yang yang, is there anybody making that case before congress? >> making the case, which case? >> that this goes beyond cable television and it has to do with internet access. you're going to control a third of the internet access and you can decide what kind of content gets into people's homes. >> definitely. although most of the hearing focused on tv. internet was also another big topic. comcast has made the case it will control one in three households but it still says the landscape is changing. one thing they are trying to strike is that maybe netflix is being a little bit self-serving trying to make this a consumer play when really they don't want to have to cough up more money. that is an argument to have heard comcast make. they say and they have to compete with netflix who was creating its own content. everyone has some skin in the game and this should not be a reason to prevent them from making this deal happen. >> thank you very much, yang yang, and editor at large cory johnson from san francisco. you can catch cory and the rest of the crew at 6:00 p.m. eastern as part of our comcast everywhere special coverage on bloomberg tv. from the world of the internet to online gaming, sheldon adelson is the richest casino mogul. his net worth is $38 billion. he wants to put a stop to betting online. betty liu has more from an exclusive interview. what did he have to say? >> seems like everyone sees the hypocrisy except for sheldon adelson. he says he wants to do the right thing. he says he is the 11th richest in the world but he wants to stop the exploitation of the poor. that is what he calls online gaming, which is legalized in three states. he is willing to put his money behind this the same way he has put it behind mitt romney in 2012. >> i want to make money from those who can afford it. i can't tell over the internet who is underaged. i can't tell who has financial difficulties. i can't tell who is not gaming responsibly.

and they said they would keep fighting until they get their way. >> yang yang joining us from outsideald's headquarters in illinois. thank you. still to come, secretary of state john kerry wraps up his trip to mexico in a latin american report. and a visit from the first sitting president. we will tidy why mr. obama is heading to the place of late sports greats. ♪ x be sure to check out the late -- >> be sure to check out the latest of bloomberg businessweek. it hits the stands and tablets today. spotifyreaming service has announced it has reached 10 million subscribers. the country was founded in 2006 at a time when the music industry was still adjusting to the advent of itunes. charlie rose spoke with its founder, 31-year-old daniel at. think prettyme, i much every single person told me that getting into the music industry was the purse -- worst possible thing i could do. this was an industry that was a $45 billion industry. and now it is probably about $15 billion. it is one third of the size it was a decade ago. obviously, if you are in it for the money, it's not the right thing t

yang yang joins us with some of the highlights. what happened? clocking in at four hours, we heard plenty of good arguments from both sides for and against the merger. cohen who had the most face time, the most time at the microphone defending the merger. he is a pro at these hearings. this was his second defending this deal. he made the point it is good for competition and public interest in good for the consumer. >> the beneficiary of this enhanced competition and greater is the american consumer. comcast will bring residential customers faster internet speed, more programming choices, more robust wi-fi and are best in system. operating this is customers will benefit as well. argument was the fact time warner cable and comcast to not actually compete in any of the same markets. really stressing for broadband video or voice services they do not compete in any market. so competition is not an issue when consumers will see as much choice. an opponent to the merger called it bogus. >> the fact is comcast and time compete.ble they compete in a number of ways. for instance, to carry local and regional sports teams and advertising dollars. anti-competitive leverage in the broadband market, charging interconnection tolls. netflix was not there. represented at the hearing. another concern is that they will be judge and jury. i say this is about getting a public forum and this will come down to regulators. , i want tog bring in cory johnson. have you take this and? we have been covering this all day long. we look a cable tv 30 years ago. when you look at what cable is today, it is not just tv. it is internet access. so to the guy who say they compete, that is true. those are serious issues. the real issues about access to the home and businesses that comcast and time warner will control over one third of high-speed internet into homes in america. that means they can make products about whose will be delivered quickly and slowly. they have done this in the case of netflix where they decided netflix can pay to get their own fast lane to get their stuff delivered faster than competitors. that is why you have over 100 companies sank don't allow this merger to happen because it will be anti-competitive to every good and service that might otherwise be delivered. , is there anybody making that case before congress? case?ing the case, which >> that this goes beyond cable television and it has to do with internet access. you're going to control a third of the internet access and you can decide what kind of content gets into people's homes. >> definitely. although most of the hearing focused on tv. internet was also another big topic. comcast has made the case it will control one in three households but it still ys the landscape is changing. one thing they are trying to strike is that maybe netflix is being a little bit self-serving trying to make this a consumer when really they don't want to have to cough up more money. that is an argument to have heard comcast make. they say and they have to compete with netflix who was creating its own content. everyone has some skin in the game and this should not be a reason to prevent them from making this deal happen. >> thank you very much, yang yang, and editor at large cory johnson from san francisco. you can catch cory and the rest of the crew at 6:00 p.m. eastern as part of our comcast everywhere special coverage on bloomberg tv. from the world of the internet to online gaming, sheldon adelson is the richest casino mogul. billion.orth is $38 he wants to put a stop to betting online. betty liu has more from an exclusive interview. what did he have to say? theeems like everyone sees hypocrisy except for sheldon adelson. he says he wants to do the right thing. he says he is the 11th richest in the world but he wants to stop the exploitation of the poor. that is what he calls online gaming, which is legalized in three states. he is willing to put his money behind this the same way he has put it behind mitt romney in 2012. i want to make money from those who can afford it. internetell over the who is underaged. i can't tell who has financial difficulties. who is not gaming responsibly. i can't tell if money is being laundered.

