president obama marks his 200th day in the office with a big sword in his side, the economy. jobless reports coming out. some are predicting 10% of americans could be out of work. we're live at the white house where they're bracing for the news. if you're hoping to trade in that gas guzzling clunker for cold hard cash, you're in luck. cars are flying off dealer lots. the cnn money team is breaking it down. >> more about the ordeal of two captured journalists in north korea. lisa ling talking about her sister's capture and life in isolation and what it was like for journalist euna lee and hillary clinton's mission to by i don't know yang to rescue the journalists. first, though, today, the 200th day in office. marking it with a milestone of unfortunately two big pressing headaches. first, the health care issue. something that could make or

break his presidency. he wants a plan in place by the end of the year. the congress had been in recess today, reform seems far off. the economy also plaguing the administration. in 2 1/2 hour, the july unemployment numbers are going to be coming out. dan lothian is at the white house this morning. just last night, viewers gave the president a c minus for handling the economy. as we talk about the jobless numbers coming out today, how is the white house bracing for the possibility of more double digit unemployment more bad news? >> definitely more bad news. not the kind the white house welcomes. nub theless, what you've been hearing coming out of the white house is that they fully expected the unemployment numbers would hit double digits. having said that, they do believe that the stimulus plan and all of the tools that your economic advisors are employing are working. the economy is creating or saving some jobs. and they're also touting the fact that the economy, which is sort of on the cliff of falling off and what they call a

disaster or a depression has pulled back somewhat. so they are touting some of the positives of the economy. on the other hand, you listen to christine romans, a top economic advisor here, she said all of this is going to take time. she uses this description, talking about a lanche ship or a supertanker. you can turn the steering wheel, but it will take time for that ship to turn around. she said that the recovery is similar and everyone has to be patient. >> what's important is not where the president is in the first 100 or the second 100 days. they're going to take the view that in the economy, we inherted an awful mess. they're wapting ingwaiting to final grade is, understanding we have a lot of work to do. they didn't expect we would turn everything around, wave our

magic wand, and fix every problem in 200 days. >> when the conversation comes up about these unemployment numbers, the white house again will always say that the president is never satisfied and will not be satisfied untilever american out there out of work and looking for a job can get a job, kiran. >> congress on recess today. we know lawmakers are going back home. they're trying to shore up support for health care reform. this is one town hall meeting. this is kathy caster. take a look. >> get off of me! >> back up. scenes like this in the health care town halls have been playing out. these protests are actually

manufacturered some are saying. but is the white house worried this will knock the president's message off track when it comes to health care. >> a distraction for the white house. they're trying to push out for health care reform. perhaps this is is a bigger problem for lawmaker. as they go back home, they're going to get an earful from constituents. the difficulty for them is it's hard to defend something or knock it down because there's nothing yet on paper. there's no one plan that's put together. and a lot of -- out there from americans about the costs. this is going to cost too much and how will it be paid for? and these lawmakers will be hearing about that as they head home. >> dan lothian this morning. good to see you, thanks. >> okay. also this morning, a lot more cash available for anyone with a clunker who's ready to trade up. last night, the senate throwing the popular program a big money lifeline.

cnn's gerri willis with your business getting rid of the gas guzzlers. >> doubled the money, $2 billion of the cash for clunkers plan. that's a doubling of the numbers. but 500,000 clunkers will be taken off of the road. there's some 40 million. it won't cover everybody. here's what you need to know if you're thinking about taking the advantage. first of all, can you afford this car? is this a deal for you? most cars' average price $26,000. you're looking at a monthly bill of $500. can you work that in to your monthly budget. do some thinking before you buy the car. don't delay though. the last round of money which was only $1 billion went in a week. this round will go one week, two weeks. move quickly to take add van tanl -- advantage of the program. if you said, hey, the tarp money went to the banks, where's my part of the equation? this is it, line up here.

you're getting a great deal, money off, maybe as much as $4500. some dealers are doubling that number. but don't forget to negotiate because you can still even do better than that $4500 off. go to edmond's.com, a great website, consumerunion.org to get details on how to get the best possible deal for you. because you're getting a little government money here doesn't mean you want to stop there. you want to drive that price lower. >> think about it, don't thin about it too long. >> that's right. >> that's right, she said. >> all right. new details this morning about what happened to the two u.s. journalists held captive in north korea for five months. laura ling and euna lee reunited with their families this week. the two women briefly crossed into north korean territory before they were captured and detained back in march.

she's asking how her sister is doing after months of isolation. >> my sister is so, so happy to be home. she's still quite weak and exhausted and incredibly emotional. she's been in isolation for months and months and she doesn't like to be alone. she was so exhausted and wanted to take a nap. she kept asking me, are you going to be here when i come back? are you going to be here? we took her to the doctor's office. my mom was going to take her. she said will you please come with me. she hasn't wanted to be alone. i hear from una's husband michael that hanna, their 4-year-old daughter, has not wanted her mother to leave her sight. she keeps following her around from room to room because she doesn't want her mom to leave anywhere, leave her.

>> una, that's understandable the way they're all feeling right now. and we wish them the best because just because they're back home doesn't mean they don't have months and months of healing ahead. >> looking forward to hearing from them and hopefully on cnn. >> hear from lisa herself later today. she said her sister is not ready to talk, which is understandable. she's planning to write an editorial and explaining more about their capture. we're going to talk to lisa ling. she's joininging us at 7:30 eastern time. and what bill clinton accomplished on his mission to north korea. victor cha will be joining joe in a couple of minutes. also new this morning, a friend of the three american hikers arrested last week in iran said his buddies made a simple and regrettable mistake. he didn't go on the hike because he had a cold. but he's certain that his friends were not aware they had crossed the border with iran.

>> judge sotomayor becomes a supreme court justice at her swearing in tomorrow. the senate confirmed her nomination at a history making vote yesterday. sotomayor becomes the first hispanic judge in the nation on the supreme court. nine republicans, by the way, voted for her. you can check out who chaired that vote. it was minnesota's junior senator al franken. there you can see. >> cyberwarfare could be to blame for knocking twitter offline. both sides of the russia-georgia conflict tried to attack each other using waves of spam messages. that could have caused the shutdown of the site two hours yesterday. facebook experienced a less severe attack. pretty amazing. a lot of people screaming about twitter on facebook. >> yeah. the funny thing is, a few years back, we didn't have any of this.

people can't live without it, not even for an hour. hillary clinton talked about her husband's trip to north korea. she weighs in on a lot of the questions people are talking ant. how this ended up happening?

♪ down in africa welcome back to the most news in the morning. 12 1/2 minutes after the hour. hillary clinton's tour of africa finds her in south africa where she's scheduled to meet with

nelson mandela. she spoke to us about her husband's mission to north korea. >> so, president clinton comes back. he spends three hours talking to the leader of north korea, kim jong-il. what was his impression of him? >> we're going to get a full debriefing. we haven't had a chance. >> you must have spoken to him on the phone? >> i do. i have a policy i'm not going to talk about what i talk to my husband about, fareed. but we're hoping that without it being part of the mission in any way, the fact that this was done be will perhaps lead the north koreans to recognize that they can have a positive relationship with us. >> but the bill clinton mission was unorthodox. here you have a former president going on what appeared to be a state visit from the way in which he was greeted being received by north korea's top

nuclear negotiator. >> this, as you know, came from the families. i mean, this was a message that laura and euna were given by the north koreans which they passed on to their families and former vice president gore. >> naming him specifically. >> naming him specifically. >> you can see the entire hillary clinton on sunday, 1:00 p.m. on sunday. what did president clinton accomplish by going to north korea. victor cha was the director of asian affairs in the bush administration and visited pyongyang with governor bill richardson in 2007. he joins us from honolulu via skype. thank you for coming in. the simple question is we know the back story. we're beginning to know the back story. we're seeing a lot of pictures coming out of that meeting with kim jong-il and whatever. the question, though, is what did kim jong-il think he was

getting from this meeting? and do you think he accomplished his goals? >> well, joe, i think one of the things that he wanted to get was some respect from the united states, which to the north koreans is very important political face. and having the former president of the united states, the one president who thought seriously about going to north korea in the last few weeks in office was for kim jong-il a big propaganda coup if you will. he certainly used the visit to talk about how president clinton came and apologized on behalf of women. so they were able to gain a lot in terms of their own public face in his visit. >> you said in "the new york times" that they're going to expect us to take our foot off of the pedal. what do you mean by that? >> well, after the north koreans did their second nuclear test in may this year, u.n. security council passed a resolution --

resolution 1874 that has a host of counterplroliferation segmen against the north. before they'll come back to the six-party talks or negotiations with the united states, what they're going to ask for is reduce some of the sanks. they are hurting the north. that will be a very difficult policy decision for the obama administration. many believe these are counterproliferation sanctions. as long as they have these weapons, the sanctions should remain in place. >> can you game it out for us. give us an idea, if certain things happen, how can we see some real progress? what would have to happen in order for us to see progress? >> i mean, the first thing would be some indication from the north, either through the chinese or the russians or the south koreans that they are interested in coming to bat -- coming back to some formal

negotiation. and then the question would be, once those negotiations happen, is there going to be interest on the part of the north and moving forward with the negotiations that the bush administration left at the end of 2008 with regards to the denuclearization. so three phases of agreement, that's part of september, 2005 joint statement among the six parties. if there's interest there, then i think the six parties will convene and there will be some hard fought negotiations to try to get them to continue to implement the denuclearization plan that they had agreed to in september of 2005. by no means is this going to be easy. extremely difficult. the negotiators have their work cut out for them. >> nick krzysztof said what the north wants to do is accept their status as a nuclear power. that seems to be a nonissue, does it not?

>> i think in one sense, it's a nonissue because the united states is never going to accept it as a nuclear weapons state. i'm also concerned that they wish to be considered a nuclear weapons state and want to be accepted just as pakistan or india or accepted today, de facto in the nuclear weapons. but the north korean case so different from india or pakistan. this is a smaller -- a small and opaque country, a record of proliferating bad things, whether that's ballistic missiles or nuclear technology. so there's no way that the united states or the world can accept this country as a nike lar weapon state. >> vick to cha, thank you so much for joining us. kiran? oh. >> live out to rob marciano. he's hanging out somewhere on friday. where is he today? he's at the world's largest yardsale. that's right, he's hunting for bargains this morning.

there he is. >> what is that? it's some kind of pottery. >> vase or -- >> who knows what he's going to find. >> hello! >> he's going to join us to tell us how they pulled this thing off. >> that looks fantastic. . unlock an outdoor dreamland for your indoor cat. exciting flavor combinations, plus a touch of garden greens make it irresistible. indoor delights. feed the senses. it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better.

