The Asia Pacific Economic corporation or apec summit just ended today in beijing. And president obama joined russia and china in pledging to consider a chinese chinesepacked trade pact involving all three countries. The proposal appears to be chinas answer to another free trade the Transpacific Partnership. I told you about it today but im going to tell you about it again because youre going to be hearing about this a lot. The tpp, Transpacific Partnership is about countries that border on the pacific. Its a 12country free trade zone being negotiated right now. China is specifically being left out of these talks by design straining bilateral relations with the United States. Instead, china is looking west toward russia in search of trade blocks. It has proposed new silk roads as they call them to try to boost trade with the rest of the world. Russia, in turn, is embracing china with Gas Pipelines and trade deals. But thats fuelling tensions with the u. S. And the west. It looks like the world powers are fracturing back into a bipolar world. This time though, theyre engaging in war fair and competing trade pacts are the battle fields. Progress is being made. The u. S. And china are expected to cut tariffs but the competition for free trade agreements is still fierce and are likely the wave of the future. Back in 1993, the u. S. , canada, and mexico signed onto nafta, the north American Free trade agreement. The debate is still unresolved as to whether it was been good or bad for america. But in light of all the free trade proposals around the world right now, and the real impact they could have on your lives, its time to revisit naftas benefits and pitfalls. Mary snow has this report. Reporter the year was 1993. The leaders of the u. S. , mexico, and canada formed the Worlds Largest trading block by signing the north American Free trade agreement. Nafta will tear down trade barriers. Reporter the goal was to get rid of most tariffs on goods traded between the three countries. More than 20 years later, nafta now links 450 million people. Economic output of all countries combined Second Degree 17 trillion. Trade flow has gone to more than 1. 1 trillion in 2012. But the Economic Impact is still debated. Unions unions have strongly opposed nafta. They argue wages is another casualty. The chamber of commerce sees it differently claiming 5 million american jobs are created due to nafta. It remains a dividing issue more than 20 years after being signed is the only thing clear about nafta. Matthew, good to see you. If china gets this free trade zone that involves russia and the United States, what a megafree trade zone that would be. What does that end up looking like . Well, i think china should get credit for whats accomplished during it. But its important to remember that the free trade area of the asiapacific is a longestablished idea. The reason for apec was to establish Something Like this is what the president of singapore said this afternoon. It takes a serious step forward in really formalizing the pursuit of this goal rather than just the general goal of its creation. Lets go back to this conversation about nafta. It is reallying in that all these years later since 1993, people are dug in. Some say it created 5 million jobs in america and i could talk to others, in fact, often with the labor unions, who say it destroyed american jobs, certainly manufacturing jobs. Things like that. How are americans supposed to regard these negotiations and potentially new trade pacts . I think youll see a similar debate over the Economic Impact. Most analysis is that there would be a net positive impact on the u. S. Economy, Something Like 60 billion if the tpp were agreed by 2020 and 167 billion a year was concluded. I think what that will analysis misses is the strategic impact of this kind of cooperation. The president announced in 2010 that the u. S. Was going to spend greater attention and time and effort on its relationships in asia and really asian leaders are looking to the tpp to prove that point. And so the success or failure of the tpp and agreeing to it by the end of this administration i think will be inter interpret you would make the assumption that, thats generally good for everybody. Always winners and losers but generally good. The way our economies grow today were so bifurcated that there are going to be a lot of people who are going to say this is not good for working class, regular americans. Is that going to be a new head wind to trade pacts that wasnt there in 1993 . I would think that it would be similar. You saw in 1994 a report discusseded that there were similar debates. And i think the debate on this agreement if its made will line up similarly if the. I think youre probably right about that. Matthew, good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us. Matthew stump joining us from washington. Coming up, why americas next housing crisis could be right around the corner. Ound the corner. Russian president Vladimir Putin has been taking full advantage of the summit in beijing tonight to reinforce moscows by pivot with china. Oil has long bolstered putins agenda at home and abroad. But the recent slump in oil prices could undermine the key to putins power. Reporter oil, russias most valuable export and the driver of Economic Growth that fuels Vladimir Putins popularity in his first eight years. But with oil trading 20 shy of the 100 average kremlin needs could be putins achilles heel. If the price of oil stays like this, that could be disasterous for russias economy. Reporter western sanctions are feeding a perfect storm bearing down on russias economy. The ruble has lost more than a third of its value against the dollar this year. There is a Silver Lining because oil trades in u. S. Dollars, russia gets more rubles for the oil it sells. But the inflation russia is also counting on to fund its budget next year. Inflation prompted Interest Rates to hike to 9. 