fibenache, shmebenache. i can't believe we went up again today after a rise in 7% in the past week. to me, that's a sign that more investors are believing my story, this recession is over, babe. a couple charts for you. so the dow jones. let's take a look at this. tree.com is not the chart i'm looking for. going to look at the 30 stocks in the dow jones industrial average, and it just turned in another triple-digit gain today, rising 104 points, all right? and that means that since monday of last week, the dow is up a heart-thumping 701 points in six trading days. that is almost 9%. beautiful. now, the nasdaq rose as well. gained in 22 points today, and just cleared a very important psychological hurdle and that is, hello, 1900! 1900. i'm liking that. i'll take it. yeah, back in the bubble in 2000, it was at 5000, but my

gosh, small dreams, guys. and look what it did today. and the stocks are always up and down and up and down, but over the longer term, they're headed that way. i think we pretty much know that. now, look at the s&p 500. we get that baby up there. all right. this broad index of really big companies. it's up almost 11 points today to 951. now, understand something here, all right? the recent high was at 956. all right? 956. and now we're up to 951. and if we break through that ceiling, it could mean a bullish ride ahead. and get this. the 200-day average of the s&p 500 is now at 872. and yet today, the index is at 951, right? so here's the thing. when the index today is at least 5% higher than the 200-day average, that can auger very well for stocks over the next two years. now we're like 10% higher than that 200-day average and that

simply means good things ahead. all right. roll up a little bit more, would you? yep, yep, yep. good. all right. so -- oh, another thing. the guys at goldman sachs they concur. the goldman guys, smartest folks on wall street, revving up their forecast today for the s&p 500 to close up 15% from now to year-end, all right? sew that could make -- if we're at -- we don't even have it on the chart here, but that puts it somewhere around there. which looks pretty good to me. that would take the index to 1060. now, that would just be grand, wouldn't it? and there is an extra up side. gary shilling, the economic forecaster and money manager, i've got a revenge bet with gary shilling on the s&p this year. and originally, he wanted a dom pair i don't know bottle from me, and now i'm betting the s&p will rise to 1038 before year-he said. he says it won't make it. message to gary, i'm coming to

get you, babe. and one last chart for you, okay? the leading economic indicators. i told you on friday night they were expected to come in higher for the third month in a row. take a look. here it is today. and here it is higher for the third month in a row. liking that. now, here's a couple things about these leading indicators. first of all, they are forward-looking, they turn out to be very good in terms of predicting gdp growth, up 0.7% in june. a 30 cent consecutive rise. three months in a row, that hasn't happened since july, 2004. three years. over the past three months, the index of leading indicators rising at a 13% annual rate, that's the fastest growth in seven years, so i'm sure we'll see stocks go down sometime, but make no mistake about it, folks. the turn is here. let the recovery begin. so you've heard my case tonight on the state of the economy. the bulls seem to be taking over, but there are still some bears out there, and in tonight's bull versus bear, we

have peter bookvar, he is a bear. tim kayman, president of mer indicatedian capital, he's a bull. and so is ron weener, president of rdm financial group. ron, news breaking just now, moments ago, that cit in a deal with its bond holders for $3 billion in financing. i say it's another sign of recovery. that's the way the markets are supposed to work. government didn't have to step in at all.00 in at all.00 i'm cheered by it. what do you say? >> the vultures are out, so cit has to make a deal to survive. >> the vultures are out, so cit i don't pay much attention to the cit survival. what i pay attention to is the markets. i'll tell you, we're optimistic about the u.s., but we're really bullish about the emerging markets. >> the emerging markets. well, you need to earn some money in the u.s. before you have money you can put into the emerging markets, right? so the recent run-up in stocks is a good thing. >> yeah, well, and lots of companies that sell stuff to the emerging markets and i think that will help the u.s. a great deal. jeff i am immelt, your president

