Rage with this . And saying farmers are saying its okay, we can take these tariff, the hitter that getting, i havent heard a farmer say that. Says the guy with a 757 jet. And it can be revoked by congress they have a voice to play here if they want to play it. If they hate this Trade Policies so much, they can do something about it. And every day, we see people cowering in the corner, we see someone like the commander who told the truth in front of the Senate Committee and in front of america. And as long as we have one person telling the truth, every day, getting that news out, we have a chance. That does it for us this morning, Stephanie Ruhle picks up the coverage. Thanks, mika, joe. Hi there, im Stephanie Ruhle. Facebook says it has found dozens of fake accounts, all part of a Covert Campaign to attack the American Democratic process. Surprise, surprise, just before the 2018 midterms. Was it the russians again . And what can actually be done to stop it . That has everything but the kitchen sink in it. It will be the sanctions bill from hell. And it is all about the base. The president rallies his faithful in florida, Playing Loose with economic backs. But guess what we have got more factcheck. China had others, remember this, have targeted our farmers. And you know what our farmers are saying, its okay. We can take it. And the skys the limit. Ceos cash in thanks to the president s tax cuts. New numbers this morning on who that tax cut is benefitting and whether or not its trickling down. Were going to begin this morning with that new attack on the american democracy. Facebook uncovers yet another attempt at foreign influence, pages pushing divisive and damaging political rhetoric, this time leading into the 2018 midterms. I have a great team here to
break all of it down. But first, i want to remind you what has been uncovered in the last 24 hours. Facebook says its identified a Covert Campaign meant to create political discord across the country. It removed 32 facebook and instagram accounts. Accounts nearly 300,000 followers ran hundreds of advertisements. That means facebook gets paid across the platform. And creates about 30 different events. Facebook did not so as far as to specifically blame russia, but the platform did acknowledge, quote, some of the activity is consistent from what we saw from Russias Internet Research Agency before and after the 2016 elections. James clapper the former director of National Intelligence under obama hes holding up and back. Listen. Facebook should be commended for being open and transparent about this, as soon as they discovered it. Even though they apparently werent prepared to make the call, you know, its actually
the russians. Im pretty confident it is. Walks like a duck, Aqquacks Lika duck sort of thing. Now deleted pages and accounts were connected to organized protests like unite the right sequel to last years shauls charlottesville rally. While facebook did divulge the information about the campaign it did not skriek some of the most divisive rhetoric, declining to release the depth that some of those pages went to stoke racial tension. J jolene centkent joins me now. I will not go as far as James Clapper and commend facebook. This is the first time theyve said anything but also theyre backed into the corner gimp the
scrutiny journalists have on it. Thats right. What we did on the Business Team here at nbc news, we ran a web archive search. What it turned up was rhetoric which was much more decisive, were talking about soaking racial tensions, all kinds of partisanships popping up. And used in this particular case. But what were seeing right now, its not just happening on facebook, this is also happening on instagram, steph, as you mentioned. And what is really the most interesting part of these accounts and pages and ads are the fact that these events are being planted in real life. And facebook acknowledged to reporters yesterday that there has been real life activity, real people, interacting with these socalled fake events. And theyre not able to assess whether or not they actually happened in person or not, but it certainly raises a lot of red flags. So as much as Facebook Says theyre being more transparent,
theres a lot theyre not sharing. Theyre not pegging this to a certain country, not even the russians. Even though they say theres a huge resemblance to the ira back in 2016. The most interesting twist at least where i sit on this front is theyre covering their tracks better. Theyre working on this, using vpns, theyre going through third parties, theyre trying to disguise themselves. Its a gargantuan problem. Hearings the good thing, facebook has a gargantuan network. Whats in store, i got to be honest, when we saw Mark Zuckerberg testify, it was humiliate, not for him, but for those questioning him. It was as though i was watching my crazy Uncle Grand Pa asking how that facebook machine works. Yeah, there were certainly a lot of questions that came off
as extremely unprepared. Hopefully, members of congress have come to their senses i know a lot of my sources have come to educate Congress Asking tougher questions next time around. Youre going to see new faces highly influential people. The coo of facebook, Cheryl Sandberg will be. And the google ceo, hes dlt a lot with youtube as well, as our report shows theres a lot of conspiracy and misinformation happening on that platform. So, he has a lot of questions to answer for it as well. You can expect hopefully a better grilling. Well definitely be there to be asking those executives the harder questions. A grilling, Lindsey Graham wants to put together policy. You know what happens in 98 days. An election. I want to bring my panel in, jeff darvis, hes a professor as
