stalling here and bluffing. they have to wait for the german constitutionality. >> all right. ed, thank you very much. simon, see you tomorrow. >> i'm looking forward to it already, sue. that is it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" begins now. welcome to "street signs" beginning with headlines of known as the fed's summary of economic conditions. it's known as the beige book. the first positives. pace of economic growth expanded quote gradually in late july and early august. a slight change from the expanded modest to moderate pace language used in july in the beige book. pretty neutral. most districts said retail activity rose since last beige book. auto sales a big part of that. loan demand rose new york city, philly, cleveland, atlanta, chicago and the kansas city districts and housing markets across most districts exhibited

signs of improvement. so those are the positive takeaways from my quick scan. the negatives -- the chicago district noted that the pace of economic growth slowed there. the drought cutting farm output in the midwest, that can trickle through in months and quarters to come. and many districts reporting some softening in manufacturing. in fact, 6 of the 12 reporting fed districts said demand for manufactured goods fell and not just in europe as you might expect but several districts mentioned that weakness for demand in asia hurt manufacturing. report noted that weakness overseas does remain a problem for manufacturing, mandy and found the most interesting is it wasn't just europe but asia. the takeaway of the positives, on a quick scan, a more positive beige book than a negative one, mandy. >> absolutely. seems like that and by the way, china's richest provence in a

full-blown credit crisis. the dow was trading in the second smallest trading range of the entire year. it has expanded since then. about 60 points. earlier on and now the dow up 33 points. we should note in august of last year the dow never once traded in a trading range below triple digits. s&p 500 regained positive territory for the week with today's advance. and as of the moment the dow and s&p and nasdaq risen nearly the exact same percentage on the trading day. so not terribly much happening. let's get straight down to the trading floor. bob pisani is joining us there. we were up by 33 points on the dow and currently 32 points and in terms of reaction, one point. that's all it is. >> i would agree with brian. i think this is modestly more positive. i had eight districts saying that expansion was at a modest or a moderate pace. not big difference there. now there's nine.

i think it's slightly more positive. retail sales more emphasized, as well. i would agree on that. s&p 500. moving up all morning. we have just been moving up here. here's what's happening. we are very close to a four-year high. 1419. we close over that seven more points, look at the four years. we have a four-year high. we didn't hit that new high. we hit it on an intraday basis. there's the one year on the s&p 500 but again very, very close here to breaking out. elsewhere, if you look at the bank stocks, that's what we have moved in a commentary from the fed. not really. moving up throughout the day. citigroup, suntrust, other stocks moving here and most of the bank stocks at multimonth highs and here's the big surprise because a lot of people have not had high expectations of earnings and among the market leaders recently. back to you. >> thanks so much for your takeaways. let's get to the market reaction from some of the

smartest money on wall street. joining us is dave genter and howard present. howard, bottom line, are things better now than they were, say, three months ago? >> without a doubt. in fact, our firm has tends to have a defensive bias. everything we have right now is turned positive. we have probably been three years since we have been this bullish. the rate of growth isn't what we like to see. the direction is without a doubt the right one and certainly what we saw from the beige book -- >> nervous by nature? >> we are. >> coming around to the bullish case. >> we are. >> make the case. why? what's bullish for you? >> we have all the sectors of the u.s. economy positive year to date last three months turning the right direction. volatility's coming down pretty hard which is great. correlations not converging like earlier last year and the year before that. looking at the credit sensitive segments of fixed income, all turn positive todd rogers us.

international market all pointing in the right direction and risk factors. we like it. >> dan, you have a beige book coming out. more positive than negative. you have the market as bob said, four-year highs. considering that already expectations for ben bernanke to do or say anything of import come friday, i mean, those expectations were already low. would you say they're almost completely diminished any. >> i think it's lower, mandy. the problem with the market right now and i would agree with howard generally speaking crawling along here and the data in general is looking better. i mean, a moderate gdp growth. earnings coming in and good estimate and the estimates lower and the problem right now is, frankly, a valuation. looking at 13.5 pe below historical averages, the market traded between 12.5 and 13 pe and for 3 years and starting to hit 14 it's meeting a lot of resistance. i think what's happened in the last three months is we have

