stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports . to washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture cypriots have rejected the e.u. harsh bailout plan so what happens next it's as richard wolffe coming up in a moment also what does the sequester mean for small business owners so i would elliot richardson and find out how every day entrepreneurs are surviving in the age of austerity and the mainstream media bought bush's iraq wise folk line and sinker it's time we made them pay tell you why but i'd still take.

you need to know this cyprus bailout crisis is far from over and the worst may yet to become may be. tuesday's cypresses parliament voted down and e.u. and i.m.f. sponsored deal that would have bailed out that island's failing banks in exchange for slapping depositors with either a six point seven five or nine point nine percent levy a tax of sensually on their savings accounts. officials the plan was intended to make wealthy foreigners who often use cyprus as a tax haven pay for the bail up but the plan would have forced all separate account holders not just the wealthy to pay for the bank's toure's mistakes not surprisingly citizens of all classes took to the streets demanding that their government reject the e.u. bailout their protests worked eventually forcing tuesday's unanimous no vote in the e.u. i.m.f. proposal but the small mediterranean islands banks are still in danger e.u. and cypriot officials are scrambling. to come up with an alternative an alternative

school scheme before banks reopen next tuesday march twenty sixth allen's finance ministry for one as suggested accepting the e.u. bailout on the condition that exempts smaller account holders from the lobby of the european finance ministers like francis pure mosco moscow d.c. have also expressed support for such an exception and at the same time however the cypriot government is also exploring a bailout plan with russia which is not part of the e.u. any agreement with russia would likely include access to cyprus as natural gas fields as part of the deal meanwhile the cypriot stock exchange remains closed regardless of what happens next this mediterranean fiasco reveals a lot about the euro zone's financial crisis and the motivations of the powers that be who have been managing it over the past four years it was an obvious when germany and other leading powers first for savage austerity measures on greece italy and spain it should be now e.u.

officials care first and foremost about protecting the interest of their big banks if that means literally stealing money out of other people's bank accounts and so be it cypriots may have put their latest and most brutal form of austerity on hold for now but what about the rest of the eurozone what will happen when a larger struggling country like spain needs another bailout and even more importantly what will happen when cyprus is banks open up next week a separate government as whole is waiting to end its temporary bank holiday while new bailout terms of negotiated are just putting off the inevitable we see a bank run in cyprus spread to the rest of europe and maybe even the u.s. it's us richard wolffe economist and visiting professor at the graduate program for international affairs at the new school university and author of numerous books his most recent democracy at work a cure for capitalism richard welcome back thank you tom this. seemingly arbitrary maybe you could. explain the rationale for it maximum budget

deficit european countries can have a three percent flies in the face of automatic stabilizing mechanisms that all of these countries have where if they go into recession then automatically they have things like on employment insurance and all the people who were paying taxes into the government are now taking tax money out of the government and so of course we're going to have budget deficits go up was this just like a crazy idea in the first place yes i think so i think that the whole notion of an automatic fix level denies the inevitable flexibility the inevitability of new developments that no one who wrote these rules ever for saw and that it. puts a straight jacket on policy makers that never makes much sense that forces them to violate these rules that violation is interpreted in strange ways by the different players in an economy it's an irrational way to manage

a capitalism that is always unstable and unpredictable so i would like to mention something about the cyprus event i think it's enormously important much more that's been understood first of all the the government of cyprus agreed with europe to impose these levees on the depositors of their own country they were planning to do that hope they'd be no trouble and had originally scheduled for their banks to open tuesday yesterday when the cypriot people said no way you are not going to make us pay for a crisis we didn't cause and bailouts that we never benefited from suddenly the politicians and the bankers who had gotten together to do this were defeated and they were defeated in a very important way by an uprising of the mass of people who simply said no we won't tolerate it that's why the bank holiday was extended first from tuesday then

to today then to tomorrow now to next week this is a governmental control apparatus of this capitalist system that is spinning out of control and that's a very important lesson for people everywhere in europe do you think that there is going to be a run on the banks in cyprus no matter what they do now so much credibility has been lost and people are so suspicious of the banking system. absolutely we already saw it because for part of monday and tuesday they allowed cash machines in the banks to dispense a little bit of money because obviously if people can get literally no money out of a closed bank holiday then all kinds of transactions stop people who had counted on getting a couple of hundred euro's out of the bank to pay their basic bills can't all the people they owed those bills to then don't get any money they can't pay their bills this is a chain reaction of economic collapse so they let the bank cash machines send out