wanted to sell a lot of stuff to these guys, and so there are a lot of companies that will do well, and it's a safer bet to bet on those guys selling to the foreign emerging markets, and that's where we're laying a lot of our money. >> right. ken kayman, tech is a big beneficiary to sales overseas. where are you looking for buys in it stocks, ken? >> i look at the market from a much more global situation, in that the big news for the bulls, i think, is the fact that, you know, the world didn't come to an end. everyone was discounting that, you know, the market was over. the entire structuralin death of the markets. i think the biggest bull story is that we have seen markets do work, pendulums have a way of overswinging, but marks do work. and regardless of what the market does in the short term, because the bull-bear argument is one of timing. what's your time frame? it's really a good sign that investors are now saying, i can't afford to be out of the next leg, even if this might

have gotten overbaked in a very short amount of time. >> right. and folks, even our bear tonight, peter bookvar, he is actually bullish on something, you're bullish on knee merging markets, and companies that sell to those markets? >> yes, bullish on asia, bullish on commodities, bullish on markets that produce commodities and i like u.s. companies that sell most of their products overseas. my bearishness really stems from the u.s. consumer. the u.s. consumer, i would be avoiding at all costs. anything that sells to them, any companies that are u.s. centric, that is where the deleveraging process has years to go. that's where the sluggish growth is going to be. so if you want outsized inflation-adjusted returns, you have to look outside the u.s. and outside of companies that depend solely on the u.s. consumer. >> right. ron weaner, a lot of people think the u.s. consumer will be permanently changed by this big downturn. i just don't see it. i just don't see it. we have short memories when good times return. >> well, you know, when they start making money, when they start feeling better about

>> well, you know, when they themselves, they're going to spend it. spend it. they always do. right now, they're saving more than they ever did, and a lot of them lost permanent jobs, so that's going to be a little while. i think one of your other guests was right. right now, they're saving more them lost permanent jobs, so maybe a little overbaked now, maybe watch the u.s. -- but the maybe watch the u.s. -- but the u.s. is still going to grow at 2, 2.5, maybe not quite 3%. but like your other guest said, emerging markets, 5, 5.5, 6% average growth. why make too much of a bet in the u.s., except for all these the u.s., except for all these great companies that are going to sell to them. there are plenty of great opportunities in the u.s. market. but the consumer stuff, that's a problem. >> all right. thanks very much for being with us, gentlemen. and next up, folks, the real deal squad. a new poll shows the honeymoon in the white house is over. why? i think it's because of taxes and tax increases. a little later tonight, meet a democratic congressman who is now on my side on new cars.

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♪ okay. today president obama marked his six-month anniversary since moving in at the white house, and the honeymoon is over, folks. obama's popularity is slipping. in a new abc "washington post" poll, 56% of americans believe obama will improve the economy, but that is down sharply from a peak of 72%. and when it comes to health care, obama's ratings are down to 4%. 49%. an 8-point drop. less than half the country supports him on his health care plan. and on the federal budget deficit, only 43% approve. that is down from january's high of 52%. let's bring in the real deal squad for some reaction. joining us tonight, nancy skinner, radio show host and former democratic senate candidate. julian epstein, democratic

strategist. joe watkins, republican strategist. and steve muscles mullsberg, as well. watkins, start us off. it's over for obama, isn't it? >> it's chain you can believe in, but not change anybody likes. who likes bigger government? who likes a health care plan that's going to cost us $1.5 trillion that won't work? who likes all of the pork that we're about to see spent by congress that we're going to have to pay for? >> right. and nancy skinner, who likes higher taxes? do you like higher taxes, nancy? they're going to raise your taxes. >> come on, please. what honeymoon, dennis. there never was a honeymoon. traditionally that means the other party realizes they lost the election like when bush helped get us tax cuts. president obama did not get a single vote on the stimulus bill that is working. and i heard dennis, you said it's working. so there is no honeymoon. these polls, people are reacting to the economy. and the economy is slowly

