Our kids, it is stoking rae ini emotions on all sides of the gun debate. Many have made the case for more common sense controls on gun sales. President trump started off the week talking about strengthening background checks for guns and banning bump stocks, which are devices that go onto a semiautomatic rifle. Then he changed his tune and called on all, quote, adept teachers to carry concealed weapons into classrooms or at least those who are adept. In other words, more guns, not fewer, which is right out of the National Rifle associations playbook. Just listen to the nras chief, wayne la pierre. They want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of americas Mental Health system. And even the unbelievable failure of the fbi to stop a bad guy with a gun. It takes a good guy with a gun. [ cheers and applause ] except the good guy with the gun didnt go in the building. Every year wayne la pierres organization spends tens of millions of dollars to lobby lawmakers who will always change the conversation from guns to Mental Health or the fbi, from restricting sales to increasing sales. The nra exists to promote the interests of the gun industry. And its not to say that there werent failings at the fbi. There were failings with the Mental Health system, which by the way this administration isnt funding to a greater degree, its funding to a lesser degree. But its never apparent to the nra or its supporters or recipients of its support to talk about guns or guns ownership. The fact is our mass murders seem to be tied by study after study to the number of guns we have in this country, but thats offlimits. Another reactionary angle to this is corporate social responsibility. Weve heard from a number of industry leaders, we heard from Jeffrey Sonnenberg from yale saying that ceos have to stand up here, they have to have some sort of moral compass. And i understand what he says, but this is tricky, because if youre a ceo, if you run a company, who are you beholden to . The american people, your consumers, your employees . We know blackrock, a massive investor, is going to take a closer look at investments they have with gun manufacturers. Guess what, steve feinberg, the founder of cerberus, hes the biggest owner of a gun manufacturer out there. Cerberus is a huge client of the banking industry. As ceos look at this and possibly take a position, theyve got to figure out how to balance this with who exactly their stakeholders are. At least they are not fully in the pocket of gun lobby. The thing that people need to understand, the nra, weve been looking through its financials, it has over 300 million in annual revenue, a lot of which comes from contributions, grants, royalties. A lot of it is tied to the gun Manufacturing Industry in this country. There are other lobbies, we know that. Theres a pharma lobby, theres a corn lobby. We use drugs and we eat corn but we dont have a membership card that says youre a part of that lobby. We dont like it when those lobbies write our legislation but thats kind of what the nra is doing. We need to start to think of the nra not just as a membership organization, which it may or may not be, but as the gun lobby in america. I agree, i dont know why companies would take the lead on this. They may be the only hope because theyre not beholden to the nra. They may be the only hope. Some of them are dropping Partnership Programs with the nra. Enterprise holdings, you know it, they run enterprise rentacar, they run aalamo, thy run nationally. Th First National bank of omaha had a cobranded credit card with the nra. Theyre dropping it. Metlife is dropping their relationship. Enterprise is as well. Remember, we say it all the time. Money wields power. Money talks. These are money relationships that are walking. Theres another story about money that we want to talk about, its about predatory lending. Without a doubt. This story you must Pay Attention to. It was revealed last week that the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau dropped, finished, said forget about it, a lawsuit against a large payday loan operation accused of gouging its clients. Golden valley lending, an online firm in california, was accused of charging Interest Rates, please listen, as high as 950 . And remember, who goes to payday lenders . The most Vulnerable People on short term loans. Mick mulvaney, President Trumps budget director who is now also running the cfpb and a harsh critic of the agency, he took the unusual step of requesting zero dollars for the bureaus Second Quarter budget and wrote that it will no long push the n envelope against payday lenders. Pushing the envelope against companies that prey on lenders is exactly what we should be doing. Payday lending was marketed as a way for people can get a loan in a check as long as you have a job and a valid form of identification. You can pay a 15 fee and take out a twoweek loan. The industry markets these loans as a quick. Saver when an emergency hits. Almost like an advance on your next paycheck. Seven out of ten borrowers use payday loans to finance recurring expenses like rent, groceries, and electricity, or to pay down previous payday debts. See, payday lenders make their money off repeat borrowing at loan shark rates with effective rates averaging 400 annually, some rates as high as 950 . That