We have a fascinating and very global show for you this Sunday at 10am ET/PT.
First up, two opposing perspectives on what to do about U.S. unemployment and the deficit. On the left, Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. On the right, David Stockman was Director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan.
Next, a rare look deep inside Syria. Few outsiders have been in recently. Friend-of-GPS and renowned academic Fawaz Gerges just returned. What's really going on inside Syria?
And finally, deciphering the goings-on in Iran almost exactly two years since disputed elections led to the start of the Green Movement. Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari on all that and the power struggle going on between Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah.
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I believe in President Barack Obama with all my heart. He is doing everything that he can to create job growth. However, a fundamental problem exists. We need legislators who don't have to worry about corporate funding for their election campaigns. President Obama can't do it alone. I hope that Fareed Zakaria, because he believes in job growth also, will help by urging his American audience to go to Care2.com and sign the petition for Americans to begin our own campaign contribution election pot. Hopefully to put it on the 2012 ballot to outlaw corporate contributions and payroll deduct $10 per month from the payroll of every working American. Then and, only then will we begin to get legislators whose hands are not tied, for fear of no funds to get re-elected. Make our tax dollars work for a change.
Linda; I like how your thinking outside the box although i don't agree with everything your saying. I think there are many Country,s in the world to grab different ideas from .
I'd like to know the impact of jobs on the income from taxes. If the jobless rate went down 1%, how much would this increase the revenue for federal, state, and local government? for example, assume that $1M is invested in infrastructure, funding some jobs in state government, plus a number of jobs in construction, increased revenue for infrastructure companies, increased spending by the company and employees, and the ripple effect of this spending.
Fawaz Gerges' comparison of Syrian protests with those in Egypt, Tunis, and other Arab countries misses a critical point: The Syrian regime security apparatus, which includes the army, stood by the regime and butchered the demonstrators from the onset. I am actually surprised that anyone dares protest in the streets of Syria with the knowledge of what can happen to them by this brutal regime. Whereas in Egypt, the army actually protected the demonstrators, making their numbers grow. Pull Assad's beasts back and then let us compare. Those in Syria who demonstrate in spite of the bullets, the clubs, the fingernail pulling, the electric shock to the testicles, the beatings to the head, the sports killing by snipers, and all the rest... they deserve the truth. Mr. Fawaz: do the Syrians scare you this much that you omit key observations? In the end, the people will change the Nizaam!
actually my friend just got back from Syria 2 weeks ago after being there for a month and he said pretty much the same thing. The regime, according to him has atleast 50 percent partially because it is secular and its nort seen as a puppet. But also because they don"t want their country to be over run by Islamists or turn into Libya or Lebanon. Syria is a unique and that is why this regime will stya
General population growth, longer life expectancy and aging baby boomers help explain the continued expansion of health care employment there is always shortage of employees in the health industry learn how to get degree in few months from "High Speed University" article
I watch GPS every week from Switzerland with great interest.
Fareed's description of and comments on most subjects especially when talking about systems today (e.g. Denmark or Iceland) are most interesting and thoughtworthy – where I think you fail is when you do not look at why these peoples have the systems they do while others do not – people are what they are because of their history and cannot change from one day to the next. No system is perfect and each has a price to be paid by the people. The price the Danes are ready to pay (in terms of personal rights against group rights) for their system would never be acceptable to Southern European people for example, hence the silliness of simply comparing.
Furthermore, the size, history, and herterogenous population of the US cannot compare to Iceland. Some of their ways might be adaptable to the states but would need some "localization".
One last thought. All the discussions about the ME rarely look at the realities of tribes and groups with various interpretations of Islam (e.g. Alawi, Kurd, Suni, etc) and the influence of the nation delimitations done after WWI that do not correspond to the groups within. You treat these countries as if they were like any others when in fact they are closer to Yougoslavia. Without addressing these multiple cultural & religious issues, your audience will miss a very large portion of what is really causing problems under the radar.
Sally – "You treat these countries as if they were like any others when in fact they are closer to Yougoslavia. Without addressing these multiple cultural & religious issues, your audience will miss a very large portion of what is really causing problems under the radar".
