runners up, i will have links to them o my page at facebook.com/suzannecnn. stocks and jobs and windows on the economy, and a view this hour at best is mixed on one side. rally follows rally on the wall street, and layoffs threatening 1 in 5 u.s. postal workers. we begin on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the plunges and surges in the last four days have settled into smooth and modest upswing. am i right, alison kosik? >> you are absolutely right. i think we have all had enough see saws and roller coasters to last a lifetime after the week we have had. it's calmer here, and stocks are higher because of a positive retail sales report, and retail sales rose half a percent in july. consumers are not going on big

shopping sprees, but are still out there spending and that's good. the dow fell to the lowest level in 30 years, but we are not seeing the wild swings we saw all week. the dow closed down 600 on monday and up 400 on tuesday and down 500 points on wednesday and up 400 yesterday, and it was the first time in the dow's history we have seen closing numbers like this. drew? >> you could probably measure the heartbeat of traders the same way, up and down. tell us what happened in europe? they are trying to prevent the wild up and down swings. >> what they are doing is they are putting a temporary ban on short selling. what short selling is is when investors bet that a stock will go down in its price, and europe's version of our securities and exchange commission, it put a temporary ban for 15 days on several european countries, including france, italy, spain, and belgium to put a ban on this practice to stabilize the

markets after we have seen the extreme moves over the past week, and at least in europe it looks like it is working. the european averages ended significantly higher. now to the challenges that threaten the very existence of the postal service. that's not me talking. that's from a postal service document that aims to make a case for drastic cutbacks. we're talking 120,000 layoffs on top of 100,000 jobs that will be lost through atrishen. people will quit or retire and they will not be replaced. and they want to quit federal health and retirement plans in place of cheaper private plans, and this requires tearing up union papers, and the recession took a big bite out of business

mailing, and now not only does the postal face staggering health care bills for workers and retirees, it's the only federal agency to pay the costs in advance. get this. the volume of mail keeps going down, but the shear number of addresses to be serviced keeps going up as we build more homes and businesses. i am joined by the president of national association of letter carriers. frederick yolanda is one of the union leaders that doesn't want to give up jobs or benefits. i have to ask you, is that a realistic view of what the postal service is facing? >> good afternoon, and how are you doing today? >> doing well. >> we are disappointed in the announcement because next week we're about to enter into collective bargaining session with the postal service, and we're disappointed they have chosen to take the collective bargaining into the halls of

congress, and it distracts congress from the real issues they need to be addressing, which is the prefunding of future retiry health benefits and recognizing the pension surplus the postal service has in both retirement systems. >> let me ask you, what would you do? we're talking about the postal service losing $8 billion last year alone, and the forecast is not for any turn around that i can tell. >> well, what would i do? i would ask congress to act and fix the crisis they created. what the congress did was mandate, i believe, as you alluded to, the postal service prefund the future retirement benefits for the next 75 years, and that's for people that don't work for us yet and are not born yet, and to do so in a period of ten years. all the losses that you read about, if you look at the operational budget of the postal service, in the last four fiscal years, despite the diversion to the internet, and despite the

worst recession in 80 years, the postal service had just short of a $1 billion profit in the four-year fiscal period, if it was not for the payments that nobody else is required to make. what would i do? i would ask the congress to address the prefunding by looking at the surpluses that the postal service has in the pension funds and allowing them to transfer their own money, and this does not involve tax money, their own money into the account so they don't depleat their budget. >> you believe that could be achieved and the post office can be made whole strictly with that and you would not have to lay off these people? >> yes, absent that, the postal service would not have only shown a profit but would have had plenty of money in the bank and full borrowing authorities where they could have adjusted. absolutely. >> we will be talking from

somebody from the postal service, and i will ask if it's that easy. the mail delivered to my house, i must tell you, week after week after week is becoming less and less important in my life. are you concerned that the united states is moving away from the u.s. mail as the backbone of how we communicate and transfer funds? >> absolutely not. what the postal service has is very unique. we have the only universal communications network in the country. we have 150 million addresses six days a week. this is a network that is invaluable to the country for not only mail but for all kinds of delivery and other services. no, i don't have that concern at all. we have to adjust like we did with the tal graph and telephone. >> all right. thank you, and we will ask the postal service if it's so easy,

why isn't it happening. thank you for joining us, sir. >> thank you. other news we're following this hour, one word sums up job prospects, where you live, bleak. a poll shows just 29% of respondants expect more jobs to become available over the next 12 months, and 26% believe the job's picture will get even worst. as for things right now, 7 in 10 say few jobs are available in their area, and only 1 in 4 believe there's a normal amount of jobs available. the hot streak is over for dallas. that's good. the streak of 100 degree days ended after 40 days, two shy of the record set back in 1980. it started back in early july, but a line of thunderstorms moved in yesterday afternoon knocking temperatures down into the 70s and 80s. but they are not jumping for joy just yet. forecasters say the temperature could be back in triple-digit

territory today. some 16,000 british police will remain on the streets in london to insure that the drinking on the weekend doesn't spark more rioting that swept the capital and other cities this week. more than 1,900 people have been arrested across the country since the rioting broke out. prime minister, david cameron, lashed out at the police's response saying they wait too long to begin arresting rioters. court stayed open 24 hours to process those accused of assault to stealing. what is perry bringing to the party? [ man ] behind every business is a "what if."

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texas govr governor rick perry will make it official tomorrow. who is he? >> has been the governor of texas longer than anybody. took officers in 2000, when governor george w. bush became the president. he won three times since then. he was not always a fiscally conservative republican. in 1984, he was elected into the texas house of representatives as a democrat and campaigned for al gore in 1988, and the next year he switched parties. what does he mean to the race in 2012. this is what a couple current candidates said last night. >> welcome to the contest. from my perspective, it doesn't bother us or my campaign. that's just one more politicians, and that makes this

business problem solver stand out that much more. >> i am pleased he is coming in, because he represents the status quo. >> we all need prayers and i hope we offered a lot for everybody here on the stage. >> cnn deputy political director, paul stein howser there. >> i heard sarah palin has been sighted. >> reporter: yeah, we heard she was going to bring one-nation bus tour here, and maybe she wants to grab some of the attention from the candidate already in the race. our coverage manager e-mailed me, said palin is here, and i don't know where he is right now, and he went running somewhere. and don lemon is here, and they are out with her right now, and from what i hear a large crowd of people and a large crowd of reporters and producers are

