Transcripts For ALJAZAM Real Money With Ali Velshi 20150131

Look out because americas economy is headed for a lift off in 2015. The question is will the economic slow down in the rest of the world come here its a good question. The pace of americas growth slowed in the final three months of 2014 to an annual rate of 2. 6 compared to the previous three months. Thats according to newest mates put out by the Commerce Department by comparison. It was half the base during last years summer months when the economy leaped by 5 . That is the strongest growth weve seen in a decade. Whats more, the International Monitory fund is bullishing forecasting the rise of 3. 6 this year. Spending by consumers is up, thats good news. Spending makes up twothirds of all u. S. Economic activity, thats helping more jobs get created. Were seeing hints of upward movements on wages the one hold over that helps to make this recovery feel hollow by more americans. The rest of the world is seeing growth stagnate or retreat. Two of americas trading partners are not looking so hot in 2015. Chinas economy, the second largest in the world after the United States, is expected to grow by 6. 8 . That sounds high compared to our 2. 4 . But its across a psychological barrier. That figure is also much lower than the double digit growth, and the European Union is only expected to rise by 1. 8 . Now lower Global Energy prices in 2015 are going to cushion some that have slow down and give an economic boost to americans. But its starting to hurt u. S. Companies in the form of the rising dollar. Lets bring in beth ann chief economist at standard poors. She spoke about the state of the American Economy earlier today. She joins me from s ps offices from lower manhattan. Good to see you again. There are a lot of things going on and some of them have less to do with america but a lot to do with our trading partners. One that i didnt just tell our viewers. Im from canada. Were seeing a much lower canadian dollar, and canadian economy, they have a measurement for, does seem to have shrunk. Weve got trading partners in canada, a very big one. We have european trading partners china all of them are weakening a little bit and all of our goods and services are becoming more expensive to all of them. Im not sure that that is a rosy picture. Youre right that were seeing a slow down, as you mentioned, china is slowing down were looking around, were still around 7 . But say 6 to 7 , thats not good for the regional partners. The euro zone flirting with another recession seems to be pulling out but slow growth on that level. Canada hit much more hard by the drop in oil prices than the United States because its a much bigger part of their economy. And those trading partners will hurt our trade experts in the u. S. Keep in mind that the u. S. Domestic economy is big. We think that, indeed the strength of the economy the domestic demand has been picking up ever sense. The strong dollar is helping in terms of basically buying stuff were abroad. Helping to explain why consumers are spending so much in the Fourth Quarter but the drop in oil prices. Even though the u. S. Has a large energy sector, indeed, we are importing oil. Thats a help. And a lot of global economists i spoke to in the last few days said that globally and in the United States, the drop in oil prices is much more of a benefit than the loss in Oil Producing jobs is a deficit. Absolutely. And absolutely ali. By the way, its great to see you again. I would also say that when you look at the typical household buys about 1200 gallons of gas a year. Weve seen in the drop from june to about right now i believe its down, down 1. I think its down more in terms of a gallon of gas. Thats 12,000 more in that households pocketbooks. Thats more money to spend at the mall and makes people more happy. When people are on tight budgets and Many Americans in the middle class are clearly thats a boon to them. Youre sort of static in the amount of gas you use. You can move it up and down. You can learn to be more conservative in consumption but at the same time wage increases are a boon to the economy. While weve created as man jobs as we have in the last few years, and unemployment has come down they are still stuck and a lot of economists have told me that in 2015 its where we start to see that capacity burn off and peoples wages start to go up a little bit. Thats certainly about right. Certainly the middle classthe middle class and lower income houses will benefit more by that drop in gasoline prices. In terms of their budget its a lot bigger in terms of how much they spend in energy. That does matter. You can focus that in the greater points. Thats increasing purchasing power per household. If you look at wages, for example. In real terms because of that drop in oil prices wages are now positive. Theyve been flat to negative for most of this recovery. They want to see nominal wages increase. They have been around 2 year after year. Not much to write home about. We expect to see a pick up in that reading as we go into thattier for a couple of reasons. The Unemployment Rate has dropped sharply. Its down around 6. 