People when theyre sleeping mikes and theyre eyelashes are made it ok now i try it on my eyeball and i can see so here you have america youve got this millennial overdosing on you know prescription opioids from drug manufacturers that are effectively creating pharmaceutical whole cost of american l. S. D. Millions of americans arent really where to start now so its meaningless because it doesnt impact our four one k. It does beg and it doesnt because this company that sells these opioids is a private company its one of the Largest Private Companies in America Pharmaceutical Companies these drugs are available to europeans and to asians and to Latin Americans and yet somehow theyre not overdosing at the same sort of level so theres something unique going on here something happened in that time period so what was that time period from twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen something in particular happen there and i dont know what it was but its worth a study americans kids are seventy percent more likely to die before adulthood the kids in other rich countries the gini coefficient in france is very small the gap between walls and pours a very small share to america the tradition and family in europe and in france is very strong you know very typical you see grandma and the kids and the dog all together they all together on vacations are constantly together family values are very strong in france they dont have the United States you have the gini coefficient exploding wealth and income gap exploding you have jeff bezos with a hundred x. Billions of dollars and millions and hundred Million Dollars and fifty Million People america living at or below the poverty line in france the youth has an identity that is constantly inculpated in their minds through education and through society and through culture of being part of a tradition of excellence in the arts for example in the u. S. There is no American Culture i mean the only american cultural artifact would be jazz you know or Something Like that of course thats not even. Majority of the population is a minority of the population so what is there really that america stands for in terms of a cultural or artifact thats about consumption overconsumption obesity we have a winner take all mentality its a lottery mentality in america either where are your debt and the pharmaceutical companies of course a lobbyist going to washington to change the laws of a possible to paddle whole cost in america and nobody frickin cares because they never learn the lessons of World War Two did they they said lets do it again jeff bezos of course over were worth over one hundred billion dollars his Company Amazon just emerged that theyre one of the Top Ten Companies in america with employees on food stamps and they also get into the pharmaceutical selling business take a big get an opiate drug the liberty home by drone thanks jeff your fricken opiate hole cost provoker well weve got more coming your way after the break stay right there. Something did these green pull it to prove. To be only a coma mark. As we said to be a community to you then. To talk to these views both promise as if you twit is so good to power that you must go right to dominique to get to the deadly to be unsettling to communities these. Politicians to do something to. Put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. So when you want to be president. Some want to be. You two going to proceed with the work with the three of them or you could. Im interested always in the arms of. Course. Welcome back to the kaiser report imax keyser time thats returned with tyson slocum hes with a group which calls themselves a Public Citizens Energy Program i want to ask you first of all tyson because i am fairly new in washington d. C. Now you are a lobbyist or youre a quasi lobbyist what are you exactly well im not technically a lobbyist in order to be a lobbyist under a law called the lobbying disclosure act which actually was championed by then speaker Newt Gingrich back in one thousand nine hundred five you got to spend at least twenty percent of your time. Contacting members of congress and executive Branch Officials i usually spend about ten percent of my time doing that so it was just a Public Education and awareness and karate and things like thats correct so a street is where lobbyists are is that is that where a lot of the corporate for hire lobbyists are weve got our office up on capitol hill so theres a bunch of my colleagues lobby but you know i recently testified before congress but that doesnt count towards lobbying because when youre invited to publicly testify its more for Public Education than private law ok n. S. E. Sit down with members of congress and you you know are talking to them about whats going on as you see it and hear sector and hopefully to influence their vote right thats correct in addition to talking to the media and working with grassroots activists you know the there are three main pillars to advocacy media grassroots law where in congress you find the the ear most sympathetic to what youre talking about and a senator or congressman who can you name a name they say this guy really is the guy we go to because hes really in sync with what we were thinking about i think senator Bernie Sanders is a big champion he also is on the Senate Energy committee. So hes got relevant jurisdiction to Energy Issues and im a big fan of him and his work i actually think that hes a very effective legislator senator Maria Cantwell who is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy committee i think is also a very effective advocate for families ok we are in washington d. C. Youre you know in this industry so to speak whats the scuttlebutt on the straight what the Current Administration and what it going to twenty eighteen and twenty twenty what what is like trying to come up with some opposition thats going to get some traction not a feint some big flashy names in the celebrity arena but you know thats not the you know the here we are in the actual belly of the being right so were kind of trendy see what