been in a drag race. we are up 8% in the last 12 months. we are just running a little low on fuel and we're hitting the curves here. would you be in the camp of traders of bob talking to? he says 90% of the traders believe a 10% correction in either september or october based on the things you said? >> i don't think it's that magnitude. that's the good news, mandy. right now because of the support we're having with general economic friends and some improvement at least psychologically in europe, that's told a 5% or 6% correction we won't see 10 and i think that's the good news. you know, the negative is very, very difficult to break out and hold above this 1425 level and so i think we'll muddle through. we don't have the horsepower to drive through europe and the economy and the election. a huge wild card, bigger than people realize. >> three wild cards, the election, right? >> yes. >> the election/fiscal cliff.

two. europe three and china fears four. what is your biggest fear? >> we don't really have some long-term fears. we think it's embedded in the market. part of our issue is dynamic investors. we back out of sectors and asset classes that we think are turning sour. right now, though, i'm telling you this is -- everything's pointing in the -- >> you are not worried about a thelma and louise destroying confidence in the tock market? >> i'm not. >> okay. on that note, no worry about thelma and louise. >> like to hear that. >> thank you very much. good to meet you. thank you for coming in. two days until what could be the most market moving event this week. ben bernanke's big speech in wyoming. lots of chatter what he will or won't say. stay tuned here all week. we'll do what we do best. >> tis? >> lead your coverage. >> is that it? >> we dance with hats. >> we do, indeed. >> otherwise the coverage.

the other big story is hurricane isaac. we'll get the latist on isaac's path in a moment but first scott cohn who is on the ground in new orleans. he's been very wet this morning. scott, quhas the latest there? >> reporter: yeah. wet indeed. you see what's going on here and isaac, the center of isaac is still several hours away according to the national hurricane center because it is moving so slowly. but also want to get to a breaking and rapidly unfolding story now in plaquemines parish. moments ago, louisiana governor bobby jindal said they may have to intentionally breach that levee that overflowed earlier today but yet 40 people still need to be rescued from their homes. there is so much pressure with the high water against that lee veto give them control of where the water will go and it mean there is's going to be even worse flooding now in

plaquemines parish than originally feared. it is a tough call and see it time and again in big storms and floods with the levees and trying to get a handle on that. governor bobby jindal said no word yet on when to do that and again they've rescued 75 people out of their homes. still 40 people remaining to be rescued out of their homes and they may have to make a decision there about whether they basically cut and run. they blow a hole in the levee. presumably they'll do it after the people are rescued but critical situation there that we are monitoring very closely. and up here in new orleans, still waiting for the center of hurricane isaac and that's just the center. there's still half the storm left to go. the winds are pretty fierce as you can see. the rains are very fierce. we have had upwards of a foot of rain here and much more to come putting new orleans to the test, as well. back to you.

>> hey, scott. it's brian sullivan. we are looking at the pictures there of the water rushing in. we hear about this storm being exceptionally slow moving. what's the best and worst-case scenario? have you heard on the timeline of the storm? >> reporter: the -- i'm sorry. the best case-scenario is that the storm moves fast but the things is that there's going to be rain here well in to tomorrow. obviously, the rain will taper off somewhat but that's the issue that is just pouring down rain and slower it goes the more rain comes. so we're looking at rain at least through tomorrow and so if you've been through a hurricane before you know they tend to sort of pick up speed and get out of there and clear as day. this is going in excruciatingly slow motion. >> scott, you be safe.

we'll hear from you a lot more throughout the day. thank you for braving the elements and, folks, the pictures of that video is new video just in to the nbc family of networks from plaquemines parish. very far southwest parish. the water level based on the crane. a couple feet high and rising. it is a scary situation down in louisiana. our best to them. all right. let's get latest on isaac's path and where it is headed. greg postal is tracking it. we saw the scary video. you heard scott's report. where is this thing and when? >> well, it's not going anywhere very quickly. he was absolutely right. this storm continues to crawl northwest at 5 miles per hour. right now about 45 miles west-southwest of new orleans, louisiana. that's the center but it's a huge circulation and the wind and the rain extend well out from the center hundreds of miles. look at the advisory of the