5 . If you look at the short term Unemployment Rate thats at a 7year low. That shows there is more Bargaining Power for workers and we expect that so show up. Weve got a really mart audience. I never want to assume that people follow gdp as closely as we all do. Give me a sense of what 2. 6 means or 2. 4 for the whole year. Generally people say if you have 3 or more youre doing pretty well. Below that we worry. Give me your impression of it. That 2. 6 reading that we got for the Fourth Quarter where we seewhere the trend growth rate has been during this recovery had about 2. 3 . To put that in perspective 2. 3 to put that in perspective. Four years of recovery historically going back 50 years we saw 4. 6 growth. Still the recovery seems to be on the slow side, but its picking up. So were expecting 2. 8 so not far off from what were looking for. We would like to seeing is closer to that 5 reading to see this economy kicking back into full year, but well take it and be glad we got it. Bath ann chief u. S. Economist at standard poors. No one knows the pain of plunging oil prices than Oil Companies themselves and not to mention the people who work for those companies. Youre watching real money. Next week this show moves to primetime. Me at 10 30 p. M. Eastern. 7 307 30 p. M. Pacific set your dvr. Were back in two minutes. Its a chilling and draconian sentence. It simply cannot stand. This trial was a sham. They are truth seekers. All they really wanna do is find out whats happening, so they can tell people. Governments around the world all united to condemn this. As you can see, its still a very much volatile situation. The government is prepared to carry out mass array. If you want free press in the new democracy Oil Prices Rose today. You heard me right. Crude rose to settle at 48. 24 a barrel. But no one had great explanations for the gain, and most experts do not see a sustained rebound any time soon. Even with the gain today oil prices are still down 55 since last june. Thats made gas a lot cheaper but as i keep telling you thats only part of the oil story. Today it was cheverons story to show that the pain that lower prices are inflicting on energy companies. Gains fell 30 in the year. That sounds like a huge amount of money but its cheveron is doing what other companies are doing, its slashing its budget. It will spend 13 less than it did in 2014. Cheveron is the second Biggest Energy company and has other ways of earning money. It also refines oil into gasoline. That benefits from lower oil prices. But tens of thousands of americans depend on paychecks from companies and. Like companies and employees in louisiana. We have the story from new orleans. Reporter in good times and bad, the oil rich coast has been one of the states most productive locations. Here investment and productivity is on the rise. Deep water drilling projects are longterm and less affected by fluctuating oil prices. But for those whose live something closely tied to the price of oil there is growing concern. Economists say as many as 30,000 jobs could eventually be lost in ruse louisiana and businesses are beginning to feel the effects. A little apprehensive and nervous. There are companies that have a freeze on hiring. Theyre being very frugal, and taking a hard look at what theyre doing and how theyre doing it and praying. During the oil crisis of of the 80s, the Oil Prices Hit hard. But for those directly involved in the industry, hard times may be ahead. Its the Smaller Companies that are pure exploration and Production Companies that really are starting to worry at this juncture. Steve runs a small firm who is tied to oil prices. He predicts if Oil Prices Stay low, businesses could be hit hard. If this is a protracted situation it could be a difficult one for the industry to weather. Were talking about over the coming months and for the remainder of the year. In all Louisiana Oil industry employees 80,000 people. A figure much higher when you look at the Service Industries surrounding oil and its the tax revenues that could have the biggest impact. There may not be job layoffs here yet but 12 million is lost to the states budget for each 1 dropped in the price of a barrel of oil. That could be 1. 5 billion deficit, a figure that could effect everyone. Al jazeera new orleans louisiana. Now one level lower oil and gas prices are great for automakers. Consumers have more money to spend on cars and trucks boosting the bottom lines like ford and g. M. But it means that consumers are less likely to buy hybrids and electric vehicles. Thats bad news for those who have invested to develop. I asked gone, the ceo of renault, what the plunging gas prices will have on electric vehicles. Heres what he said. Instead of having tail winds when oil price is at 110 a barrel it is considered a tailwind. Now we have a head wind. But it doesnt change the initiative. As you know oil price is something that nobody can predict, and today is proof because year ago no one was talking about oil price at 50 a barrel. So