165 words. they can count to five. and that's about indicative of a 2-year-old. >> my dog has two words because i haven't offered 100 words to him. oops on me. >> the good breeds are border ca collies and doberman pincher. >> thanks fosh being in the newsroom this sunday. see you again 4:00 eastern time. time for "your money." . up ahead the future of your money. in six months, a year, five years. what you can expect from the economy. why health care reform could force president obama to reneg on one of the biggest promises in the campaign. on you to go from fired too hired just like that. settle in. it's time to talk "your money."

welcome to "your money." the jobless rate in the united states improved for the first time in more than a year. the unemployment rate now standing at 9.4%. that's down from 9.5% in june. while the report was better than we expected, we are still losing jobs in this country, lots of jobs. 247,000 jobs were lost in july. that is the smallest job loss in a month since august of '08. 6.7 million people have been laid off since the beginning of this recession, which started in december of '07. january of '08, which is the first square there, that's the first month we lost jobs. look at that trend. for the first seven months it was steady and then the recession worsened. we felt it. that's when the credit crisis hit. look how jobs started to be lost in the united states going down in january by 741,000.

that's how many jobs were lost in january. since then we've started to see a reversal in that trend. fewer jobs lost on a monthly basis. in june we hit a bit of a snag there. it got worse for may, but look at july. this is the smallest as i said since last august. 247,000 jobs lost. now, how does that affect where you live? i told you that the national average, the national unemployment rate is now 9.4%, down from where it was last year. let's take a look at how this works out across the country. in red are the states with an unemployment rate that is 2 percentage points higher than the national average or more. if the nationshtional average i we're looking at high ner red. some states there in the red, you can see iowa and michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the entire country of more than 15%. really it's hard to see, but up in the corner here, you see rhode island and south carolina.

now, in gray are those states where the unemployment rate is within 2% either way of the national unemployment rate. somewhere between 7.4% and 11.4% n. green, and this is a pattern we've seen for a long time, those states which have an unemployment rate of two percentage points or lower than the national average. 7.4% or lower. those middle states, those mountain states, and we've seen this for a while. virginia also enjoying that trend. now, what does this mean for you if you're a job seeker if you're an investor or looking to make decisions about how to spend your money or go to school in this economy? he's the managing director, and he's a great friend of the show. you've been saying for sometime, the larger picture here is that this recession is ending right under us right now probably. >> absolutely. the information we're seeing this week on jobs is completely consistent. it's confirming that. back in april looking at forward-looking indicators it became clear the recession ends

this summer. sometime between memorial day and labor day. we won't get the exact date for another year. >> the exact date won't matter to most people. >> that's history by then. here it's like what's going on? is it getting worse or better? definitely that trend you went over is shows us it's getting better. it doesn't mean it feels good and the recession is over at this moment because we're looking jobs. you actually have to grow jobs to say that you're in an expansion. >> you have a great map. you have a different map that i talked about unemployment rate, the percentage of people unemployed. yours is different. this talks about job gains or losses. take a look at this map and tell us what's going on. i think it looks terrible. the whole country is in decline, but for four states. >> the red tells you that the trend is down, you're losing jobs. that map used to be all red. you had no color. now we're starting to see the yellow states where things are

changing direction from losing to gaining, and there's one blue state where you're gaining in north dakota and you're adding jobs in this state. this will slowly change color. it will slowly turn yellow and blue for the rest of this year and into next year as the recovery becomes evident to everybody and we start to get actual jobs being added. >> okay. that's one way to break this down. i think it's important when we think about employment and jobs to break it down a few different ways. there's great disparity in demographics in people who are unemployed who has more jobs that be others. it is still a tough word for minorities in america. >> absolutely. and what you're having -- first, before you get to the demographics, there's one big theme here. manufacturing has been taking it it on the chin for decades, and every recession in that period accelerates and gets harder. >> you see that in the numbers. you see the adult male unemployment rate is higher than

women, it's because adult males populate the manufacturing industry more. >> michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. that's the same reason. women tend to work more in services, which tend to be a bit smoother. we see in the latest numbers that the job losses expected in services were weaker than expected. that engine starting up again. >> we've seen the numbers go down meaning more -- a higher percentage amongst hispanics. other than that, we've seen blacks do a little bit better, other groups do a little bit better, but it's marginal. it's still -- >> this is marginal. i would expect basically if you're in the rust belt, exposed to manufacturing, you pay get a little bit of a reprieve here as the global industrial engine is restarting, but it's not -- the end of the recession will not cure the problems there.

