Hopkins. The president tweeting out the following. Quote, because we have done so well with energy over the last few years, thank you, mr. President , we are a Net Energy Exporter and now the Number One Energy producer in the world. We dont need middle eastern oil and gas and in fact, have very few tankers there but will help our allies, end quote. So has the rebuilding of our fossil fuel industry made mideast crises like these easier to handle . What do you think . I mean, opec used to call the shots in middle eastern terror, middle eastern disruption used to have a major disruption, even back in the 1980s, in our own economy. Certainly in the 1970s, especially when the environmentalists, the epa started. Thankfully because of the fossil fuel industry, the innovation, fracking, all the deregulation thats come across, terrible events like this will have ultimately a de minimis impact on the energy that powers our modern american lives. I agree. We are less dependent on foreign oil but i would say thank you, president obama, who unleashed a lot of the power of fracking under his administration. Its given us a sense of independence in terms of these cri crises but they are still International Conflicts that could put us back into war in the middle east which is never a good thing. The big difference in policy is that President Trump has allowed leasing on federal lands and obama tried to shut that down. In fact, obama never did anything to help or expedite the increase in u. S. Oil and Gas Production and was very reluctant, for example, to allow exports of lng to europe which is an incredibly important geopolitical weapon for the United States. So it is not trump or obama, really we should be thanking here, its the u. S. Oil industry which to jonathans point engaged in tremendous Technological Progress and produced this incredible, unexpected surge in u. S. Production which indeed has rendered this problem in the middle east much less important than it would have been. David gary, even the most moderate democrat candidate running for the nomination of his party, joe biden, is saying he wants to eliminate fossil fuels during his administration. Took the words right out of my mouth. All i was thinking about just then was they want to shut down fracking, they want to shut down fossil fuels. I will tell you, any move afoot to that, i think we would have been up 25 , even more today which is a huge tax on the consumer and business that economies both here and around the globe wouldnt take. By the way, nobody asked the question on thursday night what are we going to do about airplanes if we get rid of fossil fuel. Quite interesting, they took a pass on the easiest layup question but of course, george in the tank. David lets talk about the dayning n danger in the middle east. Saudi arabia saying the weapons used to attack its Oil Facilities were iranian. Heres what the president said when asked who was responsible. Listen. We are going to find out who definitively did it first. Reporter can you clarify, mr. President , when you said you think iran is responsible for the attacks, do you think i didnt say that. Why do you say that . I said that we think we know who it was but i didnt say anybody. Certainly it would look to most like it was iran. Go ahead. Reporter do you think it was launched from iran . You will find out in great detail in the very near future. David to former state Department Official and former adviser on the Trump Administration, bush administrations, christian whiton. Good to see you. So if indeed we do find out later on in short time, as the president said, that iran is responsible, what would be a proportional response to that act . I dont agree that it ought to be a proportional response. I dont agree that it should be the United States, either. I think thats what the president incidentally is trying to do, by being a little coy about laying blame, is to allow the saudis to step up. I think we should actually do a disproportional response, climb the escalatory ladder and destroy that is entire nuclear program, including some of their naval and aviation facilities. Thats the way you put iran back in a box. The fact iran got away with shooting down an aircraft clearly marked with the insignia of the u. S. Navy just last month, month before, thats why we are in this position now. We need strength and escalation, frankly. This is a very good example of why President Trump took us out of the iran deal. The question is arent the saudis a little bit under the gun here because they apparently left their oil fields so completely unprotected for this kind of attack. What do you make of their lack of preparedness . Thats a great point. This is the rap on the saudis. Even though they spend a lot of money on high tech weapons aircraft from the United States and Missile Defense, they have been putting Missile Defense to good use shooting down iranianmade Ballistic Missiles launched by the houthis against riyadh but leaving key assets undefended, the sachludis are thought of as people that will hang out at the savoy in london and expect other people to fight their fights and maybe they will write a check afterwards. Heres where the president is trying to get them to step up and accept responsibility and together we can put this threat back in a box. Its not just the United States as a 911 