Pbs newshour weekend is made possible by Corporate Funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support is provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios in Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening. Thanks for joining us. As we speak, tens of thousands of demonstrators across the country are marching in the so called day of resistance, protesting the killings by police of michael brown, eric garner and akai gurley. In new york and in many other cities, thousands joined in mostly peaceful demonstrations. New york city protesters planned to end their march in front of police headquarters. Another protest led by the reverend al sharpton marched on the National Mall in washington, d. C. Today. Sharpton is calling for congress to pass legislation putting federal prosecutors in charge of Police Shooting cases. Inside the Capitol Building this evening, u. S. Senators passed a fourday shortterm spending bill that extends the debate over the 1. 1 trillion budget package and averts a government shutdown, at least till wednesday. The house narrowly approved their version of the deal last thursday. Besides funding the military and fighting ebola, the budget plan also clears the way for much Larger Campaign contributions from wealthy individual donors and includes a controversial rollback on Bank Regulations put in place after the financial crisis in 2008. President obama has agreed to accept those changes and is now facing criticism on those issues from both House Democratic leader nancy pelosi and democratic senator elizabeth warren. Attorney general eric holder has decided not to force a New York Times journalist to reveal his source in a major c. I. A. Leak case. Former c. I. A. Official jeffrey sterling is onb al for leaking classified information to reporter james risen about the agencys plan to sabotage Irans Nuclear arms program. Isis extremists succeeded in shooting down an Iraqi Military helicopter today, killing both pilots on board. It is at least their third successful attack on military helicopters since october. Meanwhile, isis fighters have been getting a virtual boost from a twitter user in india. An executive confessed to tweeting as shamiwitness from bangalore. He became one of the most widelyread isis supporters, posting updates on the groups victories and calling on muslims to join the cause. The twitter account has been shut down. Its been a particularly deadly couple of days in afghanistan. This afternoon, a suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying afghan Army Personnel in kabul, killing six onboard. Earlier this morning, taliban fighters killed a dozen soldiers who were clearing mines in southern afghanistan. Yesterday, a roadside bomb hit a convoy near a recently closed u. S. Run prison in bagram, reportedly killing two americans. Also in the mideast, a fight over libyas most vital oil terminal is pitting two factions against each other. Both sides claim they represent the countrys real government. A faction of tripolibased forces clashed with rivals from the eastern city of tobruk to gain control of the sidra oil terminal today. Two people were killed. The fight stokes the obama administrations concerns over militant groups training in remote areas of libya. A sobering decision by leaders in sierra leone today the government is banning public christmas and new years celebrations, hoping to slow down the spread of ebola. Soldiers will patrol the stree, breaking up public gatherings. Sierra leone is facing the worst of the Ebola Outbreak in west africa, reporting more than 1,300 new cases in just the past three weeks. Sreenivasan weve been following the dramatic drop in oil prices over the last few weeks, but those prices are just a snapshot of a much more dramatic downward trend. Over the last year, a barrel of oil went from 96. 47 to 67. 18. Thats a 30 plunge. Since monday, the price per barrel of domestic sweet crude dropped from 63. 13 to 54. 25, a 14 slide. For consumers, this might seem like welcome news, but, for wall street, the numbers tell a different story. Here to help us make sense the downward trend is Nick Timiraos of the wall street journal, who joins us from washington, d. C. So this is a good thing for consumers, the price of gas is dropping at the pump. They feel like they have more money in their pockets, right . Thats absolutely right. In june, u. S. Consumers were paying on average 3. 68 a gallon for gas. Now were down below 2. 60. So this is a surprise windfall and it really benefits the middle class because the middle class and lower income households spend a higher share of their income and gas accounts for a higher share of their spending than it does for the average. So it really is a middle class tax cut on the order of 125 billion a year if prices are sustained at these levels. Sreenivasan so if people have more money in their pockets and they go out and perhaps they do a little bit more Holiday Shopping or they juice the economy up a little bit more, whats happening to wall street . Why does wall street start to tumble even though people have more money in their pockets . Well, because, this has been a big surprise. A 45 percent drop in the price of crude oil since june is going to create a lot of volatility, and wall street doesnt necessarily like that. One of the big reasons oil has fallen is because of a slowdown in demand in europe and japan where there are worries about deflation. And then, of course, in china, which has been a huge Economic Growth story for the past 15 years. So these concerns that the rest of the world might be slowing down, thats whats really cause something concern on wall street. And then you also had some Tremendous Energy