recovering, but it's not there yet and that's what we're seeing in the slippage in the numbers. >> of course, steve, if approximate the economy is recovering, the sad thing is, is it in spite of the stimulus bill which has kicked into dpeer? >> of course. it's one of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation ever passed. but here's the deal. honeymoon is over. what honeymoon? he is still on his honeymoon with the media. and what makes it so desperate -- a desperate situation for obama is that notwithstanding the fact that he still -- the honeymoon assault with the media, the people have found him out. the people have found him out. >> the economy is recovering despite these actions he is taking? tell me what. name one thing the republicans have done to help the economy recovery. >> it's not a matter of republicans, it's a matter of we're not terrified anymore. >> well, that's part of it. that's confidence. >> but democrats control the house and the senate. let's face it. it's not republicans. it's democrats that control the house and the senate. they have the white house. it was their job to get done,

and they're not getting it done. >> let's let julian in on this. >> no president has ever done so much so fast and so well. the president's approval ratings are in the mid 50s, that's an extremely popular president. the public approves of what he is doing in foreign policy, as contrasted to what the republicans were when they were in charge of the white house. the public approves -- >> julian, the public does approve of any of this nonsense. >> the public is by a factor of 57, 58% approval -- can i just finish the point before you interrupt me? the public overwhelmingly supports this president. compare this to the republicans. there was a recent poll done on republicans, and it showed that republicans were less popular than china, venezuela -- >> meanwhile, many other polls show that the public trusts the republicans more on the economy, trusts them more on health care. what are you talking about? >> that is just not true. >> it is true. >> every major -- >> you know what is so funny about that? of all the spending in this whole thing, worried about --

dennis, you mentioned the deficit. these guys are having tea parties, you know, doing this whole thing. 3% of all the deficit is obama's. the rest of it is bush's. >> the republicans are -- >> hang on. one at a time, go ahead, joe. >> the president said he was going to look forward, he won't going to look backward, wasn't going to blame republicans in the past administration, he would take responsibility because the buck stops with him. that's what he is supposed to do. >> julie -- >> julian epstein, you cannot believe that this new penalty on small businesses that won't cover their employees with health care, it would cost 33% of the profit at a million dollar small business. you cannot believe that's good policy julian. >> i don't think that's what the policy will be. small businesses are the people -- >> none of them say -- none of them admit -- >> steve, will you stop interrupting people? >> they all say it's something different. read what the bills say. >> one of the reasons why republicans are so unpopular is

because they're policies are so unpopular. by a factor of about 30 points. the other reason is republicans like you tend to interrupt people. >> oh, yeah, like no democrat interrupts. >> now i'm going to interrupt the left and right and tell you -- we're just getting warmed up. and let's not call names yet. until we come back. and when we come back, we're talking pork. literally. wait until you see how much stimulus money went to ham sandwiches, and we are not joking here. no jobs, no investment. just pork. real pork. and i am peeved. and a democratic convert, he backed the president in the fall. but now not so much. see why he is one of the many blue dogs starting to growl. and later on cnbc, california in crisis. a special hour dedicated to the financial mess that has tied the golden state in knots. big names on the guest list include former governor gray

davis. tonight, tune in at 8:00 for "cnbc reports", of course, and then watch the california crisis at 9:00. back in two minutes.

f ♪ punk. yeah.

nice. all right, the stimulus spending spree includes a lot of pork. $787 billion is supposed to help create jobs. but dig a little, and you'll find plenty of fat. take a look at this. the department of agriculture has awarded $2,531,600 to a company in l.a. for frozen slices of ham. that equals 760,000 pounds of pork, folks. and that is not only pork we found. a company in wisconsin is getting $16,784,272 for 8,424,000 pounds of canned pork. someone who knows how to track down pork is tom shafts with citizens against government waste. tom, i understand obama was elected for change. this sounds like very much like what's going on in government for decades. >> that's the problem with the stimulus package. it was essentially a huge supplemental appropriation, extra spending for many programs

that already existed in washington. and that isn't going to create jobs, except here in washington. the story today "the washington post", unproposal in d.c. is less than the rest of the country, because we're taking everyone's tax dollars funneling it into washington and creating government jobs. it's not helping small businesses around the country, and not doing anything to permanently help the economy. >> now, the ham, just to play devil's advocate, is there any way the pork and the ham could create jobs, because when you sell hundreds of thousands of pounds of ham you need someone to carry the boxes or something? >> the issue here wasn't necessarily what it's being used for. it's emergency food for the needy and the hungry. and that's not necessarily a bad program. it's how it was described on the recovery.gov website where we're spending $18 million so we can get better information. for example, what you just asked. how many jobs will be created in that factory? and the cheese factories? we don't know, because they don't have it up there. >> tom, i'm bringing in members of our real deal squad here.