service for the gulf. This is gary kaltbaum. If iran did this, they also know that we will know they did this. So the question is, are they nuts . What is their end game when it comes to this, because they know were not going to sit there lying down at this juncture. I think they are a little nuts but its also a little rational. They have gotten away with a tremendous amount. Just this year they promised to disrupt shipping in the persian gulf, then they did it and got away with it. If you look over the broader sweep of the islamic regime that came to power 1979, took american diplomats hostage, 1983, blew up the Marine Barracks in lebanon, then took american officials hostage, tortured some, killed some, 1990s they blew up the khobar towers, then killed hundreds of americans in iraq and never paid a price for that. They have been conditioned over multiple presidencies to get away with this. Hopefully that will come to an end. The president tweeted out locked and loaded. What would a war with iran look like . We are talking about proxy wars all over the world. Im guessing we are not putting a lot of Ground Troops in iran. What would this look like . Yeah. Hopefully it would be very limited. You have middle east experts running around saying theres no good options. There are plenty of good options. We should play to our advantages which are stand up weapons. We certainly do not need to invade this country, do not need to talk about nation building and i dont think anyone really is considering that in the administration. You know, going in and using stand up cruise missiles or Stealth Technology to make them pay a price if we need to grab some of their Little Islands in the persian gulf in case we need to barter for p. O. W. S down the road, thats one thing. This doesnt need to look anything like iraq. It could look like libya which Ronald Reagan struck in 1986 after they killed some americans in west berlin. That type of thing which put gadhafi back in his box. Jonathan hoenig. Thank you for being with us. The old saying is the enemy of my enemy is my friend but in this case, the enemy of our enemy, saudi arabia, theyre not really our friend, are they . If iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world, saudi arabia certainly is number two. Does it really make sense for the u. S. To align itself militarily or otherwise with a country like saudi arabia . Saudi arabia does cause a lot of problems. You are seeing that now, its not getting headlines but in Southeast Asia where they built a tremendous number of mosques and religious schools and you dont just get the buildings, you get their people who are extremists and radical islam, political islam is expanding in Southeast Asia. That will be something theres a toll for later on. If you look at the degrees of who is doing what, who is exporting terrorism throughout the middle east, who is attacking us, its really iran thatot of dictator allies of the United States during the cold war, could be reformable, whereas iran is not. David weve got to go. A quick question, last question. John bolton of course left at the end of last week. Do you think the timing is just coincidental or were the iranians taking advantage of his departure . I think it may be another signal that the iranians sort of are misinterpreting for weakness but i think it was a personality issue between the president and bolton, who is a little unlikable and that was eventually what gelled his fate. David christian whiton, good to see you. Thank you for coming in. Well, no contract, no cars. Tens of thousands of factory workers are now on strike across the country against gm. A live report from detroit and heres the president weighing in on the strike this afternoon. I dont want General Motors to be building plants outside of this country. As you know, they built many plants in china and mexico and i dont like that at all. Im sad to see the strike. Hopefully its going to be a quick one. All Money Managers might seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. 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[ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. David hitting the picket lines, nearly 50,000 workers across the country walking out of gm factories in an organized strike. This is the first one in 12 years. Grady trimble is in detroit, outside of one of gms assembly plants, just three miles from gm headquarters, where contract negotiations are now under way. Grady, whats the latest . Reporter well, david, what you are seeing behind me, as you said, its playing out all across the country at various gm factories. They are picketing, they say, for better wages as well as Better Health care, along with other benefits, and one thing thats important to them is job security. You mentioned the negotiations. Those are going on behind closed doors but a source close to the negotiations tells us that they were tense today, that the two sides more or less exchanged words to try to get back on track, to try to have a conversation going forward. And while we try to figure out when well have a deal between the two sides, the president is weighing in. Hopefully they will be able to work out the gm strike quickly. We dont want General Motors building plants outside of this country and were very strong on th that. The uaw has been very good to me, the members