worse that word is an effect of push back against this Current Administration because it will appears as are theyre gathering some momentum theyre not collapsing like people thought that they would theyre actually gaining some momentum so where were the pushback going to be i actually would challenge that theyre gaining some momentum just because they had this tax bill victory i dont think its a popular measure donald trump remains deeply unpopular hes the most unpopular president in recorded history at this point and residence exactly where obama was in his cycle in the white house in terms of popularity versus own popularity and where i live in North Carolina it is the only game in town no instruction talking about anybody on the other side of the aisle and thats and i drive all over this country georgia alabama tennessee North CarolinaSouth Carolina theyre theyre trust from country through and through they love them well but in alabama which is probably as as deep trump countries you can get they just elected a democrat for the first time in twenty five years and i think they see that as a seed of a you know every election is different you know roy moore was insane candidates but you know the fact of the matter is that trump. Didnt really help matters there just want to get more into your an area of energy lets talk pipeline politics the u. S. Is that exporting natural gas liquid natural gas russia has just opened a new mammoth l. N. G. Liquid natural gas terminal whats happening in this area the Natural Gas Prices are pretty depressed right now there was a time several years ago. Whered l. N. G. Prices were extremely high and so the market was very lucrative right now the elegy market is fairly saturated prices are sort of low but countries and and investors understand that there are theres going to be strategic growth here so as natural gas is positioned as more and more the go to fuel in electrical power markets those nations that are positioned to supply natural gas globally are going to be in a good position and so the obama strayhorn was actually fairly supportive of elegy exports they did a number of things unilaterally at the department of energy which is one of the primary agencies that oversees the approval of liquefied natural gas export facilities. The obamas ration actually put into motion the rules that fast track the consideration for these its also important to remember that coal like natural gas its cleaner its cleaner than coal i think that there that would be a positive for trump in for your in your view not necessarily because i think. Because at the same time hes also doing things that are very negative for the like drilling in the National Parks opening right arctic which are clearly stupid and put it in the boldest terms i can its just frickin stupid right and hes also proposed a vast expansion of offshore drilling right on the pacific ironic its ridiculous you know theres a lot of things. With trump where hes and disciplined and a little unfocused and sometimes sloppy in the execution of some of the policies that theyre put out only after this out of jail political you know the grand game as its called something so is it true as i have understood from rating various reports that the u. S. Affectively is becoming the center of price and Energy Industry no more are we going to see opec and saudi arabia filling that role in other words the us through this natural gas through the fracking boom thats taken place and theyre now out of position to be the swing vote. At the price maker the market maker and energy and the price of Energy Saudi Arabia youve got a new regime there who for some reason because hes depriving people of their rights and keeping them in a hotel threatening to kill them and behead them thats called being a reformist apparently but they are now going to be a vassal more than ever before of the u. S. In terms of energy is what is that it is thats going on yes no its something theres no question that fracking has fundamentally transformed Energy Production in the United States and the two thousand and fifteen law change signed by barack obama that ended the forty year ban on exporting crude oil and of course weve always been able to export liquefied natural gas that has been a big variable in Global Markets but i dont think its the chief variable i think that theres a number of other things that are better competing here you can never forget about trends and demand one of the big factors going on right now thats sort of keeping a lid on oil prices at around sixty bucks a barrel is the fact that people are really uncertain where the chinese economy is going and the chinese economy was the big reason in the mid two thousand that we saw this huge increase in Global Crude Oil prices. With an search. Mt about demand growth in huge economy like china and even india for that matter thats so thats keeping a lid on prices but there is no question that that United States production is a global variable for the first time in an awful long time but i wouldnt i wouldnt assign it the primary economy opec i mean i mean the seventys or the petro dollar always came about yet the crisis the Energy Crisis the seventys right seventys you had a huge recession the biggest since the depression and so then the rise of the petro dollar and that quid pro quo going to let saudis sell us their energy they long as they take their dollars and buy u. S. Treasuries with them so they have this quid pro quo they have this this this this relationship going on so is that it seems like thats now out changing the global relationships are changing a bit because now china as you mentioned is a big big into this mix and the middle east is dealing directly with china chinas now at odds with the u. S. And. Does you work in the Energy Business as such do you get into how the u. S. Dollar as the World Reserve currency plays factors into all of this not directly but you know clearly there have been some moves by other countries to price of oil in. Currencies other than theyve really gone and murdered whether its the dollar saying gadhafi who else