following her around. we don't know. she said she will decide maybe by december whether she is going to run or not, but she always seems to find the spotlight and is doing it today here. >> she always does. it seems like the republican not in the race is the most favored, and that seems to be rick perry's seat right now. does he become the immediate frontrunn frontrunner. two days ago, it was basically almost dead even on the poll. he comes in with a lot of clout and firepower and name brand, which is important. we will see how the fund-raising goes. he jumps into the race, very near the top of the pack. it will make what is an interesting battle for the republican nomination even more fascinating. >> what you observed in the

debate, is he feared the most right now among the other candidates, i should say? >> i think with perry in the race, and if it happens officially tomorrow in south carolina, and sunday he will be here in iowa, and stopping in new hampshire, and so who has the most to lose? well, somebody else from the more conservative side? maybe michele bachmann or rick santorum. maybe somebody trying to find attention. there is a spot for romney, and maybe it becomes rick perry, and either way it's a fascinating race, drew. >> palin. any idea? i know she is so secretive -- i can't call it a campaign. so secretive with her entourage, but do you think she will jump

in this thing? >> reporter: she knows how to jump in the spotlight. she is doing it here today. what she has not done is formed any campaign structure, and that's a good indication maybe that maybe she's not there yet. this is sarah palin, and as you well know, anything can happen. but, again, she is stealing the spotlight. right now, live, next to the bus behind us, ron paul is speaking, and seven of the candidates are hear today, and we have live pictures of ron paul, but we're talking about sarah palin and rick perry, the two people not in the race yet, drew. >> if you get video of sarah palin or get a sound bite from her, bring that back to us, and you can hold the ron paul stuff. >> i promise you, if don lemon gets something, or anybody, we get anything, we will run back here and feed that to you, promise you. >> fun times at the iowa state fair. would raising taxes hurt the economy, or do we have the face the reality that taxes need to go up, and on whom?

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it's a long-debated issue. raising taxes. would it hurt the economy and kill jobs? or as others argue, do we have to face the reality, taxes on some people need to go up to reduce deficits and get the national debt under control?

earlier today that question was asked to christina roman. >> it's clearly a matter of timing. so what our paper showed is that tax changes both up and down do have a powerful effect on the economy. if you raise taxes in the short run, it will tend to lower output. that's one of the reasons why i say -- even though i support raising taxes for dealing with the deficit gradually over time, now is not the time to do it. raising taxes or cutting spending now would absolutely be hard on the economy. that doesn't mean you can't legislate it to kick in when the economy is closer back to normal, and that's when the economy would be much more able to deal with it. >> we may be faced with that. the congressional super committee is charged with coming up with another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction somehow in a stagnant economy like we could

be in right now, do tax increases make more sense than spending cuts if this group is forced with coming up with something before the end of the year? >> certainly the evidence is that tax increases tend to have less of a contractairy impact than cuts on spending. tax increases are less contractary, and especially on the wealthy, because the wealthy are not ones that tend to spend much of the income that they get, and so it has less of an impact if you raise their taxes, at laegs in the short run. the key thing -- >> go ahead. i am sorry. >> i was going to say, the key thing, again, is timing. i would argue very strongly that we very much actually need more fiscal support now, and we need probably a big tax cut now for firms that want to hire workers. but the way you make that fiscally responsible is to say

to your super committee, over the next ten years, you will have to come up with another trillion or two of deficit reduction. if you do it in the sequential way, that could get you for what you need for the economy today and give people the confidence you will get your fiscal responsibilities back there. >> we are talking about irs just released new figures that show about 3% of people in 2009 claimed more than $200,000 in income. if you were to increase taxes on the higher -- highest earners in the country, over what timeframe and how would you suggest doing it? >> i think the key thing is, you know, and here is the place where there is a lot of agreement among economists, that the best way to raise additional tax revenue is to cut back on

loopholes, tax credits, and deductions, and all of those so-called tax expenditures in the tax code, and use some of the revenue you would raise to reduce the deficit, and can you take some of it and reduce some regional tax rates. and that is both good for the deficit, and good for incentives, if you lower people's marginal tax rates, it encourages labor input and working and that's a good thing. so that's certainly why i think cutting tax expenditures is certainly the best way to go. checking top stories now. the sister in the atrio of the bandits says she agreed to get shot. she was shot in the leg after she pointed her pistol at a police chief. they were arrested after their

vehicle crashed following a high-speed chase with the police. they were involved in a series of crimes in georgia and florida. a tiny bit of good economics to report. americans went shopping, boosting retail sales by half a percentage point. it was key as it was a back to school shopping month. just about tee time again for tiger woods. after his worst round since 1996, woods shot a 77 yesterday to finish 7 over par behind steve stricter, and he was 3 under through five holes, and he had three double bogeys and three shots in the water. coming up, why seniors are being forced to postpone retirement.

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we have big news just in on the health care front.

a federal appeals court here in atlanta rules obama's health care package is unconstitutional. bill, what can you tell us. >> reporter: the key provision is called the mandate, and it requires all americans to purchase health insurance or face severe financial penalties. the court says it's unconstitutional, and americans cannot be forced to purchase a product like medical coverage. it throws into chaos the future of the legislation passed last year and signed by president obama. an appeals court in cincinnati a few weeks ago found the law to be constitutional. now we have two federal courts at odds over the issue and we have another federal court in richmond to decide this. all this means is the supreme court will take up the issue in the next several months, and they will get the final say on the constitutionalty of the

bill. >> when you have two federal district courts disagree, it goes to the supreme court? >> yeah, the issue in cincinnati has already been appealed to the supreme court. the issue is timing. how long will it take it on? an election year, it will be a huge political issue and the justices may decide they may want to take their time in deciding the issue, and many of the provisions will go into effect in the next couple of years. both the congress and president and supporters of the issue saying the supreme court needs to step in sooner than later and decide the issue. >> all right, bill mears reporting on this issue. the provision that requires americans to buy insurance is unconstitutional. many seniors are being forced back to work, given the turmoil on wall street and the poor economy.

allen churnoff reports on a growing trend. >> thank you for calling customer service. this is jackie, how may i help you? >> she never thought she would be working at the age of 66. she retired from her job as a call centerman jury for at&t in 2007. the next year the stock market plunged and the investments suffered a devastating blow. >> i lost about 50% of what i had. now i have not recovered from it since. >> her nest egg, a 401(k) requirement account was chopped in half. social security did not handle the expenses, but she had no choice but to go back to work as a customer service agent. >> i don't believe in my heart i will ever be able to retire. i will die working. it's as simple as that. >> that simple truth is a reality for many americans who are seeking work after

retirement, or even postponing it. more than a quarter of american workers say they are not at all confident about retirement. according to the employer benefit research institute, and that's the highest level in the two decades the institute has been asking that question. the job market has been harsh on older americans. >> when we talk to the members in the latest polling they say the financial security is one of the biggest concerns, and at the moment they don't feel like they have what they need to retire. >> though she still invested in stocks, she has little faith the market would jump back. >> it would take me ten years to mass any type of 401(k). >> rather than dreaming of retirement, she dreams about being a rock star. allen chernoff, cnn, new york. up next, a strange story.

