>> why i do what i do. >> thank you very much. the sweat is nothing compared to the tears. tomorrow morning the triathlon we've been waiting for gets under way. kas, nina, stay ya, kendrick, scott, joaquin, ready to go. good luck, guys. seriously, i'm rooting for you. as i mentioned earlier i'm not going to be able to race tomorrow. wanted to do this, but i'm headed to report on a devastating famine sweeping that country and frankly until now been under reported. keep up with that trip following me on my life stream at cnn.com/sanjay. i'm rooting for you guys and time now to send it back up to cnn center for more "cnn saturday" with deb feyerick in for t.j. holmes. >> thanks so much. we're rooting for the team and also rooting for you. this is a really important story and we're lucky we're going to be able to see it through your eyes. take care out there. >> thanks, deb. appreciate it. all right. from cnn center, this is "cnn

saturday morning." august 6th. good morning. i'm deborah feyerick in for t.j. holmes. standard & poor's cut the u.s. credit rating by one notch from a perfect aaa to aa-plus. what does it mean for you and your money? plus, the famine in somalia, the struggle to feed the tens of thousands trapped in the middle of a civil war. >> hey. i am now a winner. of the harvard university for two free tickets. thank you. >> let me introduce myself. >> they thought they won tickets to a football classic. instead it was a trap to catch parents behind on child support. we begin with breaking news, though, out of afghanistan. a nato helicopter has crashed in wardak province in eastern afghanistan. afghan president hamid karzai says 31, 31 u.s. special forces troops are among the 38 killed in the incident. a recovery operation is under

way. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. cnn's david aristo joins us from kabul. what are you hearing? >> well, in what seems to be one of the or probably not one of the, one of the largest losses of american life since the invasion began, this helicopter was traveling in an insurgent area and, according to a taliban spokesman are and some other locals we have spoken to, was shot down by a rocket-propelled grena grenade. this is the second time a helicopter sustained fire in the eastern section of this country. last week a helicopter was forced to make a crash landing. no injuries in that incident. however, this incident, not so much the case. >> we're going to check in with you more on that later on. again, 31 u.s. special forces troops killed in that nato crash helicopter. the crash of the nato

helicopter. and more breaking news to tell you about. america's credit rating has taken a hit from ratings agency standard & poor's from aaa to aa-plus. the agency cites the nation's growing debt and the seeming hessy tansy to confront the red ink. standard & poor's managing director explains how this downgrade could have been avoided. >> i think you could have done a few things. the first thing it could have done is raise the debt ceiling in a timely planner so much of this debate had been avoided to begin with. as it had done, you know, 60 or 70 times since 1960 without that much debate. so that's point number one. and point number two, it could have come up with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example, to, you know, the bowles simpson commission which was bipartisan. >> and we're going to hear more from mr. chambers in a few minutes. the obama administration is furious about the downgrade. it says the agency miscalculated

by $2 trillion. one senior describes standard & poor's action as, quote, a facts-be-damned decision. athena jones is in washington and athena, boy, president obama keeping tabs on things from camp david this morning? >> he certainly is. we're told the president was briefed on this s&p matter before he left for camp david yesterday. and that he's been getting constant updates on the situation. now, of course, the real question is, how quickly can this change? how quickly can the u.s. regain that aaa rating and it looks as though it might take a while. now, you mentioned that $2 trillion mistake that sources close to the matter -- the treasury department said the s&p made. they have a big problem with the way the s&p made this calculation to make this downgrade. they believe that they messed up when it comes to trying to measure the u.s.'s debt to gdp ratio, which is a key measure of a country's credit risk. that's one thing they took issue

with. of course it didn't stop the downgrade in the end. officials have noted, though, that fitch, the rating service fitch, and moody's still keep the u.s. at a aaa and so there is hope that maybe this won't play huge in the markets. certainly you can bet that the white house, the treasury department, administration officials will be watching this closely and figuring out how to respond. >> i think the president signing the debt deal alone in his office, no fanfare, nobody around him. he called it a manufactured crisis. something that could have been avoided entirely. what kind of pressure does this put on congress? >> well, it puts a lot of pressure on congress, and you know what you just said, the president talking, it echos what chambers said from s&p. this whole issue was -- ended up being a political football. the congress couldn't agree, the debt ceiling, the threat of default became a political bargaining chip and you still have the two parties who are in their corners with the republicans not wanting to see this deal that was struck last week include tax revenues, the

democrats don't want to see all of the balancing of the budget done on the backs of people who need medicare, so entitlement reform is an issue on the dems' side and it's hard to see going forward what's going to happen. one thing i can say is that this joint committee that's going to be meeting and giving its recommendations for further deficit reduction in november, there's going to be a lot of pressure on them because as far as s&p believes, this deal struck this week just kicks the can down the road and all these big issues. so, we're going to be watching and waiting and whoever is on that committee, is going to have a lot of pressure on them, deborah. >> absolutely. thanks so much. the bottom line really, the s&p saying that you got to separate the budget issue from the debt approval process. so all right. athena jones, thanks so much. we'll check in with you. senate majority leader harry reid had had this to say on the decision to downgrade the u.s. credit rating, quote --