national hurricane center. as of 2:00 eastern. there we are moving northwest only at 6 miles per hour. fortunately, a minimal hurricane with a 75-mile-a-hour wind but there's rain and wind associated with isaac, especially the eastern half of the circulation. here's new orleans. there's where the center of circulation is. again, about 45 miles west-southwest of new orleans. here's plaquemines parish. right in there. continuing to get rain and still a lot of wind as the bands rotate in from the southwest and more rain and wind is to come and the good news is that the center is moving away in that direction from new orleans we think. only 6 miles per hour, gradually later on today and tonight i think conditions will slowly improve over new orleans and still a lot of rain and flooding to go. back to you. >> we need more good news. thank you very much. up next, separating fact from friction. new jersey governor christie taking a lot of credit for lot of things in his speech at the rnc last night. but did he really do everything

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congressman paul ryan taking the national stage tonight accepting the republican nomination for vice president. the house budget chairman follows big speeches last night

from new jersey's gop governor chris christie and mitt romney's wife ann. christie's bold statements rallied the base and got the convention off to a strong start but did he, shall we say, stretch the truth to make the points? eamon javers joining us. truth patrol javers, what did you see and hear? >> reporter: that's right. it rested on the record as governor in the state of new jersey. take a listen to this sound bite saying exactly how bad things were when he came in to power. >> when i came in to office, i could continue on the same path that led to wealth and jobs and people leaving our state. or i could do the job people elected me to do, to do the big things. >> reporter: so were all those things happening in the state at the time? looking at personal income in terms of wealth leaving the state, personal income was going up in the years that christie

took over from 2009 to $53,000 in 2011. also, take a look at the employment rate. this is one where clearly after christie took power in 2012 the employment rate comes down. stabilizes. it had spiked dramatically before he got in to office. and then look at population. were people leaving the state of new jersey? the population of the state of new jersey going up fairly steadily for years and years. now. we asked about this and they said it's a flight of wealth that took place about $70 billion leaving the state of new jersey just before he took office so they say that's what he was referring to. not the overall population and per capita personal income but look at the next one. this is interesting. he talked a little bit of what republicans would do in terms of bipartisan compromise. listen here. >> we believe it's possible to

forge bipartisan compromise and stand up for our conservative principles. >> reporter: so when gop presidential candidates were asked in a debate earlier in the cycle whether or not they would take a pretty generous bipartisan compromise deal, watch what happened. >> spending cuts to tax increases. speaker, you are shaking your head. who on this stage would walk away from that deal? raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes to walk away on the 10 to 1 deal. >> reporter: on a 10 to 1 deal, the republican candidates for president said think'd walk away. this makes it tough in the real world for bipartisan compromise that christie was talking about last night not taking a deal they won't get offered a deal that generous in the real world from real congressional democrats on capitol hill. they get offered something much less attractive than that. >> eamon, call me a skeptic. we can pick apart the speech of

last night and end of the day don't you feel that for all politicians in all politicians' speeches there's fiction or spin? >> reporter: there's always spin and, look, the broad point of what christie is saying is that new jersey was in a tough spot in 2010 when he came in. it clearly was and reeling from the financial crisis. unemployment rates spiking. people feeling the pain and saying that he was able to come in and help turn that situation around. now, barack obama will make the same argument, ironically on the national level saying, wait a second. after the financial crisis we took steps and, in fact, we have been able to turn around the trends that were spiking in all the wrong directions coming in to power. so at the governor's office and the white house, making similar arguments here for the turnaround. >> indeed. thank you so much for that. >> reporter: you bet. here's a question for you. do paul ryan and mitt romney have a tough act to follow after chris christie's speech last night? joining us is the c ybs cnbc

contributor and journalist. ann romney standing up and you had chris christie energizing the crowd. what about tonight? will they do the same? >> listen. certainly ann romney is a tough act to follow. the republicans and conservatives i talked to here, i couldn't find one that didn't think it was less than a grand slam. the christie speech, the reactions were mixed. they love about making this century the second american century. but all the talk about, you know, there needs to be hard truths spoken and hard choices made, that isn't quite what romney and ryan have been doing. they want to talk about the hard truths but also not saying that -- also saying, listen, if you're a seen yore, not going to cut medicare but future seniors and listening to christie, sounded like talking about current seniors losing benefits or maybe raising taxes. what were the hard choices that