5 last month in russia. And it boosted its estimate for capital fleeing the country this year to 128 billion. More than double 2013. Against this backdrop of stagnant growth and high inflation, russia is tapping its more than 400 billion in gold reserve. That could eat up all russias reserve meaning russia needs to borrow more from china or other friends and that they have to cut much more. Reporter but with putins Approval Rating running higher than 80 , the russian president has plenty of room to fall before help finds himself over a barrel. Falling oil prices combined with western sanctions over ukraine have been hammering russias economy and now the situation in ukraine is getting worse as the cease fire signed tod months ago falls apart. Shelling and artillery fire signal the worst fighting in the region since that september truce and it appears both sides are preparing for more violence. We have a member of the khan Khan Parliament who is of ukranian decent and is also the author of sale of the century. She also spoke with the president of ukraine and joins us now from toronto. Whats happening there . This is a very nuanced and complicated issue at the best of times. Why does it look like were losing ground and things are worsening . Its important to remember that this cease fire has been very, very fragile from the start. People were dying from day one and have been being killed this entire time. What has really concerned ukranians and their western allies is that there are very credible reports of a major and quite open movement of some heavy weaponry in from russia into the parts of ukraine that are controlled by these socalled separatists. So people are really afraid that there is a military buildup and that, that could be the precursor to a really serious escalation of the fighting. Ukraines ambassador to the u. N. Said tuesday he thinks russia is getting ready for a fullscale move in. You called them socalled separatists. Whats happening on that side . Who is pulling the strings in Eastern Ukraine . We believe its been pretty clear from the start, and i think that this movement of weaponry in from russia into these areas in Eastern Ukraine is further confirmation that this is very much something a state let, propped up by russia. And thats an important point to make. I think its important to point out that ukraine has been independent since 1991, and although the ukrainen economy has done remarkably badly in that period, ukraine has been a democracy since then with a really free press. In all of that period, there was no indigenous separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine or crimea. So this is a group being armeded from russia. Its not a ukranian civil war. This is a conflict between ukraine and russia. Its getting toward winter. Theres still an unsable agreement between russia and ukraine and natural gas and those sanctions are starting to hurt everybody. Clearly thats an inopportune for that. How do you see that playing out . Actually, i think that Angela Merkel has been a surprisingly Strong Player in all of this. There was a lot of concern about how strongly germany would be prepared to respond to an aggressive russia. Among the european countries, germany has one of the strongest economic relationships with russia and merkel herself has a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin based on her own growing up in east germany and the time he was a kgb officer in east germany. But shes been willing to go against german Public Opinion and say to the german people that germany is going to have to take an economic hit in order to guarantee european security. I think that shes been really strong and an important player here. The issue that i think we need to look ahead to is whether were going to see russia trying to play off cooperation in the middle east, particularly cooperation with iran, against the west sort of turning a blind eye to what russia is doing in ukraine if the and weve seen in the past, Vladimir Putin has many faults. I think that your Previous Report was excellent in pointing out his shortcomings as an economic manager of russia. But hes proven to be a pretty good shortterm chess player. An issue that i think all of us need to watch is whether were going to try to see some behind the scenes tradeoffs there. Always good to talk to you and good to talk to you under different circumstances. The last time we were talking about that shooting on Parliament Hill while you were holed up there. So its nice to see you safe and happy. Two weeks ahead of the november 24th deadline for tehran to sign an agreement on its Nuclear Program with six world powers. It reflects moscows intention to deepen its cooperation with tehran ahead of possible softening of sanctions against that country coming up, an Indian Muslim who moved from britain to america as a teenager. How he got here is worthy of a book. So he wrote one and is here to tell me all about it. E all about it. One year ago america tonight brought you the story that shocked the nation sex crimes on campus i remember waking up and he was trying to have sex me. Now we return has anything changed . His continued presence on the campus put the entire community at risk for the better. I was arrested for another false charge that she had made up. America tonights