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32 past the hour. hundreds of thousands of postal

workers could soon lose their jobs or face drastic changes to their benefits. the postal service appealing to congress to remove collective bargaining restrictions to lay off 120,000 workers, and wants congressional approval to replace existing government health care and retirement plans. they need to eliminate more than 228,000 jobs by 2018 for financial reasons. 120,000 are from layoffs. the federal health officials revealed a 19-year-old man died of rabies after being bitten by a vampire bat. this is the first recorded human fatality from a vampire bat in the u.s. he was a migrant worker bit in mexico before coming to the u.s. it appears vampire bats appear to be my greating north possibly

due to climate changes. casey anthony is responsible for the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter. according to a report by florida's department of children and family, anthony is quote, the care giver responsible for the verified maltreatments of death and failure to protect in her daughter's death. the state says the order was issued as a professional courtesy after the workers finished on the case. the sheriff's office will not take any further action as a result of the report. bert and ernie may be best friends, but the sesame street producers say there will not be a marriage in their future. a campaign called for the two to get married to encourage tolerance of gay people. 90,000 people actually signed

the petition. "sesame street" says they were created to show that two can be friends despite differences, and as pup pets, they do not have sexual orientation. and then a strict new curfew for teenagers. we will hear from the mayor next.

tonight is a night when a

9:00 p.m. curfew begins in downtown philadelphia for anybody under 18. it's a new city mandate announced this week after so-called flash mobs of violent young people attacked complete change juro strangers in the city. one gang included an 11-year-old boy. curfew extends to 10:00 p.m. weekdays for children under 13. philadelphia mayor says his city is forced to do what some parents are failing to do. >> we as a governor cannot raise peoples' children. you want to have children, you have to take care of them. we can help you. we provide services and support and all kinds of stuff, but we're not going to tolerate this kind of senseless, stupid, ignorant violent acts, and even episodically as they may occur on the streets of our city. >> that was mild. before announcing the curfew, the mayor spoke directly to

young people and their parents in a speech on sunday. he said, quote, this nonsense must stop. if you want to act like a butt head, your butt will get locked up. if you want to act like an idiot, move out of the city. we don't want you any more. parents who negligent your children and who don't know where they are, you don't know what they're doing, you're going to find yourselves spending quality time with your kids in jail. we're not running a baby sitting service. we're following developments in philadelphia closely, and next hour we will talk with the police commissioner there, charles ramsey. earlier this week warren jeffs was sentenced to life in prison. he is the leader of the polygamist sect, and he was convicted of a sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl and

15-year-old girl. during the trial, the jurors heard video of tapes of jeffs and his spiritual wives. i shutter to hear what is on those tapes. what is on the tapes being released? >> let's be clear. we will not be sharing any of the most explicit moments of much of the jury heard, but what we will play, you get a sense of the hold, the way warren jeffs spoke with his wives. according to the prosecutors, warren jeffs had almost 80 wives, 79 wives, and two dozen which they believe underaged at the time he was married to them. this is a three-hour sexual training session that warren jeffs had recorded. this is him talking presumably to several underaged girls. >> now, i reveal to you that the

lord has required of me and this family, that the fullness of the law of sarah is for quorums of wives to be with me, to assist me, to be a comfort. yes, even physically. more than one women is with me at a time. my ladies are called to assist me, and through their tenderness, and their womanly ways are able to serve me. they are not to go into the hands of the people that will destroy me. the lord has appointed my wives who are filled with holy wives will revive me. >> this takes place in such privacy, people don't know anything about it.

>> isn't that kind of ironic there at the end where this takes place in privacy, nobody will know about it, but it was jeffs recording this training session. it's unclear, however, if the girls that were in the room at the time knew this was being recorded. many of the tapes were played, long stretches of them were played for the jury in san angelo, texas, that convicted warren jeffs. >> troubling to hear. thank you for bringing it to us. the sounds of a predator is really what we're hearing? >> absolutely. clearly that jury agreed. he was sentenced to essentially life in prison. >> thank you, ed. syrian tanks and troops on the move. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage

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it has been another deadly day in syria. tens of thousands took to the street demanding the president, assad, step down. this is what we are hearing that followed. ten protesters were killed by troops, and one soldier was killed. assad's forces have intensified on attacks since the start of the holy month of ramadan. secretary of state, hillary clinton, calling for wider international sanctions on the assad government. he says assad lost the legitimacy to lead the country, and turkey also applying pressure on syria. syria has banned most foreign

journalists, and that's why arwa is joining us live, and you have been in touch with people in syria today, and what do they tell you is going on? >> reporter: you know, drew, i think what is remarkable is when we look at cities like this, they really have bourne the brunt of the military crackdown. and both of those cities i spoke to residents that say smaller numbers gathered after friday prayers, and a number of mosques security forces were already prepositions and began to open fire on them. despite that, we're being told that people tried to regroup once again and tried to continue demonstrating, and then on wednesday and thursday more than 24 people were killed during demonstrations. we saw masses take to the streets there as well in similar scenes playing out all over the country, and so it seems that while this military crackdown

may have forced demonstrators off the streets in some areas, most certainly they are still going out defiant, resilient, wherever and whenever they can. >> but president assad doesn't seem to care what the world thinks about him. and hillary clinton wants to have a crackdown in the oil and gas industry. would that have an effect? >> well, if there are unilateral sanctions imposed by the united states, no. if they can force countries like china and india, both that have significant investments in syria, a lot of trade going on there, and some countries like european nations who also have significant dealings in syria's energy and oil industries, then perhaps that economic pinch could be put.

