stock and the banks simply don't think it's worth their while to pay all the legal and administrative fees that come with foreclosing on a home. rick, they're simply walking away. rick? >> good stuff. thanks so much for the explanation. i'm rick sanchez. "cnn newsroom" continues now. hold on to your hats, folks. put your seat belts on, strap on, it's tony harris time. >> thank you, doctor. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, the 13th of august and here are the top stories for you in the "cnn newsroom." shoppers pull back in july and recovery from the recession will be choppy and uneven. waiting patiently for rescue. a pilot is forced to ditch his single engine plane in the sea. necklines are political polls. sometimes they plunge. hey, now. a revealing picture of the german leader lifts voter interest. good morning, everyone. i'm tony harris and you are in

the "cnn newsroom." let's start with the recovery and some of those green shoots gave way to brown patches today. retail sales take an unexpected tumble while jobless numbers show a surprising increase. new numbers, as the fed paints an optimistic picture of recovery and takes the first steps to dial back some of its rescue efforts to new york now, cnn's christine romans is at the business desk in new york and our susan lisovicz is at her post on wall street. christine, let me start with you. some analysis here on the first time jobless claims, if you would, please. >> you still have more than half a million people every week, tony, lining up for the first time for unemployment benefits. that's a lot of folks. we watched, what is it 4,000 more or 4,000 less. we agonize over this weekly

number because it gives us the best sense of real time what's happening out there with the hiring and firing decisions in american companies. we know that 558,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the very first time in the week of august 4th. we know that's up a little bit, about 4,000 from the week before. we know that the 6 million people continuing to get claims, 6.2 million people continuing to get claims, we know that that's down a little bit. some people are kind of rolling off the end of the cycle. tony, this is a labor market that is still very, very weak. you still have a lot of people every week for the first time finding themselves on the unemployment line and that's the very beginning of the process for them. because we know for every job out there that is being advertised. for every job opening there are six people that want that job. you said uneven and choppy. you are so right, i'm telling yowl, you have to have patience. you'll get a lot of conflicting data that will give us glimmers

of hope or remind us how gradual this recovery will be. >> remind us again of what the overall unemployment rate is in the country. >> it's 9.4%. you have 247,000 jobs lost in july, that's about half the pace as it was just back in january. so, look, this is the trend. i mean, the trend here when we've been just blogging through all this bad economic news, the trend here is what we're watching and seeing the job losses slow. but we're seeing unemployment rate at 9.4% and some people think it could continue to go up to 10%. even if everyone out there is telling you there is a recovery at hand. if you don't have a job or your house is being foreclosed on, it's cold comfort. remember, not everybody is in these statistics 370 million people in and lot of different position and stages and it's different for a lot of different people. i want to be very clear about that. >> christine, thank you. susan, retail sales.

the number coming down 0.1%. give us some analysis on that. is that significant when you consider, what, the billions, really, in the retail pipeline. >> it is significant. and we can just play back everything christine romans was just talking about. >> okay, thank you and so long -- >> consumers aren't going to spend when they're worried about their jobs. really, tony, what you're seeing here in a very short amount of time is the change in american behavior. we are the wealthiest nation on earth, we are the biggest spenders on earth, but in a very short amount of time we are becoming savers. the saving rate is about 5% now compared to 1% before the financial crisis began. retail sales wur expecting a nice increase of more than 5.5%. now y know you'll ask about the cash for clunkers. yes, it helped, but, guess what, it came in on july 27th. not enough to offset the

declines we saw everywhere else. electronics, department stores, furniture stores. you name it. another report today. the 800-pound gor ala, tony. walmart came in with its quarterly earnings. its earnings, its profits beat the street. okay, a lot of ways you can massage your earnings, you can cut costs and that's what walmart and virtually every other company is doing in this recession. you want to look at sales. how is it doing in sales? walmart sales fell 1.2%. that's interesting from a deep discounter like walmart. it says its early signs of back to school -- >> there you go. there you go. >> huge season showing that shoppers are focusing on replenishing basics. that's the bottom line. >> don't you like the august number to be better? >> yes, yes. in fact, walmart did raise its earnings estimate, but, you know, the fact is, people are still buying, basically what they need. and, yeah, the cash for clunkers is helpful.

if you're going to get $4,500 from the government and you need a car, sure, that's an incentive, but, you know, bottom line in most cases people are buying what they need. >> susan, thank you. christine, as always, thank you. thank you, ladies. despite today's numbers, you know, many economists say the recession is ending, but what about the personal recession? millions of americans are facing. chief business correspondent ali velshi is on the road with the cnn express hearing your concerns about the economy, where's the music? why do i have to ask every day for the music? why don't we -- there we -- thank you. he joins us now. from sedalia, missouri. state fair there. ali, good to see you. first of all, i want to talk about what you're hearing from the people you talked to on your various stops. do we not have him quite yet? >> i am here, i am here. can you hear me? >> what are you hearing on your

most recent stops? >> well, listen, we are in the western part of missouri, we are closer to kansas city and we crossed over yesterday and got 35 miles past st. louis and there we spoke to a number of people about how they're feeling about the economy, specifically in light of the fact that 57 notable economists said the recession is over and the federal reserve said it's bottoming out and here's what they told me about how they were feeling. >> oh, we don't have it. i'm sorry, ali. we must have dropped the ball on that. >> let me paraphrase what they told me. i spoke to a police sergeant, he didn't disbelieve that it could be over, he lost so much money on the value of his house, more importantly on his retirement. he was getting set to retire and now he feels he has to work a lot longer. we heard from a real estate angant, an insurance agent who said as far as she can calculate she might have to work to 70 or

80 because they lost money. not just a matter of the economy turning around, even if you're employed, you lost money if you rur saving for retirement you have been set back several years. the good news is we start to see the markets come back. real estate agents telling us that people are buying and signing contracts. the issue remains, you and i know this. we know this, we always talk about it. the issue is jobs. if we continue to lose jobs, that worries people. >> ali, look, here's a concern that i think we talked about, as well. it's worth mentioning here in light of what these economists are saying. hasn't this been a government-fueled recovery to the extent that we're talking about of recovery and is that sustainable? is it the real truth here that this recession isn't over until the consumer decides that it's over? >> yes, you're right. typically two-thirds of the economy has been consumer spending. decision made by consumers. now, even if consumers shut down

their spending that includes things we can't afford spending, transportation, food, housing, things like that. that discretionary part is what people stop spending. the government steps in now with the stimulus program and is doing spending in place of the consumer. that's not sustainable and not sustainable because our debt gets higher and here's the other problem, we're all getting, at least for the short term, a little more frugal maybe because we're lacking credit or because here at the missouri state fair how to can your own vegetables and how to grow your own guarden and save money. we're becoming more frugal as a people. that may end when cheap credit becomes available again what if it doesn't and we spend less. some say it's better for us as a society and tougher for us in terms of a recovery to a recession, tony. >> ali, give us a look ahead to next hour. i know you'll try to pull together a group of people that state fair for a little impromptu town meeting. >> we'll bring some people back because we have not run into a place where people don't want to

talk to us about health care' before we do that, i have to get a couple corn dogs. >> it's a state fair. >> it is a state fair. >> ali, terrific. we look forward to the impromptu town hall and some shot of you with the corn dog. see you next hour. the intense debate over health care reform spreading to more states today. this is a make or break month in the fight over reform. lawmakers are holding meetings today in oregon, wisconsin, kansas, oklahoma and new jersey. the meetings, as you know, are attracting large and sometimes boisterous, rowdy crowds. the lawmakers are facing pointed questions about concerns over health care reform. so many claims flying around about health care. we are focused on getting you the facts. the truth squad is back and focused on health care reform. there he is, josh levs is here with the very latest. >> thank you, tony! >> yes, sir. we fought for this a little bit. >> yeah, it's good to be back. i'm glad we have this going