special report sex crimes on campus one year later on Al Jazeera America while states across the country are legalizing marijuana, it may seem strange to hear a town is considering banning tobacco. But thats whats happening in the massachusetts town of westminster. The towns board of health has proposed a regulation making them the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all at thtobacco products wi town lines. Local shops and smokers oppose a total ban. One merchant joins us by phone. Thank you for being with us. You are concerned. I guess you signed this petition and you are concerned about this amendment passing. Tell me about this. Well, the problem is that this thing is not going to theres not going to be one person that quits from this ban. Its just going to send business out of town to five minutes down the road where they can purchase tobacco item there is. How far do they have to go to get smokes five minutes in any direction. I think theres, like, 110 other tobacco retailers in surrounding towns. What do you sell in your business . Were the only Grocery Store in town. We have all the other departments. Meat department, deli, bakery, et cetera. Tobacco is a big part of our business and this is going to hurt us big time if it goes through. Is tobacco a bigger part of your business than it was five years ago, ten years ago . Is it declining . It has been declining and i think maybe it has something to do with the tax rate here. I think for every pack we sell the state gets 3. 50 i want to say. What do you think about the goal that the Health Agency is talking about, stopping Tobacco Sales to youth . Whats interesting about that is there has not been one infraction by any tobacco retailer in town for the past ten years. We have a perfect record. Theres never been a sting operation where businesses have sold to minors so its not a problem here. How do you ensure youre not selling to minors . We card everyone that looks under 29. Whats going on with this suggestion, this amendment . Is it Going Forward . How many people have you talked to about this . Whats the sense that you have about those around you . I think its not just the smoker, nonsmoker decision. People want people have a problem with others telling them what legal product they can purchase. Weve heard from people who hate smoking and theyre still in support of this ban where people should be able to decide what they want to consume legally, especially when its a legal product. And give me a sense of the you told me about the Economic Impact on you because you say five to six percent of what you sell is tobacco but how about westminster . Does it change the makeup of the place . We actually dug into this a little bit and discovered this this was going to devalue most businesses in the town. There will be a lot of people losing their jobs immediately. Ill be cutting hours at the store and kind of, you know, taking a step back to find out how were going to survive and continue to donate our time and services to the town. You know, were very active with sponsoring Little League teams and oakmont Football Team and without this income, its going to be tough. All right. Brian, thank you very much. They fought for america overseas only to face a very different kind of fight back home. Ill tell what you this country can do to put unemployed veterans back to work next. Plus, how the housing crisis could come back to haunt america again. Again. Today we thank veterans for their service to this country, for putting their lives on the line. And, yet, financial struggles continue to playing our newest veterans, those who fought in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, with unemployment and underemployment an ongoing and serious problem for them. New Research Shows many jobs may not last very long or build up to a long term career and many are finding the civilian workforce harder than overseas. Reporter returning home from war can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned of veterans. But its been finding a job thats been the toughest fight of all for many of americas youngest veterans. The biggest problem that were really seeing is a communications gap. The skills that veterans and military spouses learn while serving in the military community are amazing. Were great workers. Work well in teams. Communicate well together. Were able to adapt to shifting environments and tight deadlines, but they dont always translate differently to private sector employers. Reporter 77 of veterans had experienced a period of unemployment since leaving the military. 27 had been out of a job for over a year. And to address the crisis, a wave of private sector efforts have stepped up. The u. S. Chamber of commerce in 2011 launched its hiring our heros campaign. Leading to 25,000 veterans with new jobs. And a coalition of 180 Major Companies from j. P. Morgan chase to phiser the good news is that Unemployment Rates for post 9 11 vets have gone down over the years with a slight up tick last month to 7. 2 . But rates are still consistently above National Averages and experts say it doesnt give the whole picture. The mission is certainly not accomplished. 80 , thats 80 , of veterans stayed in their initial job for less than two years. So thats completely unacceptable. And we really need to understand the reasons why veterans take jobs and then leave them so quickly. Reporter 22 of veterans had more than six different jobs since transitioning to civilian life and some might have to do with the quality of jobs. Veterans are underemployed at a rate of 14 higher than the rest of the u. S. Workforce. Other experts say education might be part of the problem. 