that is something that is going to make the jobs numbers weaker than they otherwise would have been at the end of this year and into next year. the so-called jobless recovery. >> let's talk about what you just mentioned, where the jobs have most been lost. this is not about the recession but the last decade, manufacturing jobs have been at the top of the list of jobs being lost. in this particular report what was interesting is construction was higher than manufacturing. in fact, more jobs were lost in construction than manufacturing. retail jobs were also lost. where you look at where there were net gains, once again, the only one of significance was health care. this is continued to be the story for the last few years. >> right, right. health care because it's not so discretionary. if you have to go to the doctor, go to the doctor. education is stable as well. >> that tends to be a second right after health care. >> what we're having is shichlt you're getting some activity in residential homes. but it's not enough to make up for the losses out of the commercial real estate activity, which is essentially ground to a stand still.

>> we share a view that of all the measures of economy, i really think you have to fix this job situation in order to feel a recovery. when is it fixed? when do we feel a fix and gain more jobs on a monthly basis than we lose? >> net-net it doesn't happen until year-end. underneath that you see the nonmanufacturing sector begin to add jobs first. the key is it has to administrator jobs than what you lose in manufacturing for this net number to start going -- to start rising. >> you think we might sigh that in 2010? >> maybe by the end of this year. it depends on you fast the service sector picks up speed. it will. it did at the end of the last veegs. we had services adding jobs right way in 2002, yet manufacturing lost another 3 million jobs. >> wow, wow. thanks so much. the managing director of the economic cycle research institute. up ahead, how tu from being h e

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everybody asks me this. is the economy on the rebound? there is indications there is. let's start with the markets. that's ahead of what's going on.

look at election day back in november. the dow was around 9100. we use the dow to illustrate this. you can look at other markets as well. this market was alcohol choppy march 9th, which is the bottom of this market in the 6500 range on the dow. then, look, there was a gradual uptick to now where we're back to where we were on election day. it forms a perfect v, which is how a lot of people describe my upper body. look at the housing industry. that got us into the mess in the first place. let's look at the case shiller report which looks at 20 metropolitan areas. there are lots of ways to skin this cat. there are many ways to look at these numbers. according to this report, we see amy nut increase in the price of homes. home prices are stabilizing somewhat after dropping more than 20% since their peak back

in 2007. home sales are increasing, too. as mortgage rates remain low, prices remain low. these are existing homes. that means used homes, somebody else's homes. there are a lot of distressed mortgages and foreclosures here. we've seen 3.6% increase in june compared to may. the month before. it's still down compared to the year earlier but up over the course of one month. from may to june in new homes, this is an interesting one. it makes up a small proportion of the housing market. an 11% increase in sales of new homes, that's good because that adds construction jobs to the economy. but these are some signs of life in the economy. does it mean that president obama deserves credit for it? he certainly made some speeches that suggest that his administration and its policies deserve some of the credit for it. according to a cnn opinion research poll, more than half of you think the president has made the economy better or will make things better in the future.

40% say his policies won't improve the economy. ken is a professor of public policy and economics at harvard university. steven moor is an editorial writer with the "wall street journal" and douglas is the president of dhe consulting and a foreman economic adviser to john mccain. who better to talk about this? thank you for being with us. steven, let's start with you. you're generally not that bearish about things, but you don't think is economy -- you don't think we should have a discussion about who should take credit. you don't think it's all that good. >> we certainly have lowered our standards when we say a loss of a quarter million jobs is good news. we still have 15 million unemployed americans, our unemployment rate is as high as in 50 years practically. there are some signs of a modest expansion, about the i'm still worried about this. i don't think the worst is over. >> douglas, what do you think about what's going on? >> i think steve has an element of truth there.