yang yang discusses the galactic battle for the home of the george lucas museum. agricultural reporter has details on what's known as an orphan rain. we begin with megan hughs and the resignation of veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki. a public apology followed by a private resignation. this was not totally unexpected, was it? >> pressure had certainly been mounting, a very different resignation or personnel shift than the one that we just heard from spokesman jay carney stepping down and josh earnest taking over. this week a lot of pressure for the secretary to step down. we saw that inspector general's report, we had dozens of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle calling for it. so the president met face to face with the secretary in the oval office this morning. he got that resignation, he also got an update on the va's review of the situation, showing that the issues with delay of care are a widespread problem throughout the system. here's the president shortly after that meeting. >> he does not want to be a distraction because his priority is to fix the problem and make sure our vets are getting the care that they need. that was rick's judgment on behalf of his fellow veterans. and i agree. we don't have time for distractions, we need to fix the problem. >> and that was actually secretary shinseki's second stop of the morning. he began the day with a speech to a homeless veterans group where he announced immediate changes at the v.a. and he apologized to veterans, members of congress and the american people. >> i said when this situation began weeks to months ago that i thought the problem was limited and isolated because i believed that. i no longer believe it. it is systemic. tifes trusting of some and i accepted as accurate reports that i now know to have been misleading with regard to patient wait times. >> that inspector general's report out this week found an average 115-day wait for patients seeking doctors appointments at the phoenix hospital. a statistic that had been covered up by employees trying to game the system. 42 medical centers are still being investigated by the inspector general. >> so now that secretary shinseki has resigned, what's next? >> that internal v.a. report that i just mentioned, the audit, that's expected to be out in public next week. the preliminary results were given to the president today. the white house also has its own review of the situation. that's also likely to be released next week. the secretary, as i mentioned, also announced big changes on his way out. secretary shinseki said he started the process of firing some of the top officials at that phoenix v.a. medical center, senior executives throughout the v.a. aren't going to be receiving bonuses this year and the v.a.'s also contacting the veterans in phoenix who were waiting to get the care that he says that they deserve. now, overseeing the v.a. in the short-term by the way, v.a. deputy secretary sloan gibson. he's obviously got a big job ahead. >> megan hughs joining us. thanks. let's go back to that top story we were telling you about. the resignation of the white house press secretary jay rney, to be replaced by josh earnest. our bloomberg washington correspondent is standing by. was this expected? >> you know, this is something that's been at least talked about in washington for some time. jay carney's been on the job as press secretary in some form or fashion for more than five years. so he's been in this administration for some time. he was serving the vice president, first of all. well known to a lot of us here in washington first of all as a reporter. he was of course with "time" magazine for some time before he mealed this shift into the a -- made this shift into the administration. he's had his tensions with the reporting corps in recent weeks and i don't think anyone at the white house right now in terms of the press corps is surprised by this move. just given the amount of time jay has devoted to the president. and also not that surprised by the president's decision to replace him with another loyal soldier in his white house and that is josh earnest who has been deputy to jay carvey for some time. but this is of course an important post. this is the public face of the administration, when the president himself often not taking and jay carney's had his intention -- tensions but also respect from people within the press corps. they know where he came from. they know how he's handled this job with you he's had his challenges and josh earnest is going to inherit some of those moving forward. >> what's next for jay carney? >> we don't know. he was asked if he was going to join a band and he said probably not. but he might look out for his son's band. i wouldn't be surprised to see jay carney move perhaps back into the media world as a talking head type of some sort. i wouldn't be surprised to see him write a book himself about his experiences. but he's going to have a lot of opportunities but i think the first thing he's going to do is take a little time off with his family. that was the pretty clear indication. he's been going at this pretty nonstop. >> you've been in that white house press briefing room, you've been on the hill, you know jay carney and the back and forth that goes on, as you mentioned, between the white house press secretary and members of the washington press corps. can you give our audience just a little idea of how tough a job is that? not only as you mentioned are you the face of the administration, but you are responsible for giving information out that is picked up by news organizations and then disseminated around the world. >> you have to be an expert in so many fields and you also have to acknowledge going in that you will never satisfy the press corps to the extent that they would like. jay carney has been an obstacle for many of us in trying to get information from this white house. but he's also been helpful at other times. you will never satisfy everyone. part of the balancing act that job requires. >> no doubt. our chief washington correspondent, thank you so much. let's shift gears now. it's the next great food craze if anyone ever heard of it. climate resistant crops growing in south america and africa are starving for investment. leading to lost opportunities for diet diversity. we are in washington to talk about one of these things. you discussed a lot of different foods on this broadcast. this time you've been looking at crop that's very much like quinoa. tell us about it. >> playing off of some of the coverage we've also had today, jay carney were looking for a job in marketing he might want to try something like this food. there is a crop very much like quinoa that has a real attraction and that is it's very resistant to climate change. the obama administration has been talking about how as climate shifts we're going to be looking for alternative food sources, different trade patterns. it's very resistant to climate change, even more so than quinoa. but the problem is, if you're not a star food, you don't get the research and you don't get the marketing. >> why can't we buy this in the grocery store then? >> global food chains are very complex. you have marketing, you have distribution, you have research. if you have a crop like canahua that can be good for a diet in say a whole foods or a regular market or all of the places where quinoa has sold now, you first have to be able to get that quality where it can go to the global food chain. that means it has to have a packaging mechanism, it has to have buyers and sellers and it has to be competitive in the marketplace in terms of having varieties that can actually fit into the food chain in a way that a large global trader would want to take. this particular crop doesn't have that. there are some researchers who are trying to get it there. >> how does the science of the climate change debate, why should anyone care? >> they should care because your quinoa may not grow so easily in the next 20 years. you can see it all over with different crops as global patterns change in terms of where fruits and vegetables are grown, where grains are grown. you're going to look for more sources. 