well as a blogger. Elise jordan, former aide to george w. Bush and my dear friend senator bob sortorsi. Jeff, to you first, if i bran beyer aspirin, and there were contaminated aspirin around the country, you know what id do, pull all of the aspirin offer the shelves until we figure it out. Most of what happens on facebook is good. Most of the aspirin in Grocery Stores are okay. Look for your feed and tell me where you find the nazis. We have to switch around, facebook did finally get its act together. Facebook is our best ally in this fight. We have the head of dhs saying, oh, i dont see any russian stuff going on. Facebook is our best defense, thats where we are. So, they are they took ad dollars from these outside influences. They take ad dollars from a lot of people. So do Media Company and so do all of us. If we want to look at an outside influencer, three blocks away at Fox Institution and rupert murdoch. Lets try to get perspective on where this goes. Facebook had a big problem, theyre finally addressing it late, but theyre coming to the party. What we need to do in journalism, media, is help in this to try to identify things. Theyre not the enemy, russia is the enemy. I think its positive that facebook is coming forward, theyre starting to be proactive and communicate with intelligence officials, communicate with Law Enforcement officials so they can be moral proactive. And its harder for people in government, other elections individuals with partisan agendas to deny theres a problem. Elise, high up in facebook, theyre very frustrated because government isnt sharing anything with them. Government isnt because they dont want to. No one selfpolices. Unless there are clear regulations and guard rails do you really think theyre going to find the right path here . In the Banking Industry if you werent going to get in trouble with doing business with unsavory counterparties, there are people who would do it. I do not trust the Trump Administration to set these guard rails. I have what i call the info wars which facebook failed. They just succeeded. They finally finally, i think that theyve got to have tougher standards where Mark Zuckerberg is not responsible for free speech in this country. Mark zuckerberg runs a private company where he can say this belongs on my platform and this doesnt. So, yes, i agree, theyve got to set Higher Standards for Human Behavior there. But keep in mind the scale, zuckerberg said at a Developers Conference a few months ago they kill 1 million fake accounts a day. Its not as though you have some humans saying that looks russian doesnt happen,
inaffiliating our democracy. Because our government is complicit, thank you, with that propaganda. As i say, theyre our last hope. I agree with the senator. Theyre a slippery slope. Its not about facebook. Its about facebook setting the standard for Human Behavior. Im in stephs bar, steph says, jeff, im not going to serve you because youre a bozo, get out. Mark zuckerberg has the level to do that at some level. He has the right at some level, and youre comie ing offe week when the white house kicked a journalist out for doing her job. If Mark Zuckerberg gets to say youre a bozo, get out, the president wants to say youre a bozo, get out to any journalist factchecking his daily lives . Well, theyve had a tough relationship. Its generally been to the benefit of both to coexist. And the president doesnt necessarily see the benefit of that established relationship. So, hes basically exerting what he has he does he has the power to do that. Is it right . I dont think so. He does have a pruublic responsibility . He being the president . Yes. If i had a chance of deciding what gets into the american discourse who runs the risk of foreign ones, getting heard, thats a tough choice and i think id take my risks. Youre in the multimilliondollar company that does that, media has always done that. Whats so wonderful about the internet, i thought, is that we were getting away from free speech. Costs A Billion Dollars to get in the game. Exactly. And we were going to have extraordinary america speak. Thats whats so wonderful. Now, were losing that. If youre going to set up u. S. Corporations or the u. S. Government being the ash sister of speech, its really gone. I agree. The problem is we have manipulators ahead of the game realizing how to play into the weakness of the system. Lets just say, against all hope that the Trump Administration actually stepped up, defended the country and went to the russians which is too expensive to do which they should. Many saying the same thing the same things for a variety of reasons we cant discuss, theyre coming in anyway. The way you destroy irresponsible speech is you drown it out with responsible speech. I agree. The other way you do it you start to set standards. Now, we have this loosening ever emotions on the internet where anybody can say anything. At some point, you have to say to your friend, did you really mean to do that . Exactly. This ultimately gets involved not by corporations, it gets solved by the American People. Amen. We win and lose our democracy