have been very good from the standpoint of voting. Reporter workers at this facility have been picketing since this morning and this particular facility is very important because its set to close in january of 2020 so when we talk about job security, people who work here, they know that their days at least at this plant are numbered, and they hope that their days at gm will last longer with this deal. The middle class has been eroding. We have been losing. More money, more jobs, job security. Ultimately were going to get an agreement with General Motors. We are going to reach a tentative agreement, whether its today or tomorrow. No one knows the time frame. But that is our job and that is our goal. Reporter that source tells us that mexico, as you heard from the president , thats actually a key Sticking Point as these negotiations are ongoing, because gm has such a large footprint, the source says, in mexico. They want to see possibly bringing jobs back here, maybe even to this facility. Gm, for its part, says it already offered billions of dollars of investment here in the u. S. Along with adding 5,000 more jobs and better pay. So right now, it looks like theres no end in sight as these negotiations continue. David . David thank you very much. Well, while these workers are demanding more, the center for Automotive Research says that gm workers actually average 63 an hour in wages and benefits. Compare that with fords average wage of 61 an hour and fiat chryslers 55 an hour in salary and benefits. Still, with more jobs in this economy than job seekers, some say the union has the upper hand in these negotiations. Jonathan, im wondering which side do you think has the upper hand here . Well, david, the union is not serving its members ultimately. Look, gm is closing plants and the president wants gm to open plants here. Unfortunately, the union has pushed up Employment Costs so much that they cant afford to manufacture here. Meanwhile, the union bosses, there has already been at least nine arrests or nine indictments for fraud, their dues are up 25 in terms of these union dues, the president s salary of the union is up by about 30 , and once again, we have unions ruining whether its auto makers, whether its airlines or newspapers, ruining almost every industry in which they have had a formidable example. This is the latest example of how the Union Members are not served by the unions themselves. Look, when the American Car Companies were going out of business, it was the american taxpayers that came and bailed them out. Now what the uaw is asking for, is for them to give assistance, for them to get those same benefits. Henry ford era, when people were able to work and buy the products they were producing, that was a good time. Now what were looking at is ceos getting more and more pay and American Workers falling behind. I fully understand why they are striking. But you cant sort of force a company to be competitive at 63 an hour pay when even foreignowned companies in the u. S. Are paying only 50. Its not feasible. Yes, the taxpayers stepped in, and there were concessions made by the union, but thats because if you remember, we were all shocked to learn that gm was paying people 80 an hour and guess what, they couldnt compete at that level. Jonathan is totally right. The union is pushing here for things that are untenable. For example, health benefits, where the workers are paying 4 of the cost of their socalled cadillac for a reason Health Insurance programs, versus 34 for other workers in the private sector. That just doesnt add up. Good deal. Yes, very good deal. And the outcome is gm losing anywhere between 50 million and 100 million a day. The unions are losing a few million a day. So everybody is a loser. Every day that goes by, that they are on strike, is a bad day for the workers. Theyre not going to be getting paid. Of course, they will try and get that back on the back end if the deal gets done but i just dont understand why go on strike. Sit down at the table, dont screw the company youre working for. David ill tell you, heres one possible suggestion is that there was a big uaw scandal that was taking the headlines. This is a nice diversion. Am i too conspiratorial in thinking thats not coincidence . Last year they lost 35,000 members. The union is under attack not just for corruption but because they are not helping their workers. David michael . I heard you chime in. Union membership has gone from about 40 in the 1980s down to about 10 today. Its not because they have been serving their members so well. The only place that Union Membership is growing is in government and schools. Once again, you have an example of union bosses making out like thieves and the Union Membership having their jobs cut as a result of the policies. Some of those salaries from the ceos could absolutely be given to some of the auto workers. Let the ceos take a little cut, let some of that trickle down. David how about the union bosses . Maybe they should take a cut and let some of that trickle down as well, right . Absolutely. Theres a holistic approach we can take. But thats not how things work anymore. David critics slamming the New York Times for leaving out key details in an article on Sexual Assault allegations against Justice Brett kavanaugh. The president responding moments ago. We will play his comments, next. The world is built for you. So why isnt it all about you when it comes to your money . So. Whats on your mind . We are a 97yearold firm built for right now. Edward jones. Its time for investing to feel individual. Have you lost weight . Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. Should always be working harder. Thats why your cash automatically goes into a Money Market Fund when you open a new account. Just another reminder of the value youll find at fidelity. Open an account today. I think the New York Times made another terrible mistake. Its a shame that a thing like that can happen. I see theyre making a big correction today. Theyve Just Announced the correction but to do that about a Supreme Court justice is a terrible thing. David President Trump blasting the New York Times for leaving out key facts in a new report on accusations of Sexual Assault by Justice Brett kavanaugh. In the original story, the times reported that one of Kavanaughs Yale classmates says he saw the future justice expose himself to a woman at a college party, but the times later had to update the party noting that the woman who was allegedly abused declined to be interviewed and told friends she doesnt remember the incident. President trump tweeting out earlier that the times should be sued for libel. You are an attorney. Does he have a point . No. Theres no way the president is going to be able to sue anyone for libel. Hes a public figure. What i will say is the New York Times does have a lot of explaining to do. But at its essence, this is why we needed a thorough investigation in the first place. When Brett Kavanaughs nomination was rushed through and pushed through, and that fbi investigation, if you even can call it that, wasnt really allowed to happen, it left open questions like this. Now forever, Brett Kavanaugh will have this floating over his head. Thats why we need a thorough investigation. I dont think we left open anything. If this was actually a substantial charge, it would have come forward. There was plenty of opportunity for anyone who had any facts, any witnesses, any corroborating evidence of any kind to come forward with such an accusation. Heaven knows the democrats in the senate were totally open to that. But i think going back to the New York Times this is just the latest in a string of embarrassments for the New York Times where they have had to walk back positions that are simply ideologically motivated, not factdriven, and whatever journalistic integrity used to be ascribed to this organization is long dead. I think its very sad. Well, the number one phrase in journalism, all the news fit to print, should be all the news fit to get kavanaugh off the Supreme Court. They might as well just change that. Look, its unfortunate. You know, life is not a dress rehearsal. You have a man that last i looked was innocent before guilty, and they are just going after him and i dont think anything happens by accident. How did we get all these president ial candidates calling for impeachment three seconds later . A bunch of senators calling for impeachment. Of course, aoc and omar come out for impeachment. Theres a rhyme and a reason for this. They are worried because its 54 and they are worried about it going 63 in the years ahead if not more than that. We both know the standard real quick, the standard for political appointments isnt innocent until proven guilty. This is a Public Opinion court. So the fact that he got pushed through without a real investigation whoa, whoa, whoa. David how do you define real investigation . There was an investigation. The source for this New York Times story never came out probably because he realized he had to be sworn in and he could be convicted of lying if he gave false evidence to the fbi or a senate panel. When the investigation happened, there were a few days that were given for the investigation to actually happen. David because the accusations came out at the very end. Its because it was a blitzkrieg at the end of the whole hearing. Not like there wasnt the ability for investigations to continue. There wasnt a time limit. This guy was given a daily colonoscopy by the news media. They checked everything he did 24 7 since he was born. Give me a break about this thing was not investigated and was not investigated enough. Come on. I have to say, the cloud is not hanging over judge kavanaughs head in my opinion. The cloud is hanging over the New York Times head. Credibility has to be earned and any time, gary, any time a News Organization runs with a nonaccurate, nonvetted, noncorrect, you are doing terrible damage to their own brand. You know, people say whats the difference between any old blogger and the New York Times where they push stuff out david where does the rubber hit the road here . Because the New York Times readership has been increasing. Their stock has been going up because a lot of their readers frankly dont care if the information is true or not. They just care if it supports their opinion. Thats why their credibility is just sinking like a stone. I think they would rather look, a year and a half ago they took on a new publisher, they promised fairness, tried to go back and sort of investigate why they got all the major stories wrong, brexit, the election of donald trump, et cetera, promised to do better. The answer is they