There a way for us to use our vast resources more efficiently maybe effectively maybe even on Foreign Policy well get some of the facts that will harvest from the author of bet the farm how food stop being food fred kaufman joins us from new york fred thank you for being with us the department of agriculture released a recent report which documents that the cost of food for families is about seventy one hundred dollars per year thats only up just a little bit over last year and that has really impacted iowa and south dakota where in the Second Quarter of the year the g. D. P. The Gross Domestic Product which actually negative but as important there are twenty three other states so you combine that all of all of those thats half the states of the nations are being impacted negatively by these food prices because of the commodities that they grow obviously and many people dont realize how many states of the unions have a role in producing this food that makes us really the most plentiful nation in the world with regard to food at the lowest cost but what does that mean for these Rural Communities fred. Well its a its a real hit part because one of the things is that were looking at that that grocery bill and were looking at bread and crackers for instance which are coming from the grain from those from those states really when youre buying a ritz cracker most of that cost in the Grocery Stores for the packaging is for all sorts of other subsidiary costs of the grain itself grain is tanking it a much more drastic way and this is going to spell tree auction really theres got to be some intervention here right and you know its tanking youre absolutely correct and you know this stuff cold but we did see this huge spike back you know two thousand and ten eleven where all commodities were were on a tear and one of the things you know people dont actually understand that these cost of production are actually tied to the commodity be a corn wheat beings or. Live cattle so we produce all this food fred but how much of the prices actually get back to Rural Communities at the same time the question just real quick at the same time fred weve got hunger and malnutrition all around the world how do we deal with this problem. Weve got eight hundred fifteen Million People around the world who are hungry we have all this excess wheat in this country so much access that the price is going down in terms of this spike you have to realize that even during those years one of the reasons for that spike was the unbelievable influx of wall street money which is just been sucked out of the commodity sector because of this overheated stock market so this is actually a really old problem this is not something new since the beginning of civilization farmers have come to market all at the same time with an oversupply of their grains and the prices have tanked and theres a really old and simple solution to this from mesopotamia to egypt to ancient china up until the present day this is the moment for Government Intervention either to go in there and set price floors to. Buy the grain and put it in a grain reserve and what will happen is you will stabilize that price you will bring it up food is too important to be messing around and driving farmers out of business now some might ask well what does the government need to do with their grain in fact every country on earth except the United States has a National Grain reserve to guarantee Food Sovereignty why doesnt the United States have this its absolutely absurd so once we have that grain what can we do with it well there are a number of things we can do with it either put it in that grain reserve or do the traditional thing weve done with Foreign Relations and use a plow shares in swords diplomacy and start getting that food out to the world where its needed most which also happens to be places where we need to get some political clout places where terrorism has been breeding in Eastern Africa and places like that where the United States can really come in and do the savior. Fantastica but do you think this is ministrations able to comprehend and get on that task fred that Foreign Policy component of commodities this administration is. Particularly unable to understand any of these subtleties theyve been events aerating the diplomatic corps they have no sense of the of the pushes and pulls of how foreign diplomacy works and they also dont understand Foreign Trade i mean theyre putting up all these tariffs and barriers and whats that whats that doing its making the e. U. And france in particular putting up their own tariffs and barriers to protect their own farmers so theyre not put in the position of well really the farmers lets say in a country like india who are losing so much money that farmer suicides are are very Common People are drinking the pesticides which were meant for their crops its a global shame. Fred thank you so much you know ive heard theres vacancies at the state Department Middle try to smuggle you in fred kaufman author of bet the farm how food stop being food our gratitude for your time. The u. S. Homeless population is on the rise for the First Time Since the Great Recession new york citys Homeless Population rose four percent in two thousand and seventeen and several cities in the west including Seattle Portland san diego and sacramento all reported surges and People Living on the streets are to correspondent the toughest week has more on that. Its arguably one of the worst one movie disasters in any first world country even though millions are being spent to combat the issue of hopelessness in the u. S. Those in the middle of the price just saying the numbers are only well we. Weve never seen anything like this driving through the streets of los angeles its hard to know what the countrys worst Homeless Population its you know