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good morning everybody from the cnn center in atlanta, georgia. this is your cnn saturday morning. i'm t.j. holmes. right now we've got new york and washington on high alert as the u.s. uncovers an al qaeda threat tied to the tenth anniversary of september 11th. we have new details on this threat and the responses on the streets. republican presidential candidates gearing up for cnn's first ever tea party debate. we'll tell you who is heading into the showdown with the upper hand. also the big question people often have, what do i do? do i save my money or pay off debt first? we'll explain to you which you should do first. security is stepped up all across the country after what officials call a credible but unconfirmed report that terrorists may be planning an attack on u.s. soil. tomorrow will mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. the taliban movement issued a

statement accusing the west of using 9/11 as a pre text for a war on muslims. they threatened to send america to, quote, the dust bin of history, end quote. ak officials say there are suggestions of a terrorist attack on new york and washington. athena jones is in washington. alan, first off with you, tight yo tighter security, pretty much all of new york city, particularly in manhattan. i'm standing right now between two entry points into manhattan. the holland tunnel several blocks to my north which comes in from new jersey and beneath we have the brooklyn battery tunnel. at both spots there are checkpoints. the police are visually inspecting cars, wearing

radiation detectors, using license plate scanners as well to try to detect any stolen vehicles or suspicious vehicles. in addition, the people of new york city are on alert. an example, yesterday reports of suspicious packages increased threefold from a regular day, and reports of suspicious vehicles increased double. so people are on the alert and frankly new yorkers who were here ten years ago during the attacks, we all have some pain inside of us. new yorkers know the best way to respond to that is be vigilant. if you see something, say something. new yorkers certainly -- remains a potential target. also many people feel very much the same. athena jones is standing by at the fbi field office there.

athena? >> reporter: here we are outside. you can see behind me a bomb squad, the fbi's mobile command center. this is a public show of force. there's an increased law enforcement presence all across the city. everyone i've spoken with, fbi officials here, the d.c. police chief, the park police, capitol police, secret service and metro transit police are all out in full force, more uniformed officers, plain clothes officers. they say tlaer ear on high alert and are prepared. >> a hide ended state of awareness at the washington metro. significantly increased vigilance at the capitol. stepped-up security at the white house. >> we're ready for this. if there are other measures necessary, we're prepared to take them. >> reporter: a new credible threat, the nation's capitol could come under attack, potentially use ag truck or car bomb, officials have been eager to assure the public the city is ready. >> this has been ten years of preparation and planning essentially from local, federal

law enforcement on how to do the best we possibly can to keep our city safe. we have a very robust plan, a lot of experience here. >> this weekend a z the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, unattended vehicles around government bridges will be towed. there's a increased law presence everywhere. capitol police have more officers on patrol, more police cruisers in the field, more canine, bomb squad and other special units deployed. the u.s. park police has, quote, a substantial number of officers on patrol, in uniform and plainclothes, foot, horseback and motorcycle and is using cameras and other technology for surveillance. metro transit police are patrolling with canine and special operations units and conducting unannounced searches. >> talking about background checks, training, preparing our employees, preparing our people, public awareness. >> reporter: officials say they're sharing information and

coordinating closely with counterparts and departments and agency city wide. metro riders here have noticed the change. >> i see an officer to my left, officer to my right. i've noticed an increase in security at the station. i think that's good. >> i have nothing to hide. ramp up as much as you want. trying to keep us safe, so that's good. >> reporter: officers are out keeping people safe, both the mayor and the police chief have said the public should go out and enjoy their weekend as they normally would. this is a well-protected city, a well-trained force. i had the police chief tell me. they want to make sure people are vigilant and keeping an eye out for activity. >> we heard alan chernoff say they had an increase in reports of suspicious activity, suspicious vehicles. same deal in d.c.? >> reporter: absolutely. the police chief told us after their afternoon press conference yesterday, they had a press conference around 4:00 p.m.

