And this is real money. This is real money. You are the most important part of the show so join our live conversation for the next half hour on twitter or facebook. 7 billion as many dollars as there are people in the world were spent by president ial and congressional candidates Political Parties and those socalled pacs, Political Action committees, during the 2012 election cycle. And every election cycle outspends the previous one. Thats because a good Election Campaign goes nowhere without a parallel Fundraising Campaign to pay for it. But because of wednesdays decision by the u. S. Supreme court, politicians running for office and the organizations that help them will now see the flood gates open with money from contributors just in time for this years vote in november. In a 54 decision the highest court in the land struck down the over all limits in place on what individual donors can give in each federal election cycle. I dont want to confuse things here. The maximum donation allowed for any one president ial or congressional candidate is still capped at 2,600. Now americans have the right to donate the maximum to as many parties, and pacs as they want. So if you want to put your money in all house races Political Party and Political Action commits, and you have the money to do it, nothing stops you now. Before the decision, individual american total contributions was capped at 48,600 for this years election cycle. That cap was 74,600 for all pac, or Political Action committee contributions. After wednesdays decision, the ski is the limit. The pressing issue before the court was whether the restriction setover all violated Americans First amendment rights to free speech. The court said they do. Thats a view championed by most republicans. The other side of the argument sauce the restrictions as necessary to combat the corrupting influence of money. If you thought the wealthy had too much influence in politic before, get ready for a lot more of the same. That mean there is nothing to stop some of americas top done ann romneys like larry elson, charles and dave koch, and holly mogul Steven Spielberg from each spending millions on this years campaign. The one Silver Lining is they will have to report it all. Mike viqueira is covering the ruling from the Supreme Court. Mike who in washington standings to gain from this, and who loses . Well, there is something that happens every january when new house members come into office. They get an ore reenthation and handed a piece of paper, suggestions on how they should spending their time. All that is dwarf fed by the number of hours the Party Leaders suggest they go to raise money. Four hours a day, is suggested, recommended even, that they spend dialing for dollars, trying to get donors to come to the partys aid. And it is very much a pay for play system. Unless the Supreme Court has struck down the lawsover nature you and i know that that buys access and influence. And one of the big winners will be the leader, especially john boehner. Why . Because he has beener to meanted by these outside groups. The super pacs that dont even have to report who their donors are. These are rogue groups. You saw the problems they gave him back at the fiscal cliff. You have seen the problems repeatedly when congress has to vote to raise the debt ceiling now that money boehner and others feel it will be redirected back into leadership pacs, so ironically the winner all of this could be congressional leadership. Thanks very much, mike. Lisa rosenberg is a Government Affairs consult act for the sunlight foundation. A Nonprofit Group that promotes government transparency. She says this is a huge blow to democracy because it drowns out all but a few voices. Lisa good to see you. Thank you so much. Let me start with the the idea that at least now people can donate money through the system and it is accountable for. Does that hold any water for you . Not at all. I think well have a bifurcated system now. Well have the people that want to remain anonymous that will use those organizations to funnel billions of dollars into our election systems. Meanwhile well have just a handful of individuals, maybe a thousand individuals who can and are willing to give a Million Dollars, 2 billion check directly to the parties or candidates. So well just have more money and more pressure to raise more money. Meanwhile the vast vast majority of us will have our voices completely drowned out by all of this money. I would say most people think their voices are drowned out but for every couple of years when somebody asks them to vote. So what is the real net effect on americans other than the fact politic. That is major. It will have a very practical effect in exacerbating the cynicism were all already experiencing. It will i would assume depress voter turnout, depress those small donors who have had a impact in previous campaigns. Why would they bother to give when one individual can write a Million Dollars check. So i think it is very, very bad. Sunlight foundation advocates for contributions over a thousand dollars being sort of publicized and recorded op line within 48 hours. Tell me about that and why you think it would help . Right, we have had a bill introduced by senator kaine from maine, that would require disclosure of thousand dollars contributions within 48 hours. Look, the Supreme Court struck down the you know, the last pillar or almost the last pillar of our Campaign Finance reform system. All that is left is disclosure. So we need to make sure that the public does have access to that information in real time before theres a vote or election, so that they can at least do whatever is within their means to counter act that contribution. Whether that means, you know, bringing together a lot of people to to make more contributions, smaller contributions, whether it means lobbying or flooding the members of Congress Office with phone calls, whatever it is to try to combat that large contribution. If the member of Congress Knows within minutes who is giving them a Million Dollars check the public should know do. Thank you very much. General motors crisis could reach a whole new level. Ill tell you why. And politics and academics collide. That story and more as real keep it here. Were investigating that. We have hired tony, thats what General Motors ceo mary berra said over and over again on tuesday. Tony is a lawyer leading gms internal investigation. The senate panel pushed that