julian epstein, a democratic strategist. julian, what do you think of this? is this okay? all the pork? >> unfortunately, i wasn't able to hear what tom was saying. but in any major government program, you always inevitably find a little bit of waste. i think it's a bad thing and out to be rooted out and i think the obama administration has put more cops on the beat to are you this out. look what happened with the bush administration in iraq. we had $12,000 in cash and armamen armaments. >> ah -- >> go ahead. >> the administration didn't even care about. so at least you see the barack obama administration, unlike previous administrations, putting cops on the beat to make sure this doesn't happen. >> julian, how many cops on the beat, julian, with this line of nonsense? how many cops on the beat did barack obama's stimulus bill put? how many teachers in schools? you can't tell me. he's making it up as he goes along. >> steve obviously isn't listening. >> how many? >> what i'm talking about is an enormous amount of resources with inspectors general.

>> how many, how many? >> i can't give you chapter and verse as to how many. >> can you give me one number? >> what we do have, steve, as opposed to the bush administration who stuck its head in the sand on waste abuse is teams on -- >> steve, you're complaining they're hiring -- you were complaining they were hiring people to be inspectors, that they had to spend something like $80 million to have this huge oversight committee when they pick -- on that pork thing, too, dennis, i've got to say, come on. this is about food for the needy. and two pounds -- >> no -- >> you guys, this is supposed to be about stimulus for the economy. and creating jobs. what about -- >> and what about everyone who produces -- >> what about the 16 million -- >> whob those who are producing at the manufacturers, the farmers, everybody else? >> the only jobs that have been created are jobs in federal government, jobs in washington, d.c. those are the only jobs that --

>> i'm sorry, steve, what about the mice in san francisco? >> nancy pelosi's district, to preserve wildlife refuge for a certain kind of endangered mouse. $16 million. who is going to work there, nancy? >> we haven't done anything in new york city to save some rats. >> the bottom line, why joe and steve want to kind of hurl these little bromides, the talking points have changed. originally they said the stimulus wouldn't work. and now we're seeing the stimulus plan is starting to work, the economy is coming back. >> where -- >> you're the one always saying it's working. >> is to begin to identify a couple of instances of fraud waste. >> no finger pointing when we argue. and i've got to get ready to wrap here. i do very much appreciate your being here. all right? anybody want to take one last -- >> i do, i do. this is spam. this is a whole to theage industry. just try and pick out one tinny thing and borrow it blow it out

of proportion. >> i never should open it up again. because we continue the cycle of violence. thanks very much for being with us, all of you. and there's still a lot more ahead tonight on "cnbc reports." earnings central. big names and big numbers out this week. this is the place to be if you want to get ahead of the game. tonight, we're picking three companies to get a read on how the stocks are likely to move after posting results. plus, our bikini business indicator. no need for words. just watch the pictures and think about money. this is cnbc reports on a hot july day. and we're back in two minutes. welcome to progressive.com. you must be looking for motorcycle insurance. you're good. thanks. so is our bike insurance.

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♪ this is "cnbc reports". as the day comes to an end in the u.s., we give you a first look at the day ahead. your tomorrow starts right now. wagon it mark twain who said that lies and damn lies and statistics? we have a statistics guy here who is a wizard with numbers and what they mean. he is here to help us at earnings central, aerial nelson is with y cnbc and tonight cysts

through 150 cap stocks. tonight he looks awfully good. ari ariel, take it. >> thanks. we have 150 companies looking to report this week, companies that have fallen behind the s&p benchmark, but the analysts still have high expectations for these companies looking forward, as well as they have good dividends, there is good earnings forecasts, et cetera. >> okay. so your first company is? >> ups. so i can pull it up right here. and ups is actually interesting. the company has earnings forecasts with a forward fiscal year of over 23%. so the analysts -- >> earnings growth. and yet their stock has not gone up with the whole market in the recent rally. >> hour, if you see in the last couple days, you can see how it's lifted up and the expectation is, i guess, with the stimulus, with the recovery, ups should be on the forefront of making some money. >> making more stuff, start shipping in more boxes and ups carries. >> exactly. and next is dupont.