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♪ everybody's working for the weekend ♪ ♪ everybody wants a new roman romance ♪ >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. the yardsale thing -- one person's junk is another person's treasure except when it comes to me, it's all junk in my house. >> i remember when we were little, it was fun to go to yardsales. what the heck. this morning -- my mother would have loved this one. 654 miles of bargains. she could have found something to take home at every stop. this one stretches from west unity, ohio to gaston, alabama. there you can see it. it's billed as the longest yardsale. rob marciano in dunlap, tennessee. the first stop taking us to mystery locations every friday. how did you find the world's longest yardsale? once you did, whou how did you

decide where you were going to stop? >> and how do you know it's the world's longest? >> tape measure. 624 miles. it's bing going on for 22 years. this is on the radar for fun shows we wanted to do. it stretches all the way from alabama all the way up to the ohio-michigan border. there are a lot of characters out here, just like kiran's mom more likely. behind you, it's sleepy right now. people are just kind of you yawning and getting up. it will be active in an hour. all this behind me can be yours for cheap. briefly, weather the hurricane in the pacific. category three storm with winds of 150 miles per hour. it's a weakening storm. it will get there in what state, that is the question. official forecasts bring the early tuesday morning to the big island as a tropical depression. so hopefully we can bring beneficial rain.

we need the rain in the midsection. that is where it will be sear g searingly hot in texas and the heat will build across the ohio river valley and to the northeast. back to the -- to the yardsale, the longest one here in the world. 654 miles. we're -- what are some of the things you can find here? well, you can find dolls. you can find figure eens. hummel figurines are being sought out. this woman toys for her kids. tools, gun, appliances that work, appliances that don't work. not everybody comes to do some shopping. we ran into a couple of sisters for alabama and they had varying reasons for attending. listen up. >> what kind of things have you picked up? >> looking for hummel figurines. we found some of those. odds and ends. >> sisters here? >> sisters. >> second year. >> she is -- she drug me here last year. i was the first in the car this year to go.

>> you like it that much? >> i like it that much. >> what do you like most of it? >> the food, the scenery, not too much of the junk but -- >> i love the junk. >> one loves the junk, one doesn't like the junk. but either way, it's a good time. as you said, joe, one man's junk is another man's treasure. this particular skillet, iron skillet. popular item here. jonathan sherr, our photo journalist picked it up for $6. you can smell the decades of good cooking. if that won't do it for you, that's $6, a hollowed out gord of some sort painted -- i believe that's an outhouse under a beautiful pine tree and something in there. that will run you $14. the secret of these are the catch-22 if you come early, you ge the best pickings, if you come later, you get the best prices and this one runs all weekend long. >> keep your eye open for an

eight-track tape player and i could also use a weed whacker. >> all right. >> just saying. >> taking orders. kiran, anything for you? >> i'd rather you didn't. >> i'll surprise you. >> thanks, man. see you soon. >> all right, guys, see you in a bit. >> all right. >> brought my of that home, i'd be in trouble. >> forget about it. >> amazing. >> when you or i pass a 200-day mark in a new job, no one cares. you and i are not the president of the united states. how does the american public think president obama has done? the grades are in from the cnn national report card. we'll have that coming up. ♪

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welcome back to most news in the morning. today marks president obama's 200th day in office. who better to ask for a performance evaluation than you? many of you took part in our on-line national report card. this morning, the results are in. here's tom foreman. >> we told you how to vote yesterday. here are the results.

the general handling for the economy, a c-minus all across the country. not looking good. circle an area here. pay attention. this area really mattered. tell you why in a minute. look at what happened to make a difference in this. this particular date, if we go up here to the 17th, listen to what the president was saying about health care reform? >> so this is what health insurance reform will mean for the average american. it will mean lower costs, more choice, and coverage you can count on. >> he has been trying to sell that message over and over and over again. but if you go back here to 167 this, is part of the problem. here's joe biden talking about the overall economy. >> there was a misreading of just how bad of an economy we inherited. that doesn't -- i'm not laying -- it's now our responsibility. so the question becomes -- did the economic package we put in place including the recovery act, is it the right package

given the circumstances we're in? >> so those were the messages coming out of the white house. but this was the result. they got hammered on the economy. and, look at this. on health care they really got hit and got hit by this part of the country. why? that's part of the older part of the country. more people here are older than elsewhere. these are people who gave them much better ratings earlier on. the question is how do you handle swine flu. they like it. a lot of people want care on that. the combination of health care and overall economy beat them up badly. if you move down the line here to the overall ranking of president obama, you can see what happens -- he winds up with a c-minus even in his home state of hawaii down here. the best he can do is a c plus, not the kind of ratings he wants especially if you look back 100 days and see back then much, much higher ratings all the way around. >> there you go, tom foreman for us this morning. thanks so much.

30 minutes past the hour. checking the top stories, gas prices on the move up again. 17 days in a row now that triple a is reporting the national average rose. regular gas is now $2.63. it's up more than a penny overnight. pakistan's most wanted man may have been taken out by a u.s. air strike. three pakistani officials say taliban leader was killed wednesday then buried. but pakistan said it will not confirm his death and unless it has dna evidence. massoud is accused of orchestrating the assassination of former prime minister benazir bhutto. and ashton kutcher and his wife, demi moore, their flight had to make an emergency lachbding after the takeoff from las vegas. this is thursday. kutcher is known for his twittering. he tweeted to more than 1 million followers. engine overheated, fire trucks everywhere, good times. moore posted a picture on her

site with the message, takeoff take two. wing nuts of the week. each friday, john avalon called out someone on the right and left who he says has taken political name calling and partisan politics to the extreme. john is a columnist for the daily beast.com and he's the author of "independent nation" and he joins us for the picks of the week. >> good to see you. >> who are you calling out this week? >> well, on the left, former congressman william jefferson of new orleans indicted for corruption for taking $400,000 in bribes to african business adventures. but most infamously, $90,000 in cold hard cash found in his freezer by the feds. he played the victim card and tried to run fore re-election, but it looks like jefferson will be spending a lot of time in the cooler. >> this thing that you say makes him a wing nut, okay, we understand he was convicted of the crime. but where does he go to wingnut territory in terms of how the thing is played out?

>> part of what makes them a wing nut is when they confirm the worst stereotypes of their own party. big city democrat corruption from ross tweed to rod blagojevich is one of the most basic stereotypes. he confirms it stereotype and becomes a wing nut. >> talk about the wing nut on the right. you -- his name doesn't come up. but his influence is out there. so -- >> that's right. let's set this up. this week one of the things that's happening is that the town -- the tea party movement has sort of hit town halls all across the country with constituents protesting health care reform and getting really angry and active at the same time. let's take a look. we have scenes from a tampa town hall last night that took place. >> going to see that in one second. here it is.

>> protesters getting out of control on the ground. the wingnut of the week on the right, is a little known connecticut grassroots activist called bob macguffie. he wrote a memo that pulled the curtain back from the efforts saying that conservatives used the sal linsky playbooks to disrupt the town halls. a couple of quotes from that memo. he said, quote, the objective is to put them on the defensive. watch for an opportunity, yell out, challenge the reps' statements early. have someone else follow up with a shoutout. look for these opportunities even before he takes questions. >> we've seen these scenes he's calling for play out in the town halls. is there legitimate concern -- people wanting to ask their representatives how this will affect me? will this mean higher taxes? less services? how do you differentiate from people who have questions about

health care. >> asking your reps and holding them accountable. but where it goes over the line is when people try to actively undermine, disrupt, and bully their opinion. that's where things go off of the rails. you have the conservativeish the grassroots activists are crossing the line severely and things are getting violent, things are getting weird. congressmen hung in effigy, that's not civil disobedience. that's something else. . >> you gave us a hall of fame. we end with -- the bonus round. the honorary wingnut. are you picking on bacon? oh i'm defending bacon. i couldn't help but notice a headline called "bacon as a we bob of mass destruction." and in the magazine, the indypendent. weapons of destruction, god forbid, bacon. the pc police may be coming for

your bacon. watch out. a lot of things said about industrial farming, but leave bacon alone. >> keep the pork out of politics. >> that's it. >> exactly. >> you can check out all of john's picks for wingnut of the week. he blogs and likes to take suggs from you as well. thanks so much, john. former president bill clinton had nothing to say when he returned home from north korea with two freed u.s. journalists but talking about the humanitarian mission now and so are you, the viewers on our show "hotline." do a super job. introducing the superguarantee. go to superpages.com to find a business with the superguarantee. we're so confident in these super businesses we stand behind their services. you'll get the job done right or we'll step in and help to make it right. sign up for free at superpages.com the new superguarantee making the good guys easy to find.

anderson? >> here. >> buehler? buehler? bueller? bueller? >> he's sick. my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who know this is kid that's going with a girl that said he passed out at 31 flavors last night. i guess it's pretty serious. >> coming of age films like "ferris bueller's day off" spoke

to a generation. john hughes was one of the most influential screen writers and directors in the 1980s. he died of an apparent heart attack in new york city at 59 years old. thelma gutierrez is looking back. >> joe, kiran, americans of a certain age, the teen films john hughes will hold a special place. he reflect the voice of a generation and launched the careers of some of the decade's biggest stars. for young people, his films defined the '80s. in coming of age comedies like "16 candles," writer-director john hughes showed american teenager coping with real life social problems. >> what in god's name is going on in here? >> most were set in illinois, a fictional town that reflected his suburban upbringing. 1995, "the breakfast club"

centered on detention. it was the premier of the brat pack. jud nelson, anthony michael hall, and molly ringwald. lighter fare like "ferris bueller's day off" and the romantic teen drama such as "pretty in pink" and "some kind of wonderful." he graduated of the adult world writing and directing "planes, trains, and automobiles" with steve martin and john candy. he directed "beethoven" and the wildly successful "home alone" starring mccauley culkin. he retreated from the spotlight, occasionally contributed the odd story idea. but he'll be remembered to the film in which a generation of teenagers saw himself. steve martin reacted to hughes' death saying, quote, he was a great writer who created so many

enduring characters for film for the director and the writer. the real gifts was in creating the identifiable characters. joe, kiran? >> memorable stuff. >> like you said, you can think of a quote for one of the movies every day. he'll be missed. >> absolutely. >> meantime, bill clinton talks about a rescue mission to north korea, giving a few more details on how this came to pass. 42 minutes past the hour.