>> the republican hopefuls are weighing in on the downgrade from mitt romney who says, quote, america's credit worthiness just became the latest casualty in president obama's failed record of leadership on the economy, standard & poor's rating downgrade is a troubling indicator of our country's decline under president obama. coming from the presidential contender. here's what minnesota's michele bachmann also a presidential contender for the republicans had to say. quote -- >> and then there's this from gop presidential candidate jon huntsman, president obama's former ambassador to china, also a presidential contender,

quote -- . the u.s. credit downgrade won't just hurt the government. average americans trying to make ends meet could feel the pinch. felicia taylor joining me this morning from new york to tell us why this is important. you know, you hear all these politicians now weighing in. first, the spin was about the debt ceiling. now it's about the downgrade. but what are the immediate effects? how is this going to hurt the u.s.? >> well, deb, what happens is that when it comes to borrowing everything just got more expensive. so if you are looking for a car loan or if you're out there shopping for a mortgage or even your credit card, everything just got more expensive as a result of this because investing in the united states just became

riskier. we no longer have that stellar rating anymore. we're on aa-plus which puts us below par with countries like england, france, germany, and canada, which is a significant place to look at. so americans are going to now find in the near future, it does take a little time to trickle down, that anything that it costs to borrow money just got more expensive. that also translates to foreign investors. when they hold significant amount of debt in the united states such as our treasuries and china would be the number one, they have about $1 trillion worth, that becomes a little riskier for them and the question becomes are they going to sell off some of that -- some of their holdings? i don't think that's going to happen immediately because still, there's not that many opportunities to invest elsewhere. the united states is still a relatively safe place. but it does put the question out there, how risky are the investments in the united states and can political gridlock end in washington? >> you know, we talk about the political gridlock. cnn did a poll and -- of those

who answered the questions, 82% said they disapprove of the job congress is doing. but when we go across the world, and to other countries, one italian chief executive said, quote, we need leadership capable of restoring cohesion. he was talking about his own government in italy. obviously the same can be applied to the united states. how will the world economy be affected by this? >> deb, it's a really good question and i was in europe just a week ago and, you know, people are looking at the united states and wondering, you know, whether or not they're going to be able to keep that stellar position, that number one position, as a world leader with respect and in terms of the world economy, you're going to have to look at investments, whether or not the u.s. is still going to be an attractive investment for some of the other global economies. that's a significant thing. like i mentioned. when it comes to places like china that hold such an enormous amount of our u.s. treasuries,

our debt, they may or may not want to continue to do so and that's going to be a significant impact. i think on monday, when we begin trading again in the united states, you are going to see some kind of a reaction, but most traders that i've spoke to said this has already been priced in. we might see a little dip, but moving forward we will go back to the fundamentals of the american economy and whether or not the economic signals are there to show that there's a recovery in place. that's a bigger question. >> okay. interesting going back to the fundamentals. quickly, anything positive going to come out of this? >> well, deb, you know, i think the one thing that has to be looked at is, the united states is still a respected government, but the point is, is that the political gridlock in washington has to end. they have had their wrist slapped no question that they've been told, listen, this is a very serious issue and things have to change. if they don't change soon we could face even a further downgrade by some of the other agencies. they have us still on negative

outlook. what this does i think is send a signal to washington that it's time to get a grip and actually do something positive about creating jobs in this economy. so in the end, i think it is a positive thing because that has to change. and the signal is very clear and hopefully that will begin soon. >> okay. ter revg insights. felicia taylor, thank you so very much. financial expert clyde anderson will join us next down with a credit rating breakdown and more on what the u.s. credit downgrade could mean for you and your money. coming up at 7:00 tonight, cnn presents a special hour on the credit rating decision. the impact on you, your children, your future. that's tonight, 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. and the pictures are hard to look at, but the issue is just way too important to ignore. that's why chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is headed to the famine stricken region of somalia. he has a live report coming up next. [ female announcer ] now, give dry, damaged hair a whole new life!

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12 million people are in desperate need of assistance in the horn of africa. somalia is the worst hit. almost 30,000 children have died there in the past 90 days. 30,000 children. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta will be heading to the famine-stricken region in less than 24 hours. he joins us live this morning from new york city with a preview. sanjay, the united nations says this is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world, a combination of the worst drought in 60 years and this endless civil war. what is going on there? >> well, it is exactly, you know, that. i mean look, they haven't had a drought this bad since 1950 in this region and if you combine that sort of lack of rain with the conflict that you're describing, it is creating, you know, this tragedy that's

unfolding here. i paint the situation like this. if you think about this area of the world and this country, so many of the people there live off the land, they're agricultural farmers, when the drought happened, obviously the crops died off and the livestock, many of these farms also went away. so now these people have no food and they have no water and they start literally trying to walk for tens of miles, 30, 40 miles to try to get to aid camps. often times, these children, these women, malnourished by the time they get to these camps and a lot of these camps weren't prepared to have enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people who are coming in mass. that's what the countryside of somalia looks like and when they arrive at these camps which are hundreds of thousands of people in size there's not enough resources. it's been going on. the problem has been getting worse. >> and sanjay, with these islamic militants who are controlling this country, they're not helping the people.

how did it get to such a dire point? >> well, you know, i think, you know, you have to look back over history a little bit here, over decades, al shabaab, the group you're talking about, for a long time banned any sort of foreign aid coming into this country. this became a pattern. if you were an aid organization trying to get into somalia in years past even, you worried about safety in this country than any place else in the world. that was the history. with this drought and the situation happening as bad as it's become, that ban has been lifted. but you can imagine, deb, still a lot of concern from these aid organizations, as they try to get food in, is there going to be a pattern of violence that, you know, comes back? are these militant groups going to attack these refugee camps, relief camps even? it's a real balance here. i think it's getting better in the sense that there's a little bit more trust in terms of whether or not there's safety from al shabaab attacking these camps, but it's not 100%.