before that they had been seeing an inclose in the number of reports of suspicious activity, especially suspicious vehicles parked by bridges. in one case it was a vehicle that had broken down. they're getting reports an running them down. after the 4:00 p.m. press conference where they said don't just report big trucks. you can put explosives in smaller vehicles as well. they got an even bigger uptick. they saw a surge going into the evening. the police chief said at one point they were getting somewhere around 29 to 30 calls an hour where usually they get around seven, t.j. they haven't turned up anything luckily, but they want to see the public engaged. the police chief told me this community is on it. they know what to do. >> athena jones in d.c. thank you as always. it's seven minutes past the hour now. americans are used to tighter security and certainly around the anniversary of september 11th dealing with it once again, but still the country is going to stop and reflect tomorrow on what happened ten years ago. you are seeing a live picture at

ground zero. you're seeing part of the memorial that's going to officially be dedicated tomorrow at ground zero open to the public on monday. but thousands of new yorkers, they're already starting to remember. they grasped hands -- look at this. this was near the site this morning, to form a human chain. they also were invited to post messages on a wall of remembrance. so many of these ceremonies and remembrances starting this weekend, starting today already. meanwhile in washington, we saw the former president george w. bush and his wife laura, laid a wreath at the pentagon. defense secretary leon panetta also there. former secretary donald rumsfeld, on the left side of the picture, at this point he's taking part in a 9/11 national day of service event with military families in virginia. in new jersey a 9/11 memorial is being dedicated. the empty sky memorial displays

the names of 746 new jersey residents killed in the 9/11 attacks. this is in liberty state park in jersey city just across the hudson from the site of the world trade center. u.s.s. new york built with steel recovered from the trade center is in new york harbor this weekend as well. it arrived from norfolk, virginia thursday, carrying about 200 members of the 9/11 family association. this afternoon there will be a memorial service at st. patrick's cathedral to honor the 343 new york firefighters who died at the world trade center site. also coming up next hour, an emotional ceremony in thanks ville, pennsylvania, the dedication for the first phase of a memorial honoring the 40 passengers and crew who died on united flight 93. former presidents bush and clinton will be there along with current vice president joe biden. a live report just ahead for you. and tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m., our show will be live, cnn sunday morning there at ground zero. certainly going to be looking

back ten years ago. but also looking ahead. then starting at 8:00 a.m., cnn will have complete coverage of all the remembrance ceremonies in new york, washington and shanksville, pennsylvania. we will turn next to what they're going through in pennsylvania and also parts of new york. floodwaters still there starting to recede. that sounds great. the crisis is a long way from being over. we are live in the flood zone next. it's nine minutes past the hour.

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state a federal disaster area. the biggest fire is in bastrop county. right now it's only 40% contained. a lot of people who evacuated don't know if their homes are still there. >> i want to get in and i can't right now. i want to have the peace of mind that, yes, my house is gone, i can actually look and see my house is gone for my own eyes. i have to have that for my own eyes. >> we have lost everything. we have no insurance on our house. we have nothing. >> so far this year more than 18,000 fires have burned, 3.5 million acres across texas. they need water there. too much of it in new york and pennsylvania. record setting floodwaters are starting to recede. that sounds great. still the impact will be felt there for quite some time.

let me bring in cnn's john zarrella. he is there in harrisburg, pennsylvania. the water has gotten -- i guess you moved to a different spot, a little deeper there. >> reporter: i put on the waders, t.j., to give the viewers an idea of just how deep it is here. you're right. they've had way too much water here. it rains and rains and rains tuesday, wednesday, into thursday. actually, though, since we talked the last hour, it's down. it would have been up over my knees just an hour ago. my cameraman, jerry, is going to look down the street. this neighborhood called shy poke, probably the worst hit is still a lot of standing water, at least a foot deep in many places. i'll walk over here to this other building and give you an idea, a sense of just how deep it is and how deep it was. now, this is -- was an old church that was renovated, turned into a home, and the waterline here is right up here. this is where it finally