conversation forward aggressively. Members were much tougher raising the issue of criminal liability for failure to work. And who knew what, and why are they still at the company . They arent shy about naming names. A engineer was in particular a focus. He was questioned in a case involving a georgia woman who was killed. He told a lawyer he never signed off on changes to the ignition. But senator Claire Mccaskill showed he approved the change in 2006. Listen. Has he been fired . As the investigation has only been going on for a couple of weeks, we have already made process steps as i return to the office well start to look at the implication. Is he still working there every day . Yes. Have there been any other instances where gm is changing a part and fixing a defect and keeps a part number the same . Because this this to me is not a matter of acceptability, this is criminal deception. I am not aware of any, and i it is not an appropriate practice to do. It is not acceptable. I am very disappointed, really as a woman to woman, i am very disappointed, because the culture that you are representing here today is a culture of the status quo. The more i hear and see in these documents, the more i learn about what happened before the reorganization and in connection with the reorganization the more convinced i am that gm has a real exposure to criminal liability. The senate is not buying ceos apology, and neither is heidi moore. Good to see you. We saw the former attorney general of connecticut now senator saying that gm has a real exposure to criminal liability. And this was point blink was criminal deception. We know things that get said in there can sometimes be hyper bollic, but these are lawyers, and people who are experienced with this. This is a real step up from tuesdays hearing. Absolutely. The senate came out swinging against gm. They were advocates of the American People they were very clear about that. Blumenthal has experience with finding former liability he was a former ag of connecticut and a fairly active one. Yes. And he also specifically tried to get gm to stop avoiding liability for car crashes. So gm in its bankruptcy managed to push to avoid liability for any crash happening before 2009. So if anyone died in a crash of a gm car before 2009 they couldnt sue the company because of the bankruptcy. Because of the bankruptcy. At this point, i almost wonder whether the liability i mean this is a big company that does have a lot of money i wonder whether the financial liability is less serious than the fact that gm is not coming out of this looking very good. Gm looks absolutely terrible, but the only thing that really speaks to a corporation is the size of the monetary liability. And blumenthal has suggested a fund for victims of between 3 billion and 8 billion. Which were talking about a 6 million vehicle recall, 13 deaths that we know of. And there could be collateral deaths from things like the working and that causing air bags not to work. Transmission lines, power steering. So it is really voos vast. So you cant believe we know the complete scale of what is going on at gm, and if the scale is anything like one could imagine, it would go far above 3 or 8 billion. There have been bigger recalls. We took at toyota and the brakes, ford and the broncos, and firestone, they all look really bad when it is happening, and then we sort of get past them. But there is a cultural issue here at gm. Certainly the old gm. They are trying to say this is the new gm. Yeah. The senate hit that point again and again, and its impossible to believe that all of a sudden gm this company that is over 100 years old is going to wake up one day and turn over a new leaf because of this crisis. You could tell from berras testimony that that wasnt going to happen. She was really reluctant to hold the old gm responsible, and they are not going to be able to move forward until they decide what happened in the past was wrong. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Well theres controversy on a campus over a class that some way is a lesson in organized labor. Google and the world brain it would be the worlds greatest library, under one digital roof. But at what cost . Google could hold the whole word hostage. Google and the world brainal ja. Evey saturday, join us for exclusive, revealing, and suprizing talks with the most interesting people of our time. Thinking differently is actualy punished. This saturday, is Public Education actually failing america . Education is the biggest investment we make in our futures. But what are we really teaching our kids . I think its a catastrophe that so many School Disticts have cut arts programs back. Could his reforms lead to happier, more fufilled lives. Schools need to encourage the development of imagination. Sir ken robinson talk to al jazeera only on Al Jazeera America the American Labor movement has suffered big declines in Union Membership over the last three deck indicates. Just 11 of all u. S. Workers were union members. The trend corresponds with the growth of income inequality and the struggles of the middle class in this country. So im very interested in laws that affect yup unions. That includes a proposal that would strip Michigan State university a half of Million Dollars if it continues to train union training. Reporter at issue, Training Programs once offered by the National Labor college and supported by the aflcio now available at msu. A state Senate Subcommittee passed a bill saying a publicly funded University Shall not participate in any instructional activity that encouraging or discouraging union activity. The penalty is 500,000. Under krut scrutiny a course like this. They are noncredit, and not offered to students. Msu, adds this service is paid for entire through fees paid by members of the north americas building trade unions and no state appropriations or undergraduate tuition goes to support it. They are against msu offering these courses, arguing the university shouldnt lend its name or facilities. The debate between state lawmakers and universities is not new. In south carolina, lawmakers are considering cutting roughly 70,000 in funds to the college of charleston and usc up state because students were assigned to read books dealing with homosexuality. The cases are different, but the debate is the same at what point with lawmakers withhold money from statefunded institutions. Republicans control the house and senate in