There is only ONE country in the Middle East I can think of that has a slight resemblance to the former Yugoslavia unter Tito – Syria. Tito was Serb and based in Belgrad (Serbia), while the rest of the country made up of republics, which gained independence after the fall of Jugoslavia 1991. The heterogeneity made the break up of Jugoslavia and cession proecess of the different republics so much easier.
Assad is Alawi and rules over a Sunni majority in Syria, which is not dvidied into autonomous provinces. I would think that the Middle East in general is more homogenous than the Balkans.
Don't think that the Swiss model would lend itself everywhere. If the Swiss don't enjoy prosperity, one would see the country break up as well.
I disagree with the gentlemen wearing glasses. If our economy is so broke, why does President Obama keep giving our taxpayers dollars to other countries? He should make the business' pay their fair share of taxes and don't tell me that they hire when they receive tax breaks. I worked for the IRS for many years and they have many loop holes, its ridiculous, the business' receiving tax breaks put that money they are saving in their pocket because they can't expand their business because AMERICANS ARE BROKE and cannot afford to spend. Obama should get our monies that he gave other countries returned and use it for our children's education crisis. I reside in a small town and we only have 1 junior high and 1 high school, and they pink slipped 45+ teachers last month and many more classified employees. So do me a favor and tell business owners and Obama that business owners are both democrat and republican. People believe that only republicans are getting the tax breaks. and reinvest our tax dollars on our future by giving to our children's education.
I have never seen so many people that are educated that didnt know anything. You cant raise energy prices like they have and not have problems. In fact if you go look at the spreadsheets on the internet on fuel prices you will find that in 2001 after cheny had his big meeting with the oil people, you will find the fuel prices started climbing.
We can turnt this country around by drilling for the oil. There is oil all over this country and there is no excuse for not using it. Peoples way of life are at stake here folks. Drill Drill Driill and tell them therre is a bonus for every well they bring in. Turn them loose and hold them responsible for any damages they create.
What keeps people employed and gives them money is cheap energy. If you dont believe it you better go back and look at history.
ST
Stan your right on point, cheney, is and was not in the oil business and can readily afford to pay for gas at whatever $$. Your suggestion on drill drill drill also creates jobs jobs jobs from top to bottom Engineers, Architects,Drillers etc etc etc more than likely these sites will be in rural area's which communities will proposer and grow which creates jobs jobs jobs, what a concept
Was today's throw down necessary? I hoped last week's free-for-all was an aberration. I watch GPS to learn, not to cover my ears or channel surf. I hope those producing GPS did not choose to include what Larry King called "talk wrestling" as window dressing to make GPS competitive against lower quality shows.
I thought the goverment had allocated Billions $$$ for infrastucture repair and maintance ? the majority of which is setting in limbo not being used at and the little that is being is not being used either for what it was intended for are on projects that are not mutally benificial, this is POLITICS at its worst, rather than use these funds to stave off a rise in unemployment affect the economy in a positive way etc. etc. some would sit on those funds in sincere effort to undermine the current Admin. to further their own agenda at Our expense POLITICS 21st Century What Happen To "We the People" ?
It intrigued me that Robert Reich mentioned Herbert Hoover's name. As a trade minister unter Warren Harding he showed his own economic policy, favouring neither laissez-faire nor state intervention.It worked then. American companies volunteered to invest in the country and the state needed not to interefere and lent only a helping hand. As a president he had to deal with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. I do think it's worth the while to take a look at the situation and try to see, whether one could learn from Hoover's mistakes then and if one could do better today.
GPS back on track this week. Thanks Fareed. Great, informative presentation today!
It is ridiculous to listen to the Reich-Stockman debate without any mention of offshoring,free market theory, our belligerent global military policy, or a bailout which dwarfs all other issues including social security and medicare. Deficit hawks were silent during the bailout. Most bailout money was secured in secrecy and remains off the books.
MIT Professor Gomory has proven that mutually beneficial free trade depends on domestically captive capital and comparative advantage. No prosperous nation practices free trade. Greenspan cannot tell the difference between debt inflation and wealth creation, yet he controlled our money supply lnger than any other person. Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) has destroyed our economy led by Greenspan and Bernanke using libertarian philosophy. A protected Wall Street has engaged in massive fraud which our Government ignores. Offshoring is destroying our economy. Tax cuts and a shrinking role for Government are part of class warfare inside a planned economic demolition which concentrates wealth in the hands of a few. It is traitorous to support these policies.