stopped. a few of the people that have come back -- this was all evacuated. very few people have come back. they're going to have to wait until the utilities people get in here. check to turn on the electricity, to turn on the gas again, all that is shut down. it will probably be days before they get any power back in this particular area. but, yeah, the water was up to here. so first floors flooded out in this entire neighborhood. basements completely under water in this entire nash hood. the hotel we're at -- there's a big football game here this weekend you probably know, penn state and alabama. lots of alabama folks in town. the big worry for them was the road closures. the city workers, county workers were able to get the main road open from here over to happy valley a couple hours away. they got that open today so these football fans can get to that big game. that's the least of the people's worries here. but just to give an idea the

impact of this flooding here on lots of folks' lives. but at least that will be a good diversion for the folks here at pennsylvania, that game today. but again, t.j., all of this area still evacuated, still without power. we don't expect to see the neighbors allowed back in here, the people allowed back in here. at least until tomorrow and perhaps longer. until this water goes down. again, this is -- it smells and it's polluted water because you've had at least ten sewage treatment plants along the susquehanna that went down during the height of the flooding, were out of operation. this is not the kind of water that they want people coming back into to even start to clean up their homes at that point. t.j.? >> john zarrella for us in harrisburg, we appreciate you as always. 16 minutes past the hour now. we're going to be turning to politics here in a moment. the gop presidential contenders are getting ready for another debate. this one is going to be a little different. a tea party showdown. we'll tell you what this battle

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19 minutes past the hour. i want to go straight to alan chernoff in new york. allan, getting new information about possible suspects tied to this alleged terror plot around the 9/11 anniversary. what have you got? >> we've been talking about the

potential for a truck bomb, a vehicle bomb in new york or washington, d.c. we have new information from my colleague susan candiotti who spoke to a u.s. government official briefed on this investigation. according to that information, the three people that are supposed to be be lined this alleged threat, two of them americans of arab descent. according to the official they entered the united states from the afghanistan-pakistan region last week. the u.s. has been using flight logs an manifests to confirm that information. the third individual believed to be traveling now in europe. again, these are described as credible, a credible threat, but again, not confirmed, meaning not confirmed by a second or third source to the united states. >> i think i heard you correctly. i want to make sure our viewers did as well. a little traffic there. you say the third individual, three individuals. it's believed the third right now is not in the country.

the other two did enter. did i hear that right? >> reporter: that's the information that we have right now. it's unclear where that third individual is right now. so he had been traveling in europe. it's unclear whether he actually has made it into the united states. may still be in europe. two other individuals that the u.s. is seeking are believed to have entered the country last week. >> are they giving us any indication of where they may have entered the country? >> no, no detail regarding that. understand, of course, that the investigators here don't want to give away everything. so it's possibility they do know -- in fact, it's likely they do know since they've been using flood logs an manifests. so they should know exactly what flight these individuals arrived on. >> allan chernoff with the latest and breaking information on this threat. we appreciate you getting back in front of that camera for us. thank you so much.

you get anything else, let us know. we're at 21 minutes past the hour now. the world certainly going to be stopping to remember 9/11 tomorrow. but this morning we have your passport to memorial services around the world. that is next. stay with us. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. ask your eyecare professional for your transitions certificate of authenticity for your chance to win instant monthly prizes or our $20,000 grand prize! [ male ] using clean american fuel is just a pipe dream. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're rolling away misperceptions about energy independence. did you know that today about a quarter of all new transit buses use clean, american natural gas? we have more natural gas than saudi arabia has oil.