again. we look at some of the big complaints that go on out there and also hearing directly from viewers and from people out there who are saying they are hearing these rumors and they want to know if they're true or not. cnnpolitics.com. this right here is one of the latest truth squads that we have looking at health care. mike from bristol, connecticut, said he's heard dental service will not be covered under the health insurance exchange and he's concerned this means he won't have dental under health care reform. here are some graphics for you. i'll make this simple so you can understand where we're are coming from. what this whole exchange thing is. under the white house plan, the plan that the president has put forward, people who don't have insurance will be able to choose a plan and in order to choose one, it would be this system called the health insurance exchange. now, as part of what's been proposed in the house bill, you'll see on the next screen, the basic plan includes dental care only for young people. only for people under 21. adults who are under 21, in

fact, would not have dental care, if they only wanted the basic plan. that's where all this comes from and you can see the ruling on this is true, but incomplete. the reason we're giving the incomplete. you can get dental care, even the way someone who works for a company has private insurance choose whether or not they have dental care. what i love about this example, this is one thing coming straight to us from viewers. we're ruling on it for you. take a look right here cnn.com/tony or cnn.com/josh gets you all sorts of information where to get the facts instead of the fiction and you can see links right here and link you to the house bill right here and let me show everybody the screen right here where you can reach me. if you want to send me your ideas on what we should fact check. you have the blog, cnn.com/josh and we are keeping an eye on these literally every day and helping decide what our next are

going to be. our conversation on health care reform doesn't end here. another issue we're tackling, rationing health care. something critics of reform are worried about, a little later the 1,000-plus page house bill. have you read it? guess what, we found a woman in georgia who is reading every word. she's not a senator or a congresswoman, she just wants to be informed and you'll meet her in minutes. we're doing all we can to cut through the rhetoric, the rumors to address your concerns about the future of your health care and where the debate is leading our country. do you fear a big government takeover? does the prospect of doing nothing scare you even more? most people agree something has to be done, but what is the question? tell us what you think. send your comments and questions to my blog. a lot of blog stuff going on. a lot of blog traffic. cnn.com/tony to get your answers. here's what we're doing. we're pulling together the really smart important people in

our shop from elizabeth cohen and our capitol hill and white house correspondents and beyond. we will address your specific concerns on the air right here in the cnn newsroom. in fact, senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen will join me to answer some of urquestions next hour. still to come, desperate efforts to get aid to folks trapped following record flooding and mudslides in taiwan. look at these images and the situation is getting worse by the minute. we are live amid the devastation.

hi, welcome back. you're looking at live pictures from our affiliate out of san francisco kgo shot over the fire there just north of santa cruz in santa cruz county getting close to 2,000 acres burned. a lot of it last night with gusty northwest winds and the smoke and flame prevalent this morning and they're now attacking it by air and by the ground.

let's talk more about what the weather situation is out here. we have things that are changing just a little bit. some clouds trying to move in, low clouds and the marine layer would typically help them, but the marine layer at this point does not look to be all that deep, meaning about 1,000 feet or so and some of the elevations in this area and the fire right about there, some of the elevations over 1,000 feet surrounding some of those redwood trees. northwest winds last night were gusty and today more onshore and that would typically be good, but they don't think it is enough to really that deep moisture and it will change the fire and move it in a different direction, likely towards more populated areas. across parts of the northeast we're looking at rain that could be heavy at times today if flood watches are posted for a chunk of the new york metropolitan area and boston 45-minute delays and atlanta and charlotte into the act, as well. quick check on weather, "cnn newsroom" with tony harris is coming right back.

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taiwan is trying to pull itself out of a horrible, natural disaster. last weekend's typhoon flooded out roads and bridges and caused massive mudslide. 83 inches of rain fell in some of those areas, so you can imagine just how bad some of those mudslides were. the storm blamed for at least 108 deaths. john vause is in one of the worst hit areas along the

southwest coast and he joins us, on the phone with us right now. john y could, you look at these pictures and you can imagine just how difficult a situation this is for so many, but, if you would, describe just how dire a situation you're seeing. >> yes, it's pretty bad, tony. everywhere you look just mud, mud and more mud. i'm from a little town and in the middle of the night here, rescue operations are on hold until first light. people who live in this town are continuing to clean up. >> i think we just lost john. >> this isn't going to work. we will get back to john as soon as we can get a better connection. let's move on and maybe we can get john in a couple minutes. if you want to know more about

the efforts to bring aid to the communities devastated by the typhoon and how you can make a difference, visit our impact your world page. mystery on the high seas. a huge cargo ship has vanished with 15 russian crew members and a load of timber worth almost $2 million. it's been missing for about two weeks now after its crew reported being hijacked near sweden by masked gunmen who beat them and asked about drugs. russia's navy is leading an international search for the maltese flag vessel. the bomber of pan-am flight over lockerbie scotland may be freed. no decision has been made just yet, but early release is being considered. he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. he is serving a life sentference the 1988 airplane bombing that killed 278 people, most americans. armed and dangerous, home-grown terrorists using the tee time

in our nation's country to make a comebang.

let's get you back right now to john vause. he is one of, in one of the worst hit areas along the taiwanese coast and he's on the phone with us. john, just a moment ago we were sort of outlining the impact of last weekend's heavy, heavy rains from the typhoon. we're talking about 83 inches of rain in some areas, roads and bridges completely out. how dire is the situation where you are? >> when you look around the small town all you see is mud. it's 11:30 at night and people

are still taking mud out of homes and this is four days after the mudslides. almost a week after the typhoon hit taiwan. but the real problems remain in the mountainous renalens not far from here. the rescue operations are on hold because it's nighttime and because many roads are impassable the only way in and out to a lot of these places are by military helicopters and they are finding survivers and they are getting people out, but there is this bill concern about what they will find underneath all that mud when they finally do get in there. what will be the final death toll and there are a lot of questions being asked by a lot of angry people here about the government's response. was it enough? they did do enough and were they quick enough to respond to this, tony? >> that's interesting, john. that led me to my next question for you. a lot of people count on their government to respond during emergencies like this and, as you mentioned, there have been a

lot of accusations that the government hasn't acted quickly, effectively enough. is the government responding to those charges? >> yeah. and not responding particularly well. taiwan's president toured this region and came face-to-face with some of the survives and accusing him and other officials of ignoring and just not doing enough and not ordering a big enough response and he then turn around and said, well, you don't understand the complexities of dealing with this kind of natural disaster. that caused a backlash online and probably if he had his time over again he may have chosen some different words. even politics involved in this. they're saying this is a stronghold for the opposition parties and that's why the response wasn't as good as it should have been. they're even saying national pride involved. that the government here was too slow in asking for international assistance. now asking for help and they want helicopters, especially

helicopters that can lift heavy earth moving equipment to get to those mountainous regions and simply little things like chlorine tablets to try to purify water. right now, tony, hundreds of thousands of people in this part of taiwan don't have clean drinking water and this is almost a week after the typhoon. >> our john vause along the southwest coast of taiwan for us. john, appreciate it. thank you. 400 u.s. marines and 100 afghan troops involved right now in some really fierce fighting in the country's helmand province. their aim is to take the main city from the region from control. they want to free residents to vote in next week's national election. the taliban have called for a boycott and threatened to ruin the election, which the u.s. concedes is a real challenge. it is a very difficult mission. troops are fighting both the