this job reports is not as strong. most of the decline comes from the labor force participation rate going down. people being discouraged and leaving the labor market. i think going forward households are sufficiently weak and there's a weak enough foundation under them in the labor market that we shouldn't expect much in the second half of 2009. really, it's going to be 2010 before we see real growth. >> you see something going on in the future. you don't think it's happening right now? what's your view of what's going on right now and whether anybody should take credit for it? >> i think the recession is losing steam. there's no question about it. we're not having growth yet. we'll have a bit of growth this second part of this year, but i don't see strong growth into next year yet. jobs should be going on. we can't cheer that they're not going down as fast. >> let's talk about -- i guess the reason is it's not just a political discussion as to who should get credit for it. it's important to understand this from an economic perspective because we need to know after the trillions have

been thrown into this economy in the last year what worked and what dintd work. what's your view of what worked so far? >> one thing a lot of americans aren't focusing on, we've talked about the fiscal stimulus, about 100 billion has been spept. i don't think it's made a bit of difference. the big stimulus is from the federal reserve. they're shoveling money into this economy at a record pace. we've seen an increase in the money supply. >> let's be specific about this. the fed got our credit freeze to open up because it allowed companies to borrow money. it put money into the mortgage agencies, which have kept the mortgage rates quite low. that's the stimulus that's working. >> if you look at the graph of the money supply, it was table for seven years and starting in november it went straight up. that is now -- when you put that much money in the economy, that stimulates it. >> but can -- there are dangers with putting that much money into the economy. what steven is talking about the printing money that we all talk

about. there are dangers down the road to that. >> yeah, there are dangers down the road. we were in danger of falling off the cliff, and they put in the fiscal stimulus. they weren't sure if we needed it. they put it in. it has worked, and i do think the fed and the administration deserve credit that we're not falling off the cliff. on the other hand nobody should kid themselves. the debt is soaring, there's all this money to pull out of the system. it's not easygoing forward. >> douglas, you were an adviser to john mccain and you're the kind of person people want to hear from. what's the way to go about this now? we all agree further improvement to the economy maybe later this year or next year. what should the administration be doing now to have the greatest effect to help american science. >> the administration should look forward and recognize that households are in a weak position. they ka came into the recession highly indebted. they've loths a lot of money so they're unlikely to be a source of growth.

you have to put a foundation under those places that are a source of growth. our businesses with capital expansion, our exporters and their international competitiveness. let's bet on the places that could drive this economy forward. they should focus on that. >> well, the only good news here is we're not in panic mode about the economy, we can have those discussions about what else can happen. we brought you here for a reason. don't go away. we're looking ahead to what you, the viewer, wants to know. the future of your money in six months, two years, we're going to break it down very specifically with this panel next. okay...um...eighteen pounds and a smidge. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. cool. you know this scale is off by a good 7, 8 pounds. maybe five. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

if you're looking for a political debate about where this economy is, you'll find plenty of that. let's take a trip into the future and see what's in store for your money. we're back with ken, steven and douglas to talk about what this economy is likely to look like six months from now, a year from now, and five years from now with the idea in mind that you want to do some planning. you might want to move. you might want to real estate tra retrain and direct your kids into what they study in college. steven, i start with you. give us your six-month, one-year, and five-year look at

this economy. >> there are three negatives on the economy that would hold back growth and won't create the bullish expansion. one is rising tax rates. barack obama has said next year the tax cuts go away. i think those hurt the economy. higher interest ralts, and we pay for a lot of that that we're talking about. i think all economists agree interest rates are as low as they go. the third is higher inflation. they dampen the normal recovery process. >> you think we're looking a bit better than we are now and maybe a year? >> normally we have 5% or 6% growth out of a recession. i think we're looking at 2%. >> your biggest concern is the five years out. you think we're not going to be a whole lot better off? >> look, when you're talking about $10 trillion of new borrows, that's like putting a milestone around the neck of the

economy. >> i think we'll be berlt off in six months and a year. it's not until then that it will get easier to look for a job than now. the unemployment is still going to be very tough. i worry about the longer term, because coming out of this, the credit bubbles collapse, taxes seem like they have to go up aloy. how are we going to react to that? we're going to live in a very different world going forward than before. >> we've been looking at unemployment rates of 9.5% now. we were at a little below 5% when this recession started, and even the congressional budget office's estimates are we're not getting to that until 2013 or 2014. doug, your short-term slightly longer than short-term and slightly longer term view? >> six months out i don't see things drastically better. we muddle a little and unemployment continues to rise. a year out we see the economy