ourselves. Amen. Last word. Yeah, im not that confidence. People love their crazy speech on the internet. I dont see them toning it down. One of the things i learned in my political career, when i started, id read something and say, oh, my god, the world. Then you come to believe, people do have a filter. And yes, somebody may. But you cant react to everything you read or see. People are not as stupid as they appear. I think this is a lincoln line, if you see the individual american, theyll scare the life of you for our democracy, but there is a collective wisdom to it. Also, if you sit down facetoface with someone, people arent evil. They want to live their best lives. When you go out there a trump supporter and you say those people are ignorant, this and that. They wanted to live a better life. And the system they were living in isnt serving them. Exactly. Those Arent People Born out of hate and want to create violence, no. Hardest problem we have is
win bingo. So, bingo so i think about mouthfeel. I dont think about the ink card. I think about nitrogen ice cream in supermarkets all over the world. I think about the details. Fine, i obsess over the details. Think about every part of your business except the one part that works without a thought your ink card. Introducing Chase Ink Business unlimited with unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase. Chase for business. Make more of whats yours. Business partner rick gates whole they say embezzled millions with his firm and cooperating with investigators to save his own skin. Nbcs ken delanian is at the courthouse. What are we expecting to see today . Reporter okay, stephanie, today, were expecting to hear from another consultant who worked in the campaign for Paul Manafort. Explain how it is these americans are overseas working for foreigners, how they get paid, what they do. The first witness yesterday was tad divine, a democratic local strategist, and he worked, he testified that his firm worked for manafort for the ukrainian elections for many years. Paid 500,000. Plus a 1 million success fee to help elect in the election. And jankovic would not have been elected in 2010 bout his help. Washington. Reporter youre absolutely right, stephanie. This is the ultimate swamp story. How ironic that john podesta, hacked by the russians, a key part in this investigation, his brother, tony was a Lobbyist Working for Paul Manafort on this ukraine lobbying. Hes now under investigation for allegedly failing to register as a lobbyist for a foreign government. A foreign entity. And only him, greg craig, a former lawyer in the Obama Administration and vin webber, a former member of Congress Also caught up in this. Mueller has decided to hand this off to the Southern District of new york for investigation because this is beyond the scope of what hes looking at. And its an effort by the government to step up, what they believe, is sort of a habit of people failing to register when working for foreign lobbyists. Theyre under investigation, stephanie. Ken, i hope you brought your note book and a couple of pens, i have a feeling youre going to
run out of paper. Coming up, florida frenzy. The president rallies his base in tampa, promoting his tariffs against china as good for farmers. But if the tariffs are working why on earth did the president have to announce a 12 billion bailout for farmers. Uhoh. Olay ultra moisture body wash
to 1 , a 94 decrease. Neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to it or Neupogen Filgrastim . An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious Lung Problems allergic reactions, Kidney Injuries and Capillary Leak Syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, Trouble Breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. Ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. Pay no more than 25 per dose with copay card. Welcome back, im Stephanie Ruhle. The president he was in rare form in tampa last night, tossing out Applause Lines about a imaginary attack on christmas and needing to use i. D. S at the Grocery Store. That makes no sense. Lets put that aside and learn what it means to focus on americans. The telling them to support them even if it hurts. China and others, remember this, have targeted our farmers. Not good. Not nice. You know what our farmers are say . Its okay. We can take it. Weve helped rebuild china. We cant do that anymore. We cant do that anymore. And our farmers understand it. And our workers understand it, and frankly, our Companies Understand it. Heres what we do know, according to cnbc, the administration will propose raising the tariff rate on if 00 billion worth of chinese imports from 10 to 25 . The proposal could be announced as early as today. Those tariffs would be in addition to tariffs already in place, or slated to go in effect in coming weeks. Ultimately, u. S. Tear rivariffs more than than 500 million worth of exports. The chinese promised to retaliate with their own tariffs. The question now, who blinks first . Right now, it looks like china is hurting more than the United States. The chinese currency is down against the dollar. In fact, beijing is now talking about taking targeted measures to ease the pain. Last night, the president said his Trade Policies are working. Thanks to our powerful Trade Policies, the trades deficit is falling and falling and falling, and boy, did it fall this quarter. The Daying Of Plundering American Jobs and american wealth, those days are over. Theyre over. Dear america, we deserve higher wages, you deserve to thrive. But what the president just did, he lied to your face. The United States deficit with china has increased to 93 billion in the First Quarter of this year. The numbers that would round out the second quarter, well, they dont come out until friday. And there are other signs that this could be a very risky gamble down the line, if the president goes through with all of the tariffs hes threatening. The Chief Economist with moodys mark zandi says, quote, it could push the total job losses to