turkey would also have to get involved to try and deliver what would be a devastating economic blow. if somehow all the nations could rally together and take a stance and perhaps sufficient pressure could be put on the government in sense it would be forced to drain its coffers, and it would pay it's own military and l lose the support of the business community, and those factors combined could push the regime over the edge. while we're talking about all that, let's not forget the partner that syria has in iran, an analysts that is willing to drain its own country to insure that this current regime survives, drew. >> the foreign minister of turkey did visit assad. do we know what the outcome of that was? >> reporter: well, after that meeting, the foreign minister gave a press conference where he eluded to the fact that it would perhaps be days not months

before certain concrete reforms were being put into place to bring about an end to the bloodshed. then we saw the turkish am bass tau travel where he reported the tanks had withdrawn, and we still have the on going military crackdown. while turkey is reporting the tanks are retreating, which is a positive indication, we don't see it will veer off the current actions. we still have arbitrary arrests and shooting, and the military crackdown happening throughout the rest of the country. so turkey, yes, they upped the pressure, but at this point it has not turned it on strong enough. >> all right. so hard to tell what is going on in syria, because president assad and the syrian government afraid to allow reporters come in and see for themselves. checking the stop stories. 26 people have been killed in the ivory coast by forces loyal

to the country's new president. the killings took place in communities where support remains strong for the former country's leader. a government spokesman rejected the report as incomplete. a major chinese train manufacture recalling 54 of those bullet trains operating on the new beijing shanghai high-speed railway. the move comes after a crash of a bullet train in another part of the country last month that killed 40 people. officials say the recall is due to a series of malfunctions. another british media company may be caught up in the phone hacking scandal. journalists with publisher trinity mirror have been asked to give written promises they have not been involved in phone hacking and they are checking allegations of the now defunct, news of the world newspaper. the iowa gop said sarah palin needs to get to work if she wants to run for president?

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the politics now. the iowa straw poll is going to take place saturday in aims. that can only mean one thing. sarah palin will show up. she showed up in new hampshire in june when mitt romney was announcing and in iowa the day after michele bachmann announced. we're joined from des moines iowa. don, sarah palin's boss rolled into iowa. what's she up to? >> oh, she's up to talking to a lot of media and people here. she had a crowd of media around her. one of my first questions to her was why haven't you declared?

listen. >> i'm not the only one who has not decided yet. there's still a lot of contemplation that needs to go into such a earth shattering life changing decision. >> reporter: so i asked her why she hadn't declared. you heard the answer. do you think you're stealing the pot light from other candidates even though you haven't declared? she said no, tell you media go, if you want to talk to the other candidates. i had to handle business because a lot of people are wondering who is responsible for the downgrade in our credit. i asked her. she's a tea party favorite. if she thought the tea party was responsible? >> the discussion would never have gone where it went without the tea party. i appreciate the tea party's passion for getting your federal government, realizing it needs to live within its means. the last group or entity to be blamed for the downgrade should be the tea party. they're the ones who sounded the warning bell there for the last couple of years letting the

federal government know that we would be downgraded if a plan was not put into place to start living within our means and ratcheting down the debt. >> reporter: and wait until you hear her answer to my question is the president responsible for the downgrade. that's coming up at the top of the hour. also, she responds to michele bachmann saying she's sub missive to her husband and what she said about that later on. >> john, you're just a big tease. can't wait to hear those. >> i've been called worse. >> me too. hey, don. thanks. we'll look at one of the most intricate and elaborate and still unsolved fbi bank robbery cases the fbi has ever had. don't go anywhere. specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team.

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this saturday night at 8:00 p.m., cnn presents is digging deep into a bizarre crime. it remains the most complicated bank robbery investigation in the fbi's history. many believe the fbi still haent solved it. a 46-year-old pizza delivery man walks into a pennsylvania bank wearing a bomb. he demands $250,000 in cash. this is what happens next. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> we've just been robbed. >> is anyone hurt? >> no. he just walked out the door. >> august 28, 2003. eerie, pennsylvania.

within minutes of robbing a bank, brian wells is surrounded by police, cross legged on the ground and handcuffed. under his t-shirt he tells police is a bomb. he asks police to call his boss, then to save his life. 25 minutes tick by. then the device begins to beep. in an instant, the bank robber is dead. the death of brian wells in this parking lot that day turned out to be only the beginning of the most elaborate, intricate and some say still unsolved bank robbery case the fbi has ever had. it was a hot thursday afternoon. gene hyde was expecting to see

her brother at a party that night but she had one errand to run. a quick shopping trip on erie's peach street. but there was trouble. police had blocked the road. cops and cars everywhere. she turned around and went home. it was only later that night watching the 10:00 news she learned what that traffic was all about. >> my kids are sitting on the couch and then the story airs of this bank robbery and a man came into the bank with a bomb on him. >> you are recognizing your brother. >> my brother with this bomb on him. i'm thinking, the police have him, they'll find out who did this to him. then as it goes on, it's like brian exploded. the bomb went off. brian is dead. i'm like, i can't believe this.

>> even less believable to jean hyde was what the fbi concluded about her brother, that he was in on the robbery that killed him. it took the fbi years to sort through the evidence and come up with who they think was responsible. this cnn presents saturday night at 8:00 to see if you think the fbi got it right. and we start this hour with a big name jumping in at the presidential race. i'm talking about texas governor rick perry. he's set to announce tomorrow during an appearance in south carolina. so who is he and why does he immediately become a major force in this campaign? here's part of his resume. perry became texas governor in 2000 when george w. bush was elected president. after that, perry won the election three times on his own. in 2010, he got 55% of the vote.

perry has been a fixture in texas for over a decade. texas has made major strides economically during that time. it's now the second largest economy in the u.s. just behind california. texas totals more than a trillion dollars a year in total economic output and has added more than a million jobs since the year 2000. to be fair, a lot of the jobs came courtesy of the federal government. you see texas got more than $16 billion in federal stimulus money. liberal author james moore covered texas politics for decades. here's how he describes perry's early campaign strategy. >> and in this particular election, one of the unspoken issues is religion. perry, of course, is front and center wear his religion like a power tie. what he's saying to everybody in the party, particularly in the primary process, the tea party individuals and the veechb evangelicals and the christian fundamentalists.

he's basically saying i'm not a mormon. don lemon caught up with sarah palin in iowa. >> reporter: yeah. you know, we're going to talk about tim pawlenty in just a little bit. our deputy pool director paulstein houser caught up with him. i caught up with sarah palin, the only person here today who wasn't on the stage last night. she hasn't declared. when i caught up with her last time i saw you just a few minutes ago drew, i asked her who was responsible for the downgrade. was it the tea party, who? in all fairness, i also asked her if she thought the president, whether or not the president's responsible. here's her response. >> the president responsible for the downgrade. i would say yes. because from the top that leadership starts from the top. the leadership over the country and budgeting granted, it is congress that holds the purse strings. but from the president not presenting a plan to -- he presented a plan dead on arrival

to congress. but from the president on down, those whom we have elected to congress too, have been quite disappointing. >> reporter: all right. now on to the other woman who is in the race and who has declared. michele bachmann. i spoke with sarah palin about that. i asked her, are you a little bit jealous at all the attention she's gotten. no you shouldn't pit two women against each other. i asked her about the michele bachmann thing saying she's submissive to her husband and that's how she chose her profession. here's sharp on that. >> do you agree with the submission part? >> that's her opinion. to her submission to her husband is respecting her husband. you know, i respect my husband too. >> if he said don't run, would you not run? >> i can't imagine my husband ever telling me what to do, literally. >> reporter: all right. you know what, i spent about ten minutes talking to her in a horde of reporters.