If Mr. Reich and Mr. Stockman are representative of the public and private sectors respectively, the nation's economy is at impasse. The first side advocating public sector job growth, the other side espousing how unemployment will continue at double-digits. One side probing for job investment from the private sector, the other claiming uncertainty and debt load precluding it. At least both agree on taxes. But witht the present gridlock in Congress, and given the impasse in attitudes about dealing with the crisis, it looks like the economy is on the long road to nowhere.
The Reich/Stockman debate followed the lines of every public discussion of jobs that I have heard. One says the government has to spend money to create jobs, the other says there is no money. Missing is ANY thought of how the government might create jobs without spending taxpayer dollars. As a lifelong Republican, I am not normally in favor of direct government intervention in the economy. But these are not normal times and we need to take every approach possible to reduce unemployment now. It seems to me that it should be acceptable to both parties to use the power of government to create jobs if it can be done at no cost to the taxpayer. As an example, we have long had universal telephone service in this country. We could now require the telephone and cable companies to expand the geographic scope of their broadband coverage by (say) fifteen percent per year until fully competitive universal service is achieved. There are many more possibilities.
Re Stockman-Reich debate
I believe time has come to implement a nationwide VAT. increasing income tax marginal rate would have an unfavorable impact on innovation, hardworking and investments. VAT has the advantage of being discretionary: you may have the money to buy a Ferrari but YOU decide if buy it or save/invest the money instead. The more discretionary is the item to buy, the higher the VAT tax rate has to be and vice versa. The marginal income tax rate increase is not discretionary, the only discretion YOU have is lower you income.
I apologize up front for not writing earlier and often, about how great it was to discover Fareed Zakaria. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy just about everything about the show that makes our Sunday mornings.
But today was jarring - specifically the Reich/Stockman set-to. Fareed, you dropped the ball, more than once, with a dull thud. First, when Stockman dodged your question completely about what would convince businesses to begin investing now when consumers lack money, you didn't follow up at all but almost acted as though he had answered it. And then you threw a sucker punch to Reich with your question about a 70% tax rate; that gave Stockman the easy out of "you can't fix the economy just by taxing the rich." When Reich tried to tie the 30 years of incredible growth and wealth creation in this country following WW II to government help . . . he ignored a tragic war and the wildly beneficial situation this country found itself in, after. That was totally uncalled for. Did he think he'd win points by sinking to Stockman's level of discourse? Again, there was no comment from you (though Stockman did try to correct that error).
We simply expect better from you, Mr. Z. Today we were disappointed.
Fareed, gps is a great show and I watch it intensly. I noticed in the last months oil priced reaching $5 at the pump had an effect on jobs and the economy in general. It seems to me oil corp greed for profit is dragging our economy down. Remember the summer of 2009 gas prices $5 triggered the recession. I fill oil corp greed has damage the us economy.
Why not have Bill Gates and other banks who are holding funds buy back the United States debt from China? Bill Gates is giving his money away, why not invest in his county.
Mr. Zakaria.
If you are to have a serious discussion you need to have people who understand economics. Mr. Stockman does not.
If you are just in the business of entertainment then proceed.
.....to restart the creation of manufacturing jobs in the US, I reommend that the Congress pass a One time $100,000 non-refundable tax credit to any company, foreign and domestic, for each manufacturing job that is created in the United States, plus for each additional year beyond its creation (up to a maximum of 3 years on top of the year that the job was created) that company would also receive an additional $10,000 non refundable tax credit, as long as that manufacturing job is sustained....if by chance, the manufacturing job that was created is eliminated prior to the end of the four year term of this non refundable tax credit, the initial $100,000 non refundable tax credit would be diminshed by proration of the life of the previousily created job.....tax cuts don't encourage investment, they only give money to someone who isn't already investing...by promoting a non refundable tax credit, no tax handouts occur – no refunds that don't get invested. Non refundable tax credits only lower taxes that were going to be paid, not increasing handouts to already rich corporations......the tax dollars received by the newly created manufacturing job warrants the creation of non refundable tax credits.....please pass the word.....have the corporations invest their cash and their debt into activities that will lower their taxes due and help those same companies raise their profits margins of tomorrow and lower their long term debt with the money they would have had to spend on taxes.....send the word and get this policy at the top of the discussion boards and let us create some jobs....Hey Congress, it's mid-June 2011...where are the jobs??? God Bless America
I would like to hear an analysis of the cost of hireing a CCC that would repair and open public parks and similar projects vs savings in unemployment and additional taxes that would be collected. In the long run. Would the net cost be that great?