would try to break free of the u. S. Dollar right i guess i dont see right now another currency you know the euro has taken a big credibility hit so i dont see anything d. For owning the dollar at this point i think a lot of that talk was happening when the euro see a word is a what china is really threatening to pull out of the dollar as a way of challenging the Trump Administration assertion that there may be layers and bad actors in the trade if they go out and dump u. S. Treasuries. Dollar takes a massive hit Energy Prices go up pretty dramatically but then that would be good for the environment right it could be us but you know thats like hammering a nail with a sledgehammer you might achieve your goal but you create a lot of Collateral Damage its also interesting that the big rumored investor in the potential saudi i. P. O. Of its theyd all company is Chinese National around funds right so you know whether or not that i. P. O. Is actually going to happen i dont know that it will its clear that i think china is just you know theyre aggressive in all of these markets so let me ultimately are lobbying for the environment right and for working families we kind of take an approach of Energy Policy as sort of Economic Justice because energy costs represent a huge chunk of the utility and Energy Called the consumer family not the where consumers consumers and workers i think. You know when when trump is unveiling the rollback of the b. P. Safety rules for offshore drilling that were implemented in the wake of that disaster in two thousand and ten you know that is an environmental issue but its also safety issue eleven workers lost their lives on the deepwater horizon rig and so we want to see Strong Public HealthPublic Safety and Worker Protections when it comes to big cant you get this whole idea of green energy being a huge environmental film plus a wage boom right right i mean why is that message not is it is it because the the corporate i guess you bet rick perry is saying that you know im going to i got a protection racket for the Energy Industry the coal is tree so and ive got the president s air so were not going to let the fact that the Green Energy Revolution would be great for wages and great for the environment and protect our National Parks which is our National Assets that we should be protecting. For dear life the fact that these are being raped by Energy Companies is is a travesty beyond words so why cant that message gets through isnt because now youre trying to get the message through what i think works well go what do you need like what do you need what more do you do what other help would be helpful for you to get that message through like im totally on board of this message you know like what can how can we get this message through to this guy in the white house that hes missing the best financial play of his presidency the biggest boom you know the art of the deal the best deal ever seen as frick and a life right right Global Investment is all going to wind up right now slocum its down the street youre like oh it gets lets go there right now thats it for this edition of the kaiser party mass geysers days there were times i guess like a tyson slocum it was Something Like a lobbying group if you want to catch us on twitter and kaiser report next time i go. All to see we have a great team but we need to strengthen before the free float world cold and youre better than a legend to keep it so i took it back. In ninety ninety two thats my forty five for the european championships at the very last moment no one believed in us but we won and im hoping to bring some of that waving spirit to the r. C. C. Recently ive had a lot of practice so i can guarantee you that Peter Schmeichel will be on the best form since my last will come in that throws or three. Thousand zero zero zero zero zero russian. Rice drive. None of those left left left. More or less ok stuff thats really good that join me every thursday on the alec simon show and ill be speaking to guest on the world of politics score does not im show business ill see you then. Fun and welcome to all the parts of europe but not with it for centuries both prussia and the United Kingdom struggle to define their relationship with Continental Europe over the last few here is both seem to have decided to go their separate ways and even both seem to be pulled back what does europe think of it and what is europe after all well to discuss that im now joined by giuliana im not the former Prime Minister of italy and now the countrys Constitutional Court in charge mr maher its great to talk to thank you very much for your time. Now about two years ago you wrote about how a dangerous Cultural Divide is now growing between russia and the west i wonder if your sounds of concern has been allayed since then our has a on the contrary intensified well i dont know whether he turns intensified to suit to me it is still there and. The more i think of it the more it seems to me as sort of nonsense economic political and also historical in my view something has happened which we are responsible that has created again in this country in russia this sense of being so wrong the other is we dont really want us with it i mean you as a partner is or allied but somehow they had as they were saying are. Defending themselves against snow these goes back to the all the history you will know of this country and makes it acceptable to make it very clear and short in my view it was a mistake to bring nato they recklessly to the border of russia well im sure many people in russia would agree agree with you on that point but i personally dont think thats the only point of contention here but i want to see something that you mentioned in that very same article the point that i havent heard anyone else make and that is that russias criticism toward western countries is similar to the gravitas that the jihadist movements a spouse towards the west what made you reach that conclusion you know. The fact there are these identity tarion culture that is gruelling again inside the russian saul brings itself a. Distance