chris christie was talking about? from paul ryan you'll hear more optimism. >> maybe you felt that christie not on the same page as far as tone as romney and ryan. do you think they'll go further the other way tonight? >> i do. on the first day you didn't hear about what probably are the biggest issues of incomes, economic growth and jobs. you didn't really hear that the first day and i think you will hear about that from paul ryan and certainly mitt romney and less about the hard choices. >> jimmy, do you think ann's speech worked? >> it worked for the people here and not sure how it came across on television. you have to be pretty partisan to say she didn't a delightful person. showed a lot of energy and clearly loves her husband and effort to quote/unquote humanize mitt romney, she did. >> the goal to bring female voters to the gop. period. everything is done for that.

do you think it did that? >> listen. i don't think any one speech. i think that speech did as much as it could and has to be longer effort of talking about how republican plans, you know, affect not just female voters but families and everybody and as much to do with one speech i think she did. >> in terms of chris christie, do you think the keynote speech is kind of paving the way for a greater political role in the next election psych snl. >> well, of course, you know, the joke going in to this was what's chris christie going to talk about? chris christie and did and the big themes i think especially about this needs to be a second american century and that bit of the speech, you could take that and you could give that at a nomination speech. that could be part of a stump speech in iowa. so clearly, i think he is looking at the bigger picture and to the extent that's the goal, i think he moved that football down the field last

night. >> a practice speech then. thank you so much for joining us as always. tonight on cnbc, special coverage of the republican national convention. we'll hear from representative paul ryan and former secretary of state rice and hurricane coverage. that's tonight at 10:00 eastern and am i right in thinking you will be at the helm of that? >> i will. fine program. 10:00 p.m. a lot of speeches. we'll get instant reaction, an update on the storm. saw the scary video with scott cohn there. 10:00 p.m. until -- >> who knows? how long we need to go. that's what we do. >> that is what we do. just ahead, hope-ium hat tricks. why to break out the rally cap. revolutionizing retail. a piece of technology turning mega marts on the head and forever changing the way that you shop. we'll tell you how when "street signs" returns. take the priviled investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all.

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july. the national association of realtors says the number of signed contracts on previously-owned homes rose 2.4% last month with all regions seeing an increase except for the west. and more americans are paying down their debt on time. the new york fed says overall delinquencies rates on everything fell last quarter. credit card delinquencies saw one of the biggest drops with balances at the lowest level since 2002. bless you. >> thank you very much. well, this next story caught my attention this morning. walmart is updating the mobile app for floor maps of the stores later this year in addition to a new feature with the aisle number of its entire inventory. that means, no more looking for the ketchup, the ice cream. basically looking for what you need. target, home depot and walgreens other big box names with similar apps and makes money and sense because about 20% of retail sales are apparently lost

because shoppers just can't find items. ie, they give up. >> that's a good app. >> great app. i'll try it myself. coming up next, isaac taking a toll on oil and gas stocks. up next, the pits of the nymex for the energy trade. and then -- >> say it with me one time, jerry. >> show you the money. >> you can do better than that, jerry. say it with meaning, brother. i need to feel you, jerry. >> show me the money! >> you better yell. >> show me the money! >> show us the stimulus money. the president shelling out more than $780 billion for stimulus. $831 billion exactly. where did it go? we're taking tabs with the author of a new book on the plan when we come back. >> i bet he won't be doing that dance, though. arts! they're totally customizable and they let you visualize what might happen next. that's genius! strategies, chains, positions.