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24 minutes past the hour. cnn teaming up with the tea party express to host the first ever tea party debate. eight republican presidential

contenders will face off monday in tampa. our deputy political director paul steinhauser is there. is everybody going to join you there on monday? we'll see all the candidates. >> reporter: it's a big deal. when we bring the cnn election express, you know it's a big deal. behind the bus is the debate hall. we're at the florida state fairgrounds outside tampa, florida. there will be eight candidates on the stage monday night. the same candidates at the reagan library. right next to each other ones again will be mitt romney making higgs second bid for the gop nomination and rick perry, the texas governor. we saw them go at it at the last debate. the recent polls show perry in the race for about a month has jumped to the top of the polls. here is one from a few days ago from abc and "the washington post." perry number one, romney two. sarah palin, thinking about flirting with a possible run.

ron paul from texas and michele bachmann. go back to july, look how the race has changed. mitt romney used to be the front-runner. one other thing that stands out in the poll. michele bachmann's numbers. remember, she was very rising in the poll, doing very well, won the iowa state poll last month. things have changed for michele bachmann, t.j. >> what are they up to this weekend before the big debate? what are they doing on the trail? >> reporter: it's kind of a quiet week. remember, as america remembers the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we're not seeing a lot of candidates on the trail this weekend. bachmann has an event today, herman cain does as well. we're teaming up with the tea party express to put on this debate. they have a cross-country bus tour. herman cain teamed up with them yesterday in south carolina. the tea party express continues in south carolina and florida.

coming right here to tampa for monday night. >> paul stein haweser in tampa. we'll talk to you soon. as we get close to the bottom of the hour, how do americans feel about the worst terrorist attack in u.s. soil? a new cnn orc poll released yesterday said two-thirds of americans think the country will never completely return to normal after 9/11. the world is also remembering 9/11 this weekend. talk to our nadia fillcheck to show us how countries are honoring those who died. >> in london this week what was unveiled is a culp tour from an artist in brooklyn. this is dedicated to the victims of 9/11. as you said earlier, caused a great deal of controversy. the families of the victims feel that because this sculpture is made of steel and it's steel

from 9/11, it's the bangled steel. you can see there's the memorial stone. but the actual sculpture is taken directly. the families feel it's too upsetting, to evocative. instead of having the sculpture in london outside town hall, it's been moved to batterson park. it's an interesting debate between private grief and public art. now, moving to new zealand tomorrow, a very interesting day because the american rugby team is going to be playing ireland in new zealand on 9/11. so there they are, the american rugby team. the vice captain of the team, mike petree says he feels very honored to be playing on this particular day. both the irish team and the american team will be wearing black arm bands. the organizers of the rugby world cup have brought in a marine band from america to

honor 9/11. they actually played in a big procession today. and at new plymouth tomorrow they will be having a moment of silence to remember the victims. mike petree himself, the vice captain of the american rugby team, says he was in new york, he was 17 years old on 9/11. he remembers seeing the entire thing unfold. he remembers being so proud about how new yorkers behaved. i think everybody all over the world from dublin to derbin to dubai remembers where they were on 9/11. how do thousands of rounds of ammunition go missing at a military base? that's exactly the question that investigators have as well. also a battle is under way in libya for one of moammar gadhafi's last strongholds. opposition forces are meeting stiff resistance. an update for you next.

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two of gadhafi's sons may be hiding there. a live report in a minute. a ferry accident in tanzania killed at least 158 people. authorities say the ferry was carrying more cargo than allowed. dozens of unregistered passengers were on board. tensions in cairo, egypt settled down after protesters attacked the israeli embassy. at least three people were killed and hundreds hurt in clashes between the protesters and security forces. tensions between egypt and israel have been building since five egyptians police officers

were killed. militants attacked civilians near the israeli-egyptian border. as you know, tomorrow marks the tenth anniversary of the september 11th attacks. give you a live look at ground zero. we're at new york's world trade center, where it once stood. memorial observances this weekend in new york, washington, really all across the country as well as in shanksville, pennsylvania. one there starts in just about an hour. you see people gathering there now. it's a dedication for the first phase of a memorial honoring the 40 passengers and crew who died on united flight 93. vice president joe biden and two former presidents will be there. cnn's john king is at the memorial site, and this is one, of course, not as many people died in shanksville, pennsylvania's new york and d.c. i spoke with you at the break.