dupont is an interesting one. it's actually again recently crossed above its moving averages, it is yielding over 5% right now. and again, 65% of its revenues come from overseas. so the dollar was down last quarter, so you can expect them to get some lift in that. >> even bears say that companies in the u.s. that sell a lot overseas, you ought to take a hard look. at. what's your third? >> the third is the famous staple, mcdonald's. so if you look at mcdonald's, mcdonald's is an interesting one. they have beaten the earnings expectations six out of the last six times. they are following through. if you look at all of the analysts, quarter after quarter, the revisions keep going up. they're looking forward to this company continuing to rise. >> so ups, mcdonald's, what's the other one? >> dupont. >> these are the three different sectors on the economy, and yet they all have a finger on the pulse of the economy, and is as the economy recovers, as i keep insisting this recession is over, these companies fare well. and especially since they have

ignited with all these stocks. >> exactly. >> thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you very much. >> all right. and taking aim time. tonight we found a democrat who is on our side in a fight with the obama administration over taxes. he is a true blue dog, a group that just might stop the democratic party from rolling over and passing president obama's plans for huge tax increases on high earners to pay for the health care overhaul. let's bring in jason ultmeyer. thanks for being with us, congressman. what's your biggest problem with the health care plan? >> i think we need to squeeze savings from the current system. we have to bring down costs of health care, it affects every business, every family, every individual in this country. double digit increases were on an unsustainable course and we need to squeeze out thein efficiencies in the system before we go outside the system to look for revenue. so this idea of taxing the wealthy to pay for health care, i don't think makes any sense. >> you know, i actually red in

the "new york times" friday, $700 billion a year in unnecessary medical procedures every single year. and yet i haven't heard anyone in congress talk about that problem at all. it's all about how we're going to pay for it, and who we're going to tax. >> there's a lot of people talking about it. we need to improve this bill. i voted against it in committee. i want to do health care reform. everybody here understands the importance of bringing down the costs of health care in this country for everyone. for the government, for businesses and for families. but raising taxes on people to pay for it on the other end is not the way to go about it. >> you know, the other day in silicon valley on san hill road where all of the venture capital people are, there was a meeting of some guys, and all big obama backers, and they told a friend of mine, you know what, we never really -- we just wanted a different foreign policy. we never realized he was going to go this far. silicon valley in california is facing a tax rate of somewhere around 55 or 60% if this plan goes through. now here's the thing. didn't you support obama? didn't you kind of know he

wanted to tax the rich? >> well, look, the plans to have the surtax on the wealthy is the house of representatives' plan, which i voted against. that's not the president's plan. the president has outlined his goals, cost reform, bringing down the cost curve is part of what he wants to do. the idea of where to generate the revenue and how to do the surtax, that's something that generated in the house. you can't hang that one on the president. i think it's a bad idea no matter who thought of it. we need to find a way to get more people into the health care system, clearly access is an issue. but job one has to be bringing down the cost of health care for everybody, not raising taxes to pay. >> we have 45 million uninsured people, and obama keeps insisting this is a problem for all of america. so how can only 2 million high earners are being asked to pay for those 45 million people? >> look. again, that's not the approach i want to take. but it's important to remember, those 45 million people that don't have health care, they get treated. they show up at the emergency room, they get whatever they need. and they send the bill to you and me. this is how it works now.

we're already paying for the cost of people who don't have health insurance. >> yeah, it's just something like 200 million people are already paying, instead of just 2 million whose taxes are going to go up. so what's the first thing you can do to change the pivot point of this debate, sir? >> well, i think you have to stop the house bill, if it includes that tax on the wealthy. first thing we have to do is find the savings in our current system. and if that means you have to reduce the level of the subsidy to get people into the system, then so be it. that's what we're going to have to do. job one has to be to restrain the growth of health care costs over the long term. just taking 50 million people from outside the system and putting them into a flawed system isn't going to solve the problem. >> i read a report the other day that said for a small million-dollar revenue business that the penalty they would slap on the business for not covering its employees amounts to one-third of annual profit at that company. are you going to let that pass? small business seems like an important voter base. >> less than half the small businesses are able to afford to offer health care coverage to their employees right now.