30 of veterans have completed an Associates Degree or higher compared with 44 of their civilian peers. But whatever the solution, veterans o veterans advocates worry the issue of veteran unemployment is only going get more press. Theres a huge group of folks about to come through and we want to make sure were leveraging their talents. Reporter over a million veterans have taken advantage of the post 9 11 g. I. Bill less than ideal reputations. Seven of the top for Profit Institutions receiving g. I. Bill benefits are under state or federal investigation. And we are not actually doing them favors when we say we need to just hire them because theyve done a service to the country. He says hiring vets is an shrewed business decision. Hes the executive director of syracuse institute for veterans and families. Hes also the founder of the entrepreneurship boot camp for veterans. He joins me now from syracuse. Tell me more about this whole idea about there have been pushes by Corporate America to say hire a veteran. Youre saying dont do it because they did a nice thing for your country. Do it because they have useful skills. Absolutely correct. I think i dont know a single veteran than wants your pity or your charity. I think at the end of the day, veterans are going to make our companies for dynamic, global, diverse, and as a consequence, that is going to hit the bottom line and i think there is a strong and compelling Business Case for our best, most innovative, most entrepreneurial way to that is going to at the end of the take make their companies more competitive. They have an Unemployment Rate of 7. 2 compared to the national average. Whats the disconnect . I think you have to be very careful with the numbers. If you dig into the numbers, what youll find is that the cohorts of that community that are struggling, my community, are our younger veterans. Those in the 20 to 25 year old age range. That are transitioning from military to civilian life in a time where maybe were not doing the best job preparing them to be informed consumers of the civilian world of work. You talk about retention issues. That certainly is an issue right now. But i think one of the things that explains that is our veterans, particularly these younger veterans, are taking jobs to learn about the civilian world of work, to learn what its like to work in retail or insurance or Financial Services or customer service. Largely because theyre they were not doing the job that we need to do preparing them to make smart choices at the point of transition. What should we be doing . What are the right things to do . I think we need to engage the private sector more fully at the point of transition. Many of those private sector companies, those coalitions, are eager and available to be part of that process of informing transitioning Service Members as to the universe of civilian vocational opportunities. Theres a lot of Different Reasons why there are barriers to that right now but i think thats one of the things as a society we needed to work on. Particularly in an era of an allvolunteer force. Were going to continue to ask americans to volunteer for military Service Moving forward and as a consequence, to sustain that model, we have to do a good job on the back end preparing them to succeed and excel after they take the uniform off. What role does stigma associated with things like ptsd have to do with the difficulty in getting hired . I think it definitely plays a role. Theres research thats been done by our institute here at syracuse and others doing good work in this space, that has found that when surveyed anonymously, hiring managers, hr managers, do bring up some of those issues related to pts and some other concerns that are tied to military service as factors in the hiring decision. I think at the end of the day, thats really a red herring because we have done a good job or were doing a better job putting the supports necessary and in place to really mitigate the consequences of many of those issues in the workforce. Mike, good to talk to you. Thank you so much for talking with us. You can call them veterans without borders. Al jazeera found a group of former soldiers giving aid and comfort to people who have been struck by natural disasters. Reporter in january, 2010, an earthquake struck haiti killing tens of thousands of people. Two u. S. Veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan spontane s spontaneously decided to go to haiti and help. It created team rubicon. Now with more than 20,000 members, theyve responded to emergencies ranging from a tie phone in the philippines to tornado that ripped through oklahoma and wild fires that scorched towns in the american west. We have 2. 6 million vets from the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan, more every day taking off the uniform and reinteresting civilian life. And we repurpose their skills learned the hard way in wartime. When you look at what our veterans learn in the military a lot more than blowing stuff up. Its leading teams. Solving problems under really difficult circumstances. Reporter its an nimble organization. Former navy medic and firefighter bob overnears First Mission took him to oklahoma after a tornado hit. My first day there i realized thats what i was missing in my life. I know that this is what a big part of team rubicon is all about. Not just disaster relief. Its also about helping our veterans. Reporter men and women using skills honed in war on missions of mercy. There are signs of another housing crisis on the horizon. Plus, im going into no