its like a female like red cross disaster and it needs to be treated as such and the bills c. E. O. Of the Union Rescue Mission has been working with those without a home for nearly thirty years bill says right now its the worst hes ever seen we have more families whove come to us than even during the worst part of the Great Recession bell says its in part due to drastic thirty percent increase in rents thats pushing homelessness past the tipping points for sean really it all changed when really found out the restaurant he was working at was closing down i wasnt saving any money couldnt afford an iraqi. Family really. Good one we were too much for our promise three roughly three years of value almost one. Really you should never be ready for the people who live outside everywhere on the sidewalk the canyons to what you see right here under a bridge we are one hundred eighty four toilet shy of a un refugee camp in syria with only nine working toilets among more than twenty five hundred people on the infamous skid row sanitation is a huge concern well the city of l. A. Alone has spent four point two Million Dollars to put in a handful of bathrooms its simply not enough came in contact with feces on the on the sidewalk and i contracted flesh eating a coal ice trap and staff bails eventually had his right leg amputated last year just from walking on the streets this love the city of los angeles to declare a state of emergency but it still hasnt stopped other viruses like hepatitis to plague the Homeless Population drug addiction is also among the main culprits honest to why some dont get off the streets the bad part is i got here a prolific from april through october and the program i was showing a low it was one of the lucky ones his relapse last seen at the Union Rescue Mission let him to get the help he needed now hes been clean for a year working as an apprentice at the shelter i would hope that we do it just because of our hearts we will not allow somebody to be devastated by homelessness but if its if it takes a lot then then we need to pass a law bill says with more than one thousand sex offenders on skid row alone you know how women and children sleeping on air mattresses in their chapel only a bandaid for now the bills hopes the country will wake up and fix this it growing epidemic in los angeles and sweets r. T. Stay right there are plenty more best of buses on the way well be right back. In twenty eighteen what will see are Central Banks adding bit coy to their Strategic Reserves alongside gold so big gold buyers like china and russia will be adding bitcoin to their Strategic Reserves some banks possibly in bed as well and they could completely change their fortunes in the Global Economy by switching over to crypto switching over to a bit coy and then that will set a precedent for other countries to follow suit. About your sudden passing ive only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your last wrong turn. Youre out caught up to us we all knew it would i tell you im sorry i could so i write these last words and hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. I remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. But then my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was a cave still some are fond of you those that didnt like to question our arcade and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind its consumed with death this one quite different person to speak to now because there are no other takers. To blame that Mainstream Media has met its maker. Where is that country called russia you know when i was there but no one has ever heard about that country never even heard about most schools. How. Old is the Consumer Financial watchdog in the doghouse. A District Court judge in washington d. C. Has ruled that President Trumps budget director Mick Mulvaney the former member of congress can remain as the new acting director of the c f p b the consumer part for a natural Protection Bureau but mr mulvaney has argued and voted against the very creation of the Consumer Protection agency Bartlett Naylor with Public Citizen is here to tell us what it might mean mr naylor bartlet thanks for joining us weve actually had the pleasure of working together were a member of an elite bar club in washington d. C. So i know you are probably one of the best guys in washington to ask about this subject first lets just do a quick fly by on the decision of the judge whats your take the judge denied the request of the end and wish for a temporary restraining order on the ability of nick milvain need to become the acting director of the see it p b i think its up to the courts and presuming this will be appealed to make the final decision i think the argument is that the statute that created the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau provides for a Succession Plan in the absence of the director and that would be the. The woman in this case lee and anguish there is a complete there is a default law federal vacancies act that provides that in the absence of such a clear statute then the president can name somebody that is confirmed by the senate and thats what the president did with Mick Mulvaney i personally believe that the the law is clear on that thats what the attorney for ms english argued before the courts that judge appointed by trump differed. Yeah and i agree with you i mean when theres a specific language in the wall street reform and Consumer Protection act of two thousand and ten the. Says this is what happens and i want to get to the independence of the c. F. P. Be in a moment but for planning purposes lets just assume that theoretically at least Mick Mulvaney stays at the c. F. P. Be for the forseeable future he clearly hates this thing a President Trump says the agency is a sick joke so what do you think hell do