nobody knows where its going to go one year or two years down the road. This being said, emission regulations are getting tougher and will require that development of electric cars continue and become a much more substantial part of the industry. This being said, oil price can help or block a little bit. But you dont change the initiative. The issue remains infrastructure for charging a fully electric car. Where do we go for that . Its developing a lot. There was a session on infrastructure here, and weve seen a lot of suppliers of charging stations, for example sharing with us all the Technology Development and all the lowering of the costs that theyre going to be bringing. Im very optimistic about that, making it convenient for consumers, not only attractive but convenient to own an electric car. We know where to go. We know what technologies to implement. Weve known each other for a lot of years i hope you dont think im getting too personal. Its only because there was an article in Fortune Magazine that mentions your age. Youre 61 years old but the question that is asked can anyone succeed carlos ghosn. Youve had an unusual job Different Companies youre from another continent. Your origins are in the middle east, but you grew up in brazil. What do you do . I think first yes, i was put in some extraordinary circumstances and i had a kind of unique situation of managing two Different Companies on two different continents. There are solutions of how to manage in the future. We obviously maintain this discussion its a the level of the boards because these are sensitive issues. But i want to assure that you this alliance will continue with maybe a different scheme, which is obvious. Were different people in the future but im confident that this should not be a close of concern. Im asking because as young as you are i now think thati only know you confirmed one of these things to me. But i think youve been approached in the past to run both ford and General Motors at various times. I know g. M. They talked to you about that. Youre young enough to take over another car company. Would youwhat are you going to do . Youre not going to disappear from the corporate world. There are a lot of other things in life that you can do. At the moment my eyes are on the ball. And the ball is making sure that the this is a success and up and measured in 2007. There is a mandate of man mandate up to 2018. So i have my hands full. You know, the potential of having handsfree car is there. You want to make sure that the regulation will allow you to take your hands off the wheel. I say handsfree car because i think you in the industry are clear that we dont want Driverless Cars entirely. We may end up having Something Like this. But i dont think its in the short term. What youre going to see are more autonomous driving allowing you to to do something else. And this is something between now and 2020. Up next mitt romney gives up the dream. He drops out of the run for president. And were back in two minutes. Because i was African American i was trying to fit in misty coplelands journey wasnt easy dancing gave me the opportunity to grow into the person. I dont think i could be without it now, this trailblazer is opening the door for others i wanna give back to ballet what its done for me. Every sunday, join us for exclusive. Revealing. And surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. Talk to al jazeera only on Al Jazeera America alJazeera America presents a break through Television Event borderland. Are you tellin me its ok to just open the border, and let em all run in . The teams live through the hardships that forced mira, omar and claudette into the desert. Running away is not the answer. Is a chance at a better life worth leaving loved ones behind . Did omar get a chance to tell you goodbye before he left . Which side of the fence are you on . Sometimes immigration is the only alternative people have. Borderland only on Al Jazeera America hes running for president. No hes not. Mitt romney said he will not seek the 2016 nomination of the Republican Party for president. Coming as a bit of a surprise only if you were surprised that he said a couple of weeks ago that he was running. What is the problem . Al Jazeera America Political Correspondent michael sure shure joins me now. If money is a problem for running for president. I dont know why anybody would ever run for president. Its hard to believe that someone who is worth over a quarter billion dollars would cite money as the problem. But fundraising is different than the money you have in your own bank account. Jeb bush with his excellent timing in announcing his run for the presidency and the formation of his pac took away of that power from mitt romney. The same people that they would both be going to. Jeb bush had his opening fundraiser at the home of durkin in connecticut, a former romney backer. Jeb bush has been on a 60event socalled shock and awe tour. Did that have some impact on mitt romneys decision . You know, listen, if romney was going to run for president there would be somebody running