taliban and 120 degree heat. to really understand what's going on over in afghanistan and why we're over there, watch cnn chief international correspondent christiane amanpour's documentary. generation islam, that's tonight at 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. new evidence, extremist militias may be making a comeback right here in the united states. our brian todd reports on what's fueling fears of more home-grown terrorism. >> reporter: a posting on youtube attributed to the ohio militia. >> things are bad, things are real bad. and it's going to get a lot worse. so, basically, people need to wake up and start buying some of these. see. >> reporter: the video is an example of how militias are making a comeback, according to a new report from the southern poverty law center. >> we're in a very worrying moment in my view. we're seeing the kind of perfect storm of factors that favors the continued growth of this

movement. we're talking about, you know, nonwhite immigration, a black president and an economy that is in very dire straits. >> reporter: a homeland security said recent arrests indicate small, well-armed extremist groups in some rural areas. how dangerous are they? >> but some of them, indeed, want to do what happened in oklahoma city. that is commit violent acts within the homeland. >> reporter: the government's intelligence assessment said cells embracing violent right-wing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the united states. leaders of established militias like his who do training on firearm and first aid shouldn't be in with mounting attacks. >> that's not something we want to tolerate. we're not going to let any innocent americans get hurt. >> reporter: he described it as

pro pro-freedom and proconstitution. not anti-government. >> i don't mean to suggest that all these people out here there with ideas is clearly not true, but does this movement produce people? w who engage in criminal actions? that's unquestionable. >> reporter: several high-profile criminal suspects are linked to right-wing ideology recently. the shooter of three pittsburgh police officer os killed in april. and the alleged gunman at the holocaust museum in washington in june. the election of the first african-american president is serving as an extremist recruiting tool, according to the department of homeland security. law enforcement sources tell cnn while barack obama had a significant number of threats during his campaign, since his swearing in it's not been much different from previous presidents. still, a former secret service agent tells us -- >> i think the historical nature of this presidency is certainly

something the secret service and something the whole country is aware of. >> reporter: neither of these two reports mengdzed left-wing extremists but a homeland security report focused on cyberattacks and law enforcement has charged environmental extremists who committed arson attacks. stocks on wall street were ready to rally this morning, but the enthusiasm faded before the opening bell rang. a look at the numbers, i think we were up 10 or 11 points. susan lisovicz on the floor of the new york stock exchange with a check of the action. good to see you, again. >> good to see you. again, the problem is that even though the federal reserve says the economy is leveling out, we still got a ways to go, no question about it. two economic reports an hour before the oep oening bell and the sentiment got a lot more cautious, tony. one of them, retail sales. consumer spending. all about that. we were expecting things to improve a little bit and we saw a decline and if there was not

that cash for clunkers program, things would have been even worse. we also got walmart, by the way, the 800-pound gorilla reporting its quarterly earnings. walmart which has done well in this recession had quarterly sales decline by 1%. there is a new normal of saving not spending and it sees that consumers are using debit cards and cash instead of credit. we're raining it in. then also the other report, tony, we saw a jump in initial jobless claims. more than 500,000 people filing jobless claims. those are two things that are problems in terms of getting this economy back to where we think things are real good. so, actually, the market is behaving pretty well, all things considered. tony? >> i tell you what, i'm not altogether displeased that folks are using more cash and not using credit cards. the credit card companies kill us. all right, susan, see you next hour, thank you. seven breeches road, you familiar with it?

a quiet byway in north carolina where police say someone is literally getting away with murder.

a string of bodies leading investigators to concleed a

serious killer is on the loose. david mattingly takes us along a country road in north carolina to the crime scenes. >> reporter: if someone were looking for a place to get away with murder in north carolina, edge comb county seven bridges road might be the place to go. >> nothing. nothing but trees and pastures. >> reporter: since 2005, the remains of five women, all african-american and suspected prostitutes have been found here among miles of woods and crops. there are any number of places you can pull off here, like this spot right here, you can just drive off and disappear into the woods in a matter of seconds. sadly, that's what's been happening to these women. they disappear, never to be seen alive again. is this the work of a serial killer? >> yeah, i believe it is. the fact that the bodies have been found close together really would argue for a serial killer. >> reporter: michael was once the team's top forensic psychologist and believes the killer is someone who could have

a lot in common with his victims? >> again the same background, same race. a person that would fit very easily within the environment. >> reporter: all of the victims were last seen in the town of rocky mount. we went to where they came from, an area where prostitutes work neighborhood streets. >> typically this is the area. >> reporter: but we found the streets deserted, cleared by fear. prostitutes are easy targts for killers living fragile lives on society's fringes. still, counts of andre knight say it should not have taken years for the town to take notice. it is it just a matter of race or possibly of what they do for a living? >> i think it's a combination of both because even what a person does, they still have human rights. >> reporter: a turning point in public awareness and the investigation itself was the fifth victim, hargrove, known to her friends as sunshine. friends and family publicly demanded justice. local authorities asked the fbi

to assist. like the other victims, hargrove disappeared from rocky mount and her body was found in june off seven bridges road. from the streets of rocky mount, it's only a 15 -minute drive to get to places just like this. for all practical purposes, it's the middle of no where and this is where investigators say that the victims are being killed. they won't give us a lot of detail of what they're finding but they do tell us that two of the victims were strangled, one was stabbed and beaten. three other rocky mount women who police say are not prostitutes are currently missing. the sheriff of edge comb county calls this a critical time in the investigation, leading many to hope that this lonely country road will soon lead to a killer. david mattingly, cnn, rocky mount, north carolina. here's another story we're following. a court in pensacola, florida, is ready to arraign seven men

with murdering byrd and melanie billings very well known in the area for adopting 13 special needs children. masked men dressed as ninjas entered the billings' home and stole a safe. prosecutors could seek the death penalty. a former clinton chief of staff is expected to turn herself in for allegedly trying to smuggle contraband into an arkansas state prison. betsy wright worked for bill clinton when he was governor of arkansas. wright faces 51 felony charges and a bench warrant alleges she tried to smuggle a box cutter, a pocket knife, tweezers and tattoo needles on to death row. she denies all the charges. germany's election season has its first scandal -- wait for it, wait for it. oh, yeah. it's cleavagegate and it's scandalous!

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take a look at these pictures here. just want to grab the latest information from the wires here from california. rob marciano, you were talking with us earlier, this santa cruz mountains wildfire. i believe that's what we're looking at right now. no other reason to put that up there. >> as of 1:00 last night they had 1,200 acres burned and that is probably around 2,000 right now. 3,000 people evacuated.

>> number of homes threatened? >> 250 and they think they will evacuate more. winds will change today and they are attacking it by air now that the sun is up. they got it by the ground and by the air, as well. a bit of an onshore push coming in. that's typically good news and if you could throw it in play. the wind last night were more out of the north, northwest and now they're coming in from the west and that typically is good, but this time around we're not going to have that deep, deep moisture. the fire will continue to burn and, if anything, the wind will change direction of the fire and that will make those firefighters rearrange. rain across the northeast and flood watches in effect for much of jersey. feast or famine. this rain not going to get to the west coast. have to do it by hand. >> rob, i need you to watch this next story here. i don't know what we'll do with it after we watched it. >> the one you talked about earlier.

nicely delivered by the way before the break. i don't know if you'll have a job tomorrow, but it was well done. >> thank you, doctor. as you know, the wall is long gone, now a deep gulf divides bu berlen raising the scandalous question of the day, rob. can a world leader be too foxy? >> reporter: it's the first scandal of an otherwise dull german election season. cleavagegate. this unauthorized poster and running for a seat in german parliament and showing in a very shall we say open-hearted pose. >> the german election campaign. what do you think of that? >> i would rather say i brought

more human into the campaign and i woke the campaign up somehow because as the campaign was sleeping. of course, very dire. >> reporter: but just how foxy can a chancellor be? >> i'm surprised. very surprised, yeah. but maybe they're trying to -- >> reporter: yes, we know. what do you think of that election poster? >> awful. >> reporter: why to you think it's awful? >> because i don't want to see the breasts, i want to see what she has to say about economy. >> reporter: what is the political message? >> we have more to offer. >> reporter: maybe offering too much. >> not too much. >> a little bit, so i like it. >> reporter: you like it? >> yeah.