♪ shut up and put your money where your mouth is ♪ we'll come back to the most news in the morning. president clinton's trip to bring journalists laura ling and euna lee home from north korea. yesterday you heard from a viewer named martha asking a question a lot of people are wondering, how much did the trip cost and who paid for it? steven bing picked up the entire $200,000 tab. the fact that martha asked about the price left a lot of people angry. let's listen. >> caller: ask martha there if her family was stuck over in north korea, would she be wondering who's footing the bill if they're magically home safe on their doorstep. i don't think so. get a life. >> who cares how much it cost -- $2 million, $200 million, or $2. these are two american lives that we are saving. >> it doesn't matter who paid

for clinton's trip. what matters is that the reporters are home safe. >> there you go. and, so, again, we had a lot of calls relating to our calls. we love it -- we love to hear from you guys. hot line is up 24 hours a day. call any time. 1-877-my-am fix. hearing from president clinton for the first time about his trip to north korea. he surprised a lot of people when he stayed silent at that welcome home news conference for euna lee and laura ling. he refused to dive into the policy debate about what his trip could mean for the u.s. and north korea moving forward. >> my job was to do one thing which i was profoundly honored to do -- as an american and as a father, i wanted those young women to be able to come home. and i wanted our two-countries to have the ability to decide

where to go from here. but anything i say beyond that could inadvertently affect the decisions and moves either here or in north korea and the attitudes of our allies and i have no business doing that. >> interesting hearing from a guy who used to talk and talk and speeches that went on for hour, suddenly not saying too much. >> it's interesting. when we heard from secretary of state hillary clinton she said there was going to be a debriefing of what everything that happened. and fareed asked, she said, i don't talk about what my husband and i say to each other on the phone. >> amazing. >> we'll hear more. just not yet. hearing from lisa ling, the sister of laura ling, one of the two journalists held there. what's it been like for the family imagined four months in isolation. and then you come back home. she's going to tell us a little

bit about what the girls are going through right now, both of the young women and one of the daughter, euna lee's little girl, hannah, what that's been like as well. >> an amazing story of waiting for mommy to come home. >> she doesn't want to leave her side. >> it's a movie. >> all about it from lisa coming up. racheting up slowly )

( whooshing, riders cheering )

♪ every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end ♪ 50 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. this could be a make or break month for the president and his push for health care reform. he has two big goals. he wants to cut costs and improve quality so there's more

money to ensure to everyone. but there's a major gap in washington's plan that's not getting enough attention. allan chernoff is digging in to it for you this morning. good morning. good to see you. what is the problem? >> the problem is fraud. tens of billions of dollars are spend every single year on health care fraud. a major reason that the health insurance premium keep on climbing in medicare and medicaid are draining the treasury. but for all of the talk in washington controlling costs, the issue of fraud is getting little attention. >> she knew her podiatrist was cheating blue cross/blue shield when she read her statement. he billed thousands of dollars to surgically remove dozens of warts when tereasa only had a discolored toenail. >> it was like robbery. they were overcharging for a procedure that wasn't done. >> tereasa called blue cross which investigated, ultimately

leading to the arrest and imprisonment of podiatrist jeffrey cook. health care fraud perpetrated by doctors, pharmacists, even organized crime gangs is rampant. senate investigation found medicaid in recent years pays half a million claims people posing as doctors who were dead. such fraud costs every american, it drives up prices for medical insurance and treatment. >> it's the domino effect. someone has to fund that. and ultimately it gets passed down. >> major health care companies have special investigations units to weed out fraudulent claims. >> we want to get that money back. >> reporter: estimators estimates fraud accounts for minimum of 3% of all health care spending, $72 billion a year. others say the figure is three times that, topping $200 billion.

>> if we do not reform health care, your premiums and out of pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. >> reporter: president obama warns health care repair is needed to get medical costs under control. but one of the biggest culprits, fraud, gets little mention in the reform effort. >> they're aware of this problem. they don't seem to know the magnitude or the seriousness. they don't seem to be acting with the kind of urgency that i would like. >> the health reform bill approved in the house, 1,018 pages long, devotes only 40 pages to the issue of fraud. bills in the senate would add $100 million a year to combat fraud, waste, and abuse. that's the amount of health care fraud occurring in this country every 12 hours using the most conservative estimates. >> that level of constructionrr one of the big reasons that our medical bills rise steadily every single year. in the big push in washington, provide health coverage for more

americans, experts warned if fraud isn't addressed more aggressively, taxpayers will pay $1 billion more than necessary to provide insurance to those who don't have it right now. >> talk about the big problem. it costs a lot of money to try to root that out. >> and we are not spending that much money. $100 million just reported, that is just a tiny, tiny fraction of what we're spending on health care in this country. it's basically what's going on in washington right now, we're talking right now turning on the health care spending tap. and at the bottom of that sink is a huge drain in to which so much fraud blows. we've got to aggressively attack that issue. it's not being addressed nearly aggressively as every expert says it should be. >> good reporting alan, thanks so much. you know, president bill clinton isn't talking too much right now about his trip to north korea. so we decided to go and do the

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detention centers in the u.s. the conditions are a disgrace. people are promising to do something about that. jeanne meserve has the story from washington. >> joe, kiran, the administration is taking the first step towards what it promises to be a comprehensive overhaul of immigration detention facilities. on any given day, 32,000 people are held in immigration detention in the u.s. and at some times in some places, investigations have revealed appalling conditions. >> we've had over 90 detainees since 2003. there's been a real crisis in provision of medical care at these facilities. and the problems are really wide spread and nationwide. >> reporter: now immigration and customs enforcement is revalue waiting the entire system, promising stronger federal oversights including random inspections of the facilities and quicker investigations of detainee grievances. >> if people are going to be held by the force of the rule of

law, we have an obligation they're held safely in a clean and healthy environment. >> reporter: among the areas under review, the location and operation of the detention facilities, health care, and alternatives to detention. ice will move immediately to discontinue family detention at the residential facility in texas. before an american civil liberties union lawsuit was settled in 2007, children under 10 were being detained there in up to a year in cells with open toilets and one hour of schooling a day. the aclu is elated but pushing ice to enforce basic standards for conditions at all of its detention facilities. >> it does not make sense to just reorganize immigration detention system. there needs to be meaningful reform. >> reporter: it's the beginning to reform the system. but they will still enforce the

law, will still be in the business of detaining people who are in this country illegally. joe, kiran. back to you. >> jeanne meserve for us. coming up on 7:00 here in new york on this friday, august 7. glad you're with us. i'm kiran chetry. >> joe johns in for roberts. very glad it is friday morning. >> glad to have you with us. following a lot of developing stories. breaking them down for you. president obama starts it 200th day in office with the same thorn that's been in his side since day one. that's the economy. an hour and a half, july's unemployment numbers come out. those unemployment numbers could be in the double digits. live in the white house with the administration's response. secretary of state hillary clinton is in south africa this morning meeting with former president nelson mandela as part of a seven-nation tour of africa. she sat down with cnn's fareed zakaria to talk about her husband's mission.

children are the ones being hit harder by swine flu than any other group. talk to the nation's education secretary about the white house's plan for the law. but we begin with the big day for president obama, the 200th day in office. marking the milestone with two major, major issues. first, health care. an issue that could make or break this president. he wants a plan in place by the end of the year. but the congress has been in recess today. reforms seem far off. the economy plaguing the administration. as we said, in 90 minutes, july's unemployment numbers come out. and some analysts say we could expect double digit unemployment. dan lothian is at the white house this morning. last night, the viewers gave the president a c-minus for the handling of the economy. is the white house bracing for another hit today when the jobless report comes out? >> oh they are. these are not the numbers that any administration wants to see. having said that, you know, over the past couple of weeks, even the past few months, even, the president and his spokesman have

been saying that they fully expected that the unemployment numbers would hit the double digits. but they believe that the stimulus plan is working. the stimulus money is keeping some jobs and creating additional jobs as well. they believe everything that their economic team has been able to do has pulled the economy back from the brink of total collapse from total disaster as they put it. but, you know, what's interesting is when you hear christina roamer, one of the top economic advisors here in the white house talk about issues, you can look at the economy and the turnaround as a large supertanker or ship. you can turn the steering wheel, but it will take sometime to move that ship around. the word from the white house is that americans need to be patient. >> i think what's most important to the american people is not where the president is on the first 100 or the second 1 hush days. they're dpogoing to take the lo view of this. they understand particularly in the economy, we inherited an awful mess. it took a long time to get to

this point. it's going to take some time to dig out of it. they're waiting to see what the final grade is, understanding that we've got a lot of work to do. but they didn't expect that we're going to turn everything around, wave our magic wand, and fix every problem in 200 days. >> so the answer from the white house when they're asked if there was any frustration when these kinds of numbers come out is that the president will never be satisfied, will not be happy until everyone who is looking for a job can find a job, kiran. as we know, dan, congress on a recess officially today, lawmakers are going to be going back home. they're going to try to shore up support for health care reform. we've been seeing scenes play out in town hall meetings all across the country. take a look at this one from tampa. this is the meeting -- the attempted one with kathy caster. >> we're raising -- on -- >> get off of me -- >> back up!

there are some in the democratic party saying these were manufactured by the gop. is the white house worried that scenes like this will sink the possibility of passing health care reform, dan? >> it is a distraction as the white house is really pushing for health care reform. but some are suggesting it's a bigger problem for lawmakers as they head home. they're getting an earful from constituents. the biggest problem for them is they don't have anything on paper that they can push or defend. there are a lot of plans out there, but nothing yet one single plan on health care reform. so difficult for them as they hear from their constituents who are very concerned about the high cost of health care reform and how they're going to pay for it. >> dan lothian at the white house. thanks. right now, secretary of state hillary clinton is in south africa meeting with former president nelson mandela. while there, she's talking about some of the biggest issues

plaguing the entire continent. aids, war, and rampant political construction. jill dougherty is tracking things from her post at the state department this morning. hi, jill. >> hey, joe. take a look at that schedule by secretary clinton today. it's amazing. it begins with that meeting with nelson mandela. then she goes on to a speech, a business, an industrial group. then she has events connected with health and women's issues. it's a very good indication that the breadth of issues that secretary clinton is highlighting on this trip to africa. >> i see africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world, as partners with america on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. >> >> reporter: three weeks after president barack obama's trip to africa, his chief diplomat is back, striking many of the same themes. >> many parts of africa are

rising to 21st century challenges and turning it to a road map that will turn to a regional and global hub for progress and prosperity. >> parts of the continent are racked with violence. but it's not claiming to long-held stereotypes of it as a basket case, but as a potential bread basket. >> we believe in africa's promise. we are committed to africa's future, and we will be partners with africa's people. >> and she's delivering some tough messages. >> government has to reform itself. kenya will be all it can be. that is the message that president obama and i have delivered. it is tough but it's lovingly presented. >> tough love, david lane calls it. >> what we're hearing from secretary clinton is it's a two-way street and african

leaders have to be responsive to their people, they have to govern justly, invest in their people. that's an implicit bargain as the u.s. provides resources for development. >> secretary clinton is highlighting some of africa's many problems too, meeting with the president of somalia, a country besieged by extremist movements tied to al qaeda. visiting south africa under severe economic pressure. in the democratic republic of the congo, meeting with victims of mass rapes used as a tool of repression. add to her travel agenda, kenya, nigeria, angola, cape verde -- seven countries in sen days, her most ambitious trip yet. it's an opportunity to send a message to china, successful in gaining access to the natural resources of africa. translation -- the united states is making africa a priority. joe? >> jill dougherty at the state department. thanks for that.