care but they are not doing the job. Know what the shame of this is . They have some tremendous fabulous journalists at the New York Times but unfortunately, this political bent gets in the way and drives them up a wall to come up with these things, and unfortunately, they are going to print their newspaper tomorrow. This will be forgotten about four days from now. The people on the right will be yelling and screaming about it but they are just going to move on. Just to be clear, none of the people in the story said it didnt happen. She says she doesnt remember, the person who made the accusation said hes not willing to talk about it on record. Those are two different things. David why . Why didnt he go to the committee to tell them about it . I have no idea. David because you have to be guilty of lying to federal officers. He doesnt want to go through the public execution thats going to happen because thats politics now. If hes not willing to support the story it shouldnt have been printed. Thats a different argument. David new York Governor Andrew Cuomo taking Emergency Action on ecigarettes but a new wall street journal oped says the move could have big unintended consequences. He will tell us what those are. Thats next. Vaping is dangerous. It is addicting young people to nicotine at a very early age. And nicotine is highly addictive. Fun fact 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. And most of that debt is actually from credit cards. Its just not right. But with sofi, you can get your credit cards right by consolidating your Credit Card Debt into one monthly payment. You can get your Interest Rate right by locking in a fixed low rate today. 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Where the nations Biggest Party store can staff up quickly as soon as its time for fun. This is the world of adp. Hr, talent, time, benefits and payroll. Designed for people. It also has the highest growth in manufacturing jobs in the us. Its a competition for the talent. Employees need more than just a paycheck. You definitely want to take advantage of all the benefits you can get. 2 3 of employees said that the workplace is an important source for personal savings and protection solutions. The workplace should be a source of financial security. Keeping your people happy is what keeps your people. Thats Financial Wellness. Put your employees on a path to Financial Wellness with prudential. David new York Governor Andrew Cuomo making an emergency move to ban flavored ecigarettes. Cuomo pointing out flavors like bubblegum and capn crunch are used to get teens to vape. The move coming after President Trump ordered his administration to investigate a similar ban. Here now is the head of the American Consumer institute, steve posias. Steve, what would be wrong with a ban . I think its a kneejerk reaction in the first place. What it does is it points fingers of blame towards really people who werent responsible for the problem. The biggest problem were having right now is theres a whole underground market and counterfeits out there that are leading to deaths and hospitalizations and thats the real thing. The reality is these products, vaping and ecigarettes, are twice as effective than fda approved nicotine replacement therapies. These things do save lives. What we need to do is make sure we keep them out of the hands of teenagers, but on the other side, these have huge benefits. One study suggested that as much as 6. 6 million american lives would be saved over the next ten years over this product. Its more effective again than, you know, patches and things of that sort. Steve, this is a nanny state once again. Its always about oh, what about the children. As you say, these products are not for children. They are not marketed at children. They are not sold to children. They are not made available to children. These are for adult use. Isnt this just coming out of the every individuals choice, every adults choice to put what he or she wants into their own body but government once again stepping in the way and to your point, ultimately leading a lot of people back to nicotine they were trying to quit . Right. They go back to the pack. Look, these studies have shown that this is about 95 safer than combustible products. So they are not totally safe, of course, but you know, if you are under 21, you are not supposed to be selling these things to children. You know, the other issue is theres spotchecks. A lot of the flavors are sold online. There are ways to do this and to do it more effectively, but the real problem we are seeing is the underground, are people taking products, i mean, look at the 34 people in new york, for example. The governor now has issued a ban. One sample of 34 cases, it found that the product of vitamin e acetate was found in most of these. What thats used is to cut and to change the thickness of cannabis oil. So the problem has nothing to do with nicotine, you know. Keep in mind adults who are trying to move themselves off of combustible products, they favor these flavored products. So by reducing that, again, you are going to send people back to the pack and its going to cost lives. This is a little bit shortsighted. Its a kneejerk reaction. I understand that we have to be careful about the teen use of this. I completely get it. But theres really huge unintended