>> reporter: how did you get her to do this? >> i didn't ask her. >> reporter: chancellor merkel, the poster has seemed to left her speechless. her party says, no comment. >> i think it is a very, very bad. >> reporter: cnn, berline. still to come in the "newsroom." the 1,000-plus page house bill on health care reform, have you read it? we found a woman who was going over every word because she just wants to be informed. meet her, next, right here in "newsroom." back. so this time, my doctor gave me symbicort to help control my asthma. it combines two medicines that help control inflammation and constriction. so i'm breathing more freely day and night, and that feels good to me. and symbicort is an asthma controller that starts to open my airways within 15 minutes.

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call 1-800-skymiles to apply. this is the official card... of the world's largest airline. we are hearing a lot of back and forth about what the current health reform legislation does and doesn't say. one of our i-reporters, yes, one of our i-reporters decide today find out for herself so she's reading the entire version of the house committee bill, health and energy? >> yes. >> congressman waxman's committee? >> yes. >> aid ddrianna maxwell is hereh

a report. what is it like, most of us haven't even attempted to do what you are trying to do now, which is to try to read a piece of legislation as being crafted and formed, all right? so how does it read? >> it reads like legislationese. >> what does that mean? >> it's its own language. they state an amendment. they state what the amendment is, and afterwards they define each term in there. so, when they're talking about primary care, they define it. they say, this is primary care. this is principal care, this is end-of-life care, and everything's defined. and if they happen to tweak or change any previous acts like the social security act of 1935, they'll state security act 1935, and then underneath it they're sail we're going to take out the "and" and the "or" and we'll put this in its place. >> but that still sounds like a difficult read. >> it doesn't flow at all. >> right. >> it's a lot of -- you can tell it's a lot of people writing it.

it's not just one man siting this writing the whole thing. it's a bunch of people throwing in what they think it should be and then that's why it's called a committee. >> staff members working on it. so, do you -- well, it is. >> it is. >> it's a representative -- yeah, the base happens, notes are taken and then -- >> and then they put it together in a bill. >> they put it together. do you find yourself reading portions and going back and rereading the portions and breaking it down? >> oh, yeah. >> we pull teams together to do this thing. >> you go to the end, i'm at page 635 and they are referencing something that happened back on page 125. i took notes on 125 but i don't remember the whole thing. i have to scroll back, go to page 125 and apply whatever they meant there. >> so, it's great that you're doing it. it would be great if more folks did it. but we -- those of us who do what we do -- could really be helpful for you if we did a lot of that work for you and actually broke out the language

in these bills and what's actually being said. would that be helpful? >> oh, yeah. if you guys broke it down so, "a," it's in layman's terms and, "b," not alou allow the sound bites. they grab on to it and say it's in the bill and it's not. >> why would you take this on? a lot of folks don't, but why did you decide to do this? >> i had a town hall meeting on tuesday. congressman price. >> he was here. >> he did a telephone town hall meeting, and he happened to call me. it was completely random. ky was listening and he was stating how the president allegedly had not read the bill. >> right. >> and he's going through it and he's stating what he believes is on the bill. he says the president's not reading the bill. i'm going to find out what's really in this bill. >> yeah. >> i'm reading through and at one point in time he says that if you have your -- if you have a grandfathered insurance -- >> are you about to get political on us? >> no, i'm not getting political. >> all right. >> i swear, i'm not getting

political. >> very quickly. >> very quickly. he said that if you have a change in family, you add a dependent -- >> right. >> -- that your grandfathered insurance after it comes into place, the insurance will drop you. that's not true. >> okay. >> your insurance will cover your dependents. >> and that's clear in the language. >> that's clear in the language of the bill, yes. no argument. >> so, what page are you on? >> 635. >> it's over 1,000 pages. >> 1,017. >> some come on back when you f. i want notes. things that surprise you in the bill. we'll go from there. >> things that are surprising and things that are great. they have some really good ideas. everybody talks about -- we won't. >> got to go. >> got to go. >> adriana, thanks. >> you want to read that? >> no, no, i don't work. >> i need a paycheck. i've got kids. out of work in america. it's one of the stories we're working on for you next hour in

the "cnn newsroom." new numbers out today show an unexpected jump in first-time unemployment claims. poppy harlow has tips on what you need to know to actually get your jobless benefits and a popular college basketball coach apologizes for his indiscretion. it's a doozy, too, the latest on the sex scandal involving rick pitino and the woman accused of trying to extort millions from him. on the high seas, a man ditches his plane and waits on the waves to be rescued. those stories next hour. a little fiber? sweet! sweet! sweet! (announcer)splenda no calorie sweetener with fiber. now for the first time, a gram of healthy fiber in every packet. sweet! (announcer) splenda no calorie sweetener, starts with sugar. tastes like sugar. but it's not sugar. no calories and a little fiber. how's that taste? (together) sweet! sweet! (announcer) splenda with fiber. imagine life sweeter.

very quickly we want to show you these pictures again. boy, first light and beyond in california.

and take a look at the santa cruz mountain range here. this portion, this stretch here. you can see the wildfire, we understand is actually growing. the wildfire there forced the mandatory evacuation of some 600 people. 250 homes at least and homes and other buildings threatened right now. 1,200 acres burned so far. that's expected to grow. the attack from the air and from the ground going on right now. we'll keep an eye on this situation in the santa cruz mountains in california. you know, critics say reform will lead to rationing health care. have you heard that? our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, says it is already happening. here he is talking with cnn's anderson cooper last night. >> it's interesting, though, hearing the criticism, that people are concerned about that, but i mean, the idea of insurance companies make life-or-death decisions determining who gets care and who doesn't all the time. >> yeah, you know, i mean, and

that sort of gets to this idea of that issue and rationing sort of overall, and people always say is there going to be rationed care. and i can tell you, as a practicing physician, as someone who deals with this on a daily basis, rationing does occur all the time. i mean, i was in the clinic this past week, and, you know, at the end of the clinic, i get all this paperwork that basically says justify why you're doing such and such procedure. justify why you're ordering such and such test, and if the justification is inadequate, the answer comes back, well, that's not going to be covered which basically is saying that the patient will have to pay for it on their own, which in essence is what rationing is in so many ways, so it does occur. all right, president obama dismisses talk of death panels. he lightheartedly told a town hall this week he wouldn't pull the plug on grandma because we decided it was too expensive to let her live anymore. first, this hour, "issue #1," the economy, two signs today that the recovery won't be a straight line up, rather, a zigzag path back to financial

prosperity. here's why -- retail sales took an unexpected tumble in july, down 0.1%, analysts were expected a sizable increase. cash for clunkers helped drive a 2% gain in car sales. weekly jobless claims came in at 558,000, up by 4,000. analysts had expected first-time claims to fall last week like they did the week before. and new evidence today shows the foreclosure epidemic is still going strong. realtytrac says the number of homes that are in the foreclosure process jumped 32% in july. that's july over july of 2008. that is the third foreclosure record in five months. analysts blame the increasing wave on job loss. realtytrac said 360,000 homeowners are at least one month behind on their mortgage. the gloomy numbers keep coming. so, how could anyone say the recession is over? well, it is, according to a