secretary clinton has been busy. talking to cnn about her husband's big adventure. she spoke to fareed about her husband's rescue mission to north korea. >> so president clinton comes back. he spends three hours talking to the leader of north korea, kim jong- jong-il. what was his impression? >> we'll get a full debriefing. which we haven't had a chance. >> oh you just have spoken to him on the phone. >> i have spoke to him on the phone. but i have a policy never to talk about what i talk to my husband about, fareed. but maybe without it being part of the mission in any way, the fact this was done will perhaps lead the north koreans to recognize that they can have a positive relationship with us. >> but the bill clinton mission -- it was unorthodox.

here you have a former president being received by the top nuclear negotiator. >> this, as you know, came from the families. this was a message that laura and euna were given by their families passed on to al gore -- >> naming him specifically. >> and you can see more sunday 1:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. well, who wouldn't want to turn their clutter to a little bit of cash? that's what countless folks are doing. others are looking for treasure. you never know. >> i want to give away my blackberry. how much do you think they'd buy it for? oh. >> or at least shut it off. this is the worldest longest yardsale. stretches all the way from west unity, ohio all the way down to gadsden, alabama. rob marciano in the middle of

all of it. he's in dunlap, tennessee. the first stop on rob's road show taking us to mystery locations every friday. you can look for collector's items for the old yankee baseball cards. >> it would be excellent. >> you know what? i was just talking to a guy who pulled up in his trailer and he asked, hey, can i rent this spot? that's what they do? they come in -- i don't know if they pay $50, $100 a day to rent a spot in someone's yard and sell their stuff. he had a truckload of sports memorabilia. he said i heard about it, just trying to find me a spot. i'm trying to find you some stuff. i got you some hacksaw blade here and maybe grass trimmers. some of the stuff you'll find in the longest yardsale. 54 miles. joe, i'm not sure if blackberry services up and down this thing.

>> a pager would be fine. the really big ones that i can put right on my -- >> yeah. yeah, a brick. >> yeah. check out we saw everything from run of the mill lawn mowers to appliances that didn't work to vintage good year and coca-cola signs going for hundreds of dollars. we chatted with a couple of vendors, we asked how much money do you make out of this? here's what one said. >> what are your projected earnings based on last years and the years before? >> $8,000 to $1,000. >> $8,000 to $10,000. i'm in the wrong business. >> that's what i said. this is my whole year's work. i collect all year for this one sale. >> all right, $8,000 to $10,000. all sorts of stuff, including this old-fashioned dolly. maybe i'll pick this up for you, $125. maybe on sunday, it will go down to 50. >> it looks like something an ox

should be pulling. >> yeah, i can barely move it. >> you know what i thought of, rob? my husband likes the old school dogs playing poker? >> yeah. >> you guys like to have them in your man room, right? >> i want one on the dashboard of my car. >> you see one -- >> it's picking up -- >> glad it's nothing specific. we'll look for that. see you guys in a half hour. >> rob, thanks, have fun at the world's longest yardsale. there he is. school is just around the corner. it's starting up again for the fall. and children get swine flu more than any other group. we've learned that this year. so schools are bracing for what could be a brutal fall flu season talking about the best way to prevent that flu from spreading will be with the education secretary live with a new plan in a couple of minutes. 12 minute after the hour. it's the official card... largest airline. of the world's and it's the only credit card... that earns miles on delta. miles that take you... to more places than ever before. over 350 destinations worldwide.

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the spotlight this morning back on swine flu and a brand new plan for schools to fight it for the fall. more than 1 million americans have been affected by the h1n1 virus.

353 of those have died according to the cdc. the biggest group the flu has hit thus far is young people. schools are bracing for a brutal flu outbreak this fall. arnie duncan joins us to talk about it and the administration's new plan to tackle the pandemic. mr. secretary, good morning, good to see you again. >> good morning, how are you doing? >> how bad is this going to get? all kinds of rue nowhemors, all of talk. you're prepared for the worst. >> we don't know how bad this will be. we want to be prepared. our team, the department of health and human services have been working all summer and we feel prepared going to the fall. >> what are you telling the schools? last time when we first started hearing about h1n1, a lot of schools seemed to close down at the first hint of it. that's not going to be the plan this time? >> we want schools to take a tiered response. i view this first and foremost as a parent. i have a second grader and

kindergartener going back to school. we want our children to be safe first and foremost and keep them learning. we asked the school to take a tiered response. if it's a handful of children, we want those parents to keep those children home. if it starts to escalate, the schools can think about closing. but the first response is to keep the individual children home and parents to really think about common sense approaches, have our children coughing into their sleeves washing their hands frequently. if we're thorough in the preparation for this, we think we can get off to a great start to the school year and be practical in our response. >> what is a threshold, though. give me a little bit more sense. 10 people, 50 people sick with this? >> it will be determined at the local level. our job is to provide information so that the local officials and school districts can make a good decision and go forward once that theme becomes available in mid october, we want our schools to be vaccination sites so our children can get vaccines if our parents choose to do that. >> mid october.

a tricky situation there. i assume you prefer to be able to get it to them before the school starts. >> it's the case. not going to be available. the drug companies are working as hard and fast as we can. the best case now mid october. it will be a two-shot sequence. so we want to be thorough on this and make sure that many children who want to get vaccinated have an opportunity to do that right in their schools. >> do you know what the holdup was? a lot of people are saying last year at this time that it ought to be ready for school to start. >> i think we're looking as hard as we can. the team is pushing there as hard as we can. the fact of the matter is right now it's available in mid october. >> how do you plan to monitor the situation? it sounds like so many tasks for so many schools around the country. >> absolutely. constant communication is important. we want to be in contact with every school, every school district on a daily basis. we're going to share that fgs across country. we set up great communication pipelines throughout the summer.

again, we feel we're going to be right on top of that going to the fall. >> great, thanks so much, secretary of education arnie duncan. back in touch with you on this one. >> thanks for having me. >> kiran? >> we talked about the popularity of the cash for clunkers program. all of the money used up in a week. they did approve an additional $2 billion for the cash for clunkers program. gerri wilson will join us for more on what you should watch out for and why you should act fast. 18 minutes after the hour. their night-vision goggles keeping the rescue mission safe... and powering those goggles-- the only battery air life trusts: duracell. trusted everywhere. you all want to run your businesses more efficiently, so we've brought in a team of experts to help.

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♪ she's got a tick to ride she's got a ticket to ride ♪ ♪ but she don't care that's right. gerri does have a ticket to ride. she's going to jump in to the cash for clunkers program. we've been talking about how senate approval are funding it a little bit more. $2 billion more additional dollars because it ended up being so popular, all of the money was gone in a week. >> double it up again.

$2 billion it will be available. some tips on what to do about this. look, consider affording a new car. if you're buying the average new car costs about $26,000. if you're financing that over four year, you're probably paying $500 a month with this incentive. and, look, don't delay. the first clunk of money for clash for clunkers was gone in a week. it's not going to take long to get rid of $2 billion if you think about the fact there's $40 million cars on the road right now. if you're concerned about the tarp money, take advantage of this program. this is your direct incentive. this is your bailout money. don't forget to negotiate. a lot of people out there are saying, you know, oh, great, i get $4500 off, i get $3500 off. but the reality is, you want to get a good price on that vehicle and not just give up when you hit the car dealership. >> very interesting. you're getting some new -- new numbers and information about exactly what cars are being

purchased after your clunker is traded in. and there are some -- it's not just small cars and hybrids, there are trucks getting sold. >> exactly. the government said people are being really responsible buying the small compact cars. the company called edmond.com came out with their own list. ford escape crossover suv number one, the silverado, the ford f-150. >> these are trucks. >> pickup trucks. a little debate here now about how many of these really low-mpg cars are being bought. the good news is we could take away is that at least some of the american-made products are getting off of the showroom floor and in people's houses. i have to tell you, i spoke to one of the authors of the plan yesterday, he said there's going to be another one of the programs and he expects there to be a tax on high-mpg cars. if you want to buy yours can laid, do it today. back at 8:30, the unemployment

number, the big deal for the economy. very important to us. paying allot of attention to that. >> it's a mixed bag according to edmond's. three out of the top ten are hybrid. there are a couple of big trucks out there too. >> a little more complicated. $3 billion so far for the cars, but how much did the banks get? >> how much do the banks get? >> yeah. >> how much -- >> i don't have zeros for that. >> exactly. >> you want to see more equity. >> that's what i'm thinking. don't think it will happen. here's a question for you -- why aren't some of our troops wearing uniforms made in america? a matter of safety? money? the growing controversy live from the pentagon next.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. protecting our troops at all costs, that's the american way, right? but there are new questions about the fireproof uniforms that save our soldiers' lives and why they're not made in america. chris lawrence join us us now with more. chris, good morning. hey, good morning, joe. the american troops are fighting over in afghanistan, there's another battle going on right here over who gets to make the uniforms that can save their lives? an ie derks explodes. the only thing protecting the americans from the blazing heat is the fiber in their uniforms. >> three-to-five second delay before it's pin traited which gives you time to put the fire out and reduce the risks to the soldiers. >> this is not made in america and may have to be removed from the uniform in a few years. there's a fight over who gets to

make these uniforms, a job worth hundreds of millions of dollars to congressional districts and board rooms. >> some companies have lost hundreds of jobs. >> we travelled to north carolina state university where the army commission tests on fabrics of two dozen companies. >> whether or not it ignites, if it ignites, how long it continues to burn, the afterflame. >> the heat and flames simulate fires on the battlefield. >> a person would be burn in a fraction of a section. >> record how much of that heat hits the skin. >> reporter: the fire is so intense, you can feel it through the protective glass outside of the chamber. the army said the best fabric was the one from tenkada. quote, they have consistently exceeded our expectations. this has proven to be a valuable fabric and well received by our soldiers. they make the uniforms from georgia but imports from austria. that special rayon is not made

in america. >> it breathes, it is fire resistant and not matched by an american product. >> congress passed a special waiver allowing the pentagon to import outside materials for the uniforms. that waiver expires in a few years. congress is debating an amendment to extend it indefinitely. it was defeat in the senate with one opponent calling the amendment -- >> an exception that favors foreign suppliers of rayon over our own american companies. >> some believe american companies will develop a similar fabric by the time the waiver runs out. >> the efforts made in virginia and south carolina to produce this product here domestically. oh. >> this will allow american industry to come in with a whole spectrum of ideas and materials. >> an american uniform with all american materials. >> i understand that from a business standpoint. but for the safety of our troops, if you don't have a superior product, you shouldn't