she's the only one who is here drawing the most attention and hasn't declared. a person on the stage last night was tim pawlenty and our paul stein hauser caught up with him. >> not as much around him. paw p pawlenty is in the spotlight. not nearly as much media with him. he spoke a soapbox behind the bus about 50 yards behind us. that's where the announced candidates are speaking, drew. palin not a candidate but she says by september or sometime in september she hopes to have a decision whether she runs for the nomination. where does she stand in the polls, guys? >> she hopes. >> where does she stand, in the middle of the pack. she has i i a lot of supporters. you know her just as well if not better, you spent a lot of time with her in alaska. >> you know. it's nice to see her stop, answer questions. we're not running after her. but i want to ask you, paul,

does iowa wipe any of these out? does anybody have a make or break it in iowa? this is early in the game. >> drew, hold on. when you say it's very important. let me let him get in. i said that to her during that interview. a lot of people will stop and not speak to people or try to avoid the question. i have to say sarah palin, every single question i asked and other people, she answered directly. some people may not like her answers, but she did stop and she was there for an hour. she stood there answering questions. sorry. go ahead. >> our political reporter, after john ran back to the bus, peter stayed with palin and got questions in and other reporters did as well. i don't know, drew, maybe it is a different sharp. maybe it's don because he's so charming. the straw poll tomorrow in ames is crucial. why? because it can break some campaigns. it may not make them that much. but it can break them. tommy tomorrow ston, the former governor of wisconsin did poorly. he dropped out a few days later. a lot of eyes are on what had

will happen this time around. >> if i had 50 bucks for every question you asked sarah, i would be a rich man. maybe the answer should have been a richer man. >> i had to laugh when she said she respects -- i'm sure she respects her husband i don't think anybody tells sarah palin what to do. >> she said her husband doesn't either. he smiled and said yes, you're right. >> he's a smart guy and keeps his mouth shut. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it. big news on the healthcare front. we want to tell you about it. a federal appeals court ruled a key part of president obama's healthcare reform package is unconstitutional. the court ruled that that so-called individual man tat which would require most americans to buy health insurance, that exceeds congressional authority. the battle will likely end up before the u.s. supreme court. other news this hour. one word sums up job prospects where you live. bleak. a poll shows 29% of respondent expect more jobs to become

available over the next year. another 44% think the jobs outlook is going to be stagnant. 26%, it's going to get worse. as for things right now, 7 in 10 say there are few jobs available where they live. only one in four believe that there is a normal amount of jobs out there. don't look to the post office. jobs there may soon be disappearing by the tens of thousands. i'm going to talk with the top brass when we come back. d by ots and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% i'm in i know the lady in leather travels on three wheels. wait, is that code? that's my secret weapon... ...naomi pryce see winning hotel bids now at priceline. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia,

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watching from her post at the new york stock exchange. for the traders, this could be what they need, a weekend to sleep. >> reporter: oh, yes. i'll tell you what, it's nice to get off that roller coaster, get off that seesaw and watch the numbers go higher today. the dow is holding its own, up 140 points. we did get mixed signals on what consumers are feeling. the sentiment plunged to a 30-year low. at this point, wall street is focusing on the positive. we found out that retail sales rose a half of a percent in july. the june report is higher. this is what wall street looks for. these are kind of the cues showing that while the economy may be slowing, we're also seeing some improvement here. although consumers didn't go on big shopping sprees, though, wall street is happy to see that consumers are out there spending money. keep in mind, this could change because these numbers were last month. before s&p downgraded the u.s. credit rating. consumers may be really wore ids about the downgrade, about the

volatility of the stocks. we'll get that reaction in next month's report. at least until now, let's focus on the good stuff. lots of green on the screen. see if we can carry it out to the closing bell. drew? >> we'll watch until the closing bell, because you never know after this week what's going to happen in the next minute let alone the next hour. >> yes. >> alison, thanks. threatening the u.s. of the postal service. that is from a postal service document. aims to make the case for drastic cutbacks at the post office. how drastic? 30% of the us ps workforce. 120,000 layoffs on top of 100,000 jobs that will likely be lost through retirements and people moving to other jobs over the next four years. the postal service wants to quit federal health and retirement plans in favor of cheaper private plans, all of which means tearing up union krrts, which is going to require the

approval of congress. i am joined by phone by anthony, the executive vice president and chief human resources officer at the postal service. thanks nor joining us. please explain to us why these cuts of jobs and this move away from government healthcare systems is necessary. >> caller: yes. well, let me just start by saying that it's not about abandoning healthcare to come up with a cheaper type of healthcare. what we're talking about is managing our legacy cost and managing our healthcare and we believe that if we were able to run the program which we don't do today, we would be able to use our leverage in the marketplace, be able to use private sector best practices which we don't use today and we believe that we can bring the cost and benefit, cost and value of our programs, which would

benefit both the employer and the employee. so that's part of it. i think the other thing is going forward, we need to, as i said, control legacy. we need to look at our retirement systems going forward and come more in line with the private sector. so we would look at moving from a defined benefit program to a defined contribution program. >> is this an either/or? either the u.s. postal it was gets control of the benefits pack and manages it or we lay off 120,000 people or do you need both for the u.s. post office to survive? >> caller: what the papers attempted to lay out are some of the things that we need to do to manage the postal service going forward in the future. this is about bringing expenses under the revenue line. this is about being able to continue providing service to the american public at an affordable price. what we're saying is we need to do some things just like a lot

of private sector companies have done over the last 10 or 20 years. they need to get organizational structures in place, they need to get control of the legacy costs, and you need to address those issues for the long-term viability of the organization. >> so you're talking about both? >> caller: i'm talking about both, yes. >> let me ask you. we had a member of the union on, frederick rolando. he tried to explain to us that the u.s. postal service is the only organization that has to pay up front its benefit costs and if there was just a change in that, that the post office could be made whole. is that legitimate? >> caller: what fred was saying is we're the only organization that has to pre-fund our retiree healthcare at 100%. no one does that. it's accepted practice would be 30% outside of the postal service. but that alone is not enough. that would be kicking the can down the road. we need to look at the future.