Reich is missing a major point when he points out that we had high debt to GDP ratios after WWII and draws the conclusion that we can continue with spending in an unrestrained manner. He says look at history, well the other side of that coin was that the rest of the world's productive capability was in large part destroyed. They had to buy from us, generating quality jobs and tax revenues along with rapid growth to get out of the problem. Now we build little and import much, how will we generate jobs/taxes/growth to get out of the current problem.
Stockman is realistic, taxes have to go up, spending has to be restrained and voters have to stop listening to politicians and pundits who will say what ever it takes to get elected/further their agenda. The most dangerous lie is that "you" do not have to sacrifice, only others will have to have their taxes raised and spending programs cut. Any honest forecast of the situation shows that unsustainable is inadequate to describe it.
All these people are doing now is arguing about what reality is to keep their political power/programs/low taxes/benefits going as long as possible, well reality is laughing.
Thanks for bringing such divergent views on fixing the economy. Even they found agreement on capital gains.
Interesting debate – the third way is INFLATION – some monetary inflation (clearly not excess demand or price wage pressures) stabilizes physical assets (housing) lowers the value of the dollar and makes our prices on a global scale competitive – BUT higher interest rates are not good but better than default
Fareed,
You asked your guest Bahari who was the good guy in the internal Iranian conflict: Ahmedinejad or the Ayatollah. Behari said the simple answer is 'None of the above.'
Perhaps the subtle answer is 'All of the above.' Each side is probably trying to do what they respectively believe to be good for their country. We may not agree we either of them, but that hardly gives us the right to call them 'good' or 'bad guys' – simply the 'wrong guys' i.e. if their policies end up harming their own country. Meanwhile, we can hardly be entrusted by them to decide what is good for their country, given our own historical axe to grind against Iran, including US policies and funding to destabilize them economically and politically.
So long as we measure what is good for others in terms of what is good for America, our advice can hardly be taken seriously by outsiders. So, if our national interest in Mid-East is seen as buttressing regional regimes that secure our oil/economic interests and those that tolerate Israel (for our own Jewish/Christian theological reasons), then our claims to be true champions of democracy and secular values worldwide is bound to fall on incredulous ears.
Quite simply, it is we who end looking like the 'bad guys' – 'predatory friends' (predafriends vs frenemies?) whose primary interest lies in ensuring own survival and global dominance, even if that means funding dictators seen as US friends.
“Jobs” are caused by production which demands labor in lieu of capital or when adding more capital is simply not practical or has reached a diminishing return that is unacceptable. Jobs are not “created” they are caused by demand for them. To create jobs that are truly not needed will be as successful as to create products or services that are truly not needed…and that’s a leading reason why we are at the level of non-prosperity we are right now. When a society makes too much of a certain good not only does it sacrifice the value of that good in the long run, it also gives up opportunity to be producing other goods for other markets, and it sacrifices the financing opportunities that go along with it. When a society consumes too much of a certain good it sacrifices the opportunity to buy other goods, and the investment opportunity through consumption of future goods and services of value. We are experiencing this now through the defunct overproduction and consumption of housing which was the last “great basin” of domestic consumption that could not be readily substituted for foreign goods, and could only be leveraged by capital (automation) marginally…i.e. it takes people/labor to develop and build communities. With housing came all the stuff a “brick and stick” dwelling needs and that further spurred domestic consumption. The systemic loss of jobs because of the loss of this marketplace cannot be ignored as was the loss of production jobs due to automation, and low-cost foreign labor. Unfortunately, until the supply to demand for housing balances itself out through attrition or birthrate which ever comes first, this “last great natural resource for labor” will remain unattainable.