it's not that they don'tment to. they would love to be able to do it, but they can't afford it. i don't know anyone thinks that if you raise their payroll tax on the other end, somehow that's going to help them afford health care for their employees that they can't afford right now. that doesn't make any sense. and you don't want to set the level at a rate where people who offer health insurance today are going to drop coverage and dump their employees into this new public plan that's out there. you have to do it in a way that's going to help small businesses afford health care, and find a way that they can offer it to their employees, not just dump them into the public system. >> all right. well i'm glad you're in washington fighting for the other side of the debate. thank you for being with us tonight, representative ultmeyer. >> i appreciate it. 40 years ago today, america walked on the moon. this historic event marked the turning point for the u.s. and the world. and it marks a special over-under with a sound check twist. i say, i'm sorry folks, but the 40th anniversary is overplayed.

but what might not be overplayed is the fact that whoopi goldberg may be the first hollywood star to dabble in moon landing conspiracy theories. today on "the view," the woopster turned the historic event into a hot topic. give a listen. >> there are a couple of questions that i do have from time to time. who shot the footage? because you see the two astronauts. you never see -- you would think the third guy -- you would think he would have turned around and gone like this so we knew it was him. >> funny stuff. but it's really stupid. let's bring in our panel. alfred he hadman is editor and chief, black enterprise.com. diane brady, senior editor and content chief for "business week" and welcome back steve mulls dhs berg. the 40th anniversary of the moon landing overplayed or under played? >> i don't think it's under

played. can we keep funneling money into this program? i have a been there done that with the debate over the moon. i think, you know, let's just push on and focus here on earth for a while. >> yeah, alfred, where are you on this? >> yeah, i don't think it's overplayed. it's a significant historic event. but if this is going to be some kind of foundation to start pouring more money into the space program, i don't think the time is right. >> steve, my problem with it is what has we done that is anywhere near at epic and this happened 40 years ago -- hey, if we can put a man on the moon, we can do almost anything. that happened four decades ago. >> we have 4 million people in iraq and afghanistan, so we have done some good things. i think it's just right. i mean, it is historic, should get recognition, the astronauts should get the recognition, but obviously the answer for woopy's conspiracy theory is it was the man on the moon who took the pictures. >> nicely done. second revealing indicator, and for that we have cnbc's newses

michelle kosinski. michelle. >> hi, yes, analysts say 8% down, but three segments within that did well. sunglasses, jeans and swim wear. people are spending some on this in the past year. and coming up. even though they might not be traveling much. and one shock to some out here, for once, was not the amount of skin showing, but the amount that was covered up. i mean attention half the stuff we saw stalking down those runways were not even bathing suits at all, but what they call cover-ups. things they call dresses and pants and that is one way swim wear has been able to carve out space, by making versatile items that are just as much street clothes as they are ocean or beach wear. and also everyone is doing now vintage looks. think what your grandmother or mom might have worn in the 1950s. even back as far as 1920s. lots of coverage, lots of structure. one-piece bathing suits, low-cut legs. everybody seems to want a piece of that look. and our question, is that really

connected to the economy, and more than one designer told us yes, what they were going for was a look back at happier times, dennis. >> i'll tell you, michelle. sounds like a cover-up conspiracy. and guys i find this trend lamentable, but the story is underplayed. diane brady, i hear women hate to buy bikinis, and if they're buying at all now, they must have plenty to spend. >> if you have time to work out, they buy a bikini, but people with pension plans don't wear string bikinis anymore. so i say it's maybe underplayed. >> steve? >> definitely under played. i want to see more on the street. this is compatible for street wear. let's bring the bikinis on to the street! >> and alfred? >> i just want to know why the guys never get the sweetness assignments like this. you know, but this is definitely speaks to people not being -- devoting a lot of money to held and get these are the kind of swim suits more accessible to a much wider range of audience