survey of prominent economists. here's cnn's brooke baldwin. >> reporter: clunkers program, and third, unemployment. while the rate is rising, fewer jobs are being shed. they predict job gains could happen at the end of this year. >> they won't be strong at first, but even any sign of job gains along with peoples 401(k)s looking better, that will make us feel better about the economy, but at the end of the day we're still talking about the confidence in the economy that has come back from the edge and the abyss in 1981 and '82. >> reporter: echoing this optimism, the federal reserve. wednesday the central bank reporting economic activity is leveling out. conditions in financial markets have improved further in recent weeks and household spending has continued to show signs of stabilizing, but remains constrained. but are americans buying this bullish news? >> i'm hopeful, but, still, we're not there yet. >> i don't get the feeling that it's as bad as they thought it

was going to be. >> technically the economists may argue we're out of the recession, but people on the street, the public, aren't going to feel that. they've been hurt. jobs have been lost. houses have been lost. >> reporter: lost, yes. but the economists are encouraged the losses are slowing. brooke baldwin, cnn, new york. the great debate over health care spreading to more areas of the country today. august is considered a break -- make-or-break month in the debate over reform. lawmakers are holding meetings today in oregon, wisconsin, kansas, oklahoma, and new jersey. and we've been showing you the crowds have been large and tensions have been running high at many of the meetings. national political correspondent, jessica yellin, has been following it all for us, and she joins us from washington. so, jessica, there are, look, a lot of interests trying to influence health care reform. we know that. sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes very up front. will you talk to us about some of the spending we're seeing for lobbying and ad campaigns?

>> right, tony. it's a great question, because we've been paying so much attention lately to the grassroots movement out there in the country. >> right. >> for the people. but a lot of major corporate interests are doing what they can behind the scenes. so, let's take a look at some of these numbers. when it comes to lobbying, this is just since march of this year. one figure that might surprise you, the throorinsurance indust spent more than $39 million since march on lobbying. then let's look at the pharmaceutical and health products industries, that's any organization that sells some sort of hardware for health care. $68 million. the overall total for the health sector, $133 million spent on lobbying since march. add to that more than $50 million already spent on advertising campaigns, that's a lot of change, tony. >> it really is. so, help me here. political groups, we understand, are also helping to turn out people at some of these town halls. >> yes. >> who are some of the groups, and what's -- what are the

agendas at work here? >> right. so, on the one track, we were talking about those lobbying efforts by the corporate interests. on the other hand, the grassroots movements are in part inspired and driven by groups that are already idologically on the far right or the far left, or at least on the right and the left. >> right. >> coming from advocacy groups on right, you have the t.e.a. party organizers, they have turned out a lot of folks to come to the town halls. on the left, you have organizations like moveon.org, a.c.o.r.n. and some of the labor unions that have turned out, liberal groups. now, these are folks who already have their minds made up. they already know what they feel, and they're coming just as much to share their views as to learn. part of the reason we're seeing such a polarized debate at these events. >> all right, jessica, thank you. good to see you. the concerns of health reform opponents may be getting drowned out at the town hall meetings. cnn's tom foreman takes a closer

look at the opposing views of one protester and a politician who supports reform. >> reporter: another day, another angry public meeting. this one at a community college in hagerstown, maryland. >> this government is out of control. >> reporter: democratic senator ben cardin is intent on pushing forward with health care reform. >> i can assure you that i'm not going to vote for any bill that will cut off care to someone who's in need of care. >> reporter: and in the audience, mark cresslins is just as intent on pushing back. >> how are you going to look at my children in their eyes and tell them they're going to have a better future with $99 trillion? say it with me -- >> reporter: he's run the small health services business from his home. he calls himself an independent who votes mostly republican. he organized one of those anti-tax t.e.a. parties.

he questions the constitutional right of congress to enact such reform. but mainly he worries that it will mean massive tax bills for middle-class families for decades. >> it's disappointing to me that i'm being characterized as a nazi. i'm just an average guy. if we just let it go the way it's going now, i've heard estimates of $1 trillion for the health care legislation. it's not really going to be $1 trillion. it's going to be a lott more than that. >> reporter: back in the meeting senator cardin presses on, even to the older voters that showed up, people that polled are most against in the reform, he says have faith. >> i think that the obama administration has already started to restore trust in health care by the efforts -- >> reporter: afterward he's not sure the meeting changed any minds. >> i think ill wit will alleviae concerns.

>> reporter: but mark doubts that and just about everything else he is hearing on this subject. >> i don't believe much of what comes out of congress these days. >> reporter: what about the president? >> i don't believe most of the presidents, what they say. i think they're politicians fundamentally, and i think this is what all my friends are thinking, too. so t >> reporter: so, the meeting came and went, and for mark the health care reform remains a dangerous gamble, while for ben cardin it remains the best bet. tom foreman, cnn, hagerstown, maryland. as always we want to know your concerns about health care reform. send us your comments and questions to my blog at cnn.com/tony. medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, will join me in a couple of moments to answer some of your questions. and taking the fight to the taliban. we will show you what american forces are facing in afghanistan as they go back on the offensive. (voice 1) traffic's off the chart... (voice 2) they're pinging more targets...

(voice 3) isolate... prevent damage... (voice 2) got 'em. (voice 3) great exercise guys. let's run it again.

welcome back, everyone, to the "cnn newsroom." i'm tony harris. a star basketball coach is caught up in a sex scandal after he tells his story to police.

this just in to the "cnn newsroom." i want to read it to you. we're just getting word from iraq's interior ministry of another suicide bombing. this taking place at a restaurant, a cafe, a restaurant in a town just west of mosul.

at least 12 people killed, 30 more wounded in this attack. the victims are part of an ancient religious sect that has been targeted before, so, again, this is leading to all kind of fears of a rise of sectarian violence in iraq. again, iraq's interior ministry reporting that a suicide bomber with explosives has detonated his vest, her vest, at a restaurant in a town just west of mosul. at least 12 dead that we are aware of now. 30 more wounded in this attack. we will keep an eye on this developing story. the u.s. marines are battling the taliban for a key city in helmand province. the battle said to be fierce for control of the city of dahanaeh. cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, with more. >> reporter: up close with marines on the front lines. >> it's good to get out here on the offense. >> reporter: part of "operation eastern resolve two" the second

push this summer into the dangerous and lucrative center of afghanistan's drug trade. 400 u.s. marines and afghan troops dropped from helicopters to take the town. the first time u.s. troops have entered the strategic city. >> it's one of the key towns in the area. all of the smaller towns that are economically dependent on dahaneh. this is where the bazaar is. >> reporter: they are part of the extra troops president obama ordered up earlier this year. their immediate mission? break the taliban's hold on the city and free residents to vote in next week's election. >> all right. it's to the right of the wall right there. >> reporter: the taliban have called for a boycott and threatened to ruin the election, which the u.s. concedes is a challenge. >> holding an election in a wartime situation is always difficult, but a government needs legitimacy.