for him. The problem is the same acreage that romney carved out for himself is now the same acreage that jeb bush would move into. So a lot of what the space that lets say mitt romney would take up in the race is now taken by jeb bush. If its about 60 appearances 60 fundraisers. Jeb bush said hes going to raise 100 billion by 2016 and it looks like he probably will. What is the field look like that jeb bush is facing . It made mitt romney get into the final stage of the president ial campaign pretty wounded. Are they going to do a better job of letting whoever led this thing face off with a little bit of strength left . Its hard. As you know, ali the primaries are three especially the republican primary iowa, new hampshire, and then you move down into south carolina, three different types of primaries. This will window out some people people. Chris christie is happy and scott walker is happy. He isnt happy today because scott walker is in washington, overshadowing his political pool but this is the alternate for jeb bush and disappoints the conservatives. If you had two establishment candidate like jeb bush and mitt romney fighting it out that was an opening for a conservative candidate. Why is Chris Christie happy about this . Chris christie is happy about it because even though hes the governor of new jersey, and governors are restricted from taking money from certain wall street entityies, he would also be going to a little bit of the same well. The people who dont want to go the jeb bush route but have a candidate who is more viable seen as bridging the gap of the Republican Party. Chris christie would not have been able to do that as easily with mitt romney in the race. There would have been no room for him there. Scott walker for the same reason although scott walker tries to show himself as a bit more conservative, theyre still going after the same money. Ilets go to the democratic kind. Will it be Hillary Clinton or will Elizabeth Warren launch a campaign to challenge her. I heard someone say with mitt romney out of the race, who is getting to be the losing candidate out of massachusetts. I dont see it as Elizabeth Warren. Hillary clinton said she would wait which is wise. She is the de facto candidate. Shes likely to run from people ive spoken to, and if she were to run she would initially be unstoppable. Youre going to hear other names. Jim webb and berni sanders. You dont brief any that have stuff. Thats like all the number 15 to 25 republicans who were going to run. Lots of people are going to run but nobody is a contender. No, nobody is really a contender right now. If she doesnt run that would be the only thing to change this. And you know, ali if jeb bush decides not to run there is a tiny little possibility or a skeleton in his closet, something happens, mitt romney reserves the right to come back in and say all right here i am comeing to the rescue. Finally the whitehorse. Never a dull moment. Thank you. Policing drone use has been a major challenge for Law Enforcement and security officials. To ready the skies for an influx of drones, there have been six test sites. Here is a closer look at one of those sites. Out here on the seemingly endless plains of texas where Wind Turbines easily outnumber people a lot of folks are counting on a new industry to take flight. There has been a lot of work. But its been fun because im at the leading edge of this. David bridges runs the aerials systems at texas a m universityCorpus Christi one of the test sites set up by the faa. Out of the competitive bids submitted by states hoping to become the Silicon Valley of drones these sites hope to make the safe reality of the near future. A lot of people are familiar with the amazon video. It was rather cute. What that video didnt show was how the amazon helicopter was going to avoid colliding with your dominoes helicopter bringing your pizza and the helicopter bringing your groceries. Its called the sense and avoid. Its something that researchers at Corpus Christi and other tech sites will need to improve in order for civilian use to grow. The faa estimates as many as 7500 commercial uavs could be flying by 2018. Here we have two unmanned aircraft. The rs16 and the rs20. Working with texas a m Corpus Christi on their operation. While door drop delivers may be years away, loophole applications already exist. Where drones will detect where fields need to be fertilized and watered, to energy grids and pipeline monitoring. A drone will keep a pilot from being in harms way. These can fly for 12 to 16 hours on a gallon and a half of gasoline. And then some have set up shop in Corpus Christi what School Officials hope will be a wellpaying industry in a historically bluecolor region. A lot of the economy is based on oil and gas and manufacturing. To have them bring it in brings high tech jobs and an important future not just for Corpus Christi but south texas. 