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hurricane isaac is not katrina, but plaquemines parrish, well, severe flooding there. water coming in through the levee and dozens needed to be rescued but seven years later the drenching rains of isaac testing the levees in new

orleans and surrounding parishes and flooding and hundreds of thousands of households without power across the gulf region and covering the impact of energy prices to disrupted air travel. but we begin this half hour with meteorologist todd gross and an update of that front, todd? >> i think, mandy, you did give a very good summary of what's going on but in particular i want you the note one of the things you said, the power outages. 50 530,000 in louisiana alone are without power. mississippi and alabama, of course, much less effects at the current time. now, the dollar damage from the storm's also beginning to be told. so, we understand that there is an estimate of $1 billion of offshore damage and $1.5 billion of onshore damage. look how it stacks up compared to the past. that doesn't really stack up to the biggest hurricanes that have affected the united states, especially the ones in 2005 when we had katrina, we had also

wilma and rita. all three of which in the top five. all in one year. so at least compared to that, it doesn't compare. now, in terms of the rainfall about to see, though, that is another story entirely. this is where the estimated damage may have to be revised because right now what we're looking at a storm that's starting to move almost due north. you could see the little jog at the end there and because of that as it passes by homa moving to the west of new orleans, expecting rainfall of 15 to 20 inches and not sure how that's going to pan out in terms of dollar amounts. we'll keep you posted throughout the day. brian? >> all right. thank you very much, sir. a near miss for energy producers so far in the gulf. sharon epperson with the energy close at the nigh meex. >> 95% of oil production in the gulf shout in and that means that oil is not used and seeing a build-up of inventories and already did from last week's supply data and largely in the

gulf and helping to pressure oil prices right now. we are closing here right above the $95 mark and down on the day. in terms of gasoline, the big story's what happens with the flooding and the power damage and when will the refineries start back? right now lower prices there after that big surge that we saw in prices on monday. the big surge today, though, is in natural gas. on this expiration day as october is the five-month contract. 2% in natural gas. a lot of traders thinking to see the restart of those rigs later than they earlier anticipated. back to you. >> thank you. well, hurricane isaac also causing flight disruptions across the south and the gulf coast. and the weather is not the only problem plaguing the airlines. let's get now to our own fill lebeau in chicago. we have the storm over here. but apparently, phil, we've got some tyke commodore 64-type computer problems over here. >> reporter: not a good week for united airlines to say the

least. headaches with scheduling and let's talk about the impact of hurricane katrina isaac in terms of flight cancelations. these numbers of flight aware. 335 cancelations today, to and from new orleans. 34 scheduled for tomorrow. that depends on the weather. of the airlines flying in there, southwest dominates the market with the most cancelations due to isaac. the aftermath as it goes up through louisiana and in 0 the midwest, look for a number of cancelations, particularly a smaller airports flying those regional jets. and speaking of cancelations at the united command center here in chicago, it was a rough afternoon yesterday. united had a computer outage that was caused by communication equipment failing. in other words, one piece of equipment allowing the computers to talk to each other wasn't working. they were down for two hours on tuesday. united canceled nine flights, delayed 580 other flights and caused a number of people to vent on twitter. look at this tweet, one person

wrote what awful customer service of united. since continental merged with them it got horrible. we saw tweets of other people saying what's going on at united since the merger with continental. look at shares over two years. roughly two years since the merger went through and compared with delta had a much smoother transition in terms of combining networks combining with northwest both stocks trading in tandem. >> what do you think has gone wrong? if they managed to get the merger on a smoother path, i mean, what do you think in terms of the merger between the computer systems of united and continental in march? what did they do wrok? >> the biggest question is due diligence. in other words, did they do the legwork in advance? talking with people at united and continental, yeah, yeah, we did do it. but the track record bears out they have not integrated smoothly especially with what happened at delta and northwest. jetblue put in a new system last

year and went smooth since they put it in. a number of people, particularly the frequent fliers, they're upset because their feeling is you put them together and you should spend time making sure the computers work. >> this is herb. this is the concern obviously before the deal. people wondered whether it would be done rightly. and then you end up with the problem and you wonder how much of this is because they really were penny pinching and didn't want to go the extra mile. >> reporter: i have heard of people working on the merger it is not a case of penny pinching, herb, but did not fully integrate the processes and think the processes through. >> how can they not -- >> reporter: i understand what you're saying. now, ultimately, what you would really need to do is sort of a forensic investigation in terms of putting the two computer systems together. i have not seen something like that done yet but there's no doubt that almost everybody that you talk with in the airline industry bringing this up they roll their eyes and like terrible, terrible across the