i think that's part of the problem here. >> it's incredible because i think somalia has a population of 7.5 million and about 3.2 million of them are in need of life-saving help. sanjay, you're going to be heading there, anderson cooper heading there, you're going to be reporting out of somalia. tell us a little bit about your journey, how you're going to get there, and where you're going to be, which camps you're going to be looking in? >> yeah. well you know, some of this is obviously as you know being reported in the field. a little bit fluid, but we're going to probably fly into kenya, nairobi and either about a ten-hour drive, you know, through kenya to the somalia border or a small plane, you know, that's -- those details are still being worked out. there are a lot of camps on the border for all the reasons i mentioned earlier being right there on the border can allow these aid organizations to sort of give the camp supplies and reduce the amount of potential problems they may have with security. so that's sort of what's going

on there. a lot of those camps right along the kenya/somalia border. and i'll just say again, deb, i mean you cited some of the numbers but i'm hearing as well, 600,000 children children potentially over the next several months in this area could starve to death which is unbelievable that we're talking like that in the year 2011 anywhere in the world that could be happening. 600,000 children over the next several months. but anyways that's how we're going to get there. those camps along the border i think will be the ones we're going to try to find and see what's happening. >> all right. sanjay gupta, thanks so much. take care of yourself out there and we'll be looking because beginning on monday, "ac 360" moving to 8:00 p.m. eastern and ander son with sanjay gupta will be reporting live from somalia on the region's devastating drought and famine, "anderson cooper 360" special report, somalia on the front lines, monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn.

coming up later, we hear from s standard & poor's to downgrade the nation's credit worthiness. any relief in sight? that's reynolds wolf. >> i go bay anything. >> we're reading temperatures that will be excruciating for people across the central and southern plains. dallas, 35 days in a row temperatures in the triple digits. unfortunately, yes, it's going to continue. possibly into next weekend. more on that coming up in just a few moments. see you in a little bit. >> i go bay anything. more on that coming up in just a mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943.

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well, it is just 20 minutes past the hour. time for a check of the weather with reynolds wolf. reynolds, any relief in sight? are we going to get rain any time? >> in parts of the southern plains looks like rain chances are flex to nothing. it's been brutal. day after day dealing with it across parts of texas. seems the nucleus of the rough weather in terms of the heat has been in dallas. make your way northward along i-35 and see other places where the heat is just relentless. back in oklahoma city, 108. ft. smith, arkansas, 112 your expected high. a big area of high pressure and think of high pressure almost being like having a compressing effect on the atmosphere, putting a lid on a jar. going to restrict cloud development, possibility of rain and the heat will intensify. just brutal stuff, no question about it. by the alamo, 102 the expected high, midland, odessa, 100s.

montgomery 93, 97 jackson, 95 in parts of nashville. there is a chance we might be getting some relief, though, not necessarily in texas, but possibly as we get closer to the ohio valley and into the mid-mississippi valley and maybe parts of the southeast and that relief could come in the form of scattered showers, perhaps thunderstorms. what happens in the gulf of mexico is you have a converging sea breeze that comes in on one side, converging sea breeze in parts of florida and the wind that's going to be bringing in moisture into the carolinas. that with your daytime heating could give you a few scattered showers, maybe a thunderstorm or two which could knock down the temperatures 10 to 15 degrees in some locations which would be amazing relief. also, though, with the rain there is the chance of a bad component, some severe storms possible in the upper midwest, western great lakes and into the ohio valley especially into the late afternoon hours. out west, the heat is going to be relentless for parts of the four corners but not bad for much of southern california. take a look quickly, high of 66 in san francisco, 9 in billings,

94 in kansas city, 106 dallas, 91 atlanta and 84 degrees in new york. all right. that's your forecast. back to you, deb. >> thanks. new york, positively balmy. thank you so much. 84 degrees. up next, is your child getting ready to head back to school? one of the biggest expenses you may face is buying a computer. digital lifestyle expert mario armstrong will help you decide if you should get a laptop or tablet. beating the brutal heat in japan with air conditioned clothing. we're going to show you other fascinating inventions that they're using over there to stay cool. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside. but for some of us with overactive bladder, our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do.

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some schools are already in session. if your child hasn't gone back you may be faced with decisions about what kind of computers you're going to need. plus, where can you find the best deals? we want to know that. digital lifestyle mario armstrong joins me from washington with some tips. hey there, mario. >> good morning. >> good morning. good morning. let's start with the type of computer. should it be a laptop for a student, a tablet? >> this is a big, big question. i'm so glad you're bringing this up. a lot of people are confused. too many choices are out there right now. if you think about it, tablets

are really better for they're easy to carry, mobile, you can get classwork done and run office applications on a tablet, but my personal recommendation is that you get much more bang for your buck for the students for a longer term investment if you invest in a lapton. they can do hard core research, programling, anything for communications and audio and video editing, those tasks and presentations, you probably want to have a full-blown laptop to have a better investment. >> the keypad, if you're used to a key ppad it's much more comfortable, and efficient in way. >> i'm holding a tablet here. when you start typing on a screen it is a totally different feeling and you can do it for short notes, internet research, quick class notes but if you're going to write that essay, some can do it and be fine. other people will need to get an additional keyboard. it you're getting a keyboard to go with your tablet you may as

well get what i call a laptop. >> before i buy where should a parent start? where should they go? >> i think the first thing to do is actually check with the institution. check with the school, make sure they may have prearranged discounts you're unaware of. so many people spend money they didn't have to because the school has that. the school can make recommendations and may have requirements or limitations on their network that you should be aware of and that will help narrow down that search. the other thing to do is to, you know, just pay attention to those discounts because not only does the school have them for hardware but they could have them for software as well. >> all right. so -- and again, you're always looking for deals. you never want to pay full price, correct? >> no, no! absolutely not. go to websites that are specific to students. so, for example, microsoft has microsoft.com/student. it's a website where they house everything for student discounts. you can go there, peruse that site and be able to not only pay less than the retail price, but

also find other bonuses and perks just by being a student. other sites have this. dell, hp, apple, so whatever you decide to choose, i don't care if you go into a store or retailer, deb, the most important thing is, tell the people on the sales floor this is for a student. have proof of i.d. or a transcript and you will get a discount even if the big box retail stores for any software or hardware. >> well, and that's a great incentive and, of course, you want to protect your technology so things like lowjack. >> lowjack for your laptop. thank you for joining us. we appreciate you. you can join us every saturday at this time as our digital lifestyle expert mario armstrong gives the scoop on the latest technology. and next, restoring america's gold standard credit rating. easier said than done. >> it's going to take a while to get back to aaa because once you lose your aaa it doesn't usually