700,000 and a half Percentage Point of Economic Growth likely nudging the country into recession. All of this leads republican candidates running in their home states in a very tough spot, do they stick with the president and his Trade Policies, even if it risks losing voters . Well, that could certainly hurt them. In recent days one of the partys recent donors charles cook has been pushingard offering republican candidates an alternative. Were seeing a rise in protectionism. For countries, organizations and individuals are trying to keep themselves from these changes. Theyre doing whatever they can to close themselves off from the new. Hold on to the past. And prevent change. This is a natural tendency, but its a destructive one. Because when people act in protectionist ways, they wreck
barriers, which makes everyone worse off. I want to bring in robert costa, National Political reporter for the Washington Post and moderator of one of my favorite shows. Elise and bob are back. In washington, are they afraid of the president , but he made a pretty good argument right there. They want stephanie, theyre very nervous, when youre talking to candidates and lawmakers about the midterm elections. They want support from conservative donors like charles koch. But they also need the support of President Trump, they tell me, to try to get that kind of coalition together to stave off a democratic wave. Its not going to be easy. Its a Balancing Act for a lot of these republicans. I want to read part of a quote from forbes which read china is and the United States
is going after the united stach jugular. And china is feeling it. And theyre saying theyre glad theyre taking this on . Im going to take a contrary view. I feel the same way. You know its going to question another dollar for a shirt to win the fight against china. Okay. Were not willing to make any sacrifices if the goal here is pretrade which i hope it is in the Trump Administration the only way there is to confront the problem . Do you think confronting the problem, 12 billion in aid to farmers . I actually believe, whether you like what trump is doing or not or agree with his policy or not, do i think hes going to win . I actually do. Just as the germans came in last week and talked about zero tariffs. The germans cannot longer feel
that. You got no fear this is going to turn into a currency war . I have every war. Its a high wire act. I think its very dangerous. Your question, do i think donald trump wins this . Yes, the Chinese Market down, theyre using reserves. Theyre highly leveraged. Theyre gdp growth is now down to 6 . And we all know they lie with their numbers. Theyre growth may not be much more than ours in our developing economy. The political pressure for oligarchs in china and the political person for the overemployed or underemployed must be getting problems. You think trump is getting concerns from charles koch and farmers, thats nothing like from china. You also look at the Soybean Markets and how theyre being destroyed. Right now, they might be buying up because they know theyre going to get hit with new tariffs but why not go to brazil
for all of this . Because they all get shu shuffled. As the chinese now tart to buy from brazil and australia i would rather them be buying from the people who were buying from those markets now shift back to the United States. Its just a dislocation, that in time works out. I wish i shared your confidence that it would all settle that easily. But i think the disruption from the interim is going to be theres no question. Were already suffering. I think about guys like ben sasse, republicans in states with major farming, paul ryan. Do they share the president s sentiment on this and do they share how Bob Toroselli thinks, because i dont think they do . You see republicans striking a more free tone in that, but you dont see them calling out charles koch too much either for having his own point of view. I mean, there is still a wing of the Republican Party, even a Republican Party that President Trump has a total grip over it seems day to day. At least polling indicates he has intense support from a majority of the republicans. Theres still a conservative element that believes free trade, small government, that was the way of the past and should be the way of the future. President trump for all of the stylist differences for republicans is changing the ideology of the party and there are some people resistant to that. Senator, i want to share what larry kudlow said about how this is impacting china. You have to remember, larry kudlow is a guy who weeks before going to the add straight urmin urged not to go there. He called them taxes. The key point here all of a sudden the chinese are being isolated. Klein, by the way, ask the eu to do a trade deal. The eu said no. The eu said to us, we would much