90% of the world's foods come from 20 plants but there's more than 20,000 edible plants on this planet. as the climate changes you need to know more of them. this is what we're looking at with our story. >> what does the future look like then? where else might there be some superfoods if they receive just a little help? >> i was talking with some university of california researchers who are working with.s like mars, including things for what it calls the african orphan crops consortium. they're looking at these underresearched varieties and are wondering what are the nutritional values and freshness values that you could be taking from these crops? what could we be investing in to give us more diet diversity and a more fun trip to the grocery store in years to come? >> it's interesting, when i found out we were doing this story, i told my crew, i said, please don't make me say this word. and i'm usually not fritened -- frightened to say anything. >> canahua. if you can say that and quinoa 10 times in a row, you earned your pay for the day. >> have you ever tried it? >> i have not. i was working with a reporter who went to bolivia. he said it's a lot like quinoa. except it's a little less bitter. you can ground it up into a hot drink like hot chocolate, he says it's delicious. > i'll take his word for it. thank you. coming up, fresh evidence that americans are tightening their purse strippings. we'll examine april's consumer spending numbers when "bottom line" on bloomberg television continues in just a moment. ♪ >> consumer spending in the united states fell in april after the biggest surge in nearly five years. despite several weak economic reports this week, my next guest is very upbeat about the state of the u.s. economy. brian westberry is the chief economist at first trust portfolios which supervises $88 billion in assets. he joins me from his firm's headquarters in wheaten, illinois. welcome back to "bottom line." it's good to see you again. >> it's great to be with you again. >> what happened last month? >> you know, so let's just talk about a broad range of data. i know you're going to get to some other stuff. but this week we got a negative g.d.p. report and it was all about the winter weather, in my opinion. because on that very same day we got this great initial unemployment claims number that was much more real-time. the g.d.p. number's are old. the consumption number us talked about, same thing. december and january were really weak, then we popped back up in february and march and then we had a little payback in april. everybody bought the cars that they didn't buy. so that's what i think happened. if you look at the last couple of months, if you look at the last couple of weeks, the data isn't really weak anymore and i think we're going to accelerate into the summer. >> will that pause by consumers give you pause when you're assessing growth prospects for the second quarter? >> it doesn't. when i look at the last three months, i think the weather really has made these things volatile for month to month. held them down, catch up, payback, but just the last three months consumer spending, after inflation, so even after we adjust for inflation, is up 4.2% at an annualized rate. that's a pretty good number. investment is also up in the last three months. we saw that with the durable goods report and so the bottom line is it looks like g.d.p. in the second quarter is going to show a really nice rebound and be over 3% growth. >> so are you looking at the march and april consumer spending numbers separately or are you analyzing them together to gauge how demand's holding up? >> we're putting those together. that's a great point. because nobody went out and bought a car in january or february in chicago or new york city or, heck, atlanta. they were snowed in at least twice, three times i believe this winter. that just really held data back. then you get a pop when the weather gets a little better and then you have a payback. because you went artificially low, artificially high. and then april i think was just that kind of payback and now we're going to normalize on the trend again. so i look at march and april together and they look pretty strong. >> today's commerce department report, it also showed that income rose .3% in april after advancing .5% in march. so with spending down and earnings up, the savings rate among americans is increasing. how is that going to impact spending near term? >> i think obviously it helps, right? we're in a little bit better fiscal shape. you know, the number that i look at when i'm trying to judge the consumeers' fiscal health, financial health, is the financial obligations ratio. the federal reserve puts this number out. it shows how much of our monthly income we have to pay out for car leases, car loans, home payments, rent, that kind of stuff. and right now that ratio, the amount we have to pay out every month from our income, is the lowest it's been since the 1980's. so savings is up, financial obligations are down, that bodes well for consumer spending for the rest of this year. >> i'm speaking with brian wesbury, chief economist at first trust portfolios. you know consumer purchasing power is growing, debt ratios, as you alluded to, are low. which sectors are going to benefit the most from that? >> so far if you look sort of at the stock market, people have valued those consumer staples things. that's kind of the safety stocks, the safety areas of the market. they're worried about the discretionary spending. i believe that discretionary spending is going to start picking up. housing is starting to pick up. auto sales are already pretty strong but they're likely to pick up as well. so i look at that kind of discretionary area of the economy, people are more likely to go out to eat, to go to equipment,buy stereo you know, or more computer equipment. and so it's that discretionary area, not just the staples that are going to perform in the months ahead. >> what does the current data mean for business investment? record profits we're seeing, balance sheet cash overflowing, are the fundamentals ripe for investment at this time? >> i think they are. corporate profits are at an all-time record high and i believe that's really driven by productivity, you know, the cloud, the smartphone, the tablet, apps. these are not only helping consumers, helping individuals get to places, shop, all of those things, but they're also helping corporations manage their inventories, manage their sales forces, manage their businesses and i think that's really helping. i think corporate profitability is going to continue to rise and also on top of that, capacity utilization is now reached back to average levels of the past 30 years. so corporations are going to have to invest in more capacity. so i think we're right now ready to see, you know, we've called in the plow-horse economy. it's plodding along. but i think this plow horse is going to start to trot a little bit in the quarters ahead. >> we'll leave it there. brian wesbury, first trust portfolios. rooting for your blackhawks. the rangers need an opponent. >> we'd love to play the rangers. let's go, blackhawks. >> have a good weekend. thank you. up next, highlights