bartlett on on scaling back the c. F. P. Bees work. Well given the universe of good works that the c. F. P. B. Has accomplished and would plan to accomplish under a sensible leadership the potential harms are enormous. Theres a fourth forthcoming role on payday lending this is the lending that goes to some of the most vulnerable of our citizens and that can be this aerated there is a Consumer Complaint database this is where if you have a complaint with the bank you can petition to the f. C. C. Your petition is part of a database thats public you can see if other people had some of those same problems the c. F. P. Be then contacts the Financial Institution to see what the problem is and ideally if there is really a problem then restitution is paid this could go dark under most veiny a host of other potential rulemaking could be simply put in the trash can and he can roll back any number of areas from inforce meant we do know that we unfortunately have a very predatory financial industry that is you know lifting the wallets of so many americans. To simply making sure that. Companies are operating as they should be perhaps the most conspicuous example of misconduct has been wells fargo which created millions of fake accounts in the service of trying to have. Sales quotas and it was the c. F. P. B. That brought this case charging roughly one hundred Million Dollars in fines and it has made it americans even more aware that companies as big as wells fargo with some five thousand branches can be engaged in such widespread misconduct that type of enforcement could weather could be eliminated under. A director and administration that is called dodd frank a bad law and its cause and in terms of Mick Mulvaney he is called the c a p b a sad sick joke. Well its it seems that the that the fox may not just be guarding the hen house the fox may be inside the red alert red alert but speaking of you know money thats been returned to actual consumers i mean its Something Like twenty million maybe close to thirty million American Consumers had twelve billion with a big dollars that was in or purposely collected returned to them and part of this is a deal with wells fargo but its also some of the art other large Financial Institutions bank of america and citibank and do you think that that sort of thing will continue or might Mick Mulvaney just put an end to that. The worry is that he will put an end to that i think you can measure the hostility of the Financial Sector by that figure you mentioned some twelve billion dollars has been returned from this industry to the some thirty million customers from whom it was taken and i think that the the the propensity of Financial Firms to do that and do it even where c f p b is has yet taken forceful action is so pervasive that as that a directive from a new director to to fall asleep or to be less aggressive really imperils. The American Consumer the financial industry has grown to where it used to absorb Something Like three cents of every dollar American Consumer dollar to Something Like six cents and its not because theyve become more efficient the way you know your smartphone which probably has more computer power than what got us you know navigated the Apollo Missions to land on the moon and that has that has grown more efficient more less expensive whereas the Financial Sector simply dealing with our money has grown more expensive thats just the overarching plumbing the Financial Sector in addition to that there are the scams of the hundreds of which that the c. A p p has uncovered and found restitution for the victims all of that is in jeopardy under a director again who believes this agency shouldnt exist in the first place. Just real quick you mentioned a minute ago about the less fortunate among us and how there is a we know theres a racial wealth gap in the u. S. And see if the bee is really chartered to protect consumers from discriminatory practices on mortgages credit cards car loans and we dont want that gap to widen even theyve dealt with payday loans and payment of wages with prepaid cards which disproportionately harm people of color minorities can you speak to this sort of a Racial Injustice issue which ive really heard nobody talk about in all of the c. F. P. Be discussion in the last several days explain that yes people of color minorities africanamericans latinos are even as we speak under banked they have incomes and banking relationships in a much less lower percentage than their white counterparts and they are prey to abusive and predatory lending to see if p. B. S. Brought in cases against home lenders who are either shunning minorities or charging them higher. Even when they qualify for the better rate Credit CreditCard Companies are abusing minorities in much higher levels than they are their white counterparts to see if p. P. Has brought a number of these cases and returned again returned money to these victims. Without an aggressive c. F. P. Be this racial income inequality and simply financial justice is going to be exacerbated. Thank you and you know it makes me think about one of the reasons that independent agencies are so important is that they can actually remain above politics and this decision by the judge sort of up and that and politics comes into play with the new administration and you know bad happens in government of course elections have consequences but this agency was set up to not deal with politics as much does this concern you this decision with regard to other financial regulators the other four five that are out there yes this one in particular the see if p. P. Was set up to have a Senate Confirmed independent regulator such that when he or she makes difficult decisions they are immune from influence from politicians with nick bill veiny in there at least temporarily he could be removed at the