would mean someone taking out a 300 loan could end up paying 2,558 bucks in fees alone. Lenders say they need to charge high rates because they carry higher rates of default. Borrowers are expected to pay the total amounts they owe within a period of weeks. But a whopping 80 of borrowers say they cannot afford to make full lump sum payments. They roll their balances into new payday loans within the twoweek period. Its no wonder at least 12 million americans taking out payday loans each year wind up spending 9 billion on loan fees. Even so, payday lenders insist they do not market their product as, quote, long term financial solutions. Yet according to the Pew Charitable trust, the payday Business Model encourages borrowers to pay fees that dont count towards their loans. Critics say that fuels a cycle of loans, renewals, exorbitant fees, and even more debt, which is kind of the point. It should come as no surprise that 15 states have already banned high cost payday lending. Why this is not a higher priority for the Trump Administration is anyones guess. This just blows my mind, ali. If mick musclelvaney says the c doesnt make sense, fine, get rid of the agency, it doesnt mean you have to get rid of going after the bad guys. Many of you out there watching us probably dont fit into the demographic where you experience payday loans. But if you get into that demographic, it is really hard. Its a model that fuels a cycle of debt. You just cant get out of it. It sounds like a relief for you when you need money for a short amount of time. People end up stuck in these loans. You think youre paying off interest, youre just paying off fees. And the Interest Rates are hundreds of percent a year. Thats exactly how they make their money. While theyre marketing, were here to help you, thats not how they make money. They make money because people go back and back and ask for more payday loans so they can pay back their old ones. I think you know the answer to why Mick Mulvaney doesnt fix this. Im not going to say i know the answer but i will point out Mick Mulvaney received 63,000 for his campaigns from payday lending groups as a congressman. Corey lewandowski, when he was lobbying for a payday lender, saying get rid of the cfpb. Mick mulvaney, get it, youve got donors, you need to feed them. But payday lenders, the most predatory Business Practices to vulnerable americans. You would be shocked the degree to which payday lenders lobbies have an influence on this administration. Its a disgrace. The industry says were providing loans for people who dont have other ways out of this. Well, there are. And particularly with people who are having trouble paying their utilities, their heating, their energy bills, you can always go to those companies, and many state and local governments have options for people who are borrowing money to pay for their utilities. Payday lending really is a last resort. Send us a tweet, well help you find a resource. Absolutely. President trumps war on obamacare continues unabated. In january, the new republican tax law eliminated the individual mandate, the obamacare rule requiring most americans to either obtain Health Insurance or pay a penalty for not doing so. Now the Trump Administration is proposing a new regulation that would expand short Term Insurance coverage on the individual market. This is billed as a move that offers cheaper alternatives to expensive plans. But this is the catch. This has always been the catch. These now expanded temporary policies would not cover all of the essential Health Benefits of that every policy under obamacare had to cover. That was the biggest rule under obamacare, you cant sell substandard insurance to people. If people are going to buy insurance, they need to be covered. Right, for things they dont know theyll need to be covered for. This is a return to the insurance situation before obamacare became law. Lots of people will carry on about the increase in premiums during obamacare, and theyre not wrong about that. I want people to think about before obamacare, not during obamacare, before obamacare. All of the uninsured people who had no access to health care. But heres what we do know. Obamacare enrollment for 2018, 11. 8 million. Its stunning. That is only a 4 drop from 2017 despite the Trump Administrations cutting the budget, shorter term enrollment period. We know 16 states increased their enrollment from last year. And according to ap analysis, 60 of enrollees live in states that President Trump carried in the election. Right. So the idea here is, this administration continues to try to winnow down the group of people who are in the pool for insurance, which makes them much higher risk, which makes their premiums go up. Well keep a very close eye on this as we have been doing. What happens to those of you who dont get your insurance through your employers, like we do and like most americans do . Thats the problem. Its not a big group. But theyre a vulnerable group. We know a couple of employers want to fix it, amazon, berkshi berkshire, jpmorgan, theyre taking a run at it. Well see what theyre going to do. Coming up, Lockheed Martin is so big it is practically an arm of the u. S. Government. In fact it gets more money from the government than many of our federal agencies do. And the power of wind is blowing through texas, bringing electricity to thousands of homes and businesses across the state. Why texans say that President Trump needs to take notice. Believe the health we aof our water sourcesany is essential to the health of our communities. Which is why were helping to replenish the mighty rio grande as well as over 30 watersheds across the country. Were also leading water projects in more than 100 communities. And for every drop we use. Were working to give one back. Because our products rely on the same thing as we all do. Clean water. And we care about it like our business depends on it. You wouldnt accept from any one else. 