than the bikinis would be. >> i think you answered your own question. i think i know why they don't send guys to cover that event. michelle, over all, the bikini business is headed up? >> yeah, i think this is the one time our crew volunteered to shoot more video without a complaint. you know, not everybody is doing great. plenty of designers went out of business in the last year. some people saying they wish the numbers were more here. but buyers are also telling us, you know, they might have lines of fashion wear and lines of swim wear. their fashion isn't doing great, but their swim wear is selling. one reason analysts are telling us is even though people might not be traveling as much, they might spend more time at their neighborhood pool or own pool, and sometimes you need more than one bathing suit for weeks and weeks lounging. they are spending it. >> you've got to make a costume pick. michelle, thanks very much for being with us tonight. next up, another topic. claws instead of dogs. guess what? according to "fortune" magazine, thanks to the recession, lobster is actually cheaper per pound

now than hot dogs. i say this story is underplayed. supply and demand at work. and so panel, are you going to consider -- reconsider the menu for your next barbecue. what do you say, steve? >> absolutely! $3 a pound or something? bring it on! under played, baby. >> i think it's under played. i'm waiting for the waldorf to put pigs in a blanket and charge $30 a pop for them. >> and that would be another indicator, as far as i'm concerned that the recession is ending. >> diane who killed her first lobster just this weekend will drive peter crazy. >> it will, and in a hotel in maine, i'm there. >> okay. thanks very much for being with us, guys. and straight ahead, back to rising stock prices and sinking approval numbers for president obama. we're going across the country to give you some specifics on where the president stands in different parts of this great nation of ours. also ahead, bloggers beware. i'm not saying anything more than that. for now. she wants to make up.

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♪ we are going across america tonight. amanda carpenter is with "the washington times" and jeremiah mcwilliams with "the post dispatch" and her ron leeone with "the globe". let's start with obama's approval rating. down according to the latest "washington post" poll. let's start with lauren in texas. >> i think this isn't exactly

obama country down here. i think a lot of people aren't happy with the way things are going. but in a broader sense what you're seeing is, this economy is starting to become obama's problem. and he's been in charge for a while now, and people are starting to hold him accountable for what happens from here on out. >> yeah, surely in my view that could be a good thing, because i think this economy is beginning to turn upward. >> well, in massachusetts, you know, you know, people -- i don't hear a lot of people criticizing obama. you know, rather they're too busy focusing their attention and criticizing, blaming our governor patrick here. i mean, that's because the state is facing a $3 billion deficit. and patrick can't print money, like obama can. all he can do is raise taxes, and you can't win popularity contests doing that. >> and yet massachusetts has this health care plan that's like what washington wants to do and i keep hearing that's going to set the economy right. amanda carpenter in washington, what do you think of obama's slippage in the polls there? >> here in washington, you have the policy wonks trying to

figure out why this plan is falling apart. there's moderate democrats falling away from it, and some people think obama hasn't vested enough personally. and other people point to the funding mechanisms, taxing the rich and others are saying what can they fix to push this forward? >> jeremiah in st. louis, the thought that obama hasn't done enough to sell this to the public when the man is on tv, wall to wall every single day is beyond me. what are you seeing in st. louis? >> well, dennis in the show-me state, i think some people are starting to notice a pattern, where in this administration, it's like a jeopardy game. the answer is always big federal government with big deficits and big spending. some voters are fine with that, and others are saying, whoa, this is foot and not debated enough? >> somehow lauren, people are beginning to realize you're not just raising taxes on the rich when you start talking about penalizing small businesses so it costs one-third of their annual earnings if they don't cover their health care employees, suddenly that tax is