really start to recover. we'll have housing construction again and the commercial real estate problems are gone, and businesses buy equipment. we'll see a couple of quarters of above-trend growth. five years out, we're in a situation with subpar long-term growth because of the debt burdens and the higher poles, taxes and other policies. we'll be experiencing some inflation that generations are unused to. if you go out five years, you have a combination of higher inflangs and higher unemployment that put people in a pessimistic frame of mind. >> the fed has the punch bowl and take the punch bowl to the party and they dish it out, all the money. the real concern is do they have to take away that punch bowl as soon as that party gets going? that could restrain growth a lot. >> most people are following this discussion. for those who don't understand why the debt and borrowing has to result in higher interest rates and inflation.

is there that clear a connection? >> certainly with the higher payments on it, at some point the rest of the world's just not going to keep lending us the money. we've been borrowing from asia, the chinese and middle east. at some point they will say you look like a big california. you want to spend a lot and want all the programs but don't want to tax yourself. then they will start demanding higher interest. then we run into trouble. inflation comes really because the feds put in all this money, and if growth doesn't pick up, they're not going to want to pull it out quickly. they know there might be inflation but let it roll. that's why we'll have inflation going forward. >> do you think higher taxes are inevitable? >> i do. i think if we expand government like this, you won't get it all. i bet we see a national sales tax. it's the only way to raise the money consistent with the size of the programs we're introducing. >> steven, big topic.

middle class tax cut increase? >> i sure hope not. i want to say one thing positive. we're at the cusp of a technological revolution. we'll see huge increases in living standards around the world because of technology. >> you, doug? >> i think the one thing we should remember is this recovery is a tribute to the power of private markets. the conventional wisdom six months ago was no recovery, you got assets troubled off of the bank's balance sheets. we've done neither and we see the signs of the economy turning around. we should remember that and not overburden the economy going forward. don't put us in a position to have a national sales tax. >> may be too late for that, doug. >> i am painfully aware of the outlook. if you want to get the growth out of our businesses and our international competitive firms,

you cannot have the kind of borrowing we've seen. >> i've back into this discussion, because president obama couldn't have missed this. he made pretty big and specific promises on the campaign trail, but there is one promise he may have to go back on according to my guests, and it is a very big one. so what do you think?

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time for the ticker. every week we go through the headlines so you don't have to and invite opinionated friends of ours to give us their takes. pat is an anchor at new york 1 news. he spent a lot of time with cnn and follows the news of day. ail fred is the editor in chief at blackenterprise.com. gentlemen, good to see both of you. i want to pick up with the conversation i was having with noted economists about the idea of a middle class tax increase. something that barack obama said

time and time again was not going to happen in his administration, and something that now looks almost inevitable. >> elections are like squab believing between two divorced parents trying to get the loyalty of a child. you promise whatever you have to, and now christmas is coming and there's not a pony under the tree. in some way, shape or form even the middle class has to share some burden. there's going to be some taxes. i don't know if it's a direct tax on the middle class. i don't see how we can -- >> ken was saying it might be a sales tax, but somehow we have to pay for the mess. >> you look at the way spends and this deficit and all this debt that racks up. it comes back at some point. >> what are you worried about? the fact that reality says we have to either stop spending or raise more money, and that might mean more taxes or more worried about barack obama did a read my lips no new taxes things and we should be mad he'll break a promise?

>> what do you do? do you differing that for another year? does that go to the next administration when it will come back to them that can't keep spending like this? the promise only holds and doesn't make sense. >> every president going back to carter during this canada see said they wouldn't raise taxes, and every president has had to because of economic realities of being the president. campaigning and governing is not the same. >> i wonder if we can spend less properly. we're spending at double the rate the government is -- >> like the indulge he not child. we want more. >> we have to get more competitive. u.s. tax rates are a pob now. people used to think this was a place where taxes are low. >> it's a place you did business because it was all the other great things and the taxes as well. hopefully we have all the other great things but the taxes aren't that low. let's talk about electric cars, about the future of the car industry. we've seen this cash for clunkers program. it did get a $2 billion infusion this week.