of our exclusive interview with the interim c.e.o. of target who discusses the challenges facing the next c.e.o. ♪ >> now the latest on ukraine. the organization for security and cooperation in europe lost contact with a five-member team in east ukraine. that's where four members of another mission are still being held by pro-russian rebels. the team is made up of four international workers and one ukrainian translator. meantime, pentagon officials say russia has now pulled back most of its troops from the border with ukraine. ukraine is one of the many things on the agenda as u.s. national security advisor susan rice joins charlie rose. that's tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. new york time, only on bloomberg. now a bloomberg exclusive. the target annual meet something june 11. sbir imc.e.o. will no doubt be dealing with a number of issues. a common stock in its own mini bear market, continued fallout from last year's data breach that left 40 million u.s. credit card customers vulnerable. and a troubled canadian division. joined us on "bloomberg surveillance." >> what we've done has been unacceptable and nobody feels that more than the canadian team up there. we've got a new leadership team who is focused on fixing the technology in the supply chain. parallel to that path, exactly to your point, we're looking at everything we've done there, the assortment, the promotional cadence, how we promote and display the merchandize. >> as for the united states, he says target needs to focus on what he called newness. >> when we're at our best we're driving newness into our stores and we need to get back into that. we have a great pipeline of innovation that we're going to bring to our guests over the next several months but we need to expand that and get more newness out to our guests more quickly. >> and mr. mulligan discussed how the next c.e.o. needs to transform target. >> we need somebody who can lead us to become -- transform us to become a leading omni channel retailer. the individual who has the vision for what's great about target today, the brand and what that brand represent, and how we transform that in a digital world and bring the digital world, mobile, and all of that back to the store and tie those two together. >> and when asked if he would like to be the c.e.o. permanently, mr. mulligan said he expects to be chief financial officer for a very long time. we're coming up on 26 minutes past the hour. that means that bloomberg television is on the markets, matt miller standing by with the details. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. let's get you caught up on where the markets are headed into the end of this session on friday. it will be a positive week but it looks like a little bit of a red arrow at least on the nasdaq there. down .3%. 4,233. the s&p and the dow jones little changed and as you can see, really hovering niece those all-time highs. 19,-- 1,921 on the s&p 500. the dow jones industrial average is 16,697. couple of stocks we're keeping our eye on today, men's warehouse and joseph a. banks. the f.t.c. has closed its probe of the merger between men's warehouse and joseph a. banks. regulators decided to end its investigation saying that competition between the two is primarily among its brick and mortar stores and, quote, buying a suit online does not seem obvious to most people. men's warehouse up 4%. joseph a. bank up as well. both company's boards have given a thumbs up on the deal. bloomberg on the markets every half hour. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome back to the second half hour of "bottom line" on bloomberg television. thanks for staying with us. let's check some of the top stories we're following for you at this hour. former microsoft c.e.o. has agreed to buy the los angeles clippers for a record breaking $2 billion. now it's up to others to determine if the deal goes through. shelley sterling said last night she signed a binding contract for a sale of the clippers by the sterling family trust to ballmer but it's reported that donald sterling's attorneys contend he's a co-owner of the clippers and therefore must agree to a sale. something they say he won't be doing. spacex founder unveiled a spacecraft to ferry up to seven astronauts to low-earth orbit. v-2.craft is called dragon that's a look at the top stories in the news at this hour. it's not jedis and storm troopers battling it out in "star wars" creator george lucas' latest saga, it's cities. the former lucas films c.e.o. and owner is now working on his namesake museum. while san francisco neighbored at skywalker ranch should be the top contender, the windy city is blowing in with a challenge of its own. we size up the unlikely competitor. >> chicago, known for wrigley field, da bears and deep dish pizza, now wants to be home to chewbacca, r-2-d-2 and everything else that comes with a george lucas museum. >> it's a win-win for the city of chicago. >> mayor rahm emmanuel set a target of $55 -- 55 million chicago visitors a year by 2020 with a total of $48 -- 48.4 million last year. the museum could help close the gap. >> there needs to be some real destination drivers and of all the things i've seen in my years on the job, this is truly one of those game changers. >> the proposed lucas cultural arts museum would be a $300 million showcase for lucas' personal collection of art and memorabilia, featuring names like rock well, am diala and vader. a vision is in place even if the location isn't quite yet. in chicago a task force has recommended 17 acres of lake front property currently home to the bears soldier field parking lot. chicago would lease this land for $1, a bargain for george lucas, but city officials hope that the force of the museum will attract visitors and revenue. the "star wars" empire has already earned $27 billion. and with another movie in production and two more planned, there's no apparent end to the interest in the franchise or the man who started it. in san francisco where "star wars" was born, federal officials rejected george lucas' original proposal to build his museum in a national park overlooking the golden gate bridge. still, local leaders are hoping home team advantage can win. >> we think it's a natural tie. the amenities, the digital media and, you know, it is lucas' home. >> but ever since his marriage to his wife, lucas has called chicago his second home. and chicago has its advantages. >> for all the people that this museum is going to drive, i think getting in and out of chicago will be easier than getting from one coast to the other. >> to quote a small but powerful jedee, impossible to see, the future is. lucas is expected to select a ocation this summer. >> yangjoins me now from washington. she just did a jedi mind thingy. if san francisco -- has san francisco offered up a new location for the museum? >> they just have just yesterday. san francisco mayor sent george lucas a personal letter offering him a 2.3 acre spot along the city's water front known as sea wall lot 330. in the letter he writes about the many merits of the location of san francisco including that it's wind protect and enjoys sunshine an average 300 days a year. so a clear dig at the cold winters in the windy city. so while san francisco is the most obvious choice here, they're not taking the competition from chicago lightly. >> i guess if it is san francisco and we can't find corey johnson and emily chang, we'll know where to look. coming up, argentina's president calls some hedge funds, quote, serial predators. we'll tell you why next. ♪ >> it is time for today's latin america report. argentine bondses have returned 40% over the last year. that's the most among emerging ma