we need to make sure we're doing things today that in 10 or 15 years that definitely is one of the things we need to do. it's not the only thing. people have to realize we're having -- in the postal service, in the communication industry things are changing. we have a significant diversion to first class mail which is not just a volume issue, but it's also a revenue and margin issue to deal with going forward and we don't see that slowing down. so it's a change in the product offering so to speak. and we need to adjust the organization to make sure that we're affordable, we keep our expenses below our revenue and we're doing the right things going forward to be able to keep doing this as a service. >> all right. anthony, we wish you luck and the rest of the staff luck at the post office facing a possible 120,000 layoffs across the nation.

thank you sir. violent attacks by gangs of young people in philadelphia under a curfew for city teenagers. we'll talk to the man live, the police commissioner there, charles ramsey. he'll be live. to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's.

weekend curfew will begin in downtown philadelphia for kids under 18. it's a mandate announced this week after so-called flash mobs of violent young people have been attacking strangers in

several areas of philadelphia's center city. in one incident attackers included an 11-year-old. curfew extends to 10:00 p.m. weekdays for children under 13. mayor michael nutter says his city is forced to do what some parents are failing to do. >> we as a government cannot raise people's children. you have to take care of children if you want them. we can help you. we provided services, support, all kind of stuff. but we're not going to tolerate this kind of senseless, stupid, ignorant, violent acts even episodically as they may occur on the streets of our city. >> joining us from philadelphia, the police commissioner there. charles ramsey. commissioner, thank you so much for joining us. how is this going to work? >> well, at 9:00, as you mentioned, friday and saturday, there is a special curfew for people under the age of 18, unless, of course, they're accompanied by a parent. we'll be enforcing that.

it's primarily our center city district, our downtown area. and something called university city, further west in the city. these are the areas where we've had some issues with the so-called flash mobs, the groups of youngsters out assaulting people. >> will you actually be arresting these kids and holding them overnight or bringing them back to their homes and i just wondering, you're closer to the community than i am. when you bring these kids home, are you going to find parents who even care? >> well, it's not really an arrest technically, although we take them into custody. we write them up for curfew. parent has to come down and pick them up. if the parent does not come down, then our department of human services takes over. >> will there be fines involved? >> yeah, it could be. i mean, the first offense is a warning, but any subsequent offense, there is a fine attached to it up to $300. it's pretty significant. of course, a parent could be charged with neglect. you mentioned in the opening,

the 11-year-old that was involved in an earlier situation. and the department of human services is certainly looking at that aspect of it because the child is so young. >> commissioner, so many -- i've heard psychologists, sociologists, social workers weigh in on what's going on here. why is this happening? >> well, i mean, there are a lot of bright people that will figure that out. i'm a police chief. we got to keep peace in the streets. if they come down and start to assault people, they start to damage property, we're going to arrest them, period. i know there have got to be issues involved. we'll sort all that out. but right now, we've got to re-establish a sense of safety and security in our city and we will do just that. this isn't a philadelphia problem alone. i'm also president of the major city chiefs association and we've had these conversations as part of our meetings about the impact that social media has had on niece young people and their ability to be able to move around and avoid police contact

and cause problems for us. it's a growing problem in this country. >> we've certainly seen it in chicago, even the wisconsin state fair, i've been reading about it. it's a big task. commissioner, we wish you luck tonight. we hope everybody just stays home and chills out and enjoys a nice philadelphia weekend without any of these senseless and stupid attacks. commissioner, thank you. >> thank you. an update on the disturbing story we brought you last week. the fullerton city council meets today to see if an independent consultant should be hired to review the policies and procedures of the fullerton police department. this after parents of kelly thomas filed a claim against the city and the police department. kelly thomas is a california man homeless, schizophrenic, allegedly beaten to death by six fullerton police officers. i want to warn you, this picture is tough to look at. this is what kelly thomas looked like before and after the alleged beating. on july 5th, fullerton police responded to reports of a man

trying to break into cars near a bus station. witnesses say what began with a search of thomas' backpack ended with this. he was hogtied down, tasered, smashed against the can crete, his head smashed with a flashlig flashlight. he died from the injuries five days later. activists calling for the police officers involved and many others, including fullerton's mayor jones to be fired. the six officers allegedly involved in the beating have been placed on paid administrative leave while they're being investigated. police chief michael sellers put on medical leave wednesday and kevin hamilton is now the interim chief there. hamilton was talking about the investigation. >> meanwhile the fullerton police department is coming under more fire according to los angeles times. department supervisors allowed the officers involved in the alleged beating watch a video that captures the incident before writing their own reports about it. many police departments don't

allow that in serious use of force cases. checking top stories. the sister in a trio of alleged sibling bandits says "she deserved to get shot. investigators say dougherty was shot in the leg after she pointed her automatic pistol at a colorado cop. dougherty and her two brothers were arrested wednesday after their vehicle crashed following a high-speed chase. they had been on the lam for more than a week accused in a series of crimes in georgia and florida. the rift between verz on and striking workers grew wider. the telecommunications giant called in the fbi to investigate allegations of sabotage. a spokesman says more than 90 acts of sabotage, including cutting phone lines occurred since the strike began on sunday. the union representing the strikers is condemning any illegal actions by its members. a tiny bit of good economic news to report. americans went shopping last month boosting retail sales by half of one percent.

economists predicted the gain since july is a key back to school shopping month. this week, cnn hero served up millions of meals and a lot of love. i'll introduce you to helen ash after the break. [ male announcer ] what if you could turn your lights on...

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. you're about to meet someone who helped serve a million meals to the need any knoxville, tennessee. that's not the only reason shoos a hero. into her golden years, she's providing help for hungry and helpless in her own town. meet helen ashe. daddy worked hard for what we got. he taught us not to take the last piece of bread from the table. somebody may come by that's hungry. my name is helen ashe. i'm the happy founder of the love kitchen. we address the needs of the five h's, the homeless, the hungry, the hopeless, the homebound and the helpless. do you have the coffee and the cups out? my sister ellen is a blessing to me. how about those small tomatoes, ellen? >> it's so much work to do for

one. you want me to help you in? we went to nursing school. back then, segregation was pretty rampant. i just saw the black people that was having a problem with transportation and food. so what we're going to start off with this morning? every day i came home, i would tell my sister, one day i'm going to do something about this. we're bet getting ready to open the line. the first day we served 22 meals in 1986. since that time, we've been growing, growing, growing, growing. anybody here is a volunteer. they enjoy doing what we're doing. we're delivering from 1400 to 2200 meals every thursday to our homebound people. >> she's my buddy. >> we will talk to -- for what we got and to share what we did get. we have so many people that are in need and that's what keeps us

going. >> you got just a little more than two weeks left to nominate someone you know making a big difference in your community. remember, every cnn hero is chosen from people you tell us about. so go to cnn heroes.com right now. a judge has just ruled whether or not casey anthony has to return to orlando. we'll give you his decision after the break. ♪