be -- our troops should have the very best. >> defeated in the senate, now the amendment has to be worked out in the house. bottom line -- if the waiver goes away, other companies have three years to come up with the uniform that's just as good. the problem is if they can't. because at that point, you wouldn't be able to import any more of that special rayon. joe? >> and big problem too. thanks so much, chris lawrence of the pentagon. kiran? oh. >> we check our top stories at half past the hour, two more bloody years in afghanistan. a prediction from one counterinsurgency expert who will soon be advising our top generals in that country. after that, he says the u.s. will either hand off to a better afghan military or, quote, lose and go home. the on-line panic is over. the world didn't end, and microbloggers can now get out of the fetal position under their desks. the cyberattack that temporarily

shut down twitter and brought facebook to a crawl can be related to the political struggle between russia and the soviet republic of georgia. the spam and e-mail on-line traffic can be traced back to one tracker. >> octomom update ruling that nadya sulaiman's octuplets do not need a court-appointed guardian to look overtheir money. they were worried the babies would be exploited. another hearing for august 20. it is 31 minutes past the hour now. and all of us watched -- teared up, got goose bumps as we witnessed the emotional tear-filled homecoming for law are ling and euna lee. it's a long road back. law are's sister lisa says both girls after months of isolation won't be -- don't want to be left alone. laura and euna admit they did

step into north korean territory accidentally before their arrest. lisa joins us with more about it. thanks for being with us this morning. >> hi, kiran. >> i know you guys are so busy. all of our viewers watched this. there wasn't a dry eye in the house or anyone who wrote in to us. a lot of people followed that plight of your sister and euna seeing how difficult it was as they were trying to do their jobs. now that we know they're home and okay, tell us a little bit about how the family is doing? >> the families are beside ourselves. we've just really been basking in the wonderment and excitement of having laura back. and actually michael and euna came over to laura's house last night and the girls had pizza for the first time. i have to say that the thing that was so wonderful to see was little hanna, eun a's 4-year-old daughter -- i have never seen her so happy. and we all sort of remarked that it was just a beautiful thing.

>> all of us saw the look on her face. as a mom, i can understand exactly how that must have been -- or i can only imagine how it must have been. but one of the first things people were worried about was their health. how are they doing? it was a long period of time they were held there. how are they physically? >> well, euna is so, so skinny and my mom, who -- a typical mom was trying to force feed her last night because she's just become so diminutive. my sister, she's doing well. they both went to doctors yesterday. and laura, you know, she would spend periods in relative isolation. she would sometimes go weeks without talking to anyone despite the fact that there were two guards posted in her room at all times. so even communicating is challenging because she -- she sometimes, you know -- yesterday was even having a hard time

getting full sentences out. so it's -- it's a slow adjustment and we're trying to give them as much time as they need. >> it's understandable. you want to ask them, you want them to sort of tell you how everything was. you want to know what they went through. you want to share their pain. but at the same time, you want to give some space because they've been through quite an ordeal. and does that involve eventually having to talk to professionals? is this -- is there some sort of process that's recommended to sort of get back to your everyday life and to be able to leave some of the nightmarish memories behind? >> well, in fact, that's something that i talked to both laura and unaabout last night. they're open to it. you know, what they experienced in north korea was very, very challenging. and even though we weren't able to -- we haven't really talked too much about the details because, again, we're allowing laura space, the few stories i have heard are jaw dropping.

i know she's eager to at some point talk about them. we just want to give her time to -- to get to -- get reacclimated. >> a lot of people were surprised to hear that laura and euna were not together. people assumed erroneously they were held together. as we learn a little bit about their isolation, what else did they tell you about whether they were treated well about whether or not they were -- they were ever mistreated while they were held in north korea? oh. >> my sister says that for the most part, they were treated fairly and humanely. and we were very surprised that she and euna had not seen each other at all. they just found out when they were reunited that they were in the same facility but on opposite ends. and we were told by president clinton that as soon as they got on the plane, they wanted them to rest because they could tell they were so tired but the two

of them were chatting away and comparing their experiences and a lot of times talking to president clinton as well. >> i can imagine. you're tired but you the former president there. you know you're going home. you know you're going to be reunited with your family. i can't imagine all of the emotions. a quick break. when we come back, i want to ask you more about the rescue mission, about how that all came to be. and a couple more thoughts on where they go from here. we're gong to take a quick break. lisa ling is with us and joining us after the break.

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welcome back to "the most news in the morning." we're talking to lisa ling about her sister, euna lee. i want to ask you about this. i know that you guys were trying to make things as easy as possible and not complicate things as they were in -- being held in north korea. how did you determine that --

that during the course of these phone calls that it would be in the best interest to come out to speak about it? and also, to try to get former president clinton involved? >> in the nearly five months of captivity, they were only able to make four calls to us. and we know that the calls were very closely monitored. and, in fact, messages were being communicated through laura to me specifically. it was really pretty extraordinary that there was this sort of channel between laura and me. and on the last phone call, she said that in her opinion, quote/unquote, it would have to be president clinton. it could only be president clinton to secure the release of herself and euna. we immediately jumped into action and alerted vice president gore and the state department and vice president

gore called president clinton immediately and he graciously agreed to go and we are just so, so grateful. >> i imagine. and, so, it just turns out, talk about, you know, a stroke of being unlucky by actually have them accidentally cross over the boarder and taken. but what a stroke of luck they were working for current tv at the time. if anybody can get a message to president clinton at the time, it would be al gore, right? i mean, how did you feel about knowing that that was sort of what they wanted to secure your sister's release? >> well, she -- she definitely communicated it to me. and it was confirmed by state department sources. and i have to say that vice president gore also was -- was tireless in this. he -- we jumped into action as well. he called president clinton immediately. they have a very close friendship.

and as we all know, a long-standing relationship. president clinton didn't even hesitate. he was so, so happy to do it. there really is no -- no figure as a sort of universally beloved in the world. again, we were just thrilled and grateful that he would do it. >> you're already -- you've come on to preview some of your national geographic programs. you've done risky work. you were in north korea. you did an undercover documentary for national geographic in 2006. you exposed some of the hardships. what was going on in your mind that you knew that was the country and the government in which your sister was detained? mine was years ago and i was with a medical delegation. the entire time my sister was there, we maintained our hope. i belief in the fundamental

goodness. i knew in my heart that at some point laura and euna would be returned back to us. i didn't know when it would happen. but i never lost that hope. laura on the phone was very, very concerned and very scared that they would be sent to a labor prison. and the only reason they hasn't been sent already is because both she and euna had medical conditions. and that last phone call she said it has to be president clinton, our families would stop at nothing to we could to see if president clinton would go. >> were you worried that your reporting there would have any impact either way on her detainment? >> i -- i won't lie -- certainly i was concerned. but it was indicated through

laura and other people that this was going to be a political mission. >> you were here with us when you took that boat ride in nigeria when you were just trusting these people and ended up shooting the shoreline that you're sitting there, calm, cool under pressure. does this change how much risk you're willing to take as a journalist and perhaps for your sister, laura, as well. >> well, it's a different -- difficult question. because every assignment that both of us do and most journalists undertake there is risk assessment. when i went to cnn to nigeria, we spent a considerable amount of time really assessing the situation and going through it and so on. we know for certain that laura and euna never intended to cross the border when they left u.s. soil. and laura is eager to tell the story about what happened. i want to let her do so.

but right now, she's really just getting reacclimated. the processes are slow. she's very, very weak. she's interested in telling the story. >> i want to thank you for telling part of it. our viewers are captivated. good luck to you and your family. we're so glad this ended the way it did. lisa ling, sister of released journalist, laura ling. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. here's what's on the american morning rundown in the next 15 minute. his movies, john hughes. the director for an entire generation dies of a heart attack. the classics that made him a legend. and it's billed as the largest yardsale. that's where our rob marciano is live this morning. he's got the weather and the wares up we're calling it rob's road show. and brand new unemployment numbers are calling. it could be 10% of americans out of work? maybe, maybe not. why the white house is bracing

for the news.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. the director and screen writer who defined a decade. this morning, sad news that john hughes died of a heart attack in new york yesterday. >> yeah. just suddenly fell over while walking with his family. you remember the breakfast club? uncle buck, "ferris bueller's day off." many of us can't go three hours without referencing or quoting one of his classics. here's thelma gut yes. to americans with a certain age, the teen films john hughes will hold a special place. his work reflected the voice of a generation and launched the careers of some of the decade's biggest stars. >> reporter: for young people, the films defined the '80s, in coming of age comedies like "sixteen candles," john hughes

showed american teenagers coping with real life social problems. >> what in god's name is going on in here. >> reporter: most of the teen stories were set in shermer, illinois, a fictional town that reflected his suburban upbringing. 1985's "the breakfast club" center on high schoolers who bond over weekend detention. it fueled the careers of the brat pack, stars like emilios teves, jud nelson, anthony michael hall, and molly ringwald. lighter fare like "ferris bueller's day off" and "weird science" and dramatic teen dramas such as "pretty in pink" and "some kind of wonderful." like his young characters, hughes graduated to the adult world, writing and directing "planes, trains, and automobiles" with steve martin and john candy. he carved out a in each as the creator of family films like "beethoven" and the wildly successful "home alone."

in his later years, hughes retreated from the hollywood spotlight, occasionally contributing the odd story idea. but he'll be remembered best for the film in which a generation of teenagers saw themselves. steve martin reacted to hughes' death saying, quote, he was such a great writer who created so many enduring characters, for film, both as a director and a writer. the real gifts was to create these identifiable characters. joe, kiran? oh. >> most certainly be missed. that's for sure. >> amazing movies. "home alone." >> "planes, trains, and automobiles." >> "ferris bueller". rob marciano is at the longest yardsale of the world spanning several different states. every time we check in, he's cooked up something epps. >> fuzzy dice? the ones you put over your rear-view mirror. seen any? >> put them on the list.

we're getting a laundry list of items. the cast iron skillet, sere a steak, make some corn bread. all yours for $6. years of seasoning here. the longest yardsale in the world. all of this can be yours for cheap. more about it when we come right back. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. if you love to search for bargains, get this, we found a yard sale where you can shop for 654 miles. it's running from ohio to alabama, it's the world largest yard sale. it's also the first stop on rob's road show. our rob marciano is live in dunlap, tennessee this morning. good morning, again, rob, and

we're very chexcited about this. >> reporter: this white table with chairs is $149, this lovely tea and china set is $65. of course, today's the second full day of this thing. so these prices will come down for sure. let's see, we've got an old fashioned phone here. $20, that sounds like a pretty good deal. not sure if that works here. you've got a laundry tub, painted with a nice country setting, red barn there is $48. to go with laundry, the old-fashioned way, this is the way you would twa dactually dry laundry if it worked. we came across a laundry machine. a laundry machine that had a sign that said $10, doesn't work. a lawn mower, $100, used to work. i'm not going to sit in this

chair because i'm sure that's not going to work at the end of this thing. 654 miles from alabama all the way to the ohio-michigan border and we spoke with one vendor who makes $9,000 to $10,000 every year. and people just come for the food, the fun, to people watch, and to buy other people's junk. and we'll be here all day looking for stuff for you, joe and for you, kiran, to bring back. >> i told him we need pictures of dogs playing poker. that's all we want. >> fill up a house with that stuff. bring it on. >> we'll work on it, guys. we'll work on it. >> also coming up in just about 30 minutes from now, the new unemployment numbers are going to be coming out for the month of july. some economists are saying it could be double digits. we could see unemployment hit 10%. >> and this is one of the things the white house has been struggling with. a holdover from the last administration. very tough for them to explain, the longer it goes, the more it feels like a problem for this

president. >> how is the white house responding this morning? . (music plays) when you think about all you can do in an all-wheel-drive subaru... you'll find there is a lot to love. that's why we created the subaru a lot to love event. where you can get a great deal on any new 2009 subaru. and see theee really is a lot to love. hurry in and lease a 2009 impreza for $179 ppr month. now through august 31st.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. this could be a make or break month for health care reform. the president's goal to cut costs and improve the quality of care. but there is a critical gap in washington's plan that's not getting a lot of attention. allan chernoff is following that for us. what you're talking about is fraud. >> this is a huge, huge issue. you know, that tens of billions of dollars are lost to health care fraud every single year. this is a major reason our premiums keep on rising, medicare and medicaid are actually draining the treasury. but for all of the talk in washington of actually reducing health care costs, fraud's getting little attention.