that's allowing the program to continue. probably not for much longer. here's the car story few are talking about. the federal government is giving out $2.4 billion approximato co developing electric car batteries and manufacturing programs. a total of 38 projects are getting funding. many of the biggest projects are based in the midwest, and michigan is the biggest recipient for this. is this the basis for the future of the car? >> it's the basis for the future of the car. i would buy an electric car if i knew i wouldn't run out of battery in the middle of my trip. that's a simple reality. i have one vehicle, and i use it to drive long distances because i don't have public transit in the city. if they can develop a battery that will really last through a whole trip, then people are all over it. >> that means some combination in some cases of gas and batteries, but probably one of the big grants went to a truck company, to navistar to make batteries for big trucks.

that will take a locality of pressure off. >> it's not just about regular people traveling, about how to move goods and services across the country. the sad thing about this is we all know this should have happened at least 20 years ago. now we're backed into the corner. we need the jobs and innovation and catch up in terms of how we use energy in this country. i'm glad it's happening. >> a lot of this this last year has been an indication on that. we've been backed into corners on credit and spending and things like that. >> so many learned a less soj last summer with $100 oil that they will using too much energy. it slipped a little bit since then. >> bad habits are showing. >> what about $80 oil? we think that's great. >> let's talk about one more thing. if you have a baby this year, you can expect to spend $221,000 raising that child until he or she turns 18. that's want estimate from the

usda of what a middle income two-parent household will spend in today's dollars. if you're high income, expect to spend nearly $367,000. by the way, none of this includes college costs. this is daunting. alfred, we were talking to a group in harlem a few months ago, and the thing that was crushing thing was the idea of college expenses. we're talking about a quarter million dollars almost before college. >> that quarter million dollars is the nonoptional portion. >> that's right. you have to feed your child and have a place to sleep. >> i always say to my kids, i need to give you the bill. none of my kids have children yet. think when you have a child, because it's daunting. >> i'm on the homestretch, man. my youngest is 17. >> one of the things is it depends on where you are, what your income is. the northeast urban centers like we all live in are amongst the

most expensive. >> the usda will run them into an online tool. that be the most useful. you tell them where you live, is it urban or rural, what part of the country is it in. they give you a sense of where you stack up. >> if you have kids you make some calculations about what those expenses are, but you leave out some of the obvious stuff. this thing calculates the food and clothing. >> you talk about is so expensive in the northeast, 30% of these numbers is housing, and we know how expensive it is to live there. >> you don't think of that, but everybody who has kids needs space and they have to move into a dirch different type of house. >> you have more money and spend more money on kids. >> that's a lot money. think very carefully. budget carefully. i have kids. that's a good thing. but budget very, very carefully. it's great to have you here. pat, so great to have you back in the building. pat has pat's papers which you

can get the days news on. i think everybody should be reading black enterprise. it's a good magazine with a lot of information there. >> go to blackenterprise.com. getting fired is no fun. do not give up. there are steps to land the next job. what you need to know and what you need to do coming up next. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help?

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with unemployment above 9% in this country, if you're employed you should be grateful tovl a job, even though you might wonder about your chances to get a raise? a recent survey breaks it down. it might give you perspective. the washington, d.c. area came in number one with 77% of area employers giving raising at an average rate of 2.3%. it factored in the percent of employers giving raising and the size of raises for middle performers. as you can see, the other list toppers include tampa, boston, philadelphia and denver. raises depend on your performance, the industry you're in, the employer you're at. but it's helpful to get an idea of what employers in your area might be doing. in fact, that's highly specific to job searching generally.

