fed up with what happened and now how it's impacting all of us. >> no doubt. congress had 14% approval rating in our latest poll and in the cbs/new york times go. that's as low as you can go. >> paul, thanks. that does it for us. we're back here tomorrow bright and early. suzanne malveaux, this is a big suzanne malveaux, this is a big news day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> you set the place on fire. >> happy birthday. >> we won't talk about your age, you're looking lovely every year. >> you're a good friend, i lover you, i'll make a wish, very quickly. i'll let you know if it comes true. >> my favorite. >> happy birthday from all of us. >> thanks. live from studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed for this monday, august 8th. it is wall street's first trading day since the u.s. lost its pristine aa accredit rating. as expected, the move has

investors squeamish. the dow jones industrial average down about 330 points. the markets in europe and asia and the financial services firm, standard & poor's is warning washington that its credit rating may take another hit if something is not done about the nation's debt burden. s&p downgraded u.s. credit from aaa to aa plus. that happened on late friday. that was an unprecedented move. s&p blamed the u.s. debt load and the recent political brinksmanship over the debt ceiling. and we have just learned last hour s&p has now downgraded the credit ratings from mortgage giant fannie mae and freddie mac. chief business correspondent ali velshi is here to explain it to us. ali, first of all, tell us some people are not surprised by this. some fees for government-backed institutions, but clearly, this is not a good sign for what is happening. it it almost looks like a domino

effect. what does this mean for us? >> well, look, there are a few companies by virtue of the fact that they're gsas, government-sponsored agencies like freddie or fannie, or that they do business with the government or in the business of getting treasurys that will be affected by this so this is not unexpected. here's the sing, suzanne, when your credit is downgradeded it has two effects, either if makes it more expensive to get money or harder to get mono pep for the united states government this isn't an issue because it has liquidity and there's lots of u.s. debt to go around and it can't be replaced by people deciding to buy canadian bonds or australian bonds which are higher rated and have higher interest. money has continued to go into u.s. treasurys because while this is a political problem here in the united states it's thought of as a safe bet particularly when you compare us to italy or spain or greece or places like that. a little bit different for fannie and freddie. the effect of the increase or the downgrade in their credit rating could actually have a

material effect either in their ability to secure all of the money that they need to guarantee the mortgages that people get. >> right. >> or cause it to become more expensive so this is where the rubber starts to hit the road and where we might actually see a tick up in interest rates. >> what does that mean for us, ali? it will be harder to get a home loan now? >> well, this is one of these things that we've never been down this road before so we're learning as we go along moment by moment. we have not seen an increase in either treasury rates. we have not seen an increase in bond yields, the interest rate. we have not seen an increase in home mortgages, in fact, we've seen nothing, but a decrease. here's a short answer to your question. over time we than our interest rates whether it's for home mortgages or treasurys are historically low and likely to go up. if i were somebody taking a mortgage and i've been saying this for a year, lock in because rates over time will go low and they will historically go higher and they're historically low. who knows what effect this will have in the coming week or

month? it's very unclear and we're watching it closely to try to understand that. >> sure. >> bottom line is mortgage rates are so low at the moment that it's not going to crush things if they go up a little bit. if they go from, you know, 4 point 57% to 5.75%. >> if thing goes up, suzanne, we know we're not living in an environment and wean how sales are slow and prices are not improving and it would be not a great move and it's not like we're talking about going from 5% mortgage rates to 8% or 9%. nothing too terribly alarmed about this, it was expected. >> do we expect that there will be another domino potentially that's going fall here? >> well, you know, we're looking very closely at financial companies and insurance companies. we're not sure how that's going to pan out just yet. there may be some other downgrades. it's all relative, right? something is a better bet than something else in terms of credit so we're watching it very