investment in the United States because a lot of the surge in the supply of oil has been brought about from fracking in northica cota and texas, so youve had a lot of Small Companies raise a lot of debt from the new fracking boom. And with oil prices falling, it calls into question the Business Prospects for some of those companies. Sreenivasan is there kind of a Tipping Point or basement that is necessary for the price to be at for an oil company to say,un what, it makes sense to me to dig a hole in the ground and invest 1 million to extract oil from another well . We are testing those prices right now. A few months ago when oil was at 80, people said maybe 70 would be the breakeven, maybe 60 would be the breakeven. Now were below 60 a barrel. Already youre seeing drill well counts, the number of drills in the u. S. , going down. It is going to be a test here to see at what price will investment slow and will production slow for these new frackers along the middle continent of the United States. Sreenivasan and as a ripple effect, were also seeing the russian economy or the iranians, other Oil Producers are up in arms about this, right . Yeah, i mean, this is not good news at all for venezuela. Not good news for vladimir piewt nin russia, but its great news for the u. S. Even though the u. S. Has had an energy boom so there are more risks now to a drop in oil prices than in the past for the United States, the rewards still outweigh those risks. This is still net positive for the United States economy because we still are on net an importer of oil so when Oil Price Goes down, thats going to be great for consumers. And consumers have been hanging in there during this socalled economic recovery, but they havent been feeling great. And now were beginning to see better Consumer Confidence numbers. Retail sales figures this week reported for the month of november were great, so theres a lot of optimism now and theres a lot of u. S. Businesses that benefit, frankly from this airlines, trucking companies. So we should begin to see better prospects for u. S. Growth here. Sreenivasan all right Nick Timiraos from the wall street journal joining us from washington, d. C. , thank you very much. Thanks, hari. Sreenivasan in the last 24 hours, Northern California has been hit hard by a massive storm that pounded the state with high winds and torrential rain. The downpour has triggered flooding, mudslides, Property Damage and power outages. But much of the rain from those storms didnt reach the central valley, where its desperately needed. This past year, nearly half a million acres of farmland there have been taken out of production, 17,000 jobs vanished, and the state has suffered 2. 2 billion in droughtrelated losses. And as youll see in tonights signature segment, one city is doing its best to cope. This is the first installment in our series of reports from main streets across the country. John larson reports from main street, delano, california. Its going to be really hard for the businesses here on main street to survive if it doesnt pick up. Reporter all along main street in delano, california, businesses can feel it the drought. At 1111 main, Susana Garcia says its simple. A lot of people not working. A lot of people only working, like, a few hours, but theyre not working enough so theyre not spending money. We need that water so there can be a lot more farm work for everybody so they can come and shop and do what they got to do. Reporter at chalias barbershop at 916 main, theres talk of wild bears wandering in from the hills. The bear was taken out and put into the back of a wildlife truck. I guess theyre looking for food. Theres no water source, so the bears coming into the city. Reporter leias servin worries the drought will cost his parents, who work in the fields and who cant afford to lose the hours. How are they getting by . Well, they have. I guess they have to make it work, but yeah its hard getting by when they are cutting you short. I mean, its a couple of paychecks less that you get. Reporter delanos main street sits at the southern end of californias central valley, the richest agricultural valley in the world. The valley supplies 25 of all the food eaten in the United States, and yet, all around delano the drought has cost thousands of jobs, especially in the fields. This grape vineyard is 23 miles from delanos main street. Crew boss sonia robles, still wearing the protective sun mask that she wears in the field, says shes had to turn away people looking for work. I wish we could have work for them, but, i mean, we couldnt. Reporter when the congregation at united first methodist church, just a block off main street, shared their prayers on this sunday, a 24 yearold cowboy offered this. We ask, lord, that we receive more rain this winter. A lot of good, juicy storms, lord. Reporter matt huff works on a cattle ranch 16 miles from delanos main street. Well, i know we need rain. We cant make it rain ourselves, but we can definitely give it to god. Its all you can do right about now. Reporter while it may be difficult to understand just how much the drought is changing the valley, listen to matt as he drives out with the evening feed. I first came here about five years ago, and the grass was at least shoulder height. Every year that weve had a drought, the fields remain bald, pure dirt. We used to have dandelions out in the field that were taller than me that you can feed a herd of cows with. This, you cant. Reporter the herd used to number 200, but when the drought hit, the pastures began dying. The ranch owner began buying hay to feed the herd. As the drought continued, the owner was forced to begin selling off the herd you see up ahead. Cow by cow, the