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32 minutes past the hour, time to check headlines of news you may have missed. hundreds of thousands of postal workers could soon lose their jobs or face drastic changes to benefits or both. the postal service appealing to congress to remove collective bargaining restrictions in order to lay off 120,000 workers. it also wants congressional approval to replace existing government healthcare and retirement plans. post office claims it needs to eliminate more than 220,000 jobs

altogether by 2015 for financial reasons. 100,000 would come through attrition, the other 120,000 from layoffs. big news just in on the healthcare front. a federal appeals court in atlanta ruled a key part of president obama's healthcare reform package is unconstitutional. the court ruled that the so-called individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance exceeds congressional authority. the battle is most likely going to end up in the u.s. supreme court. federal health occasions just revealed that a 19-year-old man died of rabies last year after being bit by a vampire bat. the cdc says this is the first recorded human fatality from a vampire bat bite in the u.s. the report says the man was a migrant worker who was actually bitten in mexico before coming to the u.s. but the cdc warns that vampire bats appear to be migrating north possibly due to climate changes. casey anthony was found not guilty of murder.

we learned a judge ruled that she will have to serve one year of supervised probation for a felony check fraud conviction. anthony will have to report back to the department of corrections in orlando no later than 12 p.m. august 26th. the judge ruled she will be able to keep her address confidential for her own safety. bert and ernie may be best friends but sesame street's producers insist there will not be a same sex muppet marriage in their future. as ridiculous as it sounds, a recent on-line campaign and petition called the sesame street puppets to get married as a way to beat home foeb yoe and encourage tolerance. bert and ernie were created to teach preschoolers. people can be good friends with those different from themselves. as puppets they don't have any sexual orientation. the phantom killers of the taliban. the cia downplaying the number

killed by the drones. we'll talk about the controversy with a counterterrorism expert right after this.

unmanned drone aircraft long been a major weapon in the u.s. battle against al qaeda and the taliban in pakistan. civilians have sometimes been killed by mistake. now a report by a british and pakistani journalist group says the civilian death toll has been far higher than the u.s. acknowledged. according to the london-based bureau for investigative journalism. thousands of people have been killed since 2004. of those, the report says 385

were civilians. a senior u.s. official tells cnn that report is way off the mark. he says that since 2001, 2,000 militants have been killed in drone attacks in pakistan and only 50 civilians have been killed. joining us from washington to talk more about this is brian fishman, a counterterrorism research fellow at the new america foundation. brian, let me ask you, why such conflicting numbers and whom do we believe? >> i think the basic problem is that it's very hard for anybody, whether you're the cia or you're a consortium of journalists to understand exactly what's happening in pakistan's tribal areas. this is a very difficult region to study with any degree of precision. so i think you know, it's implausible as suggested by the cia, that for example that no civilians have been killed this year in drone strikes. i think that that's simply too optimistic. but i also think that it's very

difficult for journalists in that environment to understand exactly what's going on because the pakistani intelligence service does want to manipulate things and because oftentimes it's difficult to distinguish between a militant and a civilian. in that environment, i think you could probably have people that the cia would consider combatants, but that to many people in a local community, might consider them civilians. >> that is a hard sell in pakistan itself. certainly, the anti-u.s. side has used these drone attacks to drum up anti-american support. the question is, do these drone strikes help or hurt in the long run our efforts to try to fight or diminish the power of the taliban? >> yeah. i mean, that's a great question. it's a really tough one to answer. i think the bottom line here is that the drone strikes are helping to suppress al qaeda and prevent al qaeda and groups like it from planning major attacks on the united states. it makes it a lot harder to train big numbers of troops in a

camp, for example. but at the same time, these attacks are extremely unpopular in pakistan. whether or not they're killing civilians, pakistanis perceive them to be in positions on pakistani sovereignty. at the same time, we've seen that some militants in the united states have used these drone strikes as justification for attacks here in the u.s. the example there is the man who tried to blow up a car bomb in times square a year ago. you've got this dynamic where the drone strikes are helping to reduce the risk of a major 9/11-style terrorist attack. i think they increase marginally the risk of an anner upset about these things picking up a bomb and doing something like that. >> let me ask you about the 9/11 anniversary, al qaeda, where we stand ten years later and the strength of al qaeda. is there anything on the outlook

that says al qaeda could be or is in any way capable of planning the type of attack that we were hit with back in 2001? >> well, you know, i mean, on september 10th, 2001, i don't know that anybody would have told you that they were capable of an attack on the scale that they ultimately were able to pull off. so you always have to have healthy caution about a group like this. but i do think that that sort of attack is a lot harder for them these days because they've lost their safe-havens and they've lost their ability to plan with impugn at this. before 9/11, they essentially had total ability to plan for long periods of time in afghanistan and today, there's nowhere in the world where they can do that with as much sort of a carefree attitude. but i do think that there is a real risk of al qaeda being able to attract not just lone wolves but small groups of people that maybe are already living in the united states or they're living in the west or they're coming

from somewhere else that are able to do something very rudimentary. i really worry about their willingness to use simple tools, firearms and those sorts of things which can be very deadly, certainly not on a 9/11 scale, but we saw recently with the attack in norway where a single individual with a relatively small bomb and a gun was able to kill 75 people. >> yeah. it's an ever-evolving problem, ever-evolving enemy. brian fishman, thank you so much for joining us. up next, we break down how to survive the loss of a job you have and get the job you need. [ barks ]

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in today's taking the lead, we're talking about jobs. how to get one and how to survive losing one. we talk to a man who has been out of work for three years. ernie was living the american dream. he owned a home, drove a mercedes and had a great job until he was laid off. >> i'm ernie, i'm a former mortgage broker and i've been unemployed for three years. >> in three years, he says he tried just about everything to reinvent himself. i.t., youth counselor, even jewelry maker. i'm a reinvention expert and i'm here to help ernie get a great job. >> we're going to hold her feet to the fire to see if she gets the job done. >> he's sent resumes, he's been

interviewing and interviewing and interviewing. >> advertised on craigslist. >> advertising on craigslist. >> what is he doing wrong? >> the old paradigm doesn't work anymore. >> that's because jobs are few and competition is tightment ernie has to distinguish himself if he wants the job. >> part of what we're going to be doing is for you to get an absolute clear vision of where you want to be. >> but it's tough. he's been out of work for three years. >> even my personal friends at work in the past, high school friends, have shut the doors. they think because i don't have a job, i'm going to ask for money. >> first step one. personal transformation. >> he is going to reinvent how he approaches getting a job. so guess what? you're going to be going on a diet. >> already on a three-week diet. >> no, no, no.

my friend. >> i lost 20 pounds. >> no. you're going to go on a diet from all the naysayers in your life. >> ever since he had to move in with his mother, ernie admits it's been tough. >> it's like nothing but negative stuff. starting with the person here in front of me. i'm not going to say any names. >> guess what? they don't get to talk to you for the next month. >> yes! >> none of them. none of them. i'm happy, no barbecues with my family. >> step two. networking. >> are you actively looking for a job on linked in? >> no. i don't even have a profile. oh, my gosh. networking is the keyway americans are getting jobs. >> step three, the resume. >> ernie. i want you to burn your resume. >> sending a normal resume today is like playing an 8 track. we're going to do some very outside of the box pieces. >> sure.