a little bit that was gobbled up by everybody who could but the greater danger to europe is the thought that must be going through every thoughtful italian spanish portuguese irish polish you name it citizen wondering whether it's safe for him or her to keep their bank accounts going when will their governments take a hint from what was just tried a year in little cyprus when will they face the the kind of news the cypriots did that when you go to your bank tomorrow morning you will have six or seven or ten percent less money in it than you had last week it's an extraordinary extension if you like of the austerity program not waiting for a tax increase to bring money in over the year not waiting for a sequester type of social program cut back to bring in the money that they can then give to the banks no dipping right into the depositors in the banks to pull

money out of their accounts to pass through the government to those same banks it's the banks stealing from their own depositors it's stunning it genuinely is richard are we watching the beginning of the european of the crash in europe. well i think what we're watching is another installment in what you might call a slow motion crash there is a continuing refusal to see that this is a systemic problem that this is a system that isn't working that that's why the crisis happened that's why the crisis cuts deeper than any one foresaw that's why the crisis is lasting longer than anyone foresaw but there's a refusal to see that we have basic problems so the governments and the bankers keep thinking they don't have to pay a heavy price they don't have to make big changes and so they make the little changes that don't work that produce crazy decisions like cyprus and that scare

everybody who's paying attention because it's a system spiraling out of control and we should be aware that what europe is is also showing what the united states is moving toward and before we congratulate ourselves that we're not there remember that's where we're going this is this is austerity and that's essentially the ads run this sequester of the republican budgets all these even the democratic budgets to some extent absolutely the raising that payroll tax on january first where one hundred fifty million americans suddenly saw the payroll tax go from four point two to six point two percent that is a tax on average middle and lower income people that's the big increase in taxes after a presidential election in which the campaigns outdid each other to preserve the middle class to save the middle class they just whack that middle class with a tax increase that raises four times the amount of money that the so-called tax on

wealthy people will ever bring in it's startling but it's a lesson that we're going in that road that cyprus prefigures for us which is going to happen first in your opinion is the three percent arbitrary three percent. maximum debt ceiling going to be blown up or lifted so that countries like greece and spain and cyprus can can run a larger debts or is are we going to see countries just flee the euro go back there is a dollar and says at this point there's still the hope in europe that the countries that have by the way been ignoring these rules france and germany as well as the countries in the more difficult circumstances have been ignoring all sorts of the rules they all agreed on so there's plenty of precedent for not in fact abiding by the rules and there's relatively little enforcement that has been tried or that is even allowed under the rules of the e.u.

so my guess is they're not yet convinced despite the blowback that the cypriot people were able to to demonstrate they're not yet persuaded that the mass of the populations of italy of spain and eventually of france and germany too will mount that kind of opposition only when they see that will you get the fundamental change that will shift out of austerity and to build economic development by breaking a lot of other rules of typical capitalism they're not year that there yet but their failure of their program is moving us closer to the conflicts that will bring that change doesn't the federal deposit insurance corporation our insurance on the first quarter million dollars that people put in bank accounts are in as this doesn't have buffer us against something like this the banks are stealing our own money we just have a oh about a half a minute here richard well i'm afraid the answer is no because many of the accounts that would have been tapped by the cypriot decision are also insured the insurance

flew out the window you know if you're determined to do this you can always get lawyers to come up with an interpretation of the rules that allow you to do what you thought the rules would allow you to do we've had presidents recently that interpreted the rule. as against torture to allow the united states government to torture prisoners well we are going to see at least as much creativity in the laws governing what you can do with people's accounts that's what we learn from cyprus and that's a lesson that the people of the world will have to pay very close attention to yeah i think it's also what we learned in two thousand and eight as well richard wolffe thanks so much for being with us tonight my pleasure thank you. after the break senate majority leader harry reid caved under pressure yesterday removing the assault weapons ban from being voted on in the senate democrats given up on gun control or is there still a chance to pass some serious reforms that and more into nights alone liberal rumble.

let me let me i want to know we're going to let me ask you a question from. here on this network is what we're having the debate we have our knives out if. the truth is this time it's a bad thing never again you're in a situation where b. and i don't want to talk about the surveillance we. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard welcome to the big picture.

here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dollar. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares an awful lot of money you sir are a fool you know what kind of my other terrorist cells in your neighborhood all want to keep us safe to feature isn't the only liberal the christian point just because you're totally out of the. you know the corporate media distracts us from what you and i should care about because there are profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage because that breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break that it's. looking good every day guy from the field that we won't find it here if you're

looking for relevant stories unique perspective from top class tends to end our. welcome back it's time to turn things over to a nice long liberal rumble on our panel tonight neil asprey c.e.o. author and host of the truth for america radio show and horoscope or survey of commentator and senior fellow at the national center for public policy research thank you both for joining. guns harry reid caved in and basically he realized that the republicans were going to continuously filibuster dianne feinstein's assault weapons ban so he said ok we're going to pull this thing isn't this a demonstration that that mitch mcconnell was negotiating in bad faith and was lying to harry reid when he said you have a gentleman's agreement that unless it's something that would provoke a national crisis we're not going to filibuster meaning well first of all i have