between your society and our societies this distance is under the line and by saud to criticism that is similar to the criticism of mostly integra least people. The west with valueless societies the west materialistic the west against to the holy value iran we a community is formed now these goes the behind the soldier in its in the holy notion of the mother russia. And it creates actually a distance this is something that the. I found the frightening because the diffusion of this going to criticism really creates. A deep again but mr mudd if i may interject here i think this is a very interesting observation i think its also very true but i would point to what lies at the root of. Jihadist sentiment toward the west is not on cultural separation but primarily in this the sounds of and just as the sense of an indignity the bloodshed the suffering that western countries brought into many arab societies im sure they were driven by good intentions the west always things that its doing the right thing but i think what matters to the afflicted country is not the intentions but the actual results dont you think that russia has the reason to be concerned at the same kind of do gooding would be visited upon it by the western countries i mean i see an enormous difference here between the two situations. Are you wouldnt turn this into much more than needed because if we saw a problem that exists between us. And it is the ukrainian problem probably all of these differences can be water the dawn little birdie little we storing the coming now bertie that existed years ago so you dont think that it is. Really so you know all of us have a dark side the problem is whether we do things that are was to keep it compressed you mentioned the dark side and i have a lot of friends in the west who believe that russia needs to be saved from the thought that it is sad on spreading your serve serve to be saved from our world derek so exactly but what the people in the west thing is that. Russia is trying to spread its vices you know corruption nepotism authoritarianism and what the west thinks of itself is that it is spreading its virtuous you know a democracy his usual or a point this is not my thing is that in the case in the craze of ukraine it is not so because it dont do it that well is resized because it is a result. Of that country is not. Is not. Protected by russia but the choice that was presented before the ukrainians was either you stay with this dark country to your east timor there russia which is forever doing to authoritarian join our you know western club and they are perfect not necessarily so it was simply you are here. The eastern prefer thirty thirty of the union you can join the union not necessarily can be here in a union go at the moment they would say take it easy. I want to song born to do anything because im only an old man but i think that solving the problem we have with russia is a priority in reducing the pressure around this border is a priority but of course its. That three russia has a responsibility now which is also the International Law as you well know but i dont want to do the things in these terms i simply say let us take this idea of the ceasefire seriously let us do it but mr mayor i appreciate you mentioning International Law because i think its this question is absolutely central to the differences between the current challenges that in russia and the west because the law. You may argue that the law International Law was transgressed in ukraine but it was also transgressed in libya it was also transgressed in iraq i think in syria nobody even protests that it exists anymore and im sure as a constitutional lawyer this issue would be very near and dear to your heart of the law and not only as a mechanism of justice but as a mechanism of restraint how can we bring babbitt the respect to the International Law back into International Politics so this is a very good question and it implies i suppose this is my britain view should we europeans really adopt a common Foreign Policy im convinced that a common Foreign Policy would abide internation the law much more easily as you well know the intervention in libya was decided the one place plus one European Countries not by the European Union it could never have been a European Initiative but its only still eagerly participated in it so it really perhaps would have been done in either way its early. In. The. Year bombing of tripoli or through the no it was sort of third stage but in any event im not here to defend the me here to explain to you that when spin a leader and the Founding Fathers of the utopian idea said we have to fear their way to this day its what was the reason for it the reason was because as long as they enjoy this clues if sober the n. T. They would be aggressive too and they would violate the rules this is continued this pint to the European Union and. Mostly because the European Union is not sufficiently a union in Foreign Policy what makes you believe that even if you will strengthen the mechanisms of integration if you make them more formal that there is a tendency as will be rain then because there is a you know as we know in politics there is always a formal way but when the formal way doesnt work you can always say this is not a matter for mallett is this is a matter of sharing decisions and their food made these decisions. Only after the necessary consensus is being reached around the European Union table the decision to turn. Libya could not have been taken what can i tell you believe me i have no other because this is a counterfactual history and history is another one but i am still convinced that the third there really. Is very useful to reduce their aggressive propensity but it was not the head that thats the thing it was not an act of aggression i think back in two thousand and eleven it was seen as a humanitarian intervention and it was literally something good it was basically eliminating gadhafi so you dont think it was trying to spread the european and western values. It was eliminating gadhafi there is an opinion here in russia that one of the