bounce back in that way. >> we'll have more from the s&p's managing director on the decision to downgrade america's credit worthiness, next on this "cnn saturday morning." >> hey, i am now a winner. of the harvard university for two free tickets. thank you. >> let me introduce myself. >> and later, some lucky ticket winners at the iron bowl should have paid their child support. how officers came up with an elaborate sting to nab deadbeat dads. that story next in sports. to y. i think what people like most about the grilled food is the taste. the flavor comes from that oak wood. the shrimp, the fresh fish, the steaks. it locks in the flavor, it seals in the juices so that when you put the fork in it, it just goes through it like butter. it's beautiful. [ laughs ] i'm proud to be a grill master. i love food. my name is charles himple. i'm a red lobster grill master, and i sea food differently.

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. an it's 33 minutes past the hour. welcome back. i'm deborah feyerick in today for t.j. holmes. thanks for starting your day with us. checking your top stories, breaking news, 31 u.s. troops have killed in the crash of a nato helicopter in afghanistan. most are believed to be special forces. the taliban claims it brought down the helicopter with rocket-propelled grenades and in syri syria -- at least 50 people were

killed yesterday when a government tank reportedly fired at demonstrators. it happened outside a hospital in the town of hama where there's been a major government crackdown on protests. and nasa satellite is launched into space on a five-year journey to study the planet jupiter. jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. mission juno is expected to give us insight into how the solar system was formed. this morning a stark new financial reality for americans. we are no longer the gold standard as it relates to the world's economy. yesterday after the markets closed, standard & poor's downgraded the nation's long-term sovereign credit rating from aaa to aa+. it's a first for the country and an embarrassment for president obama. in explaining the decision, s&p says the nation's growing debt, coupled with last week's political bitterness over raising the debt ceiling, gives them less faith in the nation's ability to repay its loans.

it comes days after congress cut the debt ceiling deal shaving more than $2 trillion over the next decade. in essence, s&p thinks the deal fell short. after standard & poor's notifycration of the downgrade the obama administration fired back saying the s&p's own figures were off by $2 trillion. s&p did acknowledge the discrepancy but says its decision to downgrade remains. hours off the downgrading, s&p's managing director john chambers spoke to anderson cooper about the rationale behind the downgrade. >> i think there were two reasons. the first reason is the one you got being our vushgs the political settings in the united states, have been altered, we've taken them down a notch, taken the rating down a notch. the political brink manship over raising the debt ceiling was something that was beyond our expectations. the u.s. government getting to the last day before they had

cash management problems. there are very few governments that separate the budget process from the debt authorization process. and we also think more broadly that this debate has shown that although we do have an agreement that will -- and we do believe will deliver at least $2.1 trillion of savings over the next decade, it's going to be difficult to get beyond that, at least in the near term, and you do need to get beyond that to get to a point where the debt to gdp ratio is going to stabilize. >> it's interesting, you're saying without a doubt the recent debate, the recent road blocks in congress, the tenor, the timing, the tone of the debate, had a major impact on this? >> yes. i think that is what put things over the brink. in addition, we have a medium-term fiscal forecast that we see, you know, the debt to gdp ratio continuing to rise over the forecast horizon and putting it in the position where it would no longer be compatible with many other aaa ratings.

>> already on twitter other places, republicans and democrats pointing the fingers at each other, president obama at congress. do you blame one side more than the other? >> no. i think there's plenty of blame to go around. this is a problem that's been a long time in the making, well over this administration, and the prior administration. the -- it's a matter of the medium and long-term budget position of the united states that need s to be brought under control not the immediate fiscal position. one that settles on entitlements and entitlement reform or having matching revenues to pay for those, that's at the crux of the matter. >> what could the united states have done to have avoided this? >> well, i think it could have done a few vision. the first thing is to raise the debt ceiling in a timely manner so much of this debate had been avoided to begin with, as it had done, you know, 60 or 70 times since 1960 without that much debate.

so that's point number one. and point number two is it could have come up with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example, to, you know, the bowles-simpson commission which was bipartisan, although it didn't have a super majority vote, it did have a majority vote and came up with a number of sensible recommendations. you could envision other recommendations but that would have been a start. >> and the bowles-simpson act that -- commission that you heard chambers talk about just there, that was a panel set up by barack obama to identify ways to reduce the national debt. it's formerly known as the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. and lowering the nation's debt rating is sure to impact just about every one of us. coming up at 7:00 eastern tonight, cnn presents a special on the credit rating decision. the impact on you, your children, your future. tonight at 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. and not all the financial news, though, is bad. in fact, the july jobs report,

well, it was a welcome surprise. employers added more workers than some had projected. athena jones is live in washington with more on the jobs report. and athena, that was some bright news. 117,000 jobs, which is more than economists had predicted? >> right. so july's unemployment was better than many economists expected but a long way to go before everyone who wants to work can find a job. >> reporter: job seekers began lining up early at this job fair in a virginia subbushd. they came to hand out resumes and line up interview in the hopes of getting hired. >> nice to meet you, sir. >> this is more or less what we're looking for. >> okay. >> people that want to be super stars. >> right. well i appreciate you looking for a super star because i feel like i am one. >> i love it. >> i got 28 years experience actually in sales. >> wonderful. >> and marketing. >> reporter: people like 52-year-old ted, a salesman who lost his job in april. >> i need to find something right away. >> reporter: the u.s. economy

added 117,000 jobs last month. more than economists expected but not enough to bring down the unemployment rate. it fell just .01% to 9.1%. he's one of the 13.9 million people unemployed. >> get in line over here. >> he spends up to 12 hours a day looking for work. he and his family are living on savings and his unemployment check. but his daughter starts college later this month and he says he's got until october 1st to find a job so he can keep paying the bills. >> i worry about losing this house. sell a car or whatever. just got to keep pressing on. and do the best we can. >> reporter: while he remains optimistic, there is cause for concern. the number of people who have been out of work for six months or more is at record levels, at more than 6 million. >> think in terms of the millions of people that are unemployed, how fast do you want to put them back to work? we could run 300,000 jobs for a couple years and not put everybody back to work even with