260 million in south texas alone with 1200 new jobs created in the region. Its a huge number. Especially for south texas where we havent really seen a lot of Large Companies make their home base. And home grown start ups have cropped up. Texas a m Corpus Christi senior is working to build an electronically powered u av and said that the faa test site gives him a leg up over drone makers. This allows us to have a legal opportunity to test vehicles like this. But until the faa finalizes the regulations covering commercial grown use and officially opens the nations air space the industry remain grounded. Its possible delay to come. David shuster,age. Amazon made it clear it wants to use drones, although it has not started yet. The Company Posted a profit of 214 million more than twice what some analysts were expecting and amazon prime was the big reason. Thats the Membership Service that comes with free twoday shipping. Primary membership rose by 53 even though subscription costs were raised to 99 from 79. Have rv, will travel. A look at the new normal in retirement. Why retirees are hitting the road. Well go primetime next monday, 10 30 10 30 p. M. Eastern and 7 30 p. M. Pacific. There is a new and growing trend of retirees in the United States. People called work campers. Theyre retireed workers traveling around in their rvs seeking out seenal work. Its become a necessity for many retirees to find work to survive. They flock to tourist attractions, farms and like the couple youre about to meet, to camp jobs. Work campers are just part of an aging population working long into their Twilight Years and part of a new normal when it comes to retirement. This is cindy and glint bentleys third season as work campers. Its not what they thought retirement would look like. We thought that the business was going to keep going and we didnt think that we would be retired at this stage. The bentleys live out of their 240squarefoot rv working at this campground outside of flagstaff, arizona. You have to be very organized. They had a Construction Business in las vegas, after the crack in 2008 life changed drastically for the couple. Business dried up but they held on for another three years which they say in retrospect was a mistake. In so doing we consumed the money that we had set aside for retirement and finally said, well enough is enough. There was no more left. We dipped into the pocket until the pocket was empty. I dont have any regrets. Especially since we were able to get in and start doing what were doing here. What theyre doing is managing two campsites outside of flagstaff arizona. Their work involves greeting campers, cleaning the campground and clint and hauling water into the camp site and hauling out waste. Thats the two opposite ends of the spectrum right there. Cindy and clint are part of a National Circuit of work campers that extend coast to coast and up through canada. Its a unique labor market. Retirees answering ads that hundreds of employers post on website like work camper news and workers on wheels. Traveling by rv they do a range of work picking raspberries selling Christmas Trees work at amazon and ups during the holiday rush and welcoming tourer tourists at dolly wood. Then there are campgrounds like where the bentleys work. The pay incident isnt much. You get minimum wage plus you get the site. That could be worth 500 to 600 a month. You get your camp site electricity and water utilities. Warren manages 110 campsites and parks across the country and employs more than 300 work campers. He said demand for these jobs have gone through the roof since the recession hit. We find since 2008 there are a lot more people looking for us. I have a list of 25,000 names of people who are interested in hearing about jobs. Most of our folks are couples. Thats 50,000 people who are applying for 50 jobs that i have. After cindy and clint lost their business, the two tried hard to find other jobs. People our age dont get hired. They just dont. They were able to keep their home in henderson nevada, where they live part of the year. But to do so they decided to turn to work camping. Without it they say they are lives would be very different. Things would really, really be tight for us. I have to admit because allthe only income we would have is Social Security. And if we didnt have this additional income, we could survive, but it would be it would be tight. Work campers are part of a growing trend in the u. S. Retirement age americans forced to work longer because of the recession. Almost 9 million workers aged 65 or older are in the labor force actively working or seeking work. Now as more boomers hit retirement that number is expected to increase by 62 to more than 13 million by 2022. The new normal is working longer. The Labor Force Participation rate 65 and older is the highest its been in half a century. Thats as far as the records go. It could be longer than that. During the Great Recession 401ks and iras lost 2. 8 trillion over the span of two years. Those almost ready to retire between ages 55 to 64 got hit the hardest losing 1 trilliondollar. 