president s will if were he unlikely were he to take an assertive step he could be simply removed from office unlike a Senate Confirmed director thats the single most troubling part of having having him serve there but it is taking place all over the financial regulatory agencies from the controller of the currency to the Federal Reserve were putting in wall street agents people that you know a few weeks ago were lobbyist the most striking example is a wells fargo attorney who was put in control of Americas National banks the agency is called the controller of the currency hes the one that. Defended wells fargo against a notable Class Action Lawsuit and then at the control of the currency in a temporary position that nominated or named by trump he took all sorts of steps and made pronouncements about completely transforming the Banking Industry such as for example letting walmart and bank of america emerge this didnt happen he has now been replaced by a confirmed director but this is an example of what the trumpet ministrations seems to be bent on doing is taking all of the guardrails off of wall street and letting them run too fast and recklessly. Well thats one of the reasons why were really glad to have you Public Citizen another Group Although theres not many of them and having worked with many consumer groups over the years like you have it reminds me of that green day song at boulevard of broken dreams and you know you walk a lonely road and there are not many folks arguing on behalf of average americans versus wall street how do you do it how do you walk that lonely road bartlett yes well to put it in america there are some three thousand wall street lobbyists in this town you know five or six for every member of congress and theres only a couple of dozen of us but on our side is the American Public polls show that the American Public wants wall street reform and lawmakers and regulators that side with the banks do so at their peril in terms of Public Opinion i think that. The ravages of the two thousand and eight financial crash are still understood by americans and i think this is expressed at the voting polls the conservative cato found institute actually released a poll showing that the majority of the vast majority of americans want strong wall street reform so that when lawmakers and regulators roll back the safeguards they know theyre the American Public is at some point going. Held hold them to account at the election booth certainly in basic popular opinion. Thank you so much you know one thing we didnt get to and perhaps another time is the Campaign Contributions by wall street in addition to those five or six lobbyist for every member of congress but bartlett nailer rePublic Citizen you know weve heard some things that i havent seen any place else in the news today from you so thanks for being with us sharing your expertise and we want you back to keep a close call so im whats going on at the c. F. P. Be thanks for joining us my pleasure thank you for having me. This year we have witnessed so many new individual investors getting into markets and theyve done so in a typical fashion theyre getting into Digital Currencies and a bunch other things actually this is a far cry from the old school investing scheme you know back in the day perhaps the father sat down with his kids and said Something Like this sonny boy girly suit let me explain investing to you as a stockholder when you get older youll recall this chat about stock this stock that you remember that i said with a grin that these shares of a t. N. T. Or something it can well be worth something then so were going to hold all of these bad boys one day when then arise will be rich it will change our lives thats how well the rise high fives. Thats not exactly how things are going right now traders right now arent just buying and holding forever so were going short theyre buying only for a little bit of time and what prices might be in a few weeks to a few months as opposed to long term so trading markets is morphing as are the traders themselves more millennial tech setter just be careful out there there are currently a lots of schemes that could take advantage of you make sure not getting into something that could be fraudulent there is a risk with every investment again just be careful thanks for watching be sure to catch boom bust on you tube at youtube dot com slash boom bust r. T. C n x time. With manufacture consent to the public will. When the ruling class is some protect themselves. With the famous go read this and be the one percent. We can all middle of the room sick. President Donald Trumps two thousand and Seventeen NationalSecurity Strategy report tells us how he sees the world or rather how the washington Foreign Policy leads to clearly washingtons neo cons are running the show. In some American Cities the police. Cling to read between. People who walk on the streets of the United States who are at risk from the very people who are supposed to protect that. Are afraid of police. You can see something happening and this is why i dont. Call the cops in. Their lives chasing the with their fingers on the trigger you never know better safe than sorry i dont know that someone else is going to die so yes unfortunately around here we are. Told from. True. Life among the ruins people in mosul speak to all t. About their struggle for survival five months off to being liberated from islamic state. You know hot pepper plant and to hell and its the one and you know god im not going to block you madean told. Them to look at. The Russian Foreign minister describes americas threats against north korea as unacceptable during a phone call with washingtons top diplomats. And an israeli politician is filmed unleashing of insults on the palestinians on the way from gaza to visit their relatives in israeli jails