you were telling me how special of a place that is. >> reporter: it is remarkable, t.j. i've been here several times over the past decade. we know the heroism aboard flight 93 is the stuff of legends. passengers were flying from newark, new jersey, to california. while talking on the air phones they found out what was happening. they heard about the plan hitting the world trade center. they saw their plane being highjacked, realized something was going wrong. the air cockpit recordings tell us about the struggle on that flight. flight 93 came to a violent rest in this field in rural pennsylvania. it takes several hours to get here from most places. this is not just a memorial site. this is the final resting ground. because of the violence of that crash, the plane was loaded with jet fuel to make it all the way to california. the fire was so intense it was impossibility -- a horrible thing to say -- but impossible to recover all the remains. the 40 victims not only died

here, but they rest here. this is very hallowed ground. you see a white stonewall behind me. directly behind me etched into that simply september 11, 2001. if you move to the longer wall, you can't quite see it behind me, but the wall on the edge of the screen, that there has 40 panels. each of those panels with the names of the victims. only the family members can go through a special gate behind that wall because of what i just noted. over the crest of the crater where the plane crashed, where the first responders first came here, the remains are still in the hallowed ground here. only family members can go down here. it is a similar memorial. it is not exactly yet completed. lit be completed in the years to come. they're still raising the money. the simplicity of it adds to the power, t.j., of what happened here. a tiny town, fewer than 200 people at 10:06 in the morning on that fateful day becoming part of our history and part of the heroic clap ter of our history because of what the passengers on the plane did. i was at the white house that morning as they've evacuated the

white house because this plane changed the flight path. the auto pilot was changed to head toward washington, d.c. where were the terrorists trying to take snit we'll never know for sure. they thought the white house, the capitol. because of the heroism on that plane, 40 people perished. you see the sheets across the time, under them the names of each of the 40 passengers on flight 93 who will be forever remembered in rural pennsylvania. we'll spend a lot of time at the pentagon and ground zero this weekend. america also needs to remember the heroism that leads to shanksville, part of this sad chapter in our history, t.j. >> our jorn king there. good to check in with you. we'll be checking back in with john throughout the morning. thanks so much, buddy. 37 minutes past the hour now. don't forget shanksville will be one of the places we're focusing

on tomorrow. ceremonies starting today. tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m., our show will be live, cnn sunday morning from ground zero. at 8:00 eastern, that is when cnn will have complete coverage of all the ceremonies in new york, washington as well as pennsylvania. let's turn back where anti-gadhafi forces try to take the desert town of bani walid. they have been pushed back by gadhafi loyalists after mounting an attack today. our correspondent ben wedeman is live outside the town. we checked in with you earlier. you said maybe some of the anti-gadhafi forces had been pushed back. what's the update. >> reporter: about sunrise this morning, t.j., they got to the outskirts of [ inaudible ].

>> the troops started to come out, the remnants of gadhafi troops at the entrance of the city. however, they found a lot of weapons still there. snipers all over the entrance. and they used the houses as their protective area. >> reporter: t.j., since then we've heard a lot of planes flying overhead.

you pray you can make it out from here. we did see a large plume of smoke on the horizon. we are hearing -- [ inaudible ]. >> ben wedeman, thank you as always. having a little bit of difficult time with his signal. still you get the gist of what he's saying. they had been giving some of the gadhafi loyalists a midnight deadline. it came and went and now it looks like a battle might be taking place in what's considered a couple of the last strongholds of moammar gadhafi. 40 minutes past the hour. in parts of the northeast, a crisis that affects tens of thousands of people, record floodwaters covering parts of pennsylvania and new york. we're getting the latest from that flood zone.