40 of near retirees in the 5564 age range have nothing at all saved for retirement. And about 10 have very little. Not even enough to buy a car. Its pretty gorgeous. What this means for many of the work campers who are of retirement age, they have to work. If not to survive then at least to subsidize their retirement. Thats the case for jerry and rose who have been work camping for over a decade. They have their own version of what the new normal for retirement means for them. Its not what we expected it to be. And so weve made the effort to make it better for us. For many work campers spending their retirement in their rv and working is not a story of desperation. Its one of making the best of their situation and enjoying their retirement to the fullest. Just this morning i saw a bull elk. This is my backyard. Retirees are finding Job Opportunities in the gig economy where theyre not working for one employer but working many gigs. This task rabbit is an Online Service for people who have time to spare for companies who need those skills. I caught up with leah busque in davos and asked the former ibm Software Engineer about her vision. I thought about the greater landscape of categories of services. It connects people to share resources. Right now were focused in and around Home Services and finding people who want to offer handyman help, moving help, personal assistance, House Cleaning services. One of the interesting areas i think a lot about is the idea of commodityization of services versus investing. What i see happening is a lot of companies are thinking about on demand services, and just thinking about how can we commodityize and grow as fast as possible. One of the things that is missing out that have equation is the actual workforce behind these services. This really pierre to pierre Service Economy that is emerging that enables the flexibility and empowers them to be their own entrepreneurs. That is much more interesting to me. The commodityization is dangerous for instance, where you can get a bid and artist to design a logo overnight. The money is going to the lowest wage place possible. That kid who spent 50,000 on their Arts Education is now competing against the lowest price in the world. It can quickly become a race to the bottom. I think that is something that we have to consciously avoid as this on demand Services Industry evolves. Tell me about the other side. Tell me about the part that allows people with a little extra capacity, time or know how to become entrepreneurs using a platform . So, what we created is task rabbit is a technology that first starts with vetting and on boarding process. All of our taskers right now are in the u. S. And u. K. Were looking at more Global Markets as well. But they are all on mobile devices ios or android. We built a platform that pushes them in realtime based on their realtime location and their categories and their skills work options. They can accept and decline work. What is the biggest example . What is the most common . Yeah, it varies by city. One of the big categories under happened di man services and furniture assembling. You can imagine ikea furniture assembly. In yes i just did that. We have experts in ikea furniture assembly. They can do this full time. We have a top 10 that is making 5,000 to 7,000 a month on the flat form. Its a nice living wage. There has been some criticism that in this space of shared economy, these platforms task rabbit is not as specific as uber or instar cart or any number of these things, and that may affect ultimately your valuation. That said, the valuations of these companies are so weird that youre still going to be very rich. What about that . Its not specific enough . Yes so services are really broad categories. We recently narrowed to Home Services to make it a little easier on ourselves but we still have a grand vision to be a platform that connects enemy around services, to get there you have to take these incremental baby steps. Services are not a commodity. Transportation is easier to commodityize. The Services Industry in general is a 400 billion industry. It is massive and untapped. It needs to be brought online and so thats what were looking an ahead. Uber gets a lot of push back largely the industry that doesnt want it to be disruptive but a lot of drivers clearly like it. You dont have an organized industry that is pushing back on you, that says hey youre taking real handy men out of the equation. Yes, its almost as if were creating new opportunities rather than taking anything away from folks. Thats what we continually hear from our community. You know, as an example we have very successful handy men who have been on the platform for six years when i very first started. They used to work full time for bigger company. During the economic down turn in 2008 they were laid off. Found the task rabbit platform. They started to build their reputation and clientele and business there. They would never go back to working for someone else again. Now its a way to provide Work Opportunities in a new way for people. Are you getting retirees, people who do it as a side job. There is such a Diverse Community of people who are involved in the platform. We have stay at home moms who are running errands and dont mind