300,000 per month. >> reporter: at the job fair, 23-year-old sabrina, who graduated from college in may, isn't surprised it's taking her a while to find a good job. >> i don't think i'm phased too much about it even though the job market is that much worse because i've always expected for it to be hard. >> reporter: president obama has proposed extending the payroll tax credit and unemployment insurance to put money in people's pockets and kick start consumer spending and see congress pass the pending free trade agreements to spur job growth. none can happen until lawmakers return in september. >> athena jones, thanks so much for that j have you looked at your 401(k) statement. if you're too scared to peek at it, we can help. we have investing tips that could hopefully ease your fears. and texas governor rick perry is hoping the power of prayer will heal the economy. more on the religious gathering he has planned today in houston.

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we've been telling you about two financial story this week, the dow dropping 512 points in a single day, and now the country's credit rating being downgraded. joining me is financial lifestyle coach clyde anderson. start with the s&p's decision to downgrade the credit from aaa to aa+. what does it mean? >> i think the easiest way to explain this, 850 credit score, now my credit score drops to 600 it's going to make it harder for me to purchase things, my rate higher and i'm going to pay more over the long haul. >> and make it much more difficult for other countries or to want to loan money to the united states? >> yeah. definitely. it's the same thing. i want to charge you a higher interest rate, scrutinize you more if you have this lower rating because it looks like your bonds may not be worth what they were in the past. >> it's everything now consumers want to buy, the average american, going to effect them deeply. >> you're looking at house, cars, maybe student loans, all

these things we could experience higher interest rates on because of this. >> okay. how does it impact the 401(k)? >> i think that's the question a lot of people are having. certain things you have to look at. what am i invested in? don't just react. don't make it off emotions and fear. make sure you know what you're doing and what you have inside. because reacting will make you make bad decisions a lot of times. don't react. know what you're investing in, risk is and diversify, don't have your investments all in bonds. spread across the board. take advice from people you trust. wise counsel and there's in the one right answer. my risk is going to be different than your risk and decisions for my future may be different from yours. >> all right. make sure you get good advice and you gave us some. thanks so much. appreciate you being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> as we move ahead you may wonder how prince william managed to keep cool under the heavy uniform he wore on his wedding day. we'll show you how he got hitched without breaking a sweat

and fascinating inventions the japanese have designed to beat the heat.

it's been hot across most parts of the united states but especially brutal with record high temperatures in japan. nadia bilchik is joining me again this morning with our passport. and the japanese they are constantly coming up with these incredible inventions. how are they coping with the heat? >> very difficult because it has been so hot and there's a real rationing of electricity. here you and i are sitting in this lovely cool studio. >> freezing. >> i noticed you had a wrap on earlier. with 80, 90 degrees outside. the opposite there. they only turn on the

electricity if absolutely necessary. they say necessity is the mother of invention. and the japanese have come up with remarkable things. now, they spoke about the super cool campaign where they wore hawaiian shirts but the japanese like to be more formal. one of the things they've come up with, in fact, is a suit and underneath the suit there are pockets and in the pockets underneath the arm pits there are actual cooling devices. what you're seeing is an air conditioning unit in a jacket and there's actually an entire conditioning unit, a cable and a switch, and it runs on battery. this will keep your body cool for up to 11 hours. >> that's remarkable. that's remarkable. how much does something like that cost? >> about $130. it's not cheap. but at stores, big department stores, like tokyo hands which are the big stores in japan, you'll have entire floors that are just devoted to cooling devices and electricity-saving

devices, that being the key, and to clothes. these jackets look large and you wouldn't imagine that you've got an entire air conditioning system happening around you. >> that's remarkable. >> your personal air conditioning unit. >> we all need one of those. >> we might. >> as a matter of fact. >> may recognize this gent manlman coming up next. we have a picture of a gentleman has become world famous. >> yep. >> he is, of course, the duke of cambridge, prince william. >> prince william. >> you may say what does this have to do with cooling? prince william had his own cooling device so he wouldn't sweat. in that exquisitely designed uniform in england, they had to put padding underneath his arms so he had late really place for the sweat so that he wouldn't pass out. >> remarkable. >> and they actually said we made some minor adjustments to ensure his comfort and save his blushes and we worked together with adding micro sweat pads

under the arm and used less padding. >> that's remarkable. he certainly looked good. they both looked gorgeous. thank you so much. fascinating. now we all have to go out and here in america, we just hold the fans up to our faces. that doesn't work. >> we need our personal air conditioning devices. >> absolutely. thank you so much. >> in your case you need personal [ inaudible ]. >> i'll take a sweat shirt right now. >> thanks so much. a sting operation with a unique twist. >> hey. i am now a winner of the harvard university for two free tickets. thank you. >> let me introduce myself. anticipate dennis harold. >> thought he won tickets to the alabama/auburn game. look how the smile turned upside down. instead he got arrested. we'll explain after the break. plus, thousands are expected today in houston where texas governor rick perry called for a day of prayer. not everyone there is happy about it. we'll have a live report coming up in our next hour. if you don't have an iphone, you don't have facetime on your phone,