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I wouldnt exactly say it makes your farmlands look beautiful, youve got all these windmills all over the place driving you loco when you look at them, right . Who cares what they look like . I look at windmills and i think, wow, free energy, thats beautiful. Welcome to velshi ruhle. Maybe hes talking about an old man whos shouting at them, going loco. That was thencandidate donald trump, by the way, ripping on Renewable Energy sources like wind. As president he continues to champion coal to the exclusion of renewables. Thats not sitting well with many in the great state of texas, a solidly red state more famous for its oil and gas than things like solar and wind. But texans excel at producing energy from all of the above. Theyre pioneers when it comes to producing wind power here in the united states. Msnbcs david gur reports. Reporter deep in the heart of texas and trump country, the German Energy company eon operates turbines. While, yes, its windy, theres another reason this has become one of the largest wind farms in the world. Texas has made wind energy a priority. Reporter eons executive says this red state has been downright progressive. There are incentives and new transmission lines. And the costs have come down. I wonder how you react to the National Conversation about Renewable Energy, when you hear President Trump hold up clean, beautiful coal, for instance, while youre here working on Renewable Energy. How do you react to what he has to say . Actually its quite small minded, if you ask me personally. You just look around you, look at all the landowners. This is small town america that gets a real benefit. Reporter donald trump won texas in 2016 and its gone republican since 1980. The states former governor, rick perry, is now President Trumps energy secretary. When it comes to energy policy, in administration and texas are not on the same page. I dont want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and your factories, as the birds fall to the ground. Reporter renewables including wind are the Fastest Growing sector of the energy industry. Wind Power Generation is expected to grow 50 by 2050. A wind Energy Advocate says texas success could be replicated nationwide if the federal government didnt have such a narrow focus. Its not either or, he says, its not coal solar. What would you say to him about wind energy . Its shocking that the president has been so inconsistent. Reporter politicians talk about the coal industry in the u. S. That industry employs 51,000 workers. By comparison, the wind industry employs twice that and there are 84,000 Wind Turbines across the united states, installed since 2001. The growth isnt confined to texas. Other traditionally red states like iowa and oklahoma are among the largest producers of wind energy in the country. Rhode island is home to an offshore wind farm that powers 17,000 homes. New york plans to harness its own offshore wind energy to power 1. 2 million homes by 2030. Its not a political issue. Its a jobs issue. This is about creating new industries, and safeguarding the environment for future generations. Reporter back in roscoe, texas, coal is still beginning but its reign is being challenged. This land is part cotton farm, part wind farm. The owner says that diversification makes a difference. To have it stationed right here in roscoe, texas, was a huge deal for this town. Theyve contributed to the school, theyve contributed to the community, the tax base. Its been a big, big help. Reporter and proponents of Renewable Energy here in roscoe say thats the case the president needs to make. David gur aregura, msnbc, rosco texas. New york and california, two of the other big Energy Consumers in this country because theyre such populous states, theyve got plans to generate 50 of electricity from renewables by 2030. The number of people employed in wind is far bigger than the number of people employed in coal. Its just strange that the president strikes his one note on this all the time. Wind is our future. And coming up, here is a nice piece of trivia. What company has received more federal dollars than any other corporation . Hint, the president is proposing even more. And by now you know im not the biggest fan of bitcoin. If the dictator of a failing state in south america created his own currency, you can get what i think about that. He doesnt like it. Thanks man. Imagine if the things you bought every day. Earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. With the united mileageplus explorer card, youll get a free checked bag. Two united club passes. Priority boarding. 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