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have a flooding mess. >> in pennsylvania and new york, 11 rivers at record crest. incredible situation. even worse in pennsylvania we've been seeing the pictures of the flooding. ten sewer waj treatment plants are under water. the water that is there is polluted and is toxic. and even when the water does recede which it obviously has begun to already, what is left undersneeth is certainly quite a mess. the flood threat is still there. you can see where the flood warnings are for upstate new york and also central pennsylvania. also flash flood warnings. rivers coming up. we're seeing a little bit of rain, pretty little. here is the radar picture. it's quite interesting. what we're seeing is a western movement on this radar. it's usually from west to east we see the rain moving. pretty quiet right along i-80 we're seeing a little rain. on average maybe .3 inch and maybe half an inch. but still exacerbating any flooding we've seen. they don't need anymore. it's like filling a cup of water

over the top and adding a couple more drops. it certainly does spill over. beautiful skies. high pressure in control. even in albany, new york, today, boston, sunnies, temperatures in the low 70s. this area of low pressure points north. south of that and west, in this quadrant, cloudy skies and showers. farther west the heat continues. portland, oregon, today fshlths, 96 degrees. seatt seattle, sunny skies as well. texas wildfire situation, not good at all. dry winds continue to blow and no rain in sight, not in the short term or even the long term. it looks like as we look toward the winter, more dry conditions, wet where we don't need it and dry where we don't need it. >> good having you with us on cnn saturday morning. the president's jobs acted has stirred lots of debate on capitol hill. part of it was inspired by a

program that started right here in georgia. i'll introduce you to the man behind it next. stay with me. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community.

the 9/11 memorial is for my 343 brothers who didn't make it. and for my brother. this shows the world that we can rebuild. and that we are strong. it's for the heroes like my dad. robert de niro: this year, the national september 11 memorial opens in new york city. join us to honor, remember, and reunite. you can help right now by texting the word "hope" to 80088 to give $10.

president obama's american jobs act includes a work sharing

plan called bridge to work that is inspired by a state-run program in georgia. earlier i spoke with michael thurmond, georgia's labor commissioner when the program started back in 2003. he said he didn't know the president would speak about the program that he initiated. >> well, no, i didn't, not specifically. i had been to washington on several occasions and talked to members of the administration advocating the georgia work strategy. >> what were they curious about? did they come to you and say, hey, we heard about this program, how does it exactly work? could you tell they were always curious and trying to find a way to implement it nationally? >> yes. momentum picked up. president clinton began to advocate for it across the country. and then speaker boehner of the u.s. house endorsed it and reverend jackson. what it does is six out of ten people who participate get jobs. >> you explain it. i'll allow you to do so. you explain to our viewers what it does. i know it's paired down for me

here. still, in essence, the program does what? >> the person is laid off, construction worker. he decides to go into a new career, new job. how he receives unemployment insurance benefits, goes to a potential employer, look, if you will train me, provide me with the skill set needed to do this job for six weeks, i can continue to receive unemployment benefits no cost to you. after six weeks, you can hire me or give me a certificate of completion. what we found is that 60%, six out of ten within 90 days have jobs. >> all right. now, there are some issues with the program. >> yes. >> not everything works perfectly. so if the president were to call you and say, hey, through trial and error, what did you all do wrong with the wrong with the program that we can correct nationally? >> well, first, when i first started it here in georgia, my biggest challenge was that the employees said it sounded too good to be true. others say, it's too simple.