michigan. Center joins me now from grand rapids, michigan. Thank you for being with me. Great to be with you. Why are you worried about state . I just feel its wrong for any Public University that is supported by the taxpayers of the state of michigan that is supposed to go and fund either students or graduate stungds, have a problem with them promoting unions. Because you generally speaking wouldnt support greater unionization, but mary snow talked abc south carolina. Would this be the same issue if it is homosexuality . No, these courses are strictly offered to only union members. So were not talking about students, Academic Freedom or free speech. This is about Union Organizing in nonunion places. And i would feel the same way if the coin was reversed and it was the other side. The critics point out that this class is paid for by the unions, and the people who have involved are union organizizers, so what is the irk you with the use of statefunded university . Well, you know, thats a great point. Michigan state has come into my office and said that this makes money. If this makes money. Why did the National Labor college give it up if it was making money for them . But even if you agree it makes money, i still think its wrong to use public taxpayer dollars to promote Union Organizing, and thats what it is doing here. So whether it makes money or doesnt make money it is using public resources. Today our lead story is about the Supreme Court striking down Campaign Finance laws. Im sure these are closely held beliefs of yours, but there are industry organizations that are supporting this . Are these people who donate to campaigns to get people elected . No, absolutely not. This is really and thats why i tried to strike a balance, whether it is encouraging Union Organizing or promoting a class for union busting,iter is wrong. They should be going to lower student tuition and graduate assistance not subsidizing a membership. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. The International Brotherhood of teamsters is one of the Worlds Largest unions. Its president calls the legislation proposed in michigan ludicrous and says if it is passed it could hurt the middle class. Good to see you again, sir. Its good to be here. This is your alma mater. It is. I went to Michigan State. And the whole idea that somehow we would punish the students of that Great University by taking 500,000 away from them because of some class that is being taught and paid for by the Michigan Building trades is ludicrous. What is connection . And what are they afraid of . And the people that are taking the class want to be part of this class. Its paid for with different money. Why punish the rest of the students at Michigan State university. This is pure intimidation, this is the way legislators, especially the rightwing legislatures are out basically to intimidate Michigan State university to control what is taught on the campus i will ask you this next it is going to be home sexuality and evolution they are just going to keep on going. The senator is drawing a very clean line saying she does not side with folks who want to limit Academic Freedom. She does say if this is such a lucrative course why would it they keep doing it . What is the difference . And why are you harming the university and harming their budget by taking this amount of money away from the university. The University Needs all of the money to carry out its mission. Its one of the top universities in the country. So what is the connection . And the answer is this mrasz is being taught and paid for by somebody else, by people that want to be there. So what is the answer . I think this is intimidation and goes along with the people who are sponsoring this, which are antti union, they are antti worker, and they basically let me ask you this you have got to be one of the most influential alumni of Michigan State. University . Im going to do it. This just hand i think on friday. And im going to get ahold of the university and say dont be intimidated standing up. Do what is right. Universities are places for all types of ideas. If the rightwing wants to have class somewhere, they can do that if they pay for it. What is the difference . And the answer is, they want to stifle any idea of unionism as if we can burn books but Union Membership has dropped in the last 30 years. Why do you think you are saying this is an attack on the middle class . Absolutely. What else would it be. They dont want workers and working people to have any power, and Union Workers are people by themselves that have no power, but when they join a Larger Company they have greater power. Thats our mission. But the answer is the abc and rightwing legislature are trying to limit that so they cant do anything and get more people in the labor movement. James hoffa, jr. , always a pleasure to have you on the show, sir. Thank you. A lot of what happens at the New York Stock Exchange today is no more than theater because the stock market is dominated by computer programs. Reports say Goldman Sachs may sell its trading business located on the floor of the exchange. Goldman acquired the business back in 2000, but a lot has changed. Todays trading is all about firms that use computers. For anyone who cares about all investors having the same opportunity to profit, because High Frequency trading has rewritten the rule book about what matters. Today its less about what is a companys real value. Im concerned and want to pick up the pace on investigating whether it is making the trading they were driven to find a better life. I am citizen of this country. I am the top of the world. Now they drive to live everyone should drive a cab in new york city once. Finding peace, security and success. You can work, you can do anything you want to. Hop in as these courageous drivers take you on an inspiring journey. You dont like this country, get the hell out of here. Driven an america tonight special series and dont miss the premiere of borderland, a Ground Breaking Television Event on Al Jazeera America Severe Weather in the midwest leaving behind a trail of destruction and the dangerous storms continuing across the country this morning. Information on the gunman who killed three people at fort hood and what authorities said set him off. Living in the streets of chile following a massive earthquake and many people there are still afraid to go home. A turtle or
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