herd dwindled to a 100 and then to less than 50. He also sold his only bull, and with it much of the herds future. But the bigger story, the reason weve come to delano is whats happening all around the ranch. The California Drought is entering its fourth straight year, a drought some fear could become the most costly in the history of the american west. You got good years and bad years. This i call it worst years. This is really bad. Reporter matts boss, ranch owner jesse revilla, says despite his best efforts the remaining herd is losing weight, but feeding them is breaking him. How long can you keep that up . Well, that means i got to go sell some more cows. Ive got to sell more cattle so i can buy more hay. Reporter so, the herd keeps getting smaller and smaller. And im getting poorer and poorer. Reporter california reservoirs, once pictures of abundance, are more alarming than reassuring. This year, the hottest ever recorded in california, water levels fell so low, authorities cut off water to most farmers. Meaning, farmers had to use well water or lose everything. If you didnt have a well, what would have happened to your trees . Well, they would be half dead by now. Reporter two miles from main street, mary andreas joined hundreds of farmers now drilling for water. Mary grows 84 acres of almonds. Her trees require yearround water to stay alive. Six months before her water allotment was cut off, mary mortgaged her home, plunked down almost 200,000 to drill a well. It saved her farm. How hard was that decision . It wasnt hard because we had already invested so much. We cant stop now. We dont know whats going to happen next year or the other, but we have to keep Going Forward because we got everything, our whole life, invested in this 84 acres. Reporter which is why farmers like mary who can afford it are drilling more wells than ever. Drilling crews are arriving from across the west, adding to local drillers who cant keep up with the demand. If we want to drill a well in our farm, how soon could you do it . Were anywhere from eight months to a year and a half behind. Reporter but more worrisome is that so much water is being pumped from underground to replace water lost in this drought that few people believe it can be sustained. Wells are going dry, and drillers are forced to go deeper to find water. This well, located 16 miles from main street, is headed down 1,600 feet, 350 feet deeper than the Empire State Building is high. To what extent do you feel like we can only punch so many holes and pull out so much water before we really start seeing huge problems . Well, i mean, were to that stage right now, i think, because the deeper you go on some of this, youre losing out on water quality, too. Youre going to get down so deep and the waters going to start getting salty on you. So this grove has not had water on it in a whole year. Reporter randy weldon is a local grower. He showed us how farmers who could not afford to drill wells helplessly watched their orchards die. These orange trees are dead, and there are thousands just like them not far from delanos main street. Its heartbreaking. In a lot of cases, the farmers have their heart and soul in this land, and its like losing a part of your family, you know. And economically, its disastrous. Reporter in california, water is considered a property right, so farmers are free to drill as much as they want. All they need is a permit. But no one knows how much water farmers are pulling from the underground aquifer thats the natural reservoir accumulated over thousands of years from rain and snow and no one knows how much water is left. If an aquifer is like a savings account, this is a run on the bank, a race to the bottom. At the urging of the governor, jerry brown, california voters this year agreed they had to be better prepared for a drought, so they passed a 7. 5 billion bond for building water Storage Facilities and water recycling projects. This escalating thirst for water has also led to some surprising partnerships. For example, 21 million gallons of water every day flow into the cawelo reservoir, water helping save 90 desperate farmers south of delano. The water comes from of all places here. This is chevrons Kern River Oil field just 35 miles south of delanos main street. Its the Third Largest Oil Producing field isethe state, more than 70,000 barrels per day. But in the process, chevron pulls up more water, a lot more. The water is used for steam to help recover the oil underground and then separated from the oil, cleaned and pumped through pipelines to the reservoir and the waiting farmers. For every ten barrels of fluid that we produced from kern river field, nine of those are water. One barrel of oil to nine barrels of water. So, were almost like a Water Company that happens to skim oil. Reporter back on delanos main street, the drought can be felt in every lost sale and in every cash register. No one, of course, knows when the drought will end. Only that until it does, life in and around delano feels harder, further beyond their control than theyd like, and that things they hold dear here in this rich valley are suddenly in play. Its getting harder and harder to be a rancher. We need the rain. Everyone does. If we dont get rain this year, were in for some really bad times. I guess were still here because this is our life, and were here because we want to keep farming as long as we possibly can. Sreenivasan see beforeand after photos of sites most impacted by californias historic drought. Visit newshour. Pbs. Org. Sreenivasan this week, the Associated Press revealed that the United States government attempted and failed to coopt the hiphop scene in cuba to spark a Youth Movement against