rather have a deal with you, the United States thats why President Trump in president yonk s meeting was so important. Heres what i dont get, if Multilateral Trade deals are the best way do go after china with tpp, why do they want to blow them all up . Im a defender of the trump policies. And heres what we cant all fall into, because of the way we feel about trump politically and personally and the damage to our democracy what . Well, a little bit. The goal here is free trade. My party. My friends, from barack obama to bill clinton, didnt get us to free trade. It was structured trade. Just because they got it wrong, what makes you think hes getting it right . Well, because finally, these imbalances had to be confronted. The europeans came To Washington Last Week and proposed a zero tariff in both directions, trade
relationships which theyve now which is what were working toward with tpp before this happened . Obut with the europeans we hd not gotten there in 50 years we had these imbalances. Massive imbalances. Where we were discriminated particularly with the germans in august and agricultural products. Say what you will, this is a highwire act and it is dangerous. With light trucks we were imposing tariffs. The president takes only one side of it and shows that hand to the American People. That is true, but nevertheless, this idea that somehow were violating free trade, we havent had free trade. Its structured trade. There is no free trade. And the multilateral negotiations charged with this never got us here from the kennedy round until trump. He may fail, too. But the idea of finally going to the chinese and saying were not going to have this structured were going to get to real free
trade, were not going to get to free trade until we get past the structure that we have now. So it is, though, the answer, this is basically new taxes for americans. So, it is donald trump its definitely not free trade, and if anything, hes raising taxes on basic Consumer Goods that people who are not going to benefit from cutting Capital Gains taxes theyre going to first of all, the press assumption is because you put tariff on american product that gets to the consumer. Theres two big assumptions there. First, that chinese product isnt replaced by something from another country, second, the company cant absorb it. Procter gamble said this week, get ready for more expensive typers. F diapers. For all of the mothers and fathers out those dollars for that it does matter. Youre assuming that Procter Gamble that has competitive products isnt forced to absorb that itself. The president just tweeted about Jeff Sessions and said the mueller needs to end now. And then about Paul Manafort asking why the government didnt tell him he was under investigation. Robert costa, to you, first, what are your thoughts on the president s latest tweet, of course, calling the Mueller Investigation a rigged witch hunt, when we know between plea deals and indictments, were up to 35. The president s tweet says Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop, his words, the rigged witch hunt. Is this a direct order from the president of the United States . To the official overseeing the justice department, a nonpa nonpartisan Law Enforcement institution. If so, if youre Rod Rosenstein today picking up your phone or robert mueller, you just be wondering what is next. Is the president actually going to make a move against the special counsel. Bob, you can say the American People dont want to hear the ins and outs of this investigation but its the
president that throws it back in the news every minute of every day . He does, whether its by design or dumb luck, its had an effect for him. Hes worn down this investigation. Hes worn down mueller. Now, hes had accomplices, comey has been the perfect foil here in destroying the credibility of the investigation, too. Nonetheless, trumps relentlessness, the wearing it down, has put it in a precarious position. If this Manafort Trial does not succeed, this investigation has got real problems. This tweet about manafort is really incredible. Its always someones elses fault. The government should have warned donald trump not to hire Paul Manafort. Its the governments fault. Never mind that mccain was able to make that judgment. Decades ago, donald trump was one of thirst first clients and had been for years so for donald
trump to make the argument that government should have told me a year and a half ago, that is absolutely disingenuous, is it not, robert costa . Youre definitely right, stephanie that the president has known Paul Manafort for decades. Manafort even lived in trumps tower. When Paul Manafort was under fbi scrutiny he wishes he were alerted to that, but the fbi traditionally does not alert if theyre under criminal investigation. They try to keep it under rap. Elise. It comes down to judgment and donald trump consistently shows poor judgment. It comes down to poor judgment. And anybody who hires a Campaign Manager does some Due Diligence investigation of them. Turning over any stone would indicate that Paul Manafort has a host of problems. He knew him is my point, he knew him and knew exactly the