lands man with aasif mandvi. Youre not going to want to miss this. Ss this. That, construction is. So i think the crisis means were going to have to provide our housing and our version of the American Dream in a new way. You just mentioned we sort of peaked in 06 and 06, and then it came down. Lower than the u. K. Lower than germany. Lower than canada. Why do you care if Home Ownership rates are low . We peaked because of easy money and sub prime loans and all the financial stuff you talk about. And what worries me and a big indicator of a potential looming crisis is the fact that we want to loosen up. I talk about this in the piece, loosening up again. Make mortgages easy to get. Weve looked at this pretty closely and looked at the data, parsed it pretty closely. It seems to us that if you take the most vibrant cities, the most innovative parts of americas new knowledge economy, their Home Ownership rate is about 55 to 60 , less than the 64 of the country. On the other hand, if you take the worst economic performing regions of the country, they tend to be 70 or 80 of the country so the rate should come to about 55 to 60 with about 40 to 45 rental. Lets talk about housing expenditures. That in fact, while these prices have not recovered fully, were actually seeing an increase in what we are spending for housing, more than a third. Whats your sense of the implications of this. Two overall things. One, we are now spending more and more again for housing and in particular, were not downsizing. I think a lot of people thought the recession would bring people getting smart and downsizing. Whether its in the suburbs or the urban centers, theyre buying and building bigger houses. So housing may be affordable in las vegas, phoenix, it may be somewhat affordable in houston, but when you go to the new york, washington, boston, the area out on the west coast, seattle, san francisco, los angeles, fewer and fewer people can afford housing and if a professional person, middle class person can afford housing, someone who toils in the Service Industries cant afford anything and thats the other dimension of the housing crisis. In these booming centers, the odds of affording housing are slim. We often talk about a new normal. You keep referring to the knowledge economy and knowledge workers. You think that we should be working toward the type of housing that suits that type of worker better. Tell me what you mean by that. I think we are working towards a new normal and a great reset and we might need another crash to get there. I think the kind of economy we have which is powered by knowledge, powered by technology, by ideas, only 5 to 6 of our workforce works in industry making things or more blue collar workers, only 5 to 6 of us work in factories and that old factory economy when you built those old suburban houses, you had to get a car, commute to work, all of that coming off American Assembly lines. That stuff is now made in china. The knowledge economy requires density, proximity, people want to live in apartments or condos. So we have to move to a more flexible housing system. We have tremendous government incentives for Home Ownership. We need to also let people have the housing they need. Richard florida is the director of the Prosperity Institute at the university of toronto and a Senior Editor of the atlantic. All right. Im about to talk to a guy whos had a few laughs at my expense. Flattering . Ill let you decide when aasif mandvi joins me from the daily show in just two minutes. Actor and comedian aasif mandvi has made a name for himself in america on. The daily show. Hes appeared as the shows senior foreign looking correspondent and senior brown correspondent. He was born in india. Lived in england until he was 16 when his father moved the family to america. Hes written a book telling his story that says his father decided to live in america because of one word, brunch. Aasif joins me to explain that and more. Good to see you. Good to see you. How are you . Im very, very well. I want to talk about your book and story and a web series you have. Really people are going to be saying why is this guy on your show. This is a business and economics show. Why are you here. I said the same thing. So i want to play them a clip from the daily show. Lets roll this. All right. Wheres your hair, aasif . [laughter]. Hair . On a financial analyst . Come on if the [laughter]. John, i was just downtown taping an episode of my new financial show the bald guy and the hot chick talk money. [laughter]. Is that on this network . Its not on any network. Now, id like to think that you might have been channelling me there. Did that have anything to do with me . No. I dont know why you would think that. I dont know where you would get that from. You think that was a parody of you . For years ive been saying that i made it onto the daily show because of that. This is interesting. It does this was in the midst of the financial crisis. You guys at the daily show did a lot on that. This was a time where Many Americans get their news from the daily show, last week tonight. When you are sitting around coming up with these things, how much of that conversation is about the news and how much of it is about parody and comedy. John has often said that, like, the content that we use, the raw material, is the news. But our angle into it is always about whats the humor. Wheres the humor. Wheres the joke . Wheres the wheres the entry point. And are you built so that you can see the irony, humor, joke in anything . I dont have to do it myself. Right. Thankfully. But i think collectively, the daily show, you know, that