>> reporter: theresa knew her a die terrorist was cheating blue cross blue shield. s she only had a discolored toenail. >> it was like robbery. they were overcharging for procedure that wasn't done. >> reporter: theresa called blue cross, which investigated, ultimately leading to the arrest and imprisonment of the doctor. health care fraud perpetrated by doctors, pharmacists, even organized crime gangs is rampant. the senate investigation found medicaid in recent years paid nearly 500,000 claims to fraud. it drives up prices for medical insurance, treatment, and drugs. >> i think it's a domino effect that ends up with the consumer. somebody's got to fund to that and ultimately gets passed down.

>> reporter: that's why major health insurance companies have special investigation units to weed out fraudulent claims. >> we want to get that money back. >> reporter: other investigators estimate fraud accounts for a minimum of 3% of all health care spending. $72 billion a year. other experts say the figure is more than three times that, topping $200 billion. >> if we do not reform health care, your premiums and out of pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. >> reporter: president obama warns health care reform is needed to get medical costs under control, but one of the biggest culprits, fraud, gets little mention in the congressional reform effort. >> they are certainly aware of this problem. they don't seem to know the magnitude or the seriousness. they don't seem to be acting with the kind of urgency that i would like. >> reporter: the health reform bill iapproved in the house, devotes only 40 pages to fraud.

it would add $100 million a year to combat fraud, waste, and abuse. that's the amount of health care fraud occurring in this country every 12 hours, using the most conservative estimate. that level of corruption is one of the big reasons our medical bills rise steadily every single year. yet the big push in washington has been to provide health coverage for more americans. if fraud isn't addressed more aggressi aggressively, american taxpayers will be paying billions more than necessary to provide it for those who do not have it. >> thanks. by the way, if you want to find out more about the story, we've been getting some reaction on twitter and people say it's a good topic we haven't been talking about enough. thanks, allan. >> more spending, more fraud, that's the way it works. well, welcome back once again to american morning, it's 8:00 on the nose here in new york and we have a lot going on this morning. great to see you this morning. >> glad to be here. and here are the top stories we'll be breaking down for you

in the next 15 minutes. this morning, the nation marks 200 days of the obama white house. and since day one president obama has been talking about creating jobs and in 30 minutes we'll learn if his efforts are paying off or if unemployment in july went even higher. also secretary of state hillary clinton is in south africa this morning, taking a tour of several countries in africa, and she's also delivering a tough message. in a moment, live at the state department to find out what america's top diplomat is saying. and lisa ling, kiran had an in-depth interview. hear what she has to say about her sister's emotional home coming. first, though, president obama kicks off his 200th day in office, in less than 28 minutes now, we're going to learn the nation's unemployment rate for july and it is not expected to be pretty. especially when you look at how unemployment has soared from 6.2% last september to 9.5% in

june, already the white house is trying to get out in front of the jobless report. here's what robert gibbs told wolf blitzer last night. >> we're going to get a jobs report tomorrow that's likely to show another several hundred thousand jobs lost. the recovery plan is working in cushioning the blow. i think you see that in the rerecently released economic output if i can yours. but it's going to be many months before we can get people back to work. we're working on that every day. the president is focussed on that each and every day, but that's long-term and short-term challenge. >> and dan lothian live at the white house this morning. so the administration bracing for the numbers coming out in about 30 minutes. and some economists are saying we could see unemployment creep into double digits. politically, what does that mean for the administration? >> reporter: well, the administration bracing for this, they've been preparing for it quite some time. they've been saying that they fully expected that it would reach into the double digits. they're saying that, listen,

everything we've been doing to stimulate the economy, to create these jobs, these jobs are being created that it will take some time before you can see the fruit of their labors. that one of the senior administration officials here top economic adviser describes it this way. that the economy, in turning the economy around is like a large super tanker. you can turn the steering wheel, but it'll take time for that vessel to correct. they believe they're in that process, they're turning the steering wheel, but it'll be sometime before you see or feel that recovery and americans need to be patient, kiran. >> america got to grade the president last night. what grade would the administration give itself? >> reporter: robert gibbs giving the administration a b on the economy. he believes that because of everything that this administration has done, they've been able to pull the economy back from the brink of disaster from a depression, also believe that the financial markets have stabilized because of a lot of the work they've done and also improvement in the housing market.

no one here is by any means saying that a recovery has happened, but they believe, at least, the trend lines are improving. >> all right, dan lothian for us this morning at the white house. thanks so much. and one of the programs we've been talking about here, cash for clunkers is still alive. the senate approving more money for the program and president obama praised the senate for keeping the rebate running program running. approving additional $2 billion in funding so customers can flock to car dealerships and get up to $4,500 by trading in their old cars. also jumped slumping car sales, july was the auto industry's best month in nearly a year. this morning, secretary of state hillary clinton is in south africa as the second leg of her seven-nation tour of africa. she's meeting with government and business leaders stressing america's commitment to the future of the continent. our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is tracking secretary clinton's trip from the state department, she joins us now live. good morning. >> good morning, joe. you take a look at that schedule

of secretary clinton in south africa today, it's really quite full of events. she starts out with a meeting with nelson mandela, the former president, and then delivers speeches to business and government groups, then women's rights. it's a very good, perfect example of the issues that secretary clinton is getting into on this trip to africa. >> i see africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world. as partners with america on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. >> reporter: three weeks after president barack obama's trip to africa, his chief diplomat is back. striking many of the same themes. >> many parts of africa are rising to 21st century challenges. and following a road map that will turn africa into a regional and global hub for progress and prosperity.

>> reporter: parts of the continent are racked with violence, but the focus is not being held into lang held stereotypes as a basket case, but a possible bread basket. >> we believe in africa's promise, we are committed to africa's future, and we will be partners with africa's people. >> reporter: and she's delivering some tough messages. >> the government has to reform itself. if kenya will be all it can be. that is the message that president obama and i have delivered. it is tough, but it's also lovingly presented. >> reporter: tough love david lane, president of the anti-poverty globalization calls it. >> what we're hearing is it's a two-way street and african leaders have to be responsive to their people, govern justly and that's an implicit bargain as

the u.s. provides resources for development. >> reporter: secretary clinton is highlighting some of africa's problems meeting with the country of somalia, a company besieged by extremist movements. visiting south africa under severe economic pressure. in the democratic republic of the congo, meeting with victims of mass rape used as a tool of repression. add to her travel agenda, kenya, nigeria, angola, liberia, seven countries, 11 days. her most ambitious yet. >> and the trip also provides an opportunity to send a message to china, which has been very successful in gaining access to the natural resources in china and that translation would be the united states is putting africa on a high level in its priorities. joe? >> that certainly is quite an itinerary. thanks so much. jill dougherty at the state department. meanwhile, secretary clinton

is talking to cnn about her husband's big adventure this week. she spoke about the former president's rescue mission to north korea. >> so president clinton comes back, he spends three hours talking to the leader of north korea kim jong il. what was him impression? >> well, we're going to get a full debriefing, which we really haven't had a chance to get -- >> you must have spoken to him on the phone. >> i have. but i never talk about what i talk to my husband about, fareed, we're hoping that maybe without it being part of the mission in any way, the fact that this was done will perhaps lead the north koreans to recognize that they can have a positive relationship with us. >> but the bill clinton mission, it was unorthodox, and here you have a former president going on what appeared to be a state visit from the way in which he was greeted being received by

north korea's top nuclear negotiator. >> this, as you know, came from the families. this was a message that laura and euna were given by the north koreans which they passed on to their families and vice president gore. >> naming him specifically. >> naming him specifically. >> and you can see the entire interview on cnn. well, many democrats are heading back to their districts for congressional recess, and they're holding hometown meetings. >> for some it doesn't exactly feel like home. because some groups of conservatives are coming out in droves to protest the new health care planment check out this scene last night in florida. a little bit of pushing and shoving going on. >> just say no. >> just say no.

>> just say no! . >> just say no! >> just say no! >> now, that town meeting wasn't exactly an isolated incident. events like this are happening across the country. he had to be escorted to his car by police, when things got too heated, a new ad from the democratic activity says "mob activity is straight from the play book of republic operatives." republican national committee chair michael steele says we're not inciting anyone to go out and disrupt anything. what do you think? let us know at cnn.com/amfix. and we're going to be talking about this, the town hall heckling et cetera, the future of health care reform with democratic strategist bob shrum.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. you know, president obama failed to get a health care reform bill out of congress by the summer recess. that was his original goal. but now this month of august could be make or break for a system overhaul. democrats are back home in their districts and out trying to sell the president's plan. but then there's these town haul disruptions we're seeing the protests around the country. the debate has become a shouting match in some cases. take a look. >> just say no! just say no! >> all right, robert shrum says

the stakes are high and the republicans are stooping low. he joins us with more. thanks for being with us this morning, bob. >> glad to be here. >> so as we talked about in our earlier hour, in some cases, people are being encouraged to gout and disrupt these, but in other cases, people are legitimately questioning or want to, at least, find out some answers as to any types of changes in health care will affect them. how do you separate what's been going on? the so-called propaganda versus real questions that constituents might have? >> well, as i said in my column in the week, people can ask these questions and come to the town hall meetings, have a dialogue, but what's happening here is you have organized mobs paid for by organized money, standing there screaming just say no so that not one question can be asked. i don't think that's going to help the republican party. what you're seeing is the party of no. on the other side, you're going to have president obama out there occupying the bully pulpit in august talking about health care.