consequences. This is gary kaltbaum. I have to disagree, not very often, with jonathan. They are directly marketing to the kids with bubblegum flavor. They might as well have pictures of Spongebob Square pants. I like bubblegum, gary. So steve, do you think that is an issue about how its marketed and the flavors and maybe something should be done something about that because guess what, it is our kids . Well, right. Look, i dont think the marketing should be directed towards kids. But listen, there are alcohol products that are flavored, vanilla and blueberry and things such as that. We can look at bottles of rum and see cartoon characters of a captain on it. Its, you know, lets put it this way. If the problem here is really about counterfeit medications, adulterated products, there are a thousand hits on the videos that teach people how to make cannabis oil. Thats whats going on right now. It does seem like they are two different stories that have been sort of combined and conflated here. One is that people are getting sick and in fact, dying, and as you point out, thats really having to do with marijuana and so forth. And the other is a teen problem and i would kind of agree with you. Gosh, it seems we took decades to get teen smoking down. Finally it is down. I really, itms to me we have to kind of tread carefully here before reversing that trend, because as you say, lives are being saved. Yeah. We are talking record low right now as far as teens and in fact, the irony of this is on the day last wednesday when the administration announced what the fda was doing, the fda had a news release where they demonstrated six out of seven flavor categories were down for teen use this year over last year. I think you hit the nail on the head here. It seems to be that this is an issue of black market thc cartridges and less of tobacco issue. So shouldnt this be something that the Trump Administration takes up in terms of legalizing marijuana . Because if marijuana was legalized, at least there would be a safer way for people to oh, sure, thats the answer. Well, yeah, right now, if you are in those states, you can go, you know, right over and pick up your cannabis oil today, or you can watch the videos and learn how to make it in your basement. I mean, we are really going the wrong direction on this. I think this is a kneejerk reaction that blames the wrong victim. Now, there are two separate issues. Exactly as you said. But you know, there are Different Solutions to them and one is look, were not going to ban Prescription Medications for, you know, for various products just because people are selling counterfeit drugs. Thats what we have going on here. David its an important point you bring up. Its a counterpoint to what is the conventional wisdom and thats very much needed. The counterpoints. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. Perdue pharma filing for bankruptcy amid thousands of lawsuits surrounding its role in the opioid epidemic. A former federal prosecutor on what this will mean for the victims, next. All Money Managers might seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. And while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. Fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other Money Managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Tv aas many safety features powas the rx, the new. The lexus rx has met its match. If theyre talking about you. You must be doing something right. Experience the style, craftsmanship, and technology that have made the rx the leading luxury suv of all time. Lease the 2019 rx 350 for 399 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. They give us excellent customer otservice, every time. E. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. David Purdue Pharma is now filing for bankruptcy. This just days after reaching a tentative settlement with state and local governments that accused the maker of oxycontin of fueling the opioid crisis. Purdue is facing nearly 3,000 lawsuits right now. Lets bring in a former federal prosecutor. What does this mean for the states and the victims who are seeking justice . Its a legal strategy. In other words, you settled with a lot of people but when you file for bankruptcy in federal court, you have the automatic stay, everybody has heard that, and it stays lawsuits that are pending. Now, it gets very technical and in the weeds because there are provisions where a claimant can try to convert the lawsuit into a lawsuit in the Bankruptcy Court called an adversary proceeding. It starts getting very very complicated. In simple english for everybody, basically it buys them time, it holds in abeyance the pending lawsuits but ostensibly, hopefully, toward resolving them, towards settling them. 29 attorneys general have signed off on this plan. Is this something that the bankruptcy judge can still reject . Thats a good question. Thats a good question. I dont think so, actually. I think that, i mean, he could or she has the authority to do that, but i think that thementsn unaffected. Whats more interesting, really interesting, if you think about it, is theincentive, because the point is under the proposed settlement, the idea is that a lot of the funding, its almost going to become a trust fund, will be from continuing sales of the product going forward. That was very