man he was. The president s tariffing have a Ripple Effect in ohio. Were going to take you to a town whose entire existence depends on american Washing Machines. I tend to play the tough guy. But i wasnt tough enough to quit on my own. Not until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. It reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could stop. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. My favorite role so far . Being a nonsmoker. No question about it. Talk to your doctor about chantix. President trump continuing to tout the benefits of the steel and aluminum tariffs. But in communities like clyde, ohio, where a Single Company defines an entire town, the president s Trade Policies are have something unintended consequences. Msnbcs Garrett Haake joins me from capitol hill. Garrett, you were recently in colli clyde which is the home of the americas largest Washing Machine, whirlpool. Reporter yeah, the economy is humming, people are buying houses because of these tear. Referee s, because of 30 unpredictability, a lot of folks there telling me theyre keeping a nervous eye on washington. Welcome to whirlpool country, clyde, ohio, population, 6,000, clyde whirlpool plant, population 3,000. The rest of the community, willful goes clyde goes
whirlpool. Reporter roughly twothirds of the taxes paid by whirlpool and the workers and businesses within it. Were standing in part in whi whirlpool. Is that indicative of where they are . With whirlpool being here 65 years. Reporter you can imagine how thrilled they were when President Trump announced he was slapping 25 tariffs on Washing Machines. Sticking it to whirlpools biggest competitors like lg and samsung. The companys ceo called it without a doubt, a positive catalyst for whirlpool. But in march, new tariffs this time on imported steel and aluminum hit his company where it hurts, the supply chain. This Washing Machine was built in clyde, a lot of it was made of steel and aluminum, the body, the trim and even the wash tub. Data from Financial Analysis firm show prices creeping up as the stock slides. Bill sold Hundreds Depends On W how important is that plant to this town . Its huge and huge to the neighboring towns. I mean if anything happened to that plant this would be a ghost town. Reporter a ghost town . It would be very tough. Reporter this is as close as we could get. The company wouldnt let us talk to anyone on camera. Workers we met told us they were told not to talk to reporters at all. But the company has had lots to say about this issue. In his most recent call with investors, ceo vowed to take the right action for investors. The company said in short, the net impact of all remedies and tariffs has turned into a headwind for us. This community is watching to see what whirlpool and what the president do in the face of that headwind. Clydes future depends on it. Do you trust him on this . It gets tougher every day but i have to have faith. I have faith. Reporter stephanie, he voted for President Trump back in 2016. The politics of this are fascinating of the this is a county that president obama won twice, then President Trump won by a big margin. Folks were happy about that first round of tariffs on imported Washing Machines. They want help from the government but theyre watching very carefully to see what the president does next. They hope this is all a negotiating tactic. Faith and optimistic are both very good. Thank you. More on money, power, politics. We are six months into the president s tax cuts, those cuts were supposed to trickle down to workers paychecks. Instead thus far the biggest investments have been made in Stock Buybacks. Nearly 700 Million Bucks in the first few quarter. Politico reviewed data and found executives who got major paydays, thanks to buybacks,
oracle ceo sold 250 million worth of shares in her company. That came after the Company Announced a 12 billion buyback. Mastercard ceo sold 44. 4 million worth of stocks just months after the Company Announced a buyback. He was the largest single cashout by an executive of the company in at least ten years. 55,000 shares were sold for 5. 4 million two days after the Company Announced a 2 million buyback. The Corporate Tax savings are bypassing workers and going straight into shareholders pockets. Joining me now to talk about this is my friend ron kushevxi. Companies were to have cash freed up and reinvest it in the company and see wages go up. When you think about who the
priorities are, their shareholders and their consumers and we havent really seen it hit the worker yet. We have to pay fair competitive wages, we have to serve our communities and we have to make our share price go up. Thats my job. Yeah. And so thats what we do. Stock buybacks are a form of corporate finance. They need to be done like investments. You can buyback stocks. You can make investments. You can pay dividends. To sit there and just link it completely to Executive Compensation i think is rather simplistic and not the real issue here. Well, then what is the real issue . When you look at Income Inequality, when we saw these tax cuts, they were told it was going to help the American Worker. Do you think the American Worker is wages continue to stay relative stagnant. Thats not true. This week the government said thats the highest theyve been in ten years and wages are growing 3 . They are looking at eci data