the support of the democrats there's six or seven of the kind of purple state red states the second amendment states senate and senate democrats said he didn't have support from so i think this crumbled at the democrat level not that enough so you think it isn't what you think you saw of inspanned could've gotten fifty votes and no absolutely not because there's democrat senators that has been have to stand a lection in i think the democrats are grossly underestimating the support for the second amendment but and it's got them in trouble horace colorado just passed a gun you know limit laws and colorado is a pretty republican state a pretty gun friendly state i say bring it on baby now i tell you that the senate majority leader heard from his democratic colleagues who said please don't make us walk over the coals and vote on this things it's going to lose anyway so don't make us do it now colorado they will raise some good through and i can't wait to see the

off year elections and watch the consequence democrats do things they always around it's are other volatile. because it's a very thoughtful deliberation those i'm ok so so that's interesting but what's what's irrational about it was all i was about i mean all the bottle washer post system did a poll fifty seven percent of americans support the assault weapons ban this is something this is something ronald reagan came out this is totally insincere if the democrats were really in to a gun control or a background check sort of thing why aren't they going after the culture of violence in hollywood well wait a second well it's because hollywood is a big donor is a democrat ok let's leave that everett out such a canard no it's not because it's this while and some say media guns don't kill people hollywood kills people i think that's a big part i mean what was the the one it you talk about aurora colorado what it was what it was about a batman movie that inspired that or at least was sort of there at the course we have a we have a culture of violence in this country so let's go after both but if you don't it's

a totally insincere effort to attack the second amendment and it's not going to fly we have had you know whether it's movies whether it was books before that we we have glorified depicted war one hundred thousand ways in the history books if you really believe and i think democrats are in from syria on this too but if you really believe the guns were the problem in america how about coming up with a consensus solution let's make more things eligible for capital punishment less hold people accountable for their actions but you progressives don't want that you know use bill doesn't doesn't use the brain of people there's a progressive limit in suicide you want this please most of what he says was the right match shooters end up shooting themselves you've been pushing for fifty which i think solves most of the problem they're doing suicide pushing for fifty years to grab the guns from the american people and that syria genda not actually holding people accountable who do the things that they have no business doing this you know what all these different read by authorities and that you get eighty absence of always you get eighty votes in the senate and the senate majority leader said ok

here's what we're going to do in response to our issue. the only one going to hand are the as the only thing or as you please people in changing the subject isn't assault weapons and why she was why should weapons of war be on our streets let me take a look at chicago they have some of the most strict is good laws in the country it's not working out too well in chicago and this is why it is so mr council will know that is isn't the mayor over there live to see what he's going to say about it and someone would like it to saw a national assault weapon because that because the bastards are going to arrest of them sad eyes of the police department cargo and what like an army to come in and escort them to work every day precisely because it's a crime zone out of control and nobody cares about that because you're on your progressive agenda to snatch guns away from law abiding citizens it's a nonstarter it's not going to work and then as there is no there is no progressive agenda to snatch guns away from law abiding citizens. because it's not what we're

talking about on weapons of war also have been there is a progressive agenda as weapons of war all of the streets farakka name me five cases where weapons of war were actually used to kill american citizens inside the country so they must've been for that you know. maybe for been acquiring the latest i'm not going to get according to the latest analysis i was just this is common sense we have changed a lot and you can't even come up with five examples you can't come up with for examples you can't come up with three examples the truth of the matter is this is part of the agenda progressives to take weapons away from law abiding citizen and the only reason it didn't happen. here is i think there's a very adventuresome right wing doesn't want to this is the point the mark mark what's his name the guy who's got a difference i was getting is that that that guy mark kelly that morning finally got that seven year old girl had he been using a go weapon that had

a limit of nine rounds you know in the in the clip that he would have. had to reload and that was the point at which he got taken down was when he had to reload he would have had to reload and she would have been killed and this is and i recommend you progressives take the same step that mark kelly is taking personally going around and buying as many air fifteen's if he can so that he can take them off the market and we're clearly not going to carry her as it was honest ok according to the latest analysis of the american side of civil engineers infrastructure in the us gets a d. minus basically we haven't been maintaining our infrastructure since the reagan administration i mean that was when we stopped where we build a lot of schools while hospitals before that you know jack kennedy famously talked about a fifty percent of the cost of all the hospitals in america had been paid for by the federal government up at that point sixty two now we have a recent gallup poll that shows that seventy seven percent of americans support government programs to put people back to work on infrastructure and that that would create jobs i mean you know isn't this isn't this this is not rocket science