if you're one of the 6.7 million americans who have lost their jobs so far in in recession, it's no surprise finding a job can be as grueling as working. our next guest has advice to help you go from being fired to hired. tory johnson is the author. let's talk about very basic tips you've got. you have dos and don'ts and your book is chock-full of information. one of the first dos is to enhance your digital identity. employers punch your name into the internet. >> we google if we want to know something. when nothing comes up, not a good thing. you can control what comes up about you. there's great sites like visualcv.com. comment on blogs in your industry, getting your opinions and expertise out there so you're known. it's who can find you. >> if you have a facebook page, that will show up on google. you have to be prepared your employer will go to that

facebook page and everything you've got is clean and appropriate. >> no digital dirt. >> typos. so many people talk about job hunting say there are too many typos on resumes and letters. >> there is a survey that came out last week. 76% of executives said they would dismiss a candidate because of one or two typos on a resume. >> we're not talking about young people looking for jobs and many across the spectrum. how do you deal with age? >> you don't use it as an excuse or as a crutch. when i talk to people who just graduated, they say no one will hire me because i don't have experience. when i talk to people 40, 50, 60, they say no one wants us because we're too old. in those cases you have to keep

plugging away. if you're the older person going for a job, the title is lower than the one in the past, you want to say i look at a position and ivault a job more than just a title. i'm interested in getting into this organization. here's why i'm a great asset. i require less training. i can get in there and hit the ground running. it's about selling yourself. you say, okay and hang up. you have to plug away with them. keep the conversation going. >> let me hit some of the mistakes. don't bother with the nobody's hiring excuse. this is interesting. when we hammer away at how many jobs are lost, you don't need everybody to be hiring, you need one person. >> one. it's easy to get suck sbud the statistics. you look at the numbers and think nobody is hiring. you need that one, and trust me, you can find that one. >> let's talk about talking about your needs, focusing on your needs. what do you mean by that? >> the need to get a job. the biggest mistake is i want a position with growth opportunity in a progressive organization. blah, horrible. an employer hires you because of

their they'needs and not your n. focus on how to serve them, how you're the answer to what they're looking for. >> a lot of people say they've sent hundreds of resumes or posted on the big job boards. it's more about quality than quantity. >> yes. that's the message i call spray and pray. spray your resume out there. it's not going to ring. it's going into a big black hole. you have to hustle to make the phone ring because you're networks and using facebook and twitter. you're getting out there looking for people to connect with. >> fired to hired by torrey johnson. good look in your continued job searches. get ready. the cnn express is back. find out if we come through your hometown this coming week. plus, how one north carolina town is making money on trash next. so, how does the iphone make traveling easier?

well, if you'd like your own personal tour of paris, there's an app for that. or, you'd like to figure out the metro, there's an app for that. or you'd like to send a postcard home, there's an app for that too, because there's an app for just about anything. only on the iphone.

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abilene, texas. i got me a corn dog. not one of my prouder moments in life. i'm hitting he the road this week. before i go, i thought i'd give you all a little taste of what life on the bus is like and let you know if we're rolling into your town anytime soon. he'll join me all next week. what are we doing next week? >> we travel around the country where we start from atlanta and make our way to the american tradition, the fair. we start in atlanta, make our way up towards tennessee and swing over to missouri state fair and we're going to end ourt trip at the iowa state fair in des moines. so there's a localit of differe fried food. have you had a deep fried twinkie? >> we're going to swing through kentucky a little bit, the southern part of illinois. by the time we get to des moines, the iowa state fair

has a butter sculpture of some sort. >> the iowa state fair every year has a spectacular full-sized butter cow like we're talking full-size cow made out of butter, and this year the extra butter statue is going to be of neil armstrong commemorating his walk on the moon. >> all right. in addition to the fun we're going to have, and i'm looking forward to it and i'm salivating thinking about the food, we're going out there and in between meals we'll talk to americans about the economy, about health care. you've been on that bus a lot more than i have. i've had a few runs on it. what's the benefit of doing it that way over the way we get to cover news particularly from officials and politicians? >> well, i get about 60,000 miles over the course of the election. i'm based in d.c. but i traveled all over the country during those two years in the run-up to the election and the election. you just get out there and just talk to people, real people.

you get off the east coast and get out of new york and out of d.c. you get into the middle of small towns and communities all across the country. they really tell you what they're thinking. >> we'll do that through a lot of different places. it's always fantastic when the bus pulls into a small town. it's a real magnet for people. if we come and talk to us, you're welcome to do that. send us your e-mail. we'll tweet from the bus. what's the twitter address for the bus? >> the twitter address is cnn express. >> at cnn express. >> we'll be following -- we'll be following what you're eating on cnn express. >> i'm be tweeting about what i'm eating. i'll see you and we'll get it going monday morning out of atlanta and we'll spend the next week on the road. if you see us on the road, give us a honk or pull us over. that's next week, but right now we take you to a small north carolina town that's turning trash into cash and helping the environment at the same time.