yang yang joins us. what were the highlights? >> clocking in at four hours, plenty of arguments on both sides. understandably, it was david cohen, executive vice president of comcast, who fielded most of the questions. he seems to be an old pro in these type of hearing. before the senate last month. there's only one question he could not answer, and that was whether or not the deal would actually mean lower cable bills for comcast subscribers, since they are touting all of these economies of scale and savings. that was one question he could not answer, although he did say that prices would not go up. he defended the deal, mainly saying pro competition -- that this is pro competition and above all else, pro-consumer. ofthe ultimate beneficiary this enhance competition and greater investment is the american consumer. specifically comcast will bring time warner cable residential punch -- customers faster internet speeds, more programming choices, more robust x-1fi, and our best in class operating system. and business customers will benefit as well. but another point he made is with geography. he said in no market will time warner cable and comcast and pete -- compete, meaning consumers will have just as much choice. but on the opponents side of , formerone anti-trust doj lawyer called that claim bogus. but the fact is, -- >> the fact is, time warner cable and comcast to compete. the two companies compete in a number of ways, for instance, they compete to carry local and regional sports teams, and they compete for advertising dollars. >> some of the arguments against the merger include anti-competitive leverage. that is a term that netflix had used, describing their opposition to the deal. they were not represented today, but there were plenty of opponents. and some of the issues were over freedom of speech, that perhaps comcast might pick and choose and limit some of the conservative opinion shows out there and that if the deal were to go through, comcast would be both judge and jury. it is important to note that one group does not -- that does not really have a say in any of this is, in fact, congress. lawmakers made the point that they would not be making any sort of decision, that this was about putting this out into the public forum, getting some insight and transparency on how things might work. but congress has no say in this and it is up to regulators at the doj and the federal communications commission. >> tank you very much, yang yang. i want to bring in my roundtable. jeff mccracken, bloomberg news managing editor, and bloomberg west editor at large in san francisco, and cory johnson. ohen trying to convince lawmakers that this would be good for consumers. i don't know. it seems like if you team up the biggest cable companies in this country it will not be good from -- for consumers. >> in the cable industry it is about investing your product and the product here is programming and innovation. a lot of that cost capital. i think comcast is simply saying, the bigger we are, the bigger leverage will have with our programmers. presumably, the only reason cable prices will go up is because programming costs go up. if cable has more leverage over programming, perhaps that would be -- >> what do you mean by programming? average, 189 channels americans can watch. guess how many they watch? 17 out of the 189. we are charged on average $85 for these channels, and an additional $43 for broadband, 48 grand total of $128