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one thing that tiger says he is happy with, happy with certain aspects of his game, the accuracy he's getting now. he's had another major swing change, happy with accuracy, the distance he's getting off the tee, but yesterday, it got the best of him. he had three bogeys, one double bogey. >> wow. >> sounds like you and i on the course. >> we're happy if we get one. >> sign me up sure. >> get one double bogey a round we're happy. dropped him into a tie for 36th, entering today seven shots off the lead and, of course, we're going to see tiger in atlanta next week at the pga championship. his first tournament or he hasn't won a tournament since 2009. hasn't won a major -- >> couple of other things on his mind. >> just a little bit. >> couple things came up. we have to talk about this recent sting operation involving some alabama football fans. i just -- this is like, you know, when you really think you hit the lottery and it ain't happening. >> yeah. when i saw reynolds, man, you weren't in alabama any time last

week? he's a big auburn football fan. lead county, alabama, involved alleged people with back child support. it was called iron snare, the name of the operation. the suspects got letters telling them they had won tickets to this year's iron bowl. reynolds you know about that. the annual grudge match. >> genius idea. >> not going easily. >> when they showed up to claim their prize, authorities had a surprise instead. >> this is -- it's remarkable. >> hey. i am now a winner of the auburn university for two free tickets. thank you. >> i'm dennis with the lead county sheriff's office. we have a warrant for your arrest for the child support. got you. >> more than 140 letters were sent out. okay. with each suspect owing between 30 and $70,000. resulted in over a dozen arrests. the funny thing -- this isn't funny. after one arrested he still asked do i get my tickets.

>> of course. >> you don't get tickets. ticket to jail. >> you have to look for silver lining. i love the balloons, brought in balloons too. >> that's the deal. >> you invited the media, said it's a big celebration, we're going to get all these people there and they thought they had won something. when they show up, bam. >> interesting. it's a first for a major at -- it's a first for a pitch at a major league baseball game. this i just love this video. >> i have never seen this before. have you ever seen a pitcher throwing a ball through the back stop netting? >> it's insane. >> it's concerning, actually. i mean, think about what could have happened had this ball gone through and actually hit a fan. but it didn't. this was the pitch from chapman of the reds. goes through the backstop and look at the hole there. >> look at that wow. >> it goes through the backstop. >> the speed? >> around 100 miles an hour. 99 point something to be exact. around 99 to 100 miles an hourp the fan is like i got me a baseball. >> that could really hurt

somebody. >> 100 miles an hour. >> when you see some of those baseballs that go into the stands. >> sure. >> and i'm always surprised more people don't get hurt. you know, when they're coming straight at them. nobody has ever broke an hand. they catch it and they're happy and everything. >> i have to think that's probably the weakest part of the netting. >> absolutely. >> at the bottom. yeah. >> to see a straight pitch, a little lacking on the control part. if i were the guy standing in the box, the guy at the plate, i'm wearing full body armor the next time i step off. >> reminds me of the movie "major league" with charlie sheen. >> take your risk. pay a lot but the risk at the same time. >> here here. >> thanks for joining us. appreciate it. lot of fun talking to you about that. we'll see how tiger does. >> keeping an eye. >> coming up, more serious story, restoring america's credit rating, easier said than done. >> it's going to take a while to get back to aaa because once you lose your aaa it doesn't usually bounce back in that way. >> we'll have more from the

s&p's managing director on the decision to downgrade america's credit worthiness rating, that's next, this "cnn saturday morning." next, this "cnn saturday if you don't have an iphone, you don't have facetime on your phone, which makes it this easy to talk face-to-face with another iphone. this easy to talk with a mac and this easy to talk with an ipad. facetime.

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topping our news this hour, breaking news in afghanistan. afghan president hamid karzai says 31 u.s. troops died in a nato helicopter crash today. a u.s. military official puts that numbers at more than two dozen. most of those killed are believed to be special forces. the taliban says insurgents brought down the helicopter with rocket-propelled grenades. nato command has not confirmed the details of the crash. and this morning's other

breaking news, america's credit rating takes a hit from standard & poor's. from aaa to aa+. standard & poor's managing director explains how the downgrade could have been avoided. >> i think it could have done a few things. the first thing it could have done is to have raised the debt ceiling in a timely planner so much of this debate had been avoided to begin with, as it had done 60 or 70 times since 1960 without that much debate. so that's point number one. point number two, it could have come up with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example, you know, the bowles-simpson commission which was bipartisan. >> we'll hear more from mr. chambers in just a few minutes. and the obama administration's firing back at standard & poor's decision, one senior official describes the downgrade as, quote, a facts-be-damned decision unquote.

athena jones live in washington. the white house has says over an error it says inflated the u.s. deficit by $2 trillion. that is a big mistake. >> well, exactly. that's the point that they've made. they say a $2 trillion mistake speaks for itself. and they argue that s&p has said that the debt deal that they reached last week with congress, wasn't big enough. we're talking about cutting about $917 billion right away and then $1.5 billion hopefully later through this joint committee. and so if these numbers are fairly big, they argue the s&p this $2 trillion figure is also big. so that's really the issue going forward. the white house officials say that right now, two other ratings agencies fitch and moody's, right now have still maintained the u.s.'s aaa credit rating and right now it's just the s&p that's changed it. they believe this was a rush to judgment, that the analysis was made in hayes, and so they have a big issue with it. deb? >> seems like a condemnation of

how congress behaved over the debt ceiling talks it took months for them to put it together, that they waited until the 11th hour when everybody was almost in a sort of a fear mode. congress has to get back to work, but they're on vacation. >> well, absolutely. i mean, no matter how you look at it it's an indictment of congress and the dysfunction in the s&p's view we've seen over the last several weeks and months over this debt ceiling issue. one of the issues that treasury officials, problems they had with this judgment, this downgrade, was that it was a political decision, not an economic one, as far as they're concerned. but certainly the politics matter. the s&p has said this whole issue of the debt ceiling and the threat of default, have been used as a political bargaining chip. so, they're not -- they're not optimistic that given what we've seen the last weeks in coming to this small deal which they say is not enough, given the problems we've seen reaching that deal, they're not optimi optimistic there's going to be big changes later when it comes