picking things up for people. We have Young Professionals looking to make ends meet. We have this top 10 who are focused on doing this full time and building up businesses. Then we have a great group of retirees that like the idea of staying active and helping someone else in their community. Do you lose sleep about safety issues . Somebody going into somebodys house . Youve vetted them. How you vet them, and what do you prepare for that youre going to hear one day is associated with you . So when i started the company in 2008, the initial group that i launched this data product with was a small Mothers Organization in charlestown massachusetts, where i lived at the time. You can imagine the trust barrier there was huge and massive. From the very beginning i knew that i really had to nail the vetting process the trust process, but thats not to say that nothing is ever going to happen. Weve been very fortunate with our community to date. Weve put in insurance. We have a 1 million guarantee for every single transaction that goes through the site, but you have to be prepared for the worst case at all times. And we just try to be prepared as we can. What do you vet for . So all of our taskers go through an identity check. The Social Security trades. They also go through a series of background checks that including federal background check. County background check as well. From there theyre on the platform and meet a Community Member in person. That Community Person talks to them about their experience, how to be successful, maybe gives them some tips to be on the platform. And so from the very beginning theyre not only vetted, but we try to hand hold and engage. Up next the san diego opera is hitting the high notes. How the internet helped a broke company raise its curtains for another season. And were on a 10 30 p. M. Eastern and 7 30 p. M. Pacific starting monday. Sunday night. 140 World Leaders will take the podium. Get the full story. There is real disunity in the security council. About issues that impact your world. Infectious diseases are a major threat to health. The week ahead. Sunday 8 30 eastern. Only on Al Jazeera America. Who doesnt love a good come back story. And a san diego opera fits the bill. For a time the fat lady was warming up to sing the grand finale. Virtually broke and nowhere else to turn for money the opera decided to try its luck at crowd funding. And opera lovers came to the rescue. [ singing ] reporter when the san diego oprah opened in 1965 its forms of la boheme came to life on the stage. But when the in 2013 it was in danger of facing its final act. It looked bleak. We were doing the same type of production same type of opera year after year with declining audiences, declining donations and declining results. Year after year. They knew they had to rewrite the script to save the upcoming 90 season. Act one in this reallife drama an unexpected twist. Fisher turned to an internet crowd Funding Campaign to raise money. When my ceo and i got together, they were thinking about the 500,000 range. But the board wouldnt think about anything unless its seven figures. Lets go to 1 million. We raised 1 million in ten days. The oprah wasthe opera was saved. Act three the final few days before opening night. It was all the expected excitement but there was a new energy for an art that many thought was on its way out. We had the entire Community Standing up and saying, wait, we dont want to lose our cultural background, our history. And they stood up and said we want to keep this. With small donations they were able to put together enough money to make it happen. Malcolm mackenzie has the leading role in this seasons production of la boheme. We headed back stage as preparations were under way for the final dress rehearsal. From behind the curtain you can see what it takes to make the music. More than 200 people are needed to bring the show to light each night. There is lighting, props and all important stage manager. Over the weekend the production of la boheme opens to a sold out crowd. The audience in the show, the youngest the opera has seen in years. Theater goers express excitement and gratitude to see the operea saved. Ive never been to the opera and its something that ive always wanted to go to. To see that its saved for this year and many years to come is a tremendous accomplishment. Act four of its real life drama to save the san diego opera proves that there can be happy ending, and internet crowd funding could turn out to be the biggest star of the show. Jennifer london, al jazeera, san diego. This sunday super bowl sunday, and we know who is going to win despite long odds and the adversity. The real winner is coming your way in two minutes. An america tonight investigation somebody could come in and take our home away from us it was a law that helped condo developments stay afloat we would have to sell and have to leave our unit now, this law is being used to take peoples homes theres nobody helping us. Honest people, losing hope. I didnt fight vietnam so that someone could take my property away from me hard sell an america tonight investigation only on Al Jazeera America real reporting that brings you the world. This is a pretty dangerous trip. Security in beirut is tight. More reporters. They dont have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. More bureaus, more stories. This is where the typhoon came ashore. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Al jazeera, nairobi. On the turkeysyria border. Venezuela. Beijing. Kabul. Hong kong. Ukraine. The artic. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al Jazeera America. Real reporting that brings you the world. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al Jazeera America. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell is paid an tremendous salary. After this season he may feel like he needs a raise. Outrage over incidents involving star players range from Domestic Violence brain damage racial slurs, hazing, duis, and even murder. And of course deflateed football. We dont talk much about sports on this show, but when i have questions michael yves has the answer. The National Football league is a mega enterprise that generates billions of dollars has been generating more and is on target to go into another stratosphere of money. And its just been plagued by scandal and disrepute in the last year. How do you scare these two . The thing that is puzzling to me ive been covering professional sports for 20 years. Despite all those transgressions that you mentioned the league makes so much money since Roger Goodell took overral years ago revenues have improved 65 . Its the demand for the sport. The popularity has never seen a spike like the last couple of years. All these things that would seem to matter to people, they dont. 10,000. Thats what it would take you to go to the game on sunday. The cheap sheets. Last year at this time it was 2,000. Now its 10,000. The demand from the public is so high that the league just keeps turning out money. Is there something in particular driving it or the demand for all spectator sports increasing this way . Its football. Its not baseball or basketball, they have seen increase but not what the nfl has seen. We love violence. We love it. It leads to newscast. We see wars from overseas, School Shootings that bring in viewers. There is no violent sport in america than football. Say what you will about humanity we love it. Were blood thirsty for. Thats why the 32 teams in the league are worth more than theyve beforethey have ever been before in the nfl nfl. The scandals, what is the effect. We had the ray rice situation with the elevator video in atlantic city. When that hit the league just before the season started. Then the inside the elevator video. Nine weeks into the season 26 of the top 30 shows on television in terms of viewerships were nfl games. Sunday night football on nbc was the number one show in primetime primetime. 23 markets of the 32 in the nfl the game of the week was the highestrated show in those 23 markets. What hope is there of getting any kind of real reform to this kind of organization when there is no benefit to reforming anything. If Roger Goodell thinks he needs a race,. He makes 44 million. Today he had the state of the League Annual address. And someone asked him if he expects to be fired or maybe even take a pay cut. He said thats up to the owners. The owners have no reason to do that because he has made them more money than any other commissioner. The league is owned by time team owners. Correct. People lose sight of that. Roger goodell. He works for the owners. He has 32 bosses. As ceo for lets say 32 Board Members hes cracker cranking out money for them. We have this fake outrage about t and most of that outrage come from people who are not sports fans. The sports fans still cannot get enough of the game. Thats still the case. Is there a point when all of these things happen that somebody says something needs to governor this . There is no governing body. The league, we think of the league as as governing bodies. Theyre not. Theyre owner representative. They governor the players. I hate to say never, but Aaron Hernandez is on trial for murder right now. There was a player, more than 10 or 15 years ago convicted of murder killing his girlfriend and their baby. Hes in jail. That didnt affect the league. Weve had the hazing and the Domestic Violence money trumps it all. This is capitalism. Michael yves. Thank you. Thank you for watching this show every weeknight. Youve been a remarkably loyal audience. You know now that were headed to primetime. I want you coming with me. This monday were moving 10 30 p. M. If thats too late, set your dvr. Keep tweeting us and holding us at account. Our shows starts at 10 30 p. M. Eastern. Im ali velshi, and thank you for joining us. [music] hi everyone. This is Al Jazeera America. Im john siegenthaler. Protection or punishment. Sexual assault on campus. Are women being blamed for crimes committed by men . The good fight. Cindy comaib mccain on her attempts to prevent crimes at events like the super bowl. New york at night like youve never seen it before