. >> joining us now is yang yang. you have been following the hearing. what happened today? what stood out to you? >> time warner cable and comcast executives were in the hot seat. a congressman, the chairman of the antitrust channel of the house judiciary committee, interrupted the hearing to explain that they were having air-conditioning issues. that was to explain to viewers that if we notice any sweat, it is not because they are uncomfortable or stressing. it is because it was hot. that was a clarification that he felt it was important to make. the grilling was not that intense. that could be explained by the fact that many of the committee members do get political contributions from comcast. as you said, this issue is not for them to approve or deny the they were there to figure out whether this is good for consumers. the executive vice president of comcast made his case. >> the ultimate beneficiary of this enhanced competition and investment is the american consumer. specifically, comcast will bring time warner cable customers faster internet speeds, more programming c

yang yang joins us from capitol hill with a recap. >> that afternoon.omcast executives and time warner cable executives were quite literally in the hot seat is afternoon and this morning. there were air conditioning issues in the hearing room. senator baucus, chairman of the antitrust subcommittee of the house judiciary committee, actually took a moment to's the hearing and explained that if you saw any sweat on any of the that if you saw any sweat on any of the four heads of any of the witnesses, it was because of the air-conditioning problem. that was theh, but only one. but it was not that tough of a grilling as far as hill hearings go. lawmakers made clear that they are not in the position to judge the deal. that decision rests with the fcc and doj regulators. they said that their goal today was to get to the bottom of whether the merger is good for customers. , executive vice president of comcast made his case that the answer is yes. beneficiary of service andd investment is the american consumer. specifically, it will bring customers faster intern