and this election was called for under the constitution. >> reporter: commanders predict a few more days of intense fighting before the town is secured. >> and barbara starr joining us now from the pentagon. and, barbara, could we see even more troops sent to afghanistan? >> well, you know, tony, that's really the question right now, will general stan mcchrystal, the new commander for this war, ask for more troops. and all indications are he will ask for some. it's expected he'll want more troops to deal with those ieds, those roadside bombs, as well as intelligence and reconnaissance. but it's a very delicate balance right now, because they don't want to put too many troops into afghanistan, of course. you get a lot of resentment from the people there if there's a large foreign military presence. very delicate balancing act, but you're going to see, though, over the next several weeks, certainly is more u.s. troops in combat, trying to get a handle on this resurgence of the

taliban, tony? >> barbara starr, thank you. to understand what is going on in afghanistan and why we're over there, watch christiane amanpour's documentary, "generation islam" 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. and we're getting word from a new york representative that guitar legend les paul has died at the age of 94. we are -- we are gathering more information on this story. we'll get it to you in just a moment. wildfires in northern california, boy, we've been following these images throughout the morning for you here in the "cnn newsroom." those wildfires prompting authorities to order some 600 people to evacuate homes in the bonny doon area. shelters now set up in nearby santa cruz. emergency officials say the fire started yesterday evening and has grown to about 1,200 acres, zero containment reported. right now officials say they are

hampered by the steep, forested hills and heavy brush. let's bring in chad myers, we understand at least now, we've got first light out there obviously there in california, so that the effort from the air and from the ground can begin to intensify there. >> sure, it speeds up a lot. >> yeah. >> when you can't get any support from the air you can't send in as many crews on the ground, because you can't predict where this thing is going. >> right. >> let's zoom in. this is a thing that can do so many things. we'll zoom into the bay. we'll keep on go. this is the west of gilroy. there's scotts valley and swan and keep going in and bonny doon will show up on our map. if we move it to google earth and i'll hit play on this google earth, i'll show you how rugged this area is. there's san jose. there's san francisco right up here. there's bonny doon, the town, as we spin around. you can see this is the area where the fires are. this is not all that far from the fires that we had last year at the same time. but the steep mountainsides

here, that's the problem that the firefighters are having right now. let me see what i can find here on trueview. no guarantees what i can find here, but there's some temperatures. there's -- there at swanton, 64. at san jose which is up there but close enough to bonny doon at 65. so, there's our temperatures. they're not all that bad. let's clear this. and let's try to find some wind. see if there's really any -- much wind. well, there's three miles per hour. can deal with that. let's go over toward olympia or felton or down here in santa cruz, about 9 miles per hour and right here near the fire i would say probably somewhere north between 8 and 9, 10 miles per hour. you don't want gusts over about 20 because then you can start moving sparks from one side of the fire to the other and jumping the firebreak that the firefighters are making right now. they will get a handle on this. this is not a critical, critical fire day for california. the winds are not going to be 65, 70 miles per hour, you know, make firestorms out of it. but now you're getting a bigger and bigger line around this.

the problem -- the problem is this. when you have this big, that's all you have to you have to battle is one mile around. when your fire gets bigger, all of a sudden you don't have one mile, you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight miles around. i don't how big it is. it's getting bigger as we speak. the larger your circumference, the more fire lines you have to defend. that's what they're getting to right now, tony? what are your memories of les paul? i mean, obviously the guitar, right? >> of course. >> les paul is a player. >> the person that i know owns les paul's number two guitar, was and still is offered $250,000 every day for this guitar and he keeps saying, no, no, no way, worth more than that. a legend for sure. >> absolutely. more on the life of les paul who passed away today we're getting word. memories of a terrific career. from our brooke anderson. >> mr. les paul.

♪ >> reporter: les paul may have been a legendary guitar player, but his impact went beyond chords and riffs. he changed the way people listened to music. ♪ born in 1915, paul began his career as a teenaged country act before turning his talents to jazz and pop music. in the 1940s, he married singer mary ford, and while their marriage eventually ended in divorce -- ♪ the world >> reporter: -- the partnership produced a string of hits including "via con dios" and "how high the moon." les paul's other career was as an inventor and his mechanical creations overshadow his musical talent. he was ahead of his time when he took a piece of wood and wire and created a solid-body electric guitar. he knew that it was light-years ahead of the primitive electric guitars on the market, so he took it to the gibson guitar

company. they said no thanks. >> for ten years i was a laugh. i kept pounding at them and pounding at them, saying, hey, here's where it's at. here's where tomorrow this is it. you can out -- you can drown out anybody with it. and you can make all these different sounds, which you can't do with a regular guitar. >> reporter: when the fender company produced their version of the electric guitar in the early '50s, gibson came running and soon the gibson/les paul was the guitar of choice. it is still one of the most popular guitars on the market, but he wasn't done creating. >> this is my baby. this is where it started. >> reporter: he created recording tricks like overdubbing and guitar tricks like reverb. >> it's just machine after machine after machine. >> reporter: he also invented eight-track recording in the 1950s. it allowed producers to combine several sources into one recording, and 50 years later it is still the most common way of recording pop music. ♪

his guitar and gadgets earned him a place in the rock and roll hall of fame, the inventors hall of fame and even the song writers hall of fame. >> i do know what i did, but i don't go around reminding people about it or bragging about it or thinking about it. i just did it. mostly because i had to have something, and it wasn't there, so i couldn't go down the street and buy it, so i built it. ♪ >> reporter: but inventor or not, he was still a guitar player's guitar player, and he performed into his 90s with the biggest names in music. and the biggest names in music used his inventions and played his guitar. ♪ everybody come on good time roll yeah let the good times roll ♪ @@@@@@@

okay. you have been sharing your comments and questions about

health care reform on our blog. our senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, is here to answer some of your questions. we've got a question here from allison, elizabeth, in tampa, florida, that i want you to take on here. let me set it up a little bit here, and then have at it, all right? >> all right, sounds great. >> this is a -- allison has a question, a situation, that she wants to describe about her daughter right now. her daughter is 23 years old, a full-time student who works nights. she has no health insurance. she exceeds the age limit. huge medical bills, and here's the question -- how can the system be changed to protect our college students? you want to take this one on? >> sure. because she's in a tough spot, tony. her situation, she's a college student. she's working nights at a restaurant to get herself through college. she has sort of a medical problem and ended up with a huge bill because she had to spend a couple of days in the hospital. >> right. >> well, you know, health care reform does try to address this problem, because unfortunately there are a large number of

students, college or graduate students, who have what they call aged out of their parents' policies. they get too old. she's 23. she can't stay on her parents' policy. so, let's take a look at what the different plans have to offer. >> oh, great, great. >> okay. so the house plan, it's not really going to help her much, because the house plan says that kids should be able to stay on their parents' insurance until age 22, which isn't going to help allison -- devin, i'm sorry, because devin is age 23. however, the senate plan would tell health insurance companies, you've got to keep these kids on until they are age 26. now, since devin is 23, this would help her in this situation. of course, we don't know which version is going to end up becoming law, neither may end up becoming law, but there are also plans for possibly she could get on the government option, the government health insurance or possibly she could get the subsidies built into these pieces of legislation. >> here's the interesting thing. let's take some of the specific medical issues here out of the

equation. we still find a pretty sizable chunk of americans who have been aged out, and then have a real decision to make as to whether or not to buy insurance at all, and some are flat-out saying, you know, no, i'm young, i'm healthy. >> right. >> and i'm not going to make the purchase. >> right. and some people are kind of critical of these young people. they say, look, you should get insurance. >> the invincibles, right? >> they think they're the young invincibles. i'm 23, and what could happen to me? tons of things could happen to you. god forbid, you could get in a car accident or have cancer. and it's a way of saying that some of them should invest money in health insurance. it's not all that expensive in some ways compared to a 50-year-old, because it's cheaper to get insurance when you're younger. however, i don't know devin's situation. but she's in pharmacy school and working nights to put herself through college. maybe she doesn't have the money, who knows? >> and that's part of the debate that we're trying to drill down,

focus on as we move forward. elizabeth, appreciate it, as always. thank you. >> thanks. a little damage control now from louisville men's basketball coach, rick pitino. the winning coach known for the designer suits, best-selling books on how to succeed on the court and in life. he is apologizing for what he calls an indiscretion six years ago. pitino told police he had sex at a louisville restaurant with a woman who approached him. he later paid for her to have an abortion. the woman has since been charged with trying to extort money from him. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials, and most important, the people that love me the most, my family and friends. >> family, yeah. pitino is married with five