what i brought you know you were just lawyer in the world did you just have your previous segment was about how you're going to have they didn't tell you that i met from honduras or something that was really good the other day that they should already have trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see you know let's go after government ways even the reader's digest said we waste a trillion dollars a year would not be a great downpayment on infrastructure the amount of waste in court in america is mind boggling and i absolutely agree with you can i go as well your ways it was the worst thing that i got is wasted on her let's do something about it but that here's the question here is the solution build operate and transfer bring in private investment let them operate for so many years and click tolls the brooklyn bridge in erie canal so many of the great infrastructure projects were financed by private investment that the tolls corporation was not exclusively financed by private. it was just was wired in. to these three user fees but that was that was the argument

it was government money that put the canal together and i don't know about the brooklyn bridge i know a lot. you know what about in a book or nothing could happen unless government does it that's the progressive no that's not true that is absolutely sure that is actually not true what i'm saying is that gore is calling out a second ari stop for just a second you just make these outrageous statements that will just say point you just said nothing of having less government doesn't my point is there is something to build there is something called the commons the stuff that we all use in common the stuff that it would be unreasonable to say oh yeah let's not have a lot of brothers build a highway from one end of the country let's just have the koch brothers come in to run the national air traffic control system there is this stuff called the commons that we all have to have a part in and that we should be you know that we have not been building our definitions of what constitutes the commons is in disagreement a hospital is not necessarily something that has to be done by government that is something that can be done by the private sector of course the obamacare limits but

number of new hospitals that are allowed to be created because government wants to be able to be responsible for we absolutely had we told road on additional highway we need to let the private sector come in build some of these parks and let the economy grow but while we let me let me just see let me just understand this so out in front of everybody's house before they go on to the privately owned toll road they're going to put a quarter into the gate to go to some rich guy who owns the street right you tell me texas just put it eighty five mile an hour speed limit toll road if it's extremely popular we have i tell you you right you're going to limit all of our should really a lot of our starship become toll road or get mired in our neighborhood and my own neighborhood i am responsible as a member of my homeowner's association to pay for the paving of my own streets oh a lot of this has already been privatized so why are we trying to claim that government's going to take this on so on so it's nearly

a trillion dollars on stimulus there's a little infrastructure where's all the instruction for that as i've already got to make sure. it it didn't work they saw a large amount of fire departments our police departments our bridges our roads you want to just privatized all this or just turn or turn all over the billionaires and once the billionaires. let's listen to that would post office to once the billionaires have all of it then what are we going to say when they start jacking up prices let me tell you i think it's a much more fair system where people this is the u.s. economy people use natural let those big bad corporations pay tolls when they move their merchandise around the country to build the infrastructure live and pay some more money to our ports if we need to build what we're going to get ali to the point where they're already almost moving when governments all of the highway and they make up these fines are doing sixty in a fifty five and they charge you two hundred fifty bucks for that's not gouging that's not mistreated it's only that when billionaires charge these fees you know what billionaires try to do they try to find a cost that people will bear so they can make more government is indifferent to

that where the main thing the billionaires are trying to do in this country and have been doing since the one thousand is it figure out all of this is figure out how to destroy competition is build monopolies or do try apple is try to try to do totally dominate individual industries and i grant you that adam smith and wants that that's a problem out but becoming the model of got the in vegas probably had its america well that's exactly what's happened is there is a biggest problem we have in america health care is the biggest that is that we have in america that's where our national wealth is going let some of that be freed up also how do you are just going to the top one percent they've seen their income was one hundred seventy five percent you got four hundred people in a sense to have more wealth than the bottom of the hundred limits consume them plentiful out there of doing the good for the people and that is because infrastructure let's listen have actually reagan's tax cut their last tuesday that her last interview the guy just admitted that you're going to get four times as much money from the payroll tax hike then you're going to get from this so-called demagogic hike on the rich but you guys don't care you want to punish successful

people that's all you care about doing not growing the. come to me i don't care for . honey she has you see i thought of absolutely let's close my mind. to encourage he is lying to invest in the commons and you have to say yes do you want to change the tax code to encourage people to invest raise the top marginal tax rate back to seventy to ninety percent where it was in the forty's fifty's exactly i explained the way you keep their money in their business he would rather live what it in swiss bank accounts like mitt romney day if you have a seventy or eighty or ninety percent drop probably you are punishing me you have any success you have prosperity and we'll see what happens you history of america happening in france you they didn't have their industry their jobs are all leaving france so you know they are not says here now this is around the model of this is not absolutely no one more of that on his lawn liberal rubble right after the break .

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. of potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more cattery down to the

bottom line there is still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight if. decent it is going to be pretty incredible today there and even record snowfall throughout what's been like nobody's long three driving lessons so words you see here all the exceptions. the worst year for those. white house to give it to a radio guy and for sale minutes from a quick profit i want to quote good news if you've never seen anything like good times roll.