big cat is out of the bag republicans are outed for passing taxpayer dollars to legal oil executives and he does not only coming from democrats with their own constituents as well plus there's a growing on line campaign aimed at coal refinery plants or coal power plants how coal carer's is using grill theater to raise awareness about the negative effects of coral on children and forget about the revolving door in washington d.c. also using the doggy door on capitol hill in efforts to sabotage the progressive agenda. today senate majority leader harry reid brought a bill to the floor of the sun it cuts off taxpayer subsidies for the five most profitable oil companies technically the bill isn't exactly constitutional since cutting off subsidies raises revenue and any revenue raisers must originate in the house of representatives not the son of the constitution still read want to force republicans to put their name on these subsidies any to vote with the people who vote with the polluters turns out they voted with the pollut

thought about the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour was the death of osama bin laden a result of war tonight a daily take on why war is not the answer and why bush and a lot of the same field strategy plus there's a new rumor that's brewing in the bin laden mission was a fake and i just like the president's birth certificate so what's going to take to shut these deaths it's awful. it's not only the oil corporations that are rolling in dough after the first quarter of this year it's also the for profit health insurance corporations yet health care for example when i was there made nearly two billion dollars in profit so far this year which prompted investors to throw boatloads of cash and other health insurance. corporations like aetna cigna and humana expecting that they also they too will post big profits and health care c.e.o. stephen j. hensley who happens to be the highest paid c.e.o. in the nation making over one hundred million dollars last year is said to be sitting pretty on a stock portfolio of well over a billion dollars so how is all this money flowin

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman we're continuing with our special coverage of the death of osama bin laden i want to turn to what this means for all of us here at home in the wake of bin laden's death interpol issued a media advisory calling for extra vigilance by law enforcement authorities to a heightened terrorist from al qaeda affiliated or al qaeda inspired terrorists as a result of bin laden's death they are part of homeland security on the other hand is not raising any terrorist warnings claiming there's no credible evidence to suggest an attack the taliban has promised to avenge bin laden's death claiming they will carry out attacks in pakistan and america what's new so what dangers still exist now the bin laden is dead and now the bin laden history will america finally begin to heal in the right way after nine eleven here offer his take on what the future of counter terrorism and muslim outreach is in america most. i'm joined by activist author and former california state senator tom hayden. welcome. thomas nice to see you it's great to see you again too sir is

the i tunes also check out our youtube page at youtube dot com slash the big picture and slash tom hartman and don't forget democracy begins when you get out there get accutane your it will see on monday. morning news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. before asians rule today.

the i tunes also check out our youtube page and you tube back on slice now big picture and slash tom hartman and don't forget democracy begins with you get out there get active tag your it will see on monday. morning news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images go girl she's been seeing from the streets of canada. showing up for asians to rule the day. the be. wealthy british style sun it's time to.

and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. for.

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour there will not be any singing and holding hands at a south florida high school school has banned all and touching.

held the seat since eight hundred fifty seven so far over eighty percent of voted yes log on to tom hartman dot com let us know what you think the poll be open until tomorrow morning. time for the good the bad and the insanely ugly the good democratic congressman john yarmuth representative from kentucky came to the defense of middle class advocate elizabeth warren yesterday during a house hearing war on who isn't afraid to take on the banks hers could be the nominee to head up the new consumer financial protection bureau which scares the hell out of republicans that's why a hearing was called yesterday so that republicans could slander her name and call or a liar which they did then it was john yarmuth chance to speak and he said this. to the witness one for the rude and disrespectful behavior of a chair. the snarky comments about a senate race and the questioning of your veracity when there is documented evidence that you were being totally truthful indicates to me that this hearing is all about impugning you because people are free of you and your ability to communicate in very clear ter

along tom hartman of washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture waterboarding well it's not a sport it's a technique of strapping someone down a flat surface place you've been sheet over their face then continuously pouring water over their face. the way to extract information from a terrorist suspect or just good old fashioned torture the g.o.p.'s war on women continues other plan to revoke the right for low income the rape victims to receive the mercy of war and the legalization of medical marijuana could burn up tell you why the white house is urging state governors to veto their laws. you need to know this today president obama went to ground zero to honor the victims of nine eleven and join new yorkers to recognize sunday's moment of justice when the man behind this unthinkable act of terrorism osama bin laden was finally put to death in a somber ceremony the president offered no public remarks he simply laid a wreath at the site where the towers once stood congressman charlie rangle was