children. ali velshi has rounded up his own town hall gathering at the state fair in missouri. there he is. we're going to find out what's on the minds of folks there in just a minute. we'll see you in a second. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. robert shapiro: we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

hey, take a look at the lead page. cnnmoney.com. you see it right there. consumers not feeling a recovery. yeah. i mean, come on, how does it feel in your own life, with your own finances? are you still in recession mode? are you in recovery mode? where are you? again, the best analysis that you can find anywhere in the business available to you at cnnmoney.com. our money team does a fantastic job. let's swing you now to the big board, new york stock exchange. three hours into the trading day, as you can see, the dow is up 14 points. we thought we'd get a little more of a run in the positive direction for stocks, but we are in positive territory. stocks up 14 point. 3 thundershowers into the trading day, and the nasdaq is up eight points. how were you affected by the recession? we put the cnn express bus on the road to find out. our chief business correspondent, ali velshi, is at the wheel, and he is stopping to

listen to your concerns about the economy. ali has the parking brake on and joins us from the fair in sedalia, missouri. and ali, what are you learning? what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, this one's for the missouri state police. i'm not actually at the wheel of that bus. i don't think they're going to like that too much. but, listen, we're at the missouri state fair, sedalia, missouri, beautiful, beautiful day. day one of the state fair. what a wonderful question i heard you mentioning a moment ago, are you in recovery, or are you still in recession? because we have all the noted economists saying the recession's over. the feld ral reserve saying we've bottomed out and it's much better from here. we've gathered people here and having our own town halls here talking about the health care and the economy. let's get a feeling out here. a show of hands, if you think you're in recovery or still in recession for your own lives? >> i'm in recovery, but my parole officer said i don't have to talk about that. >> reporter: i'm sorry. maybe i should ask you one at a time. if you feel that you're still

feeling like you're in a recession, give me a show of hands. and those of you that think you're in the recovery already? all right, let's start with this gentleman here, how do you feel compared to a year ago? >> actually, i feel about the same. everything -- the only thing that's going on now that bothers me is the unemployment. it was my hope that when barack got in, that there would be more -- more jobs made into the wind power and things like that, because i felt that was where the new jobs were going to come from. >> reporter: and that was, you know, when oil was $147 a barrel, that's what we were all talking about. last year at the state fair, gas was probably running $4 a gallon. i asked you how you felt and you were tentative. you raised your hand a little bit, you weren't sure if it was a recovery or a recession. >> i'm a schoolteacher and i feel from my students in the small town, we're in a recession. a lot of businesses have closed and auto dealerships have shut

down. we have to go 30 miles to buy a car from the dealerships. the county fair lost a lot of funds this year. my husband is a farmer and we've felt the change with the grain prices and things. >> reporter: a year ago you were seeing record-high grain prices and record-high corn prices. now where are things? >> things have came back up from where they were, but in accordance with last year, grain prices are quite a bit lower. and for this year's crop, input prices are a lot higher because of the high fertilizer and fuel costs from last year. so, things are going to be kind of tight this fall. >> reporter: you, michael, are a radio show host. you've got your rig parked right next to our rig. tell me what you're feeling, what's your sense? are we coming out of that recession like you hear the economists saying and it's just something we're going to take longer to feel? >> it's a question of perception is reality. and in this case the perception that we've been in a recession for so long. last year was an election year, we were in a recession. both parties said so. this year, it doesn't matter

what we're in, somebody will say we're coming out of it. the economists are saying the indicators that we're turning around. what we need to do is go about the business that we do every day. buy the things we need to buy. don't excessively spend. we were used to that for a long time. spend wisely. we'll pull ourselves out of it. the question is, are we there now? i don't think so. but it is turning around right now, and i think it's up to the american people. it's not up to the media. i know you guys have a lot of influence, you really do, you have a lot of influence, but it's up to the american people to do americans do what americans do. to create businesses, to create the jobs. the government can't give us jobs. >> reporter: hang on. tony's got a question for you. >> can we do sort of right track, wrong track with the country right now with the group you've gathered? >> reporter: let's ask that. tony, our anchor, wants to know, do you think we're on the right track or the wrong track in the country economically? >> i believe we're on the wrong track because a lot of that economic stimulus money's not

due to take effect until 2011 or 2012, which is about the time the next presidential election, which will allow the democrats to say see how good we're doing. and in between now and 2011 and 2012, this economy's got a lot farther to go down. peoples not getting the bailout money to remortgage their houses or refinance their houses like they wanted to. basically the banks have taken all that money and reinvested it in the stock market and it looks the stock market look actually better than it is. >> reporter: you mentioned housing. you mentioned jobs. that's the reality. two reasons why people we've been talking to across the country aren't feeling this recovery fully. do you think we're on the right track or the wrong track economically, ma'am? >> i'm in the middle of that. i feel the unemployment statistics speak for themselves and until people start getting back to work and finding jobs, things are going to stay the same. >> reporter: what about the idea that michael said we got to get back and spend more, some people think it's what got us in the

trouble in the first place. but if americans spend more, that will help kick the economy up. what do you think? >> i don't think that's the problem. everyone seems to planning for inflation. ben bernanke, his nickname is helicopter ben. he wants to dump money out of airplanes and pump up the economy. but i think the real risk is honestly deflation that the prices are bottoming out. i don't know anyone that's spending for big ticket items. they are saying i'm going to wait until the job stabilizes and prices come down, if enough people do that, it will plummet and deflation is a huge risk. >> reporter: thank you, all. what a great discussion. thanks for a great civil discussion. this is important. this is what we need everybody talking, agreeing or disagrooging and hearing what people want done with the economy. >> that's awesome. i know you have a lot on your plate but can we ask the right track and wrong track, and we'll play it back tomorrow, i promise. thank you very much. >> reporter: got it. all right, the recession is,

as you know, squeezing college students, squeezing some right out of the classroom. cnn's sandra endo has today's "money & main street" report. >> reporter: this sophomore found a perfect fit at spellman college. >> this place was meant for me. >> reporter: but when the tough economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags ready to drop out. >> i wasn't able to get loans. neither with my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country, but especially at historically black colleges and universities, where in some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president barack obama has moved to increase financial aid with stimulus and budget funds. but, still, many black colleges expect enrollment rates to keep shrinking, as families and students struggle in the economy downturn. >> many students want to come, will they be able to afford to come? >> reporter: since 2004 $238

million of federal funding was earmarked annually for historically black colleges, and in the last two years those institutions also benefitted from an extra $85 million each year under the college cost reduction act, which ends in may of 2010. so, those institutions may feel the squeeze even more. >> you're underresourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means that our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, morehouse college laid off 25 adjunct professors and spellman is laying off staff and clark's staff fell as well. they say that president obama's budget calls for a 5% increase in permanent funding for historically black colleges. >> we're saying you're moving in the right direction, but unfortunately in these tough times not far enough. >> reporter: for miss williams, a scholarship came through at the last minute and she says the struggle to stay at a

historically black college was worth it. >> i was completely relieved, and now i'm focusing on my studies. >> reporter: sandra endo, cnn, atlanta. and on cnn tonight at 8:00, you can see more of our series, "money & main street" during "campbell brown." we will look at how to cope with this tough economy. that's "money & main street" tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. you know, sometimes health care is about managing the health challenges you face on a day-to-day basis. we'll introduce you to artists and performers who found a way to do just that. i would say convenience is something that the bank of america really has the market cornered on. let me make it easier for you. let me show you how i can make it easier for you. we have the number one rated online banking website. it has an alert system that can text message you, so you're mobile banking, your bank's telling you