i think that the republican tactics are going to backfire. when people hear rush limbaugh comparing the president of the united states to adolf hitler, the democratic party to the nazi party, when they see these kind of tactics going on, i think that's only in the end going to build support for what the president wants to do. >> house minority leader john boehner says the democrats are quote in denial instead of acknowledging the widespread. if we're dismissing these and if democrats are dismissing these questions about health care reform and how much it's going to cost that it could backfire on them? >> no one's dismissing the questions. everybody's willing to answer the questions. the senate finance committee's working very hard on this. the senate health and education committee has already done this. but you can't get any progress on this, at least if you're on the other side, by just standing there and screaming or by trying to flood these meetings and making it impossible to hold them. when you do this, all you're

doing is i think assembling a whole bunch of joe the plumbers, the media's going to pay attention to it like joe the plumber and in the end it's not going to vi any effect, i think it's going to help pass health care. the real target is democratic members of congress. but i think they all remember 1994 when so many of them walked away from the clinton health care reform and they know what happened in that election. they lost seat after seat after seat and it's the moderates and blue dogs who would lose those seats. they have to take a lesson from the republicans of 20 or 30 years ago who stuck with ronald reagan as he put forward a very bold program that i didn't happen to agree with, they got through a tough period in '81 and '82 and got to the reagan era. i think democrats understand that and i think the president's going to get a health care bill. >> there are polls after polls coming out showing while people think there needs to be changes, they believe in that principle, yes there are, problems. when you ask them about their

health care, by and large they're satisfied. nearly 75% of people asked said they are satisfied and only 1/3 believe that president obama's health care plan will actually help their individual family. how do you sort of work against those numbers and push through something in a tough time that's going to be costly when the majority of people seem to think, at least, i'm okay with what i have. >> you have to go out there and talk to them about the difference it's going to make. you have to answer the republican scare tactics. you referenced john boehner, he last week told a complete lie, saying this bill opens the road to euthanasia. they're saying, for example, that the savings in medicare come out of medicare benefits, they don't and everybody knows it. they come out of a deal with the hospitals to cut costs by $155 billion, without cutting services for the elderly. you have to go out and tell people.

if we don't fix this problem, we're going to have very serious consequences down the road. general motors now pays more money for health care than steel in the cars. it's the reason why the american auto industry has had such great difficulty competing. it's a fundamental issue of social justice. right now today, a lot of people are getting sick, staying sick, and dying sooner because they don't have health care and it's also a fundamental issue of economic health for this country for the long-term. >> and then i want to ask you about this, though, there are a lot of people who believe that you need this public option. and the public option is really the only way to bring it out universal health care and to pave the way down the road for true reform and true cost-cutting. yet now there's talk of max baucus, democrat in the senate who met with the white house yesterday is saying that perhaps they need to throw public option off the table that it's not going to be supported by republicans and some moderate democrats are not going to do it. is it real health care reform the way the president envisioned it without this public system?

>> it depends what the alternative is. if the alternative, the cooperatives that max baucus and kent conrad are talking about provide real and effective competition to the insurance industry, then it's the kind of reform we need. and i think we could move forward with that and we will move forward with that. if on the other hand you don't get that and you don't get some republican support, there's always a backup. the democrats can put this bill through the senate by a process known as reconciliation, which is filibuster-proof and requires only 50 votes plus vice president biden. >> all right. we'll have to see how it goes. again as we know, it's a hot topic for the month of august. we encourage people the to read the article. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> and it's going to go on for months in all likelihood. also coming up later, just a fascinating interview this morning with kiran and lisa ling speaking to cnn right here on american morning. hear what she has to say about

how her sister was treated in captivity.

21 minutes past the hour, welcome back to the most news in the morning. we witnessed their emotional home coming from korea. but it is a long road back for laura lee and euna lee. and earlier i spoke with laura's city lisa and i asked her about the weeks leading up to the release and what it's been like for them since their plane touched down. >> in the nearly five months of their captivity, they were only able to make four calls to us. and we know that the calls were very closely monitored and, in

fact, messages were being communicated through laura to me specifically. i mean it was really pretty extraordinary that there was this sort of channel between laura and me. and on the last phone call, she said that in her opinion quote unquote it would have to be president clinton, it could only be president clinton who could secure the release of herself and euna. and we immediately jumped into action and alerted vice president gore and the state department and vice president gore called president clinton immediately and he graciously agreed to go. and we are just so so grateful. >> how are they physically? >> well, euna is so, so skinny, and my mom who is a typical mom was trying to basically force feed her last night because

she's become so diminutive. my sister, she's doing well, they both went to doctors yesterday. laura, she would spend periods in relative isolation. she would sometimes go weeks without really talking to anyone despite the fact that there were two guards posted in her room at all times. so even communicating is challenging because she sometimes, you know, yesterday was even having a hard time just getting full sentences out. >> what else did they tell you about whether they were treated well, about whether or not they were ever mistreated while they were being held in north korea. >> well, my sister says that for the most part they were treated fairly and humanely. and we were very surprised that she and euna had not seen each other at all. they just found out when they were reunited that they were in the same facility but on opposite ends.

and we were told by president clinton that as soon as they got on the plane, they wanted them to rest because they could tell they were so tired but the two of them were chatting away and comparing their experiences. >> there you go. and she also said her sister's really eager to tell her story that laura wants to talk about what happened while they were captured, what was going on at the time, and also what they went through. but that she just needs a little time, which is understandable. >> also talking about writing an op ed, i hear, which would be fascinating, but you don't think you get enough time in an op ed to really do justice to it, so maybe a book. >> yeah, definitely be talking about their experience. also coming up, talking to former presidential candidate and former republican senator from tennessee fred thompson about health care, a variety of other issues, including the economy. be right back.

27 minutes past the hour, have we hit double digits? those are some of the fears of the economists when new unemployment numbers for july come out. due out actually in three minutes and we're going to have them for you. last month unemployment hit 9.5%. some are worried we could see that jump to 10%. stocks overseas on the skids and futures are down on wall street. we have gerri willis standing by with more on the numbers, more on the political impact, and we will bring those numbers to you as soon as we get them. secretary of state hillary clinton is in south africa this morning. earlier she met with former south african president, during

her seven-nation tour, she's talking up some of the continent's biggest issues. plus, for the 17th day in a row, the price of gas has gone up. >> that's right aaa is reporting the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is now $2.63. that's up more than a penny the last 24 hours and we've seen gas prices up 17 days in a row now. it is shaping up to be a make or break month for health care reform in this country. so many town hall meetings on this key issue are turning into shouting matches. one in florida, even, almost got violent. some say it's all manufactured outrage from conservative groups. so what's really going on here? here to talk about that, former presidential candidate and host of the fred thompson show, former senator fred thompson. how you doing, sir? >> good. how are you? >> thank you so much for coming in. we've been showing this morning pictures that came in from tampa overnight. a lot of pushing and shoving inside a room. we've seen and heard people talking about a congressman

being hung in effigy. we've heard about a congressman having to be walked to his car from authorities. a lot of -- what's your view of this? have we reached the stage beyond civility? >> well, perhaps in some cases. i've seen some clips like the one you're talking about. i also know that meetings are being conducted all over the country and the overwhelming majority of them are not like that. so i hope that we don't get so caught up in the reasons behind the protests that we can't talk about the substance of the protest and the issues and the concern that a lot of people have over the health care legislation that's pending. hopefully we can have a civil conversation about that through the month of august. and i think what you're seeing is that people are learning more

and more about what's in the bill and they're concerned about some of those provisions and they're also resentful about the process that the attempt was made to speed it up and to kind of push it down people's throats before they had a chance to digest it, before they had congressional hearings on the final bills or anything like that. and it's apparently overflowing in some places and that's enforcement. >> we do know people get worked up, they got worked up when the clintons were trying to push it through. a lot of drama there. this time, perhaps the same thing, there are some on the other side saying it's the kind of thing that's manufactured and canned. what's your view? >> well, you know, the republicans haven't been accused of being able to organize anything in a long time. so they apparently are getting -- not only massively organize meetings that are conducted almost simultaneously across the country, but --

>> i'm sorry, let me jump in for one minute. ask you to stay right there, we just got the unemployment numbers, i'd like to go over to gerri willis. what are you hearing? >> yeah the numbers coming in at 9.4%, the expectation is that we would get a 9.6% unemployment rate just in june we had a 9.5% rate, that was a 26-year high for unemployment, this comes as good news. expectations were that we would lose 325,000 jobs for the month. still waiting to hear what that reality is for the month in my ear here. but i have to tell you guys, we always see that jobs lag what's going on in the economy. we have that number now, the payrolls number dropping by 247,000, that is very, very good news when you consider in june we lost nearly 500,000 jobs, 467,000. i think you've got to say this is a positive, a win-win, the market sold off this morning expecting bad news, they're

going to get positive news, you're probably going to see a turn around in the stock market. employment is a lagging indicator. it follows everything else. and that's because hiring managers don't work in realtime typically. they have to wait to get data to decide if they're going to hire, if they're going to fire, already we've seen that so many of those hiring managers has told workers you're going to have to take part-time work, we're going to cut your hours, we're going to have you take longer vacations, and now those people will be added back in and slowly we'll start to see that employment picture really, really improve for the better. >> and this is the interesting thing. when the unpredictable comes in, most economists said they expected it to rise possibly to double digits but at least to jump up 1/10 of a point. it's one of those moments. when you hit 10% unemployment, the game changes. >> it does and you cross that psychological barrier. but this is very good news for the obama administration. there are a lot of people in the west wing doing just that right now. this is very good news not only for politically, but for the

country, but for the people who have been unemployed. a sign that some of the stimulus may be working, the country may be pulling itself out of the trough we've been in. this is one battle. the war is not over. but this is a great indicator and a positive surprise. >> a point of analysis here, i think we have seen what's going on here, the economy is healing itself. we're waiting for a lot of those stimulus dollars, they haven't kicked in. >> now let's bring in former senator thompson. you're looking at the economy and you've be on capitol hill watching it closely. do you think it's a good sign for the country? >> well, i've never seen such euphoria over 9.4% unemployment. but it's all about -- >> still high. >> kind of like politics, i guess, it's all about somebody's expectation. i do think that what you're seeing is the underlying strength of the economy struggling and trying to come

back as it always does and as it will in this case too. by i think about 10% of the stimulus money is out the door now. so if the economy's coming back or the recession is over as some people have claimed, i guess we can save about 90% of that stimulus money and let the economy draw on its basic strength and bring us back the way it always does. >> and if i can ask you one more question, where do you think this health care reform thing is going? you spend a lot of time on the hill, a lot of time talking about the health care reform. do you think it's going in the right direction? >> well, it's going in all different directions. i think that, you know, the democrats are very much at odds with each other. they have tried to demonize the republicans and insurance companies and those who are protesting and so forth. but you've got to talk about what's in the bill and a lot of democrats are having trouble