. >> joining us now on capitol hill is bloomberg's yang yang. what stood out to you today? plex high, emily. -- >> high, emily. -- hi, emily. judiciaryan of the committee actually interrupted the panel early on to explain they were having air conditioning issues, to explain to viewers like us that if we notice any sweat it was not because they were on comfortable or stressing, but in fact, because it was hot. that was a clarification he felt was important to make and they all had a good laugh about it, but the laughter ended there. not to say the grueling was all that intense as far as the hill hearings go, which could be explained by the fact that many of the committee members do get political contributions from comcast. but that aside, as you said, this issue is not for them to approve or deny. they were there to figure out whether this is good for consumers. the executive vice president of comcast made his argument. >> the ultimate beneficiary of this enhanced opposition and greater investment is the american can tumor, specifically -- the american consumer. specifically

yang yang with details on china's move on as a notch, trying to present country, and addiction to russian energy area we begin today with ryan in the fledgling days of the ukraine new president. good evening, ryan. ukraine resident length as not have much time to celebrate the voters choice ukrainian -- ukrainian troops, not just the wayne graham troops, a helicopter gunships as well, as they said back then there were, fighting heavily with rebels. they killed 30 rebels so are. it has not then without him than your and server body here in europe follows on the dense as they lost contact with a team of logical of their view will also in the east of the ukraine. all of this is coming just after russia warned ukraine and not to initiate military out rations, saying that would be a loss mistake. the ukraine president elect pushing to clear that area of rebels. >> the follow-up question is, how is russia reacting to the crackdown on those rebels? >> the russians have reiterated their demand that the youth lenience cease their operations in the east of the country. in the last 24 hours, we have

yang yang discusses the galactic battle for the home of the george lucas museum.eporter has details on what's known as an orphan rain. we begin with megan hughs and the resignation of veterans affairs secretary

bloomberg's yang yang traveled to chicago to size up the competition. >> chicago, known for wrigley fieldrs and deep dish pizza now wants to be home to chewbacca, r2d2 and everything else that comes with a george lucas museum. >> it's a win-win for the city of chicago. >> mayor rahm emmanuel set a target of 55 million chicago visitors a year by 2020. with a total of 48.4 million last year, lucas' museum could help close the gap. >> there needs to be some real destination drivers. and of all the things that i've seen in my three-plus years in this job, this is truly one of those game changers. >> the proposed lucas cultural arts museum would be a $300 million showcase for lucas' personal collection of art and memorabilia featuring names like rockwell, am diala and vader -- amidala and vader. in chicago, a mayor oliver task force has recommended lake front property currently homes to the bears soldier field parking lot. chicago would lease this land for $1, a bargain for george lucas, but city officials hope that the force of the museum will attract visitors and revenue. the "star wars" emp

yang yang is in washington for more on the alarming comeback. how did this happen. six months ago, polio was isolated to pakistan and nigeria. since then, the world health organization reported they are seeing a global disturbance as civil war and unrest disrupted vaccination campaigns. 10 countries are infected with the virus. one of the countries posing the greatest risk of exporting the disease to other countries. there has been a seven -- 74 cases including in pakistan. this was supposed to be polio's low season, raising concerns cases could spike in the coming months. the world health organization in a statement today declared a global health emergency and that the international spread of polio today in 2014 cost is an extraordinary event and, if unchecked, the situation could result in a failure to eradicate globally one of the world's most serious vaccine preventable diseases. this has been a decade-long international battle. and a personalized priority for bill gates. the program is backed by the gates foundation and set a goal of complete eradication by 201

yang yang looking into that issue. the ceo the restaurant chain, firehouse subs.e has been local about -- vocal about imposing and increase the minimum wage. the fast food wage fight has gone global now. >> it certainly has. hope thes international reach of the strike will help convince major chains to pay their workers better. it is the u.s. industry that is the target of the strike here. a 28 states, workers hope that thousands of faces on the cause, they can win an increase in the current hourly to $15 an hour. the target will be far off. >> what is their argument beyond getting thousands of people to strike around the world? using campaign is plenty of facts and figures to make the case here. one is the number 1200. the ceo to worker pay ratio in the fast food industry. the largest of any of the industries. many of those businesses say those races would mean decrease hiring and increases in many prices. says they offer competitive pay and benefits and this is an important discussion. it's a highly competitive industry. mcdonald's restaurants will remain open t

yang yang joins me right now. saying the russia card may have worked out. >> it certainly does.deral claims court and a judge answered late wednesday night and issued a preliminary injunction blocking the air force and the united alliance from buying any rocket -- russian-made rockets. a joint venture of lockheed martin and boeing, it uses that are supplied by a russian company and control i at the prime minister dmitry were goes in. -- rogozin. engine argument is one that he's using in his case to test the monopoly over the pentagon's military satellite market will they are the only venture certified to operate within the program. they were awarded another contract back in december. it is that contract that elon musk wants to reopen for competition of stop the injunction is the core of spacex's argument. they released an argument said ula will work- closely with the department of justice to resolve the injunction. -- fighting words. >> i guess so. thank you very much. we will continue to watch that story. coming up, who will own the clippers next event? donald sterling is banne