such a complex problem with unemployment in america, we need a more complex solution. it was too simple. the big thing is to make sure that all employers follow labor laws and make sure the employees are not being abused. make sure we follow the laws, keep it simple and empower states to be creative. >> a couple of issues that came up, i didn't really make a dent in georgia's unemployment rate. georgia has one of the highest in the country at 10.1% nowment and the program, it started off with a bang. but i understand the numbers have gotten down, as far as the people participating now, down to under 100. why is that the case, with the unemployment rate and the numbers of participants so low now? >> as you know, i left the georgia department of labor in january. when i left, we had over 5,000 members participates. the commissioner who took over for me changed the program. that was his prerogative. but when i was there, 32,000

georgian participated, 23,000 completed the program. 16,500 employers provided training and 6 out of 10 got jobs. we're just eight minutes away from the top of the hour. good morning, fredricka. >> good morning to you. how are you doing? >> well. always good to see you. you doing all right? >> doing pretty good. i love seeing avery and richard. you've probably participated in an office pool of a lottery before, right? you put in a dollar or two -- >> i haven't, actually. >> you haven't? >> no. >> you put in a dollar or two or $5. here's the case of a man who does that over a period of eight years with all his office buddies, then he's out sick one day. they continued to do the lottery. they win $99 million but he doesn't get any of the winnings. >> on the one day he's out sick? >> the one day he's out sick. and he says, i want a portion of

that. and they said, no, you weren't here that day. and he goes, oh, yeah, i'm taking you to court. >> how many employees? >> i'm not sure. >> how much would it -- come on, let the guy in? >> he wants in. and he's taking them to court. and a judge is actually handling the case and says, okay, no one's going to get any winnings until we resolve this. >> so the money is held up for everybody? >> that's right. >> they'd be better off giving him the money -- >> might as well gi me a piece of it. our legal guys are going to tackle that one. another lottery case, lottery ticket, winning ticket goes in the trash. you rifle through the trash, you get the ticket. do you get all the earnings? >> of course you do. >> well, the store owner says, wait a minute, that was our trash. and that winning ticket was in our trash. so we get a piece of it. once again, the judge has that in escrow until they resolve that. >> who threw it in the trash?

>> the store owner. >> the store owner did? >> yes. >> why? >> because they thought it was trash chld. but apparently the ticket wasn't crashed off all the way. >> did somebody get it -- i'm fascinated. >> watch it. that's the idea. you have to watch. >> did somebody get it after it was dumped outside -- >> after it was dumped outside. one man's trash, another person's treasursasure. and you heard the president earlier this week saying america needs to invent more and buy and manufacture more. how difficult is it to try to buy american? we'll have our financial fix to help you navigate and put your money where your mouth is if you want to buy american. >> not to say you don't normally, but you've really reeled me in with those two lottery stories. >> you have to watch. avery and richard have some great cases.

those are just two little kernels on the docket. >> fredricka whitfield will be with you in five minutes. you still tweeting, @fwhitfield? >> i am actually. i haven't done it today. >> fredricka, that's fantastic. >> baby steps for me. i'm getting there. >> we're right back.

as we get close to the top of the hour, we all know, you're supposed to cash away some cash for the future. but look at this. if given the choice, most americans say they prefer to pay off debt first. where do you fall in the category, fredricka? >> yes, i would -- well. >> save or pay down the debt first? >> pay down the debt first. >> maybe that is, maybe it isn't the thing you're supposed to do. earlier i spoke with clyde anderson who explained while saving for the future is so important. but every case is different. >> i think the rainy day fund is important. it's great to pay down debt. we're not saying don't pay your debt, but get the ray diny fund first. in this economy, they're saying

you should have ten months of reserves set aside for emergencies. emergencies do happen. they're happening more now than ever. >> you say still you might not be paying down versus paying on. >> exactly. >> make the minimum payment? >> make your minimum payments. in the cases where you have a situation where you're trying to get your debt to income better, maybe you're trying to qualify for a home, you may want to pay that debt down. depends on what your goals are. it's important to have financial goals set in place to know exactly what i'm trying to do. >> okay. and what we're talking about here is chunks. >> yes. >> you say pay yourself first. >> yes. >> if you've got $5,000 sitting on the credit card and the minimum might be $100, keep up with the timely payments but don't pay $1,000 or $2,000. use it for yourself. you're saying you could earn more if it's sitting in a -- >> that's a good point. depends on the situation. if year talking about a credit