going way beyond the way beyond. >> i've talked to a lot of small business owners in the last few weeks concerned about how this  is going to affect them. you talk about the stock market rising but that may not continue if some of these other problems continue to persist and what we're hearing is that people are concerned about this economy. >> and if you keep smacking down on wall street, even today obama is out with another interview on the jim lehrer news hour lagging a finger at wall street. shouldn't he leave wall street alone? let them make billions. >> it seems like wall street's doing okay. he's put a lot of money into the government's giving a lot of money into the banks seem fine so i think he needs to focus on small businesses. we have universal health care here and small businesses who paid a price for universal health care, and they're trying to find a deal now to get out from the higher premiums that they're all paying right now. >> right, we ought to keep an eye on massachusetts because i

think the problems we'll run into will be confronting the entire nation. amanda carpenter, tomorrow? >> the health care debate and provisions that would maybe compel other taxpayers to provide abortion under the public option. >> okay and jeremiah in st. louis what you got? >> a david and goliath story, a small brewery works in the shadow of anheuser-busch in st. louis is getting its beer sold across the border in kansas thanks to anheuser-busch distributors so you never know. >> that's a little man bites dog beer story. stephan stefy in houston. >> what might be right for the next bailout, the airline industry and i'll tell you why failure is not only an option it's almost a necessity. >> i like that storyline and shirley finish it up. >> personal bankruptcies in massachusetts up 35% in second quarter, unemployment driving

people to burn through savings, rack up credit card debt and going into foreclosure. it's one big giant snowball here. >> i love you guys, you're so printy, filled with content. i miss that. love those inc. stain brushes. thank you, scribes. have a great night. next up, blog you. i found one dude out there in cyberspace who likes me, you might have seen that and on the search for a few more, i'm calling them dennis's army. our name calling and a computer, you know what it is? kissing your mom's face, right? back in two minutes. can unlock nature's power?hink d

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♪ having lunch with a print reporter today, thinking about profiling me and my fight with bloggers. i'm sitting there trying to figure out his hidden agenda. his real angle because you can't trust those print scribes and you point out, gee, why is it no other tv anchor has gone after the bloggers? and then it occurred to me. this guy thinks i'm making this up. he thinks i have picked this

fight with bloggers to build some buzz. well, i got to tell you, i'll take any buzz i can get. i want more people to watch this show. i am not making this up, i am not manufacturing outrage. when i say bloggers and their followers hide behind the cow d cowardly cloak of anonymity when i call them how vicious and h o homophobic and negative they are i mean every word of it. in high school i wrote a mean review of the chorus and it caused a small riot in the newspaper office but the principal refused to suspend me. he said it would violate the first amendment. when i joined the "wall street journal" early in my career i was told we never publish a mean, bashing comment about someone if it comes from an off-the-record anonymous source. it's unfair and wrong. when i was managing editor at "forbes," the last edited was on the malicious masked mob on the

internet and damaging anonymity is and cnbc got a lot more personal. isn't it time they tore off their sissy mask and stood up for what i believe in? i do it every day, every night. thanks for being with us. i'm dennis kneale. see you tomorrow. oof! i hope he has that insurance. aflac! you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! oh yeah! that's it! aflac. we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac!

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this is a cnbc special uu6g event. one billionaire. one network. and 72 hours of unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the world's most celebrated investor at the biggest annual meeting in america. "the billionaire next door: all access" starts now. from omaha, nebraska, becky quick. >> every year, warren buffett invites each and every one of his shareholders here to his hometown for the granddaddy of all annual meetings. over 30,000 of them will actually show up here to this center just to catch a glimpse of the oracle of omaha. over the next three days, warren buffett will tirelessly answer questions from shareholders. he will walk miles through this convention center through all the back halls. and he will catch up with old friends over a can of coke or a game of bridge. and, for the first time, we are with him every step of the way, from setup to breakdown and everything in between.

it's the calm before the storm. hundreds berkshire's owner in town building the exhibits that cover the 200,000 square foot floor. and tonight, they get to meet their big boss, warren buffett. it's thursday evening and the oracle of omaha's whirlwind weekend is just beginning. first he meets with the troops. >> thank you. >> employees from dozens of berkshire's companies. taking photos with each and every one. >> thank you. okay. i know it's a lot of work, but you do it and i don't, so i'm fine with that. and if i don't get a chance to say thanks to all of you late on saturday, thank you very much. i love it. thank you. >> before heading to the omaha bridge studios to play with