when they go back home and people have read portions of the bill and in some cases all of the bill. i think ultimately what will happen, something will be done about the uninsured in this country. if we remember, we started out that was the goal. do something about the uninsured and do something to as they say bend down the long-term cost curve. and if we could get back to those considerations, i think you could have bipartisan agreement on that. but you don't need to revamp the whole system, change 1/6 of the economy, put in jeopardy the kind of care that we get in this country, which is the best in the world, put in jeopardy the kind of insurance coverage that so many people get who are pleased and satisfied with their coverage in order to do those basic things. >> all right. great, thank you so much former senator thompson. we appreciate you coming in this morning, i think that was a pretty good line there. so much euphoria and unemployment is still at 9.4%. it's pretty high, but a good sign for the administration

because it wasn't what they thought it would be. >> right, we talk about it being about expectation and we saw it drop. so that's the news they can bring to the table here. payrolls dropped by 240,000, the job rate falling to 9.4%. signs that the recession is ending, gerri? >> absolutely. and this will be a kick start with what goes on with consumers. it's responsible for 66% of the spending in our economy, that's the way the economy works. when you make consumers feel more comfortable, when you and i feel comfortable spending because we think we might be able to stay in our jobs, that will help the economy. >> all right. and quickly also, as gerri said, some of the recovery seems to be happening when we're talking about nearly more than 80% of the stimulus money going out there, not out there yet. >> well, i think it raises questions for folks. there is a bailout backlash going on inside the country. real anger and frustration. wall street recovering, main street doesn't feel it yet. this is still 9.4%, but it's the trend that matters for politics

in the economy. if under reagan in 1982 unemployment was 10.7%, it was 7% by the time he won 40 states for reelect. but the trend is in the right direction, we're not out of the woods yet. >> they say the trend is your friend on wall street. >> exactly. >> thanks so much for your analysis. and meanwhile, we're going to be coming right back in a moment with alina cho. they've been chronicling every moment of their freshmen year and she brings us her behind the scenes report. 37 minutes past the hour. (music plays)

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welcome back to the most news in the morning, it's 40 minutes past the hour right now, and there's the shot of the white house this morning. mostly cloudy in d.c., 71 degrees, a little bit later, it's going up to 85 and a partly cloudy day at the start of the weekend. pretty pleasant outside all things considered. >> mild summer. >> yeah. welcome back to the most news in the morning. we've been bringing you behind the scenes and firsthand reports. two young members of the freshmen congress. one's a republican, one's a democrat and they're worlds apart in every way. alina cho has been following

them as they chronicle their daily life. >> they shoot their own videos. >> you told them to zoom out and they listened to you because last time we had eye and nose jobs. >> we figure around the tunnels and basement. >> you spend ten years as a congressional correspondent, so you've seen this before, but a lot of people haven't. it's great. good morning, everybody. congress, we should mention is about to begin its august recess. before they head out, we wanted to check in with our two freshmen congressmen. cnn.com has been following 42-year-old republican jason from utah and 34-year-old democrat jarrod polis from colorado. these two colleagues from opposite sides of the aisle have been shooting footage for cnn.com, giving viewers a real behind the scenes look at life as a freshman congressman. that includes some sights we don't get to see. watch. >> figured out something new here, i didn't realize that we

could come out on what's called the speaker's balcony. so we're here with a few other freshmen members. >> not freshmen. >> we're veterans. >> wyoming sends your greetings. >> wyoming, new york, kentucky. >> this right here is the rayburn room. you come out here turn to your right and you see the security guys. and if you turn left, that's the floor on the house, that's where they say, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> familiar faces, vice president, senator bradley, i kind of have a good seat here. >> an enormous amount of the institutional -- i know you have members of. >> he didn't listen to me. i said zoom out, guys. he said good-bye to his summer interns who took a walk down memory lane recalling their funniest moments on the job. >> oh, this is so sad, it's the

last day for all of our wonderful interns. we love you all so much, thank you so much. our highly paid team of crack interns. thank you. >> i think my favorite part of being an intern in this office has been working with constituents and giving tours. >> actually today earlier i was giving a tour with a bunch of little kids. and one of them actually ran into the legs of nancy pelosi. >> the funniest thing in general is just constituent calls, we get a lot of really smart informed people. but we also get a lot of people who call conspiracy theorys, so i think that was my favorite part. >> i've worked in this office for two months now and one of the staffers still calls me andrew despite the fact my name is anthony, awesome. >> we should mention that congressman polis' office wants me to tell you that he was joking about them highly paid because they are unpaid. you should watch this latest episode and all of the episodes

of the reality series and for that go to cnn.com/freshmanyear. and i know your favorite part is watching him eat pop tarts in his office where he lives. he pays $1,500 on rent. he's a father of three from utah. >> yeah. >> and so he's saving money by living in his office. >> that's right. that's right. on a cot. and i'm surprised he lasts this long, but small quarters. >> nobody's happier than -- >> that's right. >> they don't have the video of smoke-filled rooms because they don't smoke in the capitol anymore. >> oh. >> they're back on september 8th and we'll be following them again. >> thanks so much. coming up the myth about exercise, is it the best thing to milk away those pounds? i've been looking forward to this segment. >> you're hoping the next guest justifies you not having to go to the gym any more.

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all right. it is 47 minutes past the hour now. if you think that hour you spent on the treadmill this morning will help you lose weight, think again. at least according to the cover story this week. saying exercising regularly may actually make it harder for you to lose weight, which comes as a big shock to many people. the myth about exercise. well, a senior writer at "time," he joins us now with more. you're going to have -- tell us about the whole premise of this. how is working out more or exercising more making it harder for people to stay in shape? >> well, and i'm one of those gym rats, by the way, i should start out by saying it's really important for your health in all kinds of ways, but in terms of weight loss, the problem is exercise -- one problem is exercise makes you hungry and we all know this intuitively, but you know, when you work out, also you feel hungrier and you

also want to reward yourself. so people often get home from the gym and they say, well, you know, i can have that bag of potato chips because i worked out this morning. >> is it more about, the simple, you know, math or the simple way that biology works, you know, a calorie in a calorie out. you need to take in less than you expend if you want to lose weight. and vice versa. so the question is, are we just not doing it smart anymore? is the way that we expend activity and how much we consume just not matching up? >> well, one problem is we don't move very much in our day-to-day lives. people don't take the stairs, people -- when you do get out from in front of your computer finally and maybe you go to the mall, you're taking the escalator, the elevator, you know, we don't move very much in our day-to-day lives and then we go to the gym for 30 minutes or we try very hard to get to the gym and then you're fiddling around with your ipod and maybe not doing much exercise. there's also kind of a myth

about, we think if you convert fat to muscle that you're going to burn more calories. it is true that muscle burns more calories than fat, but not as much as people think. >> a muscle would be 6 calories a minute and fat's 2? >> well, not a minute, it's per day. a pound of muscle is going to burn about 6 calories in a resting body not per day, per hour, and then a pound of fat is going to burn about 2 calories. so if you convert 10 pounds of fat to muscle, you're going to buy yourself about 40 calories a day. >> which is a half of spoon of peanut butter and you're done. they did a study on women who were not regular exercisers, divided them into four groups they worked out for varying levels of time, 72 minutes for some, 194 minutes for others per week. and they ended up finding that some of the people who worked out the most weren't the ones that lost the most weight or

sometimes they actually gained more than the control group. how is that possible? >> so particularly that very high exercise group, those -- there's something called the researcher who did the study, dr. tim church at the research center, he calls this compensation, basically. and there's two ways you can compensate, you can eat more, or you can move around less, you know, when you get home from the gym. and he thinks it's probably mostly the eating because they were measuring these people's steps. but the shocking thing about that study was after six months -- and these people worked out with trainers, it was three or four times a week at the gym, you know as a group the exercise people did not lose any more weight, any more body fat than the control group and all the control group did was fill out a monthly medical form. >> i guess you have to be more realistic about how much we're -- how much good we're actually doing in the gym and what we eat outside of it. >> exercise is very important

for all kinds, for your mental health, your heart, you should exercise, but this idea that it's going to make you really thin is kind of a myth. >> all right. well, you can read more about it on the cover of "time" this week. thanks so much. >> thank you. we also have a link, by the way, cnn.com/am. 51 minutes past the hour. i love to play with the drumsticks in my hand. the music legacy in the world is dying fast. it's really hard for a kid with the violence, the drug life. i'm just tired of it. my aim is to get kids off the street. my name is derrick and i thought of a music education program for kids of new orleans. >> let's go, arms up.

>> we do more than teach music. we also do transportation, offer instruments, i'll feed you if you're not hungry, give you tutoring. you don't have an excuse why you're not here. we need it five days a week year round. you're constantly learning new stuff and that's what keeps the kids coming back every day. >> i'm getting in trouble. now when i come here -- >> i love seeing kids out there just having fun. >> you have to keep teaching these kids some culture. i don't say i'm saving lives, i say i'm giving life, a whole new life of music.

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♪ music city right there, nashville, tennessee, it's supposed to be clear and 73 right now, partly cloudy later, 92 degrees, that is one good town. music calls us home, that's what it says on their website. i love it so much. and a couple hours from there, i hear is rob marciano. now, this guy has been out there going through this big yard sale that goes just about 600 miles all the way from ohio right up here against the edge of michigan there down through gadsden, alabama, and you see that dot in the middle where rob

is right now. he's been picking through all that good stuff and trying to get us some bargains here back in new york. >> now he's checking out decor for his bedroom. >> reporter: yes, exactly. >> that's very nice. i like the barbie doll. >> reporter: this is about as lucky as i can get -- >> that's aurora. >> reporter: who is this? barbie. >> that's princess barbie and the one in front is aurora. >> reporter: as you know the world's largest yard sale, people waking up here in dunlap, tennessee. some of it's junk, some of it's pretty good stuff. some of it will take you back in time. you know, some -- remember you were done with jelly, it turned into a glass with your favorite cartoon. all sorts of china and lamp.

i haven't found a leg lamp, that's on the list which happens to be growing. figurines. an authentic genuine 100% real turkey tail. that's from a turkey. how about that? it's nice and soft and i'm sure it was a tasty thanksgiving. dill pickles. >> i see a village people costume. halloween's around the corner. >> green tomatoes, don't let us get in your way. and this is probably my favorite. i might have to bring home to you, joe, i know you were looking for some fuzzy dice. i think the phone is ringing. hold on, it's john -- john roberts on the phone. >> hey, john, come on back.

>> he says you're doing a great job, don't sit so close to kiran. you guys have a good weekend. we'll be here all day. so we're going to do this every friday. we're going to go on the road next week the yo-yo championships in orlando. and our viewers can decide after that. go to a.m. fix and give us your ideas. >> i know rob's hoping for somewhere with a beach. good luck with that. good luck with the frying pan you bought yourself. >> you can make omelets with that. >> have fun on that chair. that's going to do it for us. we'll see you back here on monday. >> "cnn newsroom" with heidi collins begins right after a break.