Someone said that he was disappointed by Fareed, because he did not hold David Stockman to the fire. The reason he did not is simple, Fareed likes theories offered by Bob Reich better but knows that David Stockman is correct. Mr. Reich states that his theory is correct based on the history, specifically history from 1937 to approximately 1960. Even though this history is still being argued, the issue is that as Heraclitus said, nobody can step into the same river twice. The US and world economy from 1937 to 1960 is not even close to what we have today. The US then was the banker and factory for the whole world. Today, the US is neither. There are a couple of other very important issues; one was investment in education of our GIs coming home. When I talk with those people, they usually say that they used this money to obtain education to get a job and that what they did. Today, I do not know one single person among at least fifty of my son’s friend, who became an engineer. In my opinion, our educational system is broken. Increasing supply of cheap educational loan will for sure create another financial crisis. For our GIs to default on loan was unheard of, today it is business decision. One more issue is that after the war, they all tried to build a new house for their family and work at it. Today, we have too many houses, which we cannot afford.
Mr. Reich seems does not understand all of it and looks like angry ideologically driven person who thinks that he knows what to do to save the US. Unfortunately, Mr. Stockman evaluation of the situation is for the most part correct. It will take all parts of equation to be used to get us out of the hole we are in: additional taxes, drastic cuts of the Government spending, some pointed government investments and a lot of changes in our consumer principals. One more thing we all need to be ready for a lot of pain, which is inevitably come. The question is when and how bad.
Stockman wants the people to do without and it was our polticians who caused the troubles. The rich won't suffer and lose their medical covrage and jobs and houses. What happens to our infrastructure. If every CEO would take a 1 million cut in pay they could hire peope and it would not cost the gov. one dime. Raise SS from $104,000 to $130,000 and make sure the Gov. doesn't take the money and that could help the problem. Does the GOP think iron workers and others can work until they are 70 years old.
Each of these guys have some of it right. At least they agree that jobs are a primary issue. The system is broken and the country is broke. Neither addressed the primary problem — Congress led us into this sorry state of affairs and is doing zip to fix it.
Living in the highest unemployment city in one of the worst employment states, Illinois, I see this as a bipartisan caused problem which neither is addressing. congress has endorsed the low bidder auction of our manufacturing for over two decades. Neither Bush nor Obama tackle the crooks in banking and industry because both parties are equally to blame for allowing it to happen.
Both debaters argued using historical precedence, but neither mentioned that following WWII the US was the ONLY manufacturer to a world with nothing left. We no longer have anything to trade with other countries. The move to the "New Economy" was a revolutionary and fatal change to US economic dominance.
The claim that taxing the rich would stifle job growth is a fallacy, since the wealthiest corporations and their stockholders are not creating jobs in the US — they are going to the cheapest labor and least regulated countries. Decades of "free"goodies is no longer affordable with low paying or part time middle class jobs. Our taxes are still climbing.
More handouts to us retirees, extensions to unemployment or even hiring at non-manufacturing jobs is only transferring dollars within our borders.
We need Constitutional change to limit the power of Congress. They have far more in common with CEOs than with the rest of us. They set up committees to establish their own pay and benefits (CEOs do likewise with bards of their cronies).
Lobbyists paid by the biggest corporations write legislation and both parties push it into law. We the People have no representation anymore.
GE paid zero in 2010 taxes, but received $3.2 Billion in government bailout money. Goldman Sachs was Obama's largest campaign contributor.
There is NO candidate willing or able to change direction under our current warped system.
Love the show.
I think the "globe" in the background is spinning the wrong d
direction. Also, and this may be intentional, it starts around the zero longitude and "refreshes around the 110th.
The constitution needs only a small change...no more company funding to political parties and before into politics, politicians need to be filtered on what they posses. check them every year like all companies are, its a sensitive position to be politician. Honer should be first and not greed!
Job creation???? US needs 25% OF ALL ENERGY IN THE WORLD that is produced and they are only 5% of the world population...Obama said it all along, Green energy, internet based studies on universities...internet businesses just began...specialize and reorganization will create a lot of new modern jobs
The constituion died in 1861 with the Civil War; in 1871 the new Constitution made the U S A a business corporation and all citizens are the assets of said corp.; in the 1940's the U N took over ownership and now the European World bank is the banking control, the U S A is the military police and the Vatican is the unoffical Western Religion! End of story! Details are there to find if you are honest with yourself Mr. Zarkaria!