board. >> do you feel, herb, we are kind of an all-time low in terms of customer satisfaction with airlines? we are doing this with the nickel and diming going on with frequent flier programs, cutting back on benefits, as well. loyal -- >> if you go to flier talk and go through the frequent flier program message boards, oh my goodness. united as phil knows, complaining getting a certain level and now a silver level and lowest level, lowest of premier levels you get nothing. >> stuck on bronze for life. >> not even economy plus at the lowest level and those that need the leg room -- >> you need the leg room? >> i need the leg room. >> you do? >> i get it. i do. as does phil. mandy does not. >> she's in the luggage compartment. >> it's very cozy. coming up next, clear skies ahead for a cloud stock. also, in our "street talk" coming up, mystery chart time.

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i'm bill griffith. not much love for facebook on wall street as you know but we have found an analyst who likes the stock. just upgraded it to a buy today. his reasoning. plus, we are wondering whether the threats of the fiscal cliff and higher taxes driving many u.s. companies to incorporate overseas. and americans apparently can't get no satisfaction when it comes to their career. get this. we'll find out why an astounding 60% of americans hate their jobs. michele and i, we love our jobs. we'll 'll you here. >> thank you very much for that, bill. "street talk" right now and facebook basically with approval to issue stock for the

insta-gram deal. remember that big deal, indeed. the tock currently down by about .7 of a percent. >> that's what they need is more shares outstanding. >> basically halved since the ipo in may and at $38. down over the last, you know -- >> and our viewers very smart and informed. i don't need to remind them but i will. more shars of facebook unlock before the end of the year. >> that's right. in november, another expiration of the lock-up and whether or not zuckerberg will sell any of his shares. let's move on from facebook and look at health insurer wellpoint and soaring on a management shake-up. standard and moody's says will not be a rating action. >> not an ego booster when your stock rises because you're forced out of the company and the ceo stepping down. some reports say she was basically fired. under investor pressure. and lead board director saying, quote, now's the time for a leadership change and looks like

she was forced out. exactly. jim carlson, the current c eo of amerigroup seen as a likely ceo and if multiple analysts saying the move not likely to impact the purchase and wellpoint upgraded to outperform of market perform at bernstein with a 73 target. >> okay. let's move along and look at mining equipment maker joy global. i think it's terribly strange name for a mine equipment maker but let's look at this. it's a rosy picture for coal demand and therefore the stock is higher. >> yeah. you know, it's an interesting story. i know it's up your wheelhouse as an aussie because it's part of the australian economy. joy global shares turning around after being lower here today. they cut their outlook. they warned that 2013 numbers could be at risk if the global slowdown continues and ceo said although the u.s. market progressed in line with expectations the deceleration of

china's demand deteriorating and it's interesting as a macro theme with the china theme. >> i meant to say not painting a rosy picture. next up, fusion io. the stock not responding to a price target increase today. in fact, it is down. >> it is not responding but i thought it was -- i like to bring out the analyst comments more positive when the stocks are down. hey, there are people out there that think differently and the analyst there at stern ae raising the target on fio to 34 from 31. he thinks the company will be able to keep differentiating itself and increasingly crowded market segment. here's the most interesting part of the note, i thought. saying that emc may have to buy it if emc does not start to see better results. >> okay. men's retailer josef a. bank, the stock is -- excuse the pun, dressed for success today. >> oh. all right. >> okay.

that's bad. >> spiking on solid earnings growth. eps beating by a dime. same store sales rose 6.1%. but! as the friend might say, and by the way, josef a. bank with a subpoena of the florida attorney general requesting more info on the famous ad and sales promotion practices so keep that in mind, josef a. bank. >> that's the butt. zynga stock taking another hit today. another top manager departing and at least he's going to start up a company and going to be focusing on mobile games and i believe that zynga is going to back or at least help invest in that new start-up. >> yeah. so not a full negative out like wellpoint. >> exactly. >> chief creative officer leaving but does add to a growing list of top managers. at least five top managers exited zynga. the stock's down about 70% since the ipo and yesterday lazard with positive comments of zynga

and ea and thought that ad spending on the social gaming platforms would go up. any time there's a zynga change, we note it because it's been a storied stock for all the wrong reasons. >> okay. >> all right. just ahead, the one thing paul ryan needs to do in the convention speech tonight. we'll take you live to tampa. one of the big themes there obama's failed stimulus on clean energy and other major projects but we talked to top-selling author of the new new deal who argues that all the government spending actually worked. we'll bring you his argument when "street signs" returns. ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today