yang yang is monitoring the hearing. n arekind of receptio they getting?> it is still early, about 30 minutes and. neutral reception. for the most part, the chairman of the house judiciary subcommittee on antitrust said their role is not to approve deal or no deal, the time warner cable-comcast merger. instead, this is a public forum, will consumers be better off? take a listen. the structure and economics of the industry continue to rapidly change. the challenge for policymakers and antitrust regulators is to determine how the consumers' interest is best served and the evolving environment. that environment changing technological environment is something that time warner cable and comcast will try to strike today. the witness part of the panel underway now. for time warner cable and comcast, we have david cohen of comcast. and robert mark, ceo of time warner cable, representing the merger. they are here to really stress three points. pro competition, proconsumer, and pro-public interest. the three p's. they actually submitted the same exact written testim

for more, i would like to bring in yang yang. why has this gone global? the strike are hoping that the international reach of today's movement will convince restaurant chains to pay their workers better. that's the bottom line. this is taking place in 30 countries from japan to morocco, but the united states is the real target of the strikes. in 28 states, 150 cities, workers hope that by putting thousands of faces on the cause, an increase of their current median hourly wage of eight $8.94 to a living wage of $15 an hour will be the result. several fast food chains have closed, but not in new york, so if you are craving a big mac for lunch you should be good to go. >> what are the restaurant saying echo is a going to end up -- what arecommit the restaurant saying? cost theat this will consumer more? >> an increase in menu prices will get passed onto the consumer. make donald's definitely has the biggest bull's-eye target on their back today. they say this is an important discussion. a highly competitive industry. the national restaurant association is fr

yang yang has been following the minimum wage.now you were also at mcdonald's during that fight at the shareholders meeting for higher wages. tell us the significance here in seattle and have a came to this. class i was in chicago. the minimum wage fight all across the country. it is a big day for seattle and for the workers. the minimum wage committee has a plan for 12:00 p.m. eastern and what they are considering is raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, up from the washington state minimum of $9.32 an hour. to be phased in over seven years, at which point the wage will be ingested -- adjusted for inflation. there is not much suspense on the outcome. the mystery is what will happen next year it the university of washington estimates that in seattle, 102,000 workers, about a third of the population, makes $15 or less. the wage increase would put about half $1 billion of extra spending money into seattle's worker pockets. that comes at a cost to businesses. it is hard to predict exactly what will happen. seattle will serve as an

yang jianli, president of initiatives for china, grassroots organization dedicated to a modern democracy in china, survivor of tiananmen square. dr. yang returned to china following completion of his academic studies in 2002. upon arrival he was probably arrested and was held as a political prisoner for five years. now u.s. resident he continues to promote democracy in china through a variety of evidence including leadership roles in the chinese democracy movement, the foundation for john in the 21st century, and the interethnic interface leadership conference you've received numerous awards and recognition's for his work. i would like to note parenthetically that back in 1996, is in effect in december 1996, president clinton unwisely invited the defense minister of china to the white house. he was the operational commander of the forces that fired upon, bayoneted, and killed and maimed so many students and democracy activists. i protested it as did many others. president clinton gave him a 19-gun salute at the white house your he should have sent him to the hague for crimes against community, but gave him all of these and honored for what he was there he went to the army war college and the young officer asked about people dying on tiananmen square. and he said that nobody died at tiananmen square. two days later i put together an emergency hearing of my human rights subcommittee. dr. yang there and bore witness, and i'll never forget, i have his very words and without objection up at his full statement into this record, but he talked about how i so many people killed at 60 and. was already late. i was on a bike and walking with me were some students have retreated from the square and returning to their schools. as we arrived we saw four tanks coming from the square, going west at high speed. the two tanks in front were chasing students. they ran over bodies. everyone was screaming. we counted 11 bodies. he talked about a third take that shot tear gas. ahead for the fight people with with machine guns, all of that he bore witness, right here. we invited him and the chinese embassy said anybody that would like to explain his egregious lie that he made while here in washington. we had an empty chair sitting right there. so dr. yang, thank you for that and i will put your full statement in this record because the lies and deception continue to this day. we wouldn't hear fr