the government. This failure comes on the heels of two others also reported by the a. P. One to create a fake cuban twitter and the other to send inexperienced young people into cuba to recruit activists. Here to help us make sense of this story is trish wilson of the Associated Press, who joins us from washington, d. C. So, trish, what was this program . How did it work . Well, the intent was to radicalize the cuban people to challenge their own government. And the way it worked was the u. S. A. I. D. Contractors ipfill traited the hiphop scene and were trying to generate a fan base that would speak out against the government and challenge it and ultimately lead them to democratic reforms. Sreenivasan how did they sort of try to toment more dissent . Who did they have on the ground . U. S. A. I. D. Activities in cube are are illegal there, and people who participate in those programs can go to jail. So what the u. S. A. I. D. Contractors did, they went to serbia, where they recruited serbian music producers to help them in cuba. The reason they thought this would work was because in 2000, there were youth miewssmentses and concerts in serbia that helped bring down the presidency. Sreenivasan there was already a community there that was already citizen speech against the government that was happening . Oh, yes. The hiphop scene was pretty much at its peak at that time. The artists were speaking out against the government. It was it took a lot of people, i think, by surprise to realize how much dissent was around in cuba at the time. But the ayersts that usaid was focusing on were called los aldeanos, and they had a song called rap is war. Sreenivasan how did this go wrong . The people that were part of the program kept getting detained by the cuban officials who would go through their computers and thumb drives and constant trying to figure out what was going on. The u. S. A. I. D. Contractors continued to go through customs with their computers and they were detained so many times, that the cubans ultimately figured it out. Sreenivasan so what happened as a result, say, to the band members . Well, one of the key things that happened is that there was an independent music concert festival in cuba at the time. And at the concert in 2010, the los aldeanos performed before a crowd of 15, 000, the biggest crowd ever, but afterwards the cubans figured out it was funded by u. S. A. I. D. , so they took it over and that ended the big independent Music Festival that was on the island at the time. Sreenivasan mawn manare going to wonder what does u. S. A. I. D. Have to do with this. When we think of u. S. A. I. D. , we think of bags of foodses in countries desperate for food. Beyond its humanitarian mission, part of the usaids mission is to promote democracy efforts around the world. This is one of those prodemocracy efforts. Sreenivasan trish wilson joins us from washington, d. C. For the associates press, thank you very this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. Sreenivasan and now to viewers like you. We begin with your comments on the conversation we had about Student Loans and the new options that allow borrowers to modify the terms of their loans. Panhead20 wrote when the government gives billions to the banksters at 0 interest and then charges struggling students 4 plus, that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Welcome to indentured servitude. christopher gerstle commented if colleges and universities have to educate more than twice the number of students they once did but have less money to do it, what do you think is going to happen . Schools either have to raise more capital from private sources or raise tuition. Scott tucker took a broader view the American College degree has been diminished by lower standards for achievement and the false narrative that no one can make it without one. European countries like germany for example, provide Free College Education to anyone who proves theyre genuinely interested and their intent is worthy of the degree. We are being outpaced by such nations as they seem to value quality over quantity. And john frazier has the end in sight in two months, making the last payment after my son graduated 12 years ago. Comments about our segment on a lawsuit in california that challenged current teacher tenure regulations in that state were mostly divided into two camps. Purp chiten wrote nobody is going to want to go into the field and undergo the torture and slave labor of being a teacher if there is no protection for them such as tenure. And there was this from blakenaustin seniority and quality have very little in common. Seniority should not lead to tenure. Seniority should not be the dominant factor in setting salaries. As always, visit us online at newshour. Pbs. Org. Follow us on twitter newshour and visit the Newshour Facebook page. Sreenivasan finally tonight, the senate has passed a fourday spending bill to give them more time to debate a 1. 1 trillion budget package. Senate majority leader harry reid is also trying to push through some of the president s most contested nominees before republicans take control in january. The Associated Press is reporting that for the second time this year, a Russian Military aircraft reportedly turned off its transponders and nearly collided with a passenger jet over sweden. The russian plane was apparently trying to avoid commercial radar. Thats it for pbs newshour weekend. Im hari sreenivasan. Thanks for watching. Captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by Corporate Funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support is provided by [distant siren] we see them everywhere
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.