is the sort of mindset that were always operating in. You know. Like, where can we find the humor. This is a great story. What is our take on it. Youve done that in the book though. This is a serious topic. No lands man. This is a serious topic. You came here as an immigrant. You had been in england long enough that you were formed at age 16. What was growing up as an Indian Muslim in england like compared to when you moved to america . Was it very different for you . You know, i think that growing up as an immigrant in england was very different than growing up as an immigrant in the u. S. I always found in england as a kid, you know, there was always that feeling of, like, no matter how long you lived there, you would never feel truly assimilated and british. You know. Whereas in america, i found the opposite to be true which was that america is a land of inclusion where you come here and in america they say forget about the ethnicity and the culture that you come from. Youre an american now. Just and thats great but theres a downside which is theres very little curiosity about other cultures which you ares around the world. I have a line that says americans think about the rest of the world the way new yorkers think of the rest of america which is they dont. That was my feeling when i got here. So you dont grow up feeling on the outside i think i always felt on the outside and inside at the same time. I think that has actually been my what ive been able to do on the daily show in terms of my work there. To report on stories as an immigrant and also as an american. So i feel like being an outsider and an insider at the same time is kind of what ive managed thats been my life story. Did 9 11 change things for you as a muslim . Yeah. Yeah. In america . Definitely. Really, i mean, look, it politicized me. I wasnt a political artist before that. I dont know that im necessarily a political artist but i am political about certain things and i think the representation of muslims in the media and after i got to the daily show i had an opportunity in the zeitgeist about that. One of the hottest shows on broadway right now is a show written by a Muslim American yes. That you were involved in before it got onto broadway. Disgraced. Yes. Hes one of the foremost american voices in the theater right now. Who was a pakistani american who wrote this brilliant play on broadway. I did it in Lincoln Center in 2012, and it is about the Muslim Identity in post 9 11 america. Is it interesting to you that this is a thing. Talking about being muslim in america is a thing . Theres been so much misinformation about what intoxilyzer lam is and all that stuff. I think its gotten worse. After 9 11, i think, americans were saying what happened. Asking questions. Who are these people. And now i feel all these years later what has happened is those answers have been given to americans and the answer is be afraid. Be suspicious. And dont trust these people. And the media and the politicians have used it for ratings and for votes and what i try to talk about in the book a little bit is my relationship to that when i got on the daily show. Its not all about the daily show, the book, but and my relationship with intoxilyzer lam in general. My very complicated relationship with a faith that i was born into but i dont necessarily practice. So you find it interesting to defend something that many in your family might say youre not good at practicing it. Yeah. When i was hired on the daily show my father asked why and i said its a comedy show and he said, well, i hope so. So they were completely shocked that me of all people would be. But it has politicized me and made me more i should say muslimish. You have a web series you just produced coming out in the future. Tell us about that. Yes. So about back in 2011 we did a sketch on the daily show based on something katie couric had said which was maybe muslims need their own version of a cosby show so we took that literally and created a parody sitcom. It was a great piece we did. Recently i was putting together some psas and thought against musl muslim bigotry and we created a series of websodes that will be out sometime soon. Come talk to me when it comes out. Always a pleasure to see you. Thank you very much. Aasif mandvi. The author of no lands man. And in case i have to go on vacation, i think this could work definitely. Put on a few pounds and you could look like me. Great. Today was singles day in china. This holy invented holiday in honor of ones, thus, the obsession with celebrating singles has turned intoed the worlds Biggest Online shopping day of the year. Theon line deals and discounts on gifts and goodies are so hard to resist. Alley bah bah took in 9. 3 billion in sales in one day. That comes out to more than 107,000 per second. Walmart cant compete with those numbers. Walmart is said to clock in at 15,000 in sales per second on a normal day. Alley bah bah touted it as a sign of economic reformation. The success of that will be felt in america and around the world. China is that important. Today we got a hint of that spending power. Well be watching for more. That is our show for today. Thank you for joining us. U for joining us. Hi, everyone. This is aljazeera america. Im John Seigenthaler in new york. On edge. Missouri governor says violence will not be tolerated as ferguson waits for a grand jury decision. Facetoface, president obamas meeting with the cheese president and how russia is playing a big role in beijing. Recaptured, taking back a large part of its strategic oil. The United States has its way of putting pressure or journalists. I