interesting. Unfortunately, the victims will be out there rooting for continued sales. That was the completion of my point. That doesnt seem like the very best possible outcome. You incentivized them to be rooting for them to sell more. You mentioned this earlier before i came on, the point is it must be noted as you have a number of times, there is obviously very important usages for these drugs, for Pain Management and so on. So lets hope obviously with all this attention, things will go well. The other related issue, of course, not to bring the 800 pound gorilla into it, is what they did with a lot of the assets. Doug, what about the states that have not said yes yet . What does it mean for them and what happens to the case if a bunch of states stay out of it and want to do something maybe separately . Well, again, that goes back to this question of the automatic stay in Bankruptcy Court. You know, the cases will be held in abeyance which is a big advantage, obviously, for the entity that files for chapter 11 protection. They did it here in the Southern District of new york, by the way, up in white plains where theres a branch of the court. So i mean, to answer your question, basically the lawsuits are going to be held in abeyance and then everybodys going to try to continue negotiating settlements. And keep picking away at this rotting carcass. We have an aging population who is dealing very acutely with Pain Management. Doesnt this ultimately make the development of other types of Pain Management drugs, that less likely to happen because of lawyers and whatnot are feeding off the carcass of this company . Its an excellent point and you know, what david has been saying which is again, you always have this. In other words, you have a legitimate important usage for this and then you have problems, which by the way was in their advertising. They were saying this isnt addictive, please tell people their pain is going to be chronic longterm, even if it wasnt and they got them on the concept of false advertising. I think the case as we discussed would be very hard, david, without that false advertising because you have intervening actors, the pribe eprescribers, physicians. The middleman. David so often in these cases of drugs whether its price issues or danger issues trn, it the middleman pushing the drugs to the doctors. Very often these guys are not certified, are not doctors. Most of the time theyre not doctors. Yet theyre pshg theushing thes in a way thats very irresponsible. And they are legal pills. And they have been approved for those applications by the fda. And used for helping many, many, many millions of people with pain despite the fact it had been abused by some people who have taken them. Absolutely. These drugs were originally created for people with chronic or terminal pain that was never going to go away. For example, i separated my children, a college injury, and they wanted to give me oxycontin for that. Its that kind of stuff that gets people hooked on drugs and its that stuff people are upset about. No question. Again, broken record point, you know, it was again pitching oh, its not addictive, please make sure you tell everybody that. That was the legal theory of liability. Without that, again, i think you have so much intervening behavior. So they are doing business now. What kind of changes have been imposed on them in i mean, what kind of oversight to make sure these egregious shipping millions of pills to little no place dispensaries and so forth no, no, a lot of the relief in the litigation, you are absolutely right, would be to have some kind of oversight. David im getting a wrap. If you were the Legal Adviser of the pharmaceutical company, wouldnt you advise them to stay as far away from pain relief drugs as you could . Otherwise you are looking at a legal nightmare. Except back to here with really good close better oversight. But its a tricky landscape. The point is, you look at cigarettes and tobacco, you look at asbestos. Again, theres going to be a chilling effect. David got to run. New reports that amazon is gaming its site to prioritize profitable products including their own label. Now the company is firing back. What they are telling bulls bears. We have a statement from amazon, coming next. 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David amazon is now denying reports from the wall street journal that its looking to boost its bottom line by changing its product search algorithm to favor items that are more profitable to the site. The Company Giving bulls bears the following statement. Quote, the wall street journal has it wrong. We explained at length that their scoop, in quotes, from unnamed sources was not factually accurate, but they went ahead with the story anyway. The fact is that we have not changed the criteria we use to rank search results to include profitability. We feature the products customers will want regardless of whether they are our own brand or products offered by our selling partners, end quote. But even if this story is true in the journal whats the problem with amazon prioritizing its own line . When we go into supermarkets, there are store brands all over the place and they are highlighted in front of things. You know what else they do . They undercut on price. Where is the antitrust division on all these supermarket products that