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you know, i don't know about you, but i get a little confused sometimes does president obama actually favor a single-payer health care plan? and what does that mean, anyway? we need a bit of a reality check here. josh levs is joining us with

that. what are you learning here? >> yeah, tony, it's back in the news. because it's something that president obama said just a couple days ago. in fact, let's take a look right here. >> i have not said that i was a single-payer supporter, because, frankly, we historically have had an employer-based system in this country with private insurers, and for us to transition to a system like that, i believe, would be too disruptive. >> all right, so, you heard the key words there he said, i have not said i was a supporter basically of the single-payer plan. let's talk about what kind of plan that is. i have a very simple explanation for you here. this is the basic idea. under the single-payer system it relies on one payer to fund all health care costs, and that could be the government. in general when people talk about single payer, they mean the government being that payer. so, the idea is instead of the hospital or the doctor's office charging you, the government pays it. you pay through this government system. those do exist in some countries. a lot of people in this country are against it. a few support it.

you can find both sides. but that's what they're talking about when it comes to this issue. now, the key question, does president obama support it? he has never said he supports. actually, he has said that. take a listen to what he said as a state senator in 2003. >> i happen to be a proponent of single-payer universal health care coverage, but as all of you know, we may not get there immediately, because first we've got to take back the white house and we've got to take back the senate and we've got to -- >> so, in the past, he did express that support for it. then in 2008, as a senator and a presidential candidate, this is what he said -- >> if i were designing a system from scratch, then i'd probably set up a single-payer system. but the problem is we're not starting from scratch. >> so, what you have there is him saying, you know what, he's actually not as president pushing for it. he's not saying this is something he wants the government to have. it's not his position right now. when it comes to that key

question, tony, ever whether he's ever said he's supported it, he has said he supports it. politifact gave it a false over here, and the truth-o-meter, they say, oh, yes he did. >> can i jump in for a second here? because i think as the other part of the problem for the president is the second portion of that statement. >> right. >> when he was a state senator, where he says, we may get there -- we may not get there immediately, leading some to believe that, you know, it's really what he'd like. >> there are people who believe that. no matter what he says now, he has said -- >> yes. >> -- very clearly he does not want the government to have, but, absolutely, you're right, there are people who jump on that say, look, he has said in the past this is something he would want, so people are suspect whether he has decided against it. >> exactly. >> but his current position he expressed repeatedly, he think it's not practical to happen right now. >> josh, appreciate it.

thank you. >> yeah. overcoming physical obstacles while navigating all of the complexities of the health care system. it is today's "health care in focus" report. photojournalist bethany swain introduces us to the founder of a theater company for actors with disables. >> hang on. i'm trying to be interpreter, too. the circles that we showcase professional artists with disabilities. do you understand what i'm saying? no. the idea that we have played around with really needed to be in the community. what i'd like to do first is a vocal warm up. my name is susie richard. we're usually pretty proud of the product. all of the actors tend to learn a lot about helping each other out. i'm an actress and director and artistic director of open circle theater. i was born with osteogenesis imperfe imperfecta. come this way.

20,000 to 40,000 people in the country have it, kind of like osteoporosis for your whole life, but a lot more complicated. fourth of four children, i was expected to do what everyone else was, but according to my brother, not as many chores as anyone else. i had to have rods to put in my leg bones to act as an infrastructure for the bone, because the bone wasn't very good. having a family that was able to deal with it helps a lot. having really great medical care helped a lot. i'm retired on disability because i'm too sick to work. now i'm back on medicare through social security. so i can have it? i still have a limit on how much i can make. so, i don't own any property, because i'm not allowed to. my car is also my parents' car. let's get in places. so, i start doing well, i get nervous, because am i going to lose my benefits? i sincerely believe people with disabilities if you want them to be a useful part of society, you need to have medical care that you don't have to worry about

having. well, then, clearly if you want people in general to be a useful part of society, they need to have medical care. and you never know what's going to come up with my body, but you never know what's going to come up with your body either. i sincerely think theater is the thing that has kept me sane so to speak and that's helped a lot. and just being able to express myself and help other people express themselves is really important. >> yep. still to come, if you find yourself out of a job, what benefits can you expect? we're breaking it down. ( siren blaring ) special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics. desperately trying to stop you from discovering

that reform won't ration care. you and your doctor will always decide the best treatment for you. tell congress not to let myths get in the way of fixing what's broken with health care. learn the facts at healthactionnow.org.

558,000 americans filed first-time jobless claims last week, but actually, you know, getting those benefits is no simple matter. just what do you need to know? poppy harlow has our breakdown from the cnnmoney.com newsroom. good to see you. >> good to see you, tony. people, hundreds of thousands of people, week by week, lining up for these benefits and a lot of them don't know exactly how it works. it's a confusing system. you get 26 weeks to start off with in pretty much every state, but your eligibility beyond that, it also depends on how long you worked and how long you worked before you were laid up and then the extensions you see on the screen. but those differ state to state. you get 79 weeks in michigan, because it has the highest unemployment rate in the country versus 46 weeks in utah, for example, so getting the final extension of those can be pretty tricky. according to the national employment law project, they told us there are, quote, crazy

cruel ru rules and they estimate that about half the people that should be getting unemployment benefits are not. one example of that every week, tony, you've got to prove you're looking for work in three different places just to qualify. and you can do it over the phone. you can do it online. but if you have any sort of complicated claim, tony, it can take hours, we hear, to get through to someone, they are relatively short-staffed. the only good news to tell you on that front, the unemployment office has $500 million from the stimulus bill, so parentally they're starting to staff up more. but it can be just a complete headache. >> absolutely. what else is out there that could possibly delay or even jeopardize these benefits? >> yeah, i mean, so we're lucky enough to have our jobs, so we're not experiencing this. so, i talked to some people on the phone yesterday that were unemployed. we're doing a story on them next week. one person wrote in on facebook, sherry wrote in and talked about getting laid off from a defense job. she wrote and said i was able to accept a much lower paying job, but by the time i pay health insurance and taxes and gasoline to get to work, i was actually

making less than unemployment. now i am worried that i will be kicked off the unemployment because i left the job. and really she could be kicked off of unemployment. because if you file a claim, your previous employer is notified and they could challenge it and you can't get unemployment if you're fired or quit. employers are the ones that pay into that unemployment insurance pool. so, they have an incentive to dispute the claim. and what we're hearing from experts, about 25% of all unemployment claims are actually challenged by people's previous employer. so, that's a big issue. also trying to get through that process means delays and there has to be someone arbitrating the dispute, tony. so, the bottom line, get your claim in immediately and know and do the research about what glitches you could encounter, tony. >> look, i'll differ with you just a moment here. you know, the cnnmoney team is lucky to have you. >> tony, thanks. a lot of people behind me do a lot of work that you see here. certainly that's it. >> we try to pay the entire time off every day. you guys do a terrific job for us and for everyone watching.

poppy, appreciate it. thank you. a rowing team was trying to break a record when real life intruded. a plane crashed nearby and the pilot needed to be rescued. you will see amazing pictures. triglycerides are still out of line? then you may not be seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. contact your doctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. this risk may be increased when trilipix is used with a statin. if you cannot afford your medication, call

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so, here's the story. four men set off almost two weeks ago to set a world record for rowing all around britain. reporter phil ray smith of itn picks up the story from there. >> reporter: when will homer saw a plane ditch in the irish sea, he could barely believe his eyes. >> we saw a plane crash. >> reporter: but the rowers abandoned a record attempt to investigate and found not only a plane, but the pilot, who'd survived. >> you all right? i know, i saw you. i saw you. i'm amazed you're still alive. >> reporter: after making a mayday call to the coast guard, they tried their own rescue attempt, which failed. fortunately a helicopter was on its way, and just in time. >> the helicopter's two minutes. >> reporter: as it arrives, the speed wing aircraft which