to making real decisions on tax revenue, reform and entitlement reform. that's where we stand right now, deb. >> all right. athena jones in washington for us, thank you so much. standard & poor's is one of the big three credit rating agencies as athena mentioned. felicia taylor joining us again from new york. there are two other ratings agencies, moody's and fitch. they still list the u.s. as aaa. is there a balance there or do they now start thinking about whether they should downgrade? >> well, the interesting thing about this is that the s&p came out and was looking for specific things to happen in that deficit deal structuring that happened in washington. they didn't get what they wanted. moody's and fitch weren't as specific. s&p was looking for some $4 trillion in cuts. all we've got on the table is about $900 billion. we have the super committee that's going to come up with a bit more than that. even still about $2 trillion that might be on the table at

some given point. that's half of what s&p was looking for. moody's and fitch were not as specific as what they were looking for in terms of the ratings criteria. so that's what the difference is. i mean, it seems like a bit of a dichotomy to have on the one hand, you know, one person saying or one ratings agency saying it's aa+ and the other two saying aaa. moody's and fitch said we're on negative outlook so they could reassess that in the months to come. >> do you think that, in fact, when the politicians get back to washington, that, in fact, they are going to take that $4 trillion to heart and try to cut that? are they going to use that as the gauge? is the s&p sending a message, a signal, this is what you got to do? >> i think the s&p is sending a very clear signal, there's no question about it, and, you know, whether or not they're able to achieve that $4 trillion mark, is certainly the elephant in the room. i mean i don't know if they're going to be able to get that far. but definitely there's no question about it.

i mean, washington has had their wrist slapped. they've been told, listen, this isn't enough. you being the leaders in washington, haven't come together to come up with a program that's going to help save the economy in the united states. there needs to be a lot more done. there needs to be more spending cuts and a lot less wrangling. hopefully that message is now loud and clear. whether or not they get to that $4 trillion mark, i don't know. but, we're going to be in this position for some time to come. it's not just something that's going to change in a couple months. we're looking at probably 12 to 24 months, potentially where we're at this level of a reduced downgrade. >> felicia taylor, thanks so much. certainly lawmakers are going to have to get back and work it out regardless of what that takes to accomplish. felicia taylor in new york, thank you so much. coming up at 7:00 tonight, cnn presents a special hour on the credit rating decision, the impact on you, your children, your future, that's tonight, 7:00 eastern right here on cnn.

and texas governor rick perry, he's got his own way of dealing with the economic crisis. he's called for a day of prayer today in houston. thousands are expected to attend. the day-long service is causing a lot of controversy. we're going to have a live report, that coming up right after the break. >> and as the sun continues to rise over parts of the southern plains, the temperatures going to follow with highs going up into the 100s again. 35 days in a row, hard to believe. is there any relief in sight? we'll let you know. i'm meteorologist reynolds wolf, you're watching "cnn saturday." if you don't have an iphone, you don't have airplay. which makes it easy to play music from your phone, on your stereo or see the photos you've taken

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and it's time now to go across country for stories our cnn affiliates are covering. first up, orlando, florida. >> at the post guy some guy flung the door open violently and fast, oh, my god is that casey anthony and waited for me. >> that woman is getting hounded because she looks like casey anthony. anthony was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter in one of the most closely watched legal cases in decades. and in charlotte, north carolina, a hotel lobby drowning in water. the heavy rain pooled on the roof and began pouring through light fixture in the lobby at an embassy suites. parts of three interstate highways in charlotte had to be closed because of the heavy rain.

and take a look at these pictures of the bank robbery in georgia. police say they're actually a sister and two brothers who shot at a police officer just hours earlier in tampa during a traffic stop. and today in texas, reliant stadium in houston will become a huge house of worship. governor rick perry has called for a day of pressuayer. the service puts the undeclared gop presidential candidate in the spotlight. here's cnn's jim acosta. >> this is governor rick perry. >> reporter: a texas governor who says he feels call to run for president, rick perry has issued a call of his own for people across the country to fill this stadium in houston this weekend to pray for what organizers believe is a nation in crisis. >> with the economy in trouble, communities in crisis and people adrift in a sea of moral relativism, we need god's help. that's why i'm calling on americans to pray and fast like jesus did. >> reporter: organizers hope the

event dubbed the response will kick start a sluggish economy. the critics argue perry's leadership role as a an initi e initiatinitiat initiator tears down the walls separating church and state. >> many people love a slogan in texas called don't mess with texas. it was an effective campaign. i would say to the governor, don't mess with the constitution. >> reporter: perry is up front about his christian faith. the governor called for days of prayer earlier this year to end the drought in texas and he once told a televan glis the recession serves a higher purpose. >> we're going through those times for a purpose to bring us back to those biblical principles. >> reporter: questions are also being raised about statements made by some response planners and official endorsers. a spokesman for the american family association has compared gay rights activists to nazis. >> if you have religious views about homosexual behavior you

are squashed. ladies and gentlemen, they are nazis. homo sexual activists when it comes to freedom of speech, freedom of religion they are nazis. doug stringer the national mobilization coordinator for the response, defends the governor's handling of the event. >> the governor is holding a christian event. >> the governor is not holding the event. >> he's the initiator according to the website. >> he trumpeted and made a declaration we need a day of fasting and prayer and asked the church to respond to that. the church is responding to that trumpet call. >> reporter: a call that could work with a key republican voting block, christian conservatives, trick for perry is what happens if he wins the gop nomination. >> having an event like this will be brought up again and again by his opponents to say, governor perry does not represent the separation of church and state. >> reporter: and the other big question for the response is, the response. so far only 8,000 people according to organizers have

registered on-line to attend this event. this is a venue that holds more than 70,000. the governor has invited governors around the country to come to houston for today's day of prayer. but only one republican sam brownback of kansas, has said he will be here today and he's on the schedule and deb, i can tell you rick perry is scheduled to speak in a few hours from now. his aides are tight lipped about what he might say. >> interesting. jim acosta, thanks so much. it will be interesting to see whether it's a religious event or ends up as a political event. we're going to check in with you. thanks so much. reynolds wolf up next with another sizzling forecast. and later, educators with a lesson plan. thousands of teachers march on washington. we're going to tell you why. what's left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark

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and reynolds wolf joining us now. you know that the country's in trouble when the map matches the color of my dress. like there's no coolness on this map right here. >> maybe you should wear blue. >> you know, you're carrying the torch for the blues. >> maybe we can paint cooler temperatures we need it. 108 in oklahoma city, 112 ft. smith, 106 dallas. the thing that's bad about this, deb, not just the heat but the longevity of this heat wave. it's been relentless. people in dallas know that well. would what you need is break, cooler temperatures, but unfortunately, over the next couple days and possibly the next weekend, we're not going to see that change. in fact, here's saturday's forecast. we show you the triple-digit heat around the southern plains and fast forward into sunday, same situation. 105 in oklahoma city. little deja vu in dallas, 106, 104 in shreveport. something wrong when we say it's

a little cooler in ft. smith only going to 109. that's the casep as we fast forward into monday, kick off the week going back up the slope in ft. smith 110, 107 dallas, 103 shreveport. let me emphasize this does not have anything to do with the high humidity. the air temperature, the humidity will make it feel warmer. be prepared out there, take it easy, next couple days. is there any relief we might get in terms of rainfall? it is going to be possible later on today we could see showers pop up across places plainly in the southeast along the gulf coast but in terms of central plains that's not going to be in the picture. possibly strong storms in the upper midwest. that's a look at your forecast, deb. pitch it right back to you. >> thanks so much, reynolds. >> thousands of teachers march on washington. we'll -- they're going to tell us why they're upset. and that's coming up right after this.

the school year is starting

with a lot of heated tee bait over education reform in america. part of that played -- that debate played out with a protest in washington. our education overtime guest correspondent sam shalltain was there. >> reporter: what will it take to transform public education? >> are you hot and mad today? >> reporter: is it anger and bullhorns? >> show me what democracy looks like. >> reporter: clever posters and language or me, beat boxing to the words of the notorious ph.d. ♪ they've exported our jobs treated us like fools and now they're working hard to take over our schools ♪ >> reporter: thousands of teachers, students and parents from across the country were here to tell president obama his current reform policies are definitely not the change they seek. >> why did you decide to come to d.c.? >> i am so disturbed that teachers are being made to blame for our society's problems. >> this privatization model is a some children approach to a

public education reform. what we need is an all children approach. >> reporter: if the march is to save our schools from the policies of the obama administration, what should we be doing instead? renay moore is the national board certified teacher from the mississippi delta and a former teacher of the year. >> teachers, particularly our best teachers, have been largely left out of the conversation in terms of the actual implementation and establishment of these policies. >> reporter: among those policies none is less popular than the use of high stakes tests to determine which schools and teachers are successful. indeed under current policy as many as 82% of our nation's schools could be labeled as failing this year. the rallies headliner, nyu historian diane ravage says president obama's race to the top policy punishes teachers even more. >> the basic idea of federal aid to education is equity. it's putting the money where the poorest kids are, not sending the money to the state that has the best grant proposal. >> reporter: clearly among the marchers there are real

challenges going forward and broad coalitions that need to be built. >> we're going to be talking very serious about english language learners, that segment of the population growing at the biggest rate in our public school system, then we really need to be focusing on this community in a wholistic way, not a way that reduces them to their language. >> reporter: everyone i spoke with agreed that lasting change will take much more than rallies and rhetoric. but they also felt that the first step was to make themselves loudly, undeniably, visible and to demand their rightful seat at the table before it's too late. >> and guest correspondent sam joins us now live from washington. hey, sam. you're a former educator yourself. what was your reaction to this school's rally? did it accomplish anything or was it just trying to get the mood up? >> so, first of all, thanks and good morning. thanks for having me. >> of course. >> i think it was a really important step towards greater

activism and involvement on the part of teachers. as a former educator myself i think there's been a tendency among many of us who have been frustrated with current pace of reform to be too passive to kind of blame others and say look at what they've done to us. but what this march seems to me to have symbolized was that teachers across the country are starting to say, we're ready to take back our profession, we're ready to demand our rightful seat at the table and want to play an active role in determining where we go from here. >> that's what's so interesting also. the teachers, they want to be involved in education process. creating programs and classes specific to the needs of their schools. standardized testing that is one of the critical issue because many of them can't do that. >> yeah. just to clarify for the viewers, under no child left behind what's happened is students in third through eighth grade and once in high school, are tested in only two subjects, reading

and math. and these are basic skills standardized tests. obviously everybody would agree that's an important brom ster. we need to make sure basic literacy and numeracy is acquired by our kids. what's happened in practice is two things -- first of all in some schools, it's business as usual. and actually, the most recent international test the pisa test students that attended low poverty schools ranked first actually in the world in those subjects. students in schools where even a quarter of the students were living in poverty, still tied with finland and south korea for tops in the world. so clearly, no child left behind is not dramatically influencing those communities. the problem is in schools with high poverty kids because of a variety of circumstances are likely to be further behind, in basic skills and some of the other things that put us in a position to be ready to learn, the existence of a single metric to determine whether those kids, whether those teachers and whether that school are being

successful is what's resulted -- >> that's the danger. you take the emphasis away from learning and on testing. sam, thanks so much. great piece there. really like that rap. we'll be back. >> thank you very much. we'll never stop sharing our memories, or getting lost in a good book. we'll always cook dinner, and cheer for our favorite team. we'll still go to meetings, make home movies, and learn new things. but how we do all this, will never be the same.