are front and center . To me, its the same thing. I dont think amazon would be doing anything wrong. They are highlighting their products. We all want to sell our own product. I have no problem with it. Yeah. You would never have the audacity to go up to macys and say you cant have your store windows like that. You have to have certain i mean, thats the whole point here. This is egalitarianism coming to capitalism. Everyone has to be treated equally by amazon. Thats not the case. Amazon is a private company. Of course they should be able to display their most profitable merchandise up front. Theres this hatred towards anything Big Technology now. This is the latest example. You will see regulations likely to follow. Maybe not here at home but in europe very likely. I assume that this is analogouos to google putting up things favorable to google at the top of the search charts because Everybody Knows thats as far as most people go. It has to do with the power of the marketplace. Amazon is such an enormous vendor online, controls so much of online sales that i think people would, i presume the europeans in particular, would look at this as an antitrust issue. So i mean, i do think theres a problem here. I wish amazon in their statement had explained how they are changing their algorithm. Clearly they are doing something different. It would be kind of interesting to know if it isnt this, what is it that they are changing. Yeah, i dont have a problem with them doing this, per se. David if they did. If they did. But as they continue to acquire more of the marketplace, i think they will run into a really difficult problem. I mean, there are very few brands that dont put themselves on amazon now. I think nike is one of them. Even nike is now talking about putting their products on amazon. So you know like whole foods. Unfortunately right now big is bad. If youre big, youre too good, the Justice Department is coming after you, the states are going after you, you cant grow yourself. I worry about companies trying to get bigger and better as we move forward because of how much they are being watched, the old machete taken out and cut you at the knees. David more than the United States, its the euro regulators they are most afraid of. Thats the real sore spot because they have already begun to do the squeezing. They dont want more of that. Good stuff, gang. Thanks. First they came for your meat. Now they might be coming for your chocolate milk or at least that of your kids. One major city could soon join San Francisco and d. C. In banning chocolate milk in Public Schools. Is this going too far . Liz is upset. When i lost my sight, my biggest fear was losing my independence. Mmm. Good. So ive spent my life developing technology to help the visually impaired. We are so good. We built a guide that uses ibm watson. To help the blind. It is already working in cities like tokyo. My dream is to help millions more people like me. Have you lost weight . It is already working in cities like tokyo. Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. David move over chocolate milk. If the new York City Department of education has its way, chocolate milk could soon be banned from the citys Public Schools due to Health Concerns over the high sugar content. The department of health says 8 ounces of chocolate skim milk contains 120 calories and 20 grams of sugar of which 8 grams are added. The same amount of white skim milk only has significantly l s calories. Lets cut to the chase here. Is this a bad idea, the ban . I think it is ridiculous micromanaging. The department of education in new york city has much much bigger things to think about, like how to educate our kids. This irritates the heck out of me. Theres a shocking number of black and brown kids do not learn how to read and write in our Public Schools. Focus on that. My action speaks a lot louder than my words, so heres to the chocolate milk. Let me say this, a country thats legalizing marijuana, but lets get rid of the chocolate milk, theres something seriously wrong with these people. Its really good. It comes down to like the kids. The old saying is he who writes the checks makes the rules. Of course youve got the Public Schools in the loudest voices in this case, the health nuts are making the rules when it comes to chocolate milk. If it was my kid, i wouldnt let them drink chocolate milk. I think they learn that taste is something too sweet. I think if it was a private school, i would say theyre on to something. At least they are not drinking diet coke. Of all the battles to pick, come on new york. David chocolate milk is just fine. For the record jonathan doesnt have kids yet. Neither do i. David that does it for bulls bears. See you next time. Elizabeth drone attack knocking out of half of saudi arabias oil output, an escalation that will slam the world economy. Tonight putting iran on notice. Will the Trump Administration use the u. N. General assembly this week in new york to marshall a Global Response to a regime that endangers the global economy, or will the u. S. Go it alone . Democrats now trying to warn trump dont blame iran. Iran denies this. President trump just speaking in the late afternoon, though. General jack keane with us on how the u. S. Will react. Also putting democrats on notice, will the 2020 democrats still try to attack the. S