>> we may start a blog about how much you want to work there. >> eli is confident she can put ernie back in the drivers seat if he doesn't look back. >> i want you to try and drive to the stop sign only looking in the rearview mirror. how far do you think you're going to get? >> fifrs of all, i can't get out. >> we'll check again in 30 days. the tip from eli, if you're looking for work, don't tell people you're unemployed and looking for a job. she says tell them that you're looking for a great new opportunity. we'll check back on ernie's progress and see if eli is able to turn his fortune around. thelma gutierrez, los angeles. cnn. >> we'll follow that. forbes published an article breaking down how to prepare for a job loss. to avoid getting into this tough situation you saw ernie in, here's what they recommended at forbes. find other sources of income in cash. everything from applying for a line of credit against your home to asking your family for a loan. learn everything you can about

your current employee benefits. research the insurance part of your employee benefits and stop spending. finally, start sending your resume out and network both inside and outside of the company. you know, you can visit randi kaye's facebook page at/randi kaye cnn.com for a link to the entire article. getting the most out of the post office. do they need to deliver a major change. our team will weigh in on that next.

we've been talking throughout theshow about the post office and plans to cut 120,000 jobs. the administrators say they need to cut the jobs to be financially viable. so how bad are they now?

try eight and a half billion dollars in the red just last year. they're already looking at closing more branches and getting rid of saturday delivery. one other thing could help get them in the black. privatization. in 1971, the postmaster general was removed as a cabinet position, but the government still holds a lot of control over the postal service. so that's a question for our stream team today. should the post office be privatized. joining me now cnn analyst roland martin and march of skoet a of the memphis tea party. you've worked with fed ex and ups. is this a job that a private company could do? >> absolutely. you could transition all the parcel delivery into a ups or fed ex system essentially with little implication on numbers of hires. much more efficient effective way in which we deliver those parcels and then separate the letter delivery, cut it down to five days a week and let these

private companies who do a far better job of scheduling and holding by the way, union and nonunion employees accountable to high levels of performance. that's the right way to go. >> roland, i have to ask you the same question. the united states postal service paid fed ex more than a billion dollars last year to deliver packages. i mean, is it a good idea to privatize this group? >> first of all, remember, when you talk about privatization and the private company, what you also have are companies making decisions to basically cut certain people off. one of the issues that you have to deal with and that is what did you do about rural america. not everybody lives in big cities. so typically what companies would do, they will say hey, forget certain people, we're only going to go after the high dollar routes, if you will. i certainly believe you must have serious changes with the postal service because you can't be carrying 300,000 employees, you can't be lose the amount of money and operating as if you

don't have the internet. you have the internet today, you have a different cost structure. but i'm not going to jump and say, oh, fed ex will do it. they may say we don't want it. >> yeah. that's a good question. this may be a losing business. if we get to $1.50, $2 to send a 2 card to grandma, i don't think a business will survive that. >> let me say this first. let's be clear first about the issue of rural delivery. i was on the team that actually was building out the ups next day air service as we had the letter and document services, 1982. this is a question that the post office tried to threaten suggesting ups doesn't deliver to rural area. it delivers to every single address every single day in america. the exceptions maybe being parts of alaska. secondly, they're effective at delivering parcels, small packages to both rural, business and home delivery. the reason you want to have all of that, because at the end of the day, what's an important point is you deliver the businesses in the a.m., you deliver the homes in the p.m.

and then you pick up in the late afternoons. so thereby there's a natural integration of home delivery to the business delivery. what i call main street versus backstreet. secondly, as it relates to the letters business, unquestionably, this is a big challenge. that's where you transition workers to letter delivery. stop letting them handle parcels which is far better handled by the ups's and fed ex's of the world. both in context of a five-day service and meeting the same standards of delivering to every household in america. lastly, you could integrate -- go ahead. >> dw go ahead, roland. >> drew, i will say that one thing that also would help for the american taxpayer is that we need to be able to put side by side the united states and other countries. people complain about the postal service all day. but i will tell you, i traveled across the globe and our system is a lot better than a lot of other countries. also, i think you have, again,

allowed the current management team to make the necessary moves. i think part of the problem is you have too many members of congress who want to protect that nice post office. remember the whole debt ceiling debate, they spent time actually voting on post offices versus trying to give a -- get a debt ceiling in place. that's part of the problem. politicians have gotten in the way of the postal service. not just the postal service. >> guys, i think that's one thing we can agree on. when the post office is going to congress for answers, look out. >> absolutely, drew. >> all right. guys, thanks so much for joining us. interesting issue. we'll see what happens to our postal service delivery and our postal workers as they go through a tough time. thanks, guys. texas governor rick perry set to join the crowded republican race for the white house. shannon travis joins me now from des moines, iowa. shannon, how does the governor impact the race for this nomination? we'll have his answer after this. need home and auto insurance.

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will the of politics talking about texas governor rick perry set to join the crowded republican race for the white house. shannon travis joins me from where everybody at cnn is now. des moines, iowa, at the state fair. the governor, is announcing tomorrow. what's his impact going to be on this crowded race? >>. >> reporter: it's going to be a huge impact. he's -- who is going to descend

on this field, a field that some republicans, some republicans aren't quite happy with. they see him as being able to unite different factions of the republican party. the economic conservatives, your tea party types. the social conservatives and possibly even the people who are evangelicals, the christian evangelical. he had that prayer conference and meeting recently. he will dramatically impact this race. i have to tell you, he's the longest serving governor in texas' history. he's going to really stress his record on jobs. in the past two years, half of the jobs in the u.s. have been created in texas. critics will say that's because there's always been a good economic environment for jobs in texas. another note, drew, one other thing that some of his opponents are issuing slams against rick perry before he formally announces. last night, bachmann's campaign said if rick perry is serious about running, why wasn't he here at the debate? >> that's a good point. an interesting