cnn's reynolds wolf explains. they've been producing electricity from their landfill since 1999. while it looks like i'm walking on a sunny hillside in north carolina, i'm actually walking on a landfill. below the ground we have all kinds of trash. and then methane equals power. >> it powers these generators that feed for the power company. >> each one of these units are one megawatt each. we're putting three megawatts to the grid and it helps 3,000 homes. >> it earns $650,000 each year. >> it's a role model in the united states. it's being driven by the county not by private companies. it's a profitable organization

for money, and all of the money goes to the county. >> that profit is not only keeping residential waste bills low but also funding the start of an 800-acre ecocomplex. >> we're applying industrial ecology to waste management and i.e. making one man's garbage another man's treasure and output stream of one industry is the input stream of another industry trying to make zero waste. >> for instance, next month construction begins on a biodiesel production facility that will harness the heat emitted from these landfill powered generatorgenerators. it breaks down the seed from sun flowers converting them to beyo diesel. they're by local farmers within the eco-complex. >> what leaves our site is a commodity. we make a commodity out it. >> the county is not alone. they're partnering with private industry like this pallet factory and lumber yard within the eco-complex. the wood waste is converted into

electricity. plans are also set to convert waste water to power as well as on-site plastic recycling. this entire green initiative has been the number one priority for the quarter's board of commissioners. >> i think the biggest overall benefit will be if we see this facility grow and become an economic development tool to create jobs for the community. >> we improve the cost of services and improve our environment and we include every aspect of vocation within our county that we can touch, and it's a win-win for everyone. >> a victory that will benefit the economy and the planet. reynolds wolf, cnn, newton, north carolina. up next, why richard quest is fired up about the cash for clungers program. a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back on a new, more fuel-efficient chevy.

your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota, or honda. now get an '09 cobalt for under fifteen-five after all offers. and get it for even less if you qualify for cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details. (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or night. new tums dual action. bring it on.

it's time for the ultimate quest. the cash for clunkers program has been successful in the u.s. now a look at how similar programs panned out in europe

and i give credit where credit is due. if you're a cnn viewer, you heard about the idea of trading in a car to stimulate car sales here on the show from you, because you were describing that this was happening in europe. give us an update. as you know ours has done spectacularly well. >> this has been a repeat performance because it doesn't matter whether it is spain, france or germany, or even here in the uk. right across the world, cash for clunkers or car scrappage schemes which sounds better, car scrappage schemes sounds good. in germany, for example -- car scrappage schemes up 30% new car sales in germany. in france, up 11% compared to last year. spain, up 45%, even in the uk. it seems to be that everyone has taken the opportunity basically of getting rid of any old banger -- >> here is the question, richard. a lot of people have been asking me, that's fantastic, we have

the best year -- ford had the best month because of cash for clunkers. what does this mean six months from now or a year from now? how is this type of program sustainable? >> well, it's not. obviously it's not. but then we're in pretty desperate straits when they're introduced. you don't think governments came along and decided to give away free cash for new cars because they loved us, do we? i heard this argument, as you have ali, many times, that it is just deferring, you know, bringing forward sales from later in the year. guess what, so what? at least it means that disaster and ruin haven't happened now. and worry about next year later. >> let's talk about disaster and ruin. we in the united states need the rest of the world to start doing a little bit better to help us out of this recession even though the u.s. helped everybody else get into it. what is going on in the uk? are things looking a little better? >> yeah, the bank of england, that famous phrase we all had to

learn about, where they print money, this week the bank of england decided to print another $85 billion over the next few months. they have poured more than 10%, 10%, of the british economy back into the economy, not surprising that in the guardian newspaper it is saying new hope that uk pulling out of recession. one thing we do know, ali, in this country, the recession is being deeper, longer, and more serious than they first thought. >> and as you have pointed out many times, it is an international recession so it does concern how everybody else is doing in the matter. you'll keep us posted with the ultimate question. good to see you, my friend. we'll talk to you many more times. get richard at richardquest on twitter. you can follow christine on her