Fareed has it right, there needs to be Gov't intervention to create jobs...who's going to do it? Private sector. Sorry, but I am American sitting in a Global role in a foreign country working for an industry associated with high techonology/manufacturing. We're creating jobs overseas. Not in the US. Why? 1. Cheaper labor. 2. Well educated and talented populations, ready for the picking. 3. Cheaper manufacturing. We ain't investing or creating jobs for US citizens. Sorry. Can't help the US. Won't help it either. I got shareholders to serve. Not the American people. So, Gov't has to intervene or it will get worse. I am a dead on Capitalist and my views are dead on American. This is business folks, America is the military-industrial complex. You don't like it, too bad. I'd say move to Sweden, but ..oh no...they're big bad "socialist". America does need to grow up a bit. Even I recognize gov't intervention is necessary and always has been.
Regarding today's debate: Reich advocated public works projects to put people to work, which Stockman was firmly against over the daunting expense of doing so. Stockman argued for massive spending cuts even in light of what it would do to American society, which Reich did not take well. My question is, why can't we do both? Austerity legislation could effectively offset much (possibly all) of the cost of public projects, which are much needed in the U.S. in any case; in turn, employment provided by the public sector insulates citizens against the blows from the austerity measures by giving them reliable income to fall back on.
I think Stockman has it about right as to where we are. Both the republicans and democrats have sold us into slavery (financial servitude if thats the right word). There will not be a day for the rest of our lives that we will not be in debt. They have spit on the graves of those who have died for this country. Bush, Obama, Greenspan should all be considered the Bennedit Arnolds of our day. They are so concerned with their own legacy they are on the verge of destroying this country. They have sold us out for 30 pieces of silver. I'm not a paticularly religous person but there is no other way to describe it. I don't know if our politicians are buying everything wall street tells them for the money or they are just that stupid. I cant believe that relatively intelligent people can be that ignorant. I look for reasons why they would act this way. The only thing I could come up with that would justify such lunacy is if an asteroid was going to wipe us all out with in 50 years so there is no reason to worry about the long term. You keep showing the graph of how deep the recent recession was and how slow the recovery has been. But if you look at the previous lines you see a trend of less and less recovery as you go through the 19th century. I think this is due to the increase in world trade as the century progressed. I'm not against world trade but we have to understand that in a broad stimulus package atleast half is going to stimulate China, Japan, Korea etc. Fareed at least contributed a good idea to focus spending on infrastructure or on new technology that will help this country. I'm not an isolationist but we need to be realistic too.
The problem with you liberals is you always want to "fix" it if does meet your criceria of what you think it should be. And what needs "fixing" varies in the eyes of the beholder. Where would it stop. That is why the fonding Fathers made it hard to "Fix". It needs to stay that way.
It is amazing to hear that Governor Perry has created jobs in Texas. The oil industry is the creator of jobs. Perry being the head of State has run up a deficit of some $20.000.000.000 and is planning on killing jobs to pay for it.
i am surprised by your constitution article.
you come to the USA. you work as a journalist and then when tapped by obama you turn on America. maybe in your experience you had an imperial colonialization in your country's past. but if you know your history, india and the US had the SAME one in our's as well .
to me it is un-American for you, to first, be put up to this to draw attention away from those who want to tear America down, soros, obama, ayers..and the rest, but also have the audacity to suggest we change something in our Consittion because you think it isn't valid anymore by your standards.
my suggestion to you is: Go Back Home and live like you deserve, underneath you own country's oppresision. i've been there and believe me, you have Nothing to crow about back home. it's a mess top to bottom. if you truely want to help a country..go home and help you own country stop it's child labor, it's cast system, and it's stealing of American jobs for what 50 cents a day wages. and it's complete religious and racist atttitudes towards the others living within it's borders, you country is what needs to be fixed first before you offer any help to us.
After a carefully crafted Political campaign reeked with: false premisen, mistakes, lies, easy language counter balanced with obsolete words, lots of "I say what you like to hear.", half truths, ignorance and most important sunday school.
The inhabitants of the Bible Harness were successfully tricked into electing BEAVIS + BUTTHEAD for their next supreme leader + king. Their first decree was to lock up in the local salt mine everyone who elected them for as long as their reign lasted, replacing them with the rejects from the PEOPLES REPUBLIC recently elevated to first world superpower .
The supreme kings explanation for their first act was that they could take ignorance but they refuse to pay for benefits.