and thats factoring in health care and that factors in a whole lot of the if you go to the average worker theyre not seeing wage increases. Amazon continues to have employees on food stamps. The old adage everybody can find data to support their argument. Right. The economys growing, wages are increasing, i believe, just the simple 3 year over year. Its the highest since the financial crisis, so, you know, i dont see i do want to say something, okay . The Biggest Issue i think economically in this country is Income Inequality. Im going to agree with you on that. And we need to find policies to narrow that and that runs the gamut from education to opportunity to a number of things and so im not going to take issue with that. Do you think were doing things to address that . My reservation is this, i look at the massive tax cuts and i look, the treasury has less and less money they have to borrow
more and weve got massive Budget Deficits and the president talked about a Trade Deficit but those Budget Deficit cause us to cut programs that people on the bottom need. The interesting thing is if you want to save the Budget Deficits increased Trade Deficits if you want to give it in economic terms. Look, we as a country, we as a society can do and should do a better job of narrowing income and inequity do you think its happening right now . Because the tax cuts arent yet paid for and weve got this idea float that had were going to now inflation adjust Capital Gains tax and while that might not be a bad idea it doesnt address the big problem which is Income Inequality. The first thing is jobs. When jobs are at 3. 7 , the economy is growing 4 . I hear all of these things that its not sustainable. Things are better and as things are getting better. Workforce participation went up. So lets talk about some of the positive things. Are we going to take Income Inequality and at the end of this show make it go to zero . No. I dont think so. One of the reasons people voted for the president was because he said im going to address it, attack it and solve it. Do you see policies being put in place that solve it . Right now its Corporate Leaders who appear to be addressing it more than Government Leaders do. I think the policies of you know, these are all political issues and in an economic terms and i dont agree with all the politics necessarily, but in economic terms i think there are things being done. Whats being done on trade in the long run is negotiation. In the long run it will lower tariffs, it will lower barriers. Its just a different way to go there versus what other administrations did. I think that all of the things that were talking about which encourage investment and encourage employment are steps in the direction to increase the prosperity of this country. Theres some big issues. Educations one of them. Without a doubt. The president says hes turned the economy around. So walk me through where weve been the last eight or ten years since the financial crisis. Do you think the president turned it around . Because i cant find anything that needed to be turned around. We were on a slow but positive path. Look, theres no i dont know that any administration should take blame or guilt for turning anything around that they inherited. However, since the financial crisis until just recently, we werent growing at 2 . Correct. Compare that to 30 years of growing at 3 , thats onethird less gdp each year for ten years that is lost prosperity. So are we turning around . 4 gdp whens the last time you heard that . Five times during the Obama Administration. Okay. Did you say it was not sustainable then . The point is, the point is, is
that we have 4 gdp, we have 3. 7 unemployment. Lets not confuse the politics with economic policy. At least id like to separate them. Without a doubt. When you look at the markets, do you feel like were continuing on a positive trajectory. Some people feel like its those Stock Buybacks keeping things afloat, they worry that weve been on this positive trajectory for such a long time, wheres the cushion if we do have an economic down turn . Rates are being increased. Is that a good thing . It is. We need rates to go up. The economy is higher rates signify a stronger economy. So in many ways, a lot of the things that youre talking about, the economy is on a good pace here, all right . And so go at policy and go at tweets and go at all of that,
just dont go at the economy, thats a bad argument right now. Ron, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I dont need to go at anything. We would love to a good daily and great economy and great education system. I said it before, every american once to be financially free, physically safe, thank you for being here. All right. We know how we like to end the show. Its the best part of the show. We always end with good news because we believe good news rules. A Grocery Store employee in baton rouge, louisiana, is being lauded toward his act of kindness to a shopper in autism. He welcomed the help, guiding him and encouraged him every step of the way. For 30 minutes he helped him do it. That young mans grandfather called, i believe he said it was a great act of kindness. I appreciate it and that guy is
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