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hurricane isaac dumping rain, and there is now a curfew in new orleans. right now from dusk to dawn until further notice. >> another big night ahead for the republican national convention. what does pul ryan need to do to c capture of the hearts and minds, so what will he do?

>> we'll see, paul ryan is new to the national teenage, but remember ris of last night are already fading. people are looking ahead to the prak tonight. we'll hear from condoleezza rice who can talk on foreign policy, appeal to women, and she sad down with larry kudlow, here is what she said when he asked if she wanted to be on a national ticket. >> no, i'm just trying to do what i can to get some people elected. unless you have the right people in washington you will not have the right policies. so mitt romney and paul ryan is who i want to see as president and vice president. >> paul ryan, as well known as he is, he is really not well known nationally. you can expect him to introduce himself. we heard today for the first

time at a women's breakfast when paul ryan's wife spoke. >> i want to say thank you for welcoming me, my husband paul, and our three children on this journey. our families, our children, our future, that's what this race is all about. >> very attractive, very youthful couple, and you were asking before what is the one thing paul ryan needs to do tonight? talking to romney campaign strategist they say he has to meld his personal stories, a small town kid from janesville, to cut the budget and reduce the u.s. debt. >> thank you, we'll see you all day on cnbc. >> if you're on cnn, then i'm in trouble by the way, i'm in trouble for saying that i bet.

>> i was on darwin nightly news. >> next week at the democratic national convention, the president will tout his stimulus plan, but was it a success? joining us now is the author of a new book called the new new deal about stimulus. and it has been criticized by the right and the left. michael, i look forward to reading this book because of all of the criticism and support, what's the bottom line, did stimulus help the economy? >> it did, i think just about everything people think they know about the stimulus is wrong. it did help stop a depression. the gdp dropped 9%. at that rate you would lose the entire economy of canada in a year. they passed the stimulus, the next quarter they had the best

improvement in jobs in 30 years. it wasn't as hideous and people don't understand it's been so helpful. >> they don't understand because they say okay, we get the argument that it would have been worse had we nod hat that stimlut, but at the same time, what do we materially have to show for it? >> it was called the american recovery and reinvestment act. what people really missed is the reinvestment part of it. it's what obama meant by change. he talked about this new foundation of energy, education, and health care and the way the economy is structured. there was a few billion dollars we were spending a year. the biggest thing to happen to public schools in decades. there's healthy it money that will drag it into the digital

age. the largest middle class tax cuts since reagan. >> okay, fair enough, a couple things. more money does not help test scores in school. and what infrastructure projects can you specially point to. there is no hoover game, so i see a lot of roads being redone. what happen is specifically being done? >> first, about education reform. it's the most conservative part of the plan. teachers unions hate it because it is about accountability and data driver merit pay for teachers. on infrastructure, it is different. instead of the grand cooley dam, you have the largest wind farm in history. you have an entire advanced

battery industry for electric vehicles created entirely from skach. you have $180 billion for local infrastructure projects. it's like a stimulus inside a stimulus. >> i know you're waving the flag for the stimulus, but if you could go back and make a change, where would you have spent it elsewhere? >> the president said shovel ready isn't as shovel ready as he thought, but it isn't the fraud that people expected. so far it's been 0.001%. so i think you can always quibble there was $70 billion for tweaking the alternative minimum tax, that didn't need to be in there. there was a $10 billion renovating schools that got

caught out at the last minute. that would have been helpful. ultimately it helped make things better but not perfect. >> thank you so much for your point of view. coming up, taco bell's milestone. a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ exclusive to the military,

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