carefully. remember, there are only four companies in the united states that are aaa rated anyway. it's not the same correlation that everyone thinks it is. there are places that are aa-rated and still do well and find money for other reasons. no need to panic at the moment. you see the market stabilizing around this level. i think, again, i've been saying this all morning. i think this market reaction is a little overblown based on the news that we've actually got. >> all right. we're not going to panic yet here, ali. got advice. we know the president will be addressing that as well because a lot of people are asking questions, a lot of uncertainty here. what is happening to our economy? are we in an economic crisis? are we spiraling downward? the president will be making a presidential statement happening at 1:00, just a few hours from now and happening at the state dining room at the white house. clearly, he'll be answering some questions or making a statement about what is taking place since the credit has been downgraded and now we're seeing this domino effect play out in the economy. well, the bodies of 30

americans killed in afghanistan may be flown to the united states as early as tomorrow. the taliban shot down a chinook helicopter on saturday apparently with a rocket-propelled grenade. most of the dead were elite u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s and navy seaman craig vickers worked with a bomb disposal unit. >> craig talked about joining the military and serve his country and for him it was god first, his country and his family. >> for all that were on that helicopter, you know, every life is important not only this incident, but all the ones before them. >> the taliban attack also killed seven afghan commandos and their interpreter. the syrian military rolled into another town today to crush anti-government protests.

[ shots fired ] >> the brutality fired similar attacks to two other cities this weekend. both saudi arabia and kuwait have recalled their ambassadors to damascus. the saudi king taking an unusually harsh tone calling on syria to halt its, quotes, killing machine. livering conditions are quickly deteriorating in tripoli. many neighborhoods have been without electricity or rung water for days now. libyan state television blames the outages on nato air strike, but nato tells cnn that there is no evidence that its planes bombed power lines. here's a london neighborhood charred by weekend riots. police say they've arrested more than 160 people as early as this morning. now, mob rage over a police shooting boiled over. that happened on saturday night. police deny rumors that a young father of four children was shot

in the head execution style. okay. she went in the water for almost 16 hours now. diana nyad who is 61 years old is trying to become the first person to swim from cuba to florida. she doesn't have any protection of a shark cage, either. she says don't let her age fool you. >> we are a younger generation than the one before, and i want to be there to say we have many, many years of vitality and strength and service left in us. >> nyad first tried to swim the florida straits in 1960 -- rather, '78 when she was 28. as she succeeds this go around she should around in the florida keys wednesday morning. we wish her luck. and here's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. today's question, does america

need a liberal tea party? our car carol cover theel on jo us from new york. >> you can't have too many tea party, right, suzanne? >> well, let me tell you, american liberals are doing a lot of soul-searching right now. many are furious with president obama and say he caved to the right wing on budget cuts without getting tax increases in return because, i'm sure you've heard, republicans won't even go there. cnn contributor julian bellizar says democrats are scared to say what the majority think. so what to do? hbo host bill maher says liberals need a radical wing of their own called the donner party named after the american p pioneers who had to turn to cannibalism to sur viefr. >> we need loud mouths and bad

dressers who can match the tea people maniac for maniac. you say no new taxes on the rich? we say tax the rich at 100%. we will not lose the war of bad ideas. >> on keith olbermann's countdown show former vice president al gore called >> we need to have an american spring, a kind of an american tar tahrir square, where people from the grassroots get involved again. >> that, gore says, would even the playing field, but is that really what america needs? would an american spring or donner party just lead to hyperpartisanship? for the talk back question today, does america need a liberal party.

facebook.com/carolcnn. >> thank you, carol. the decision by standard & poor's, the downgrade could have rim effects from wall street to your street, everybody's street. over the next two hours we'll take a closer look at how the downgrade is likely to affect the stock market, the housing market, the auto industry as well as your personal finances. we'll begin with wall street on the first day of trading since the downgrade. alison kosik is joining us from the new york stock exchange. alison, you know, it's unbelievable when you watch what is happening here. the selling is picking up steam. does this have anything to do with the downgrade, first of all, with freddie mac and fannie mae? >> reporter: that recent low that you saw on the dow had pretty much everything to do with the fannie mae-freddie mac downgrade. we saw it down 45 points and it's now coming back. it's now down at 255. you're watching wall street react to every headline that's coming out and you saw the dow

come back a little bit after the announcement that the president's going to be speaking at 1:00. the expectation is that he's going to be able to calm the markets. it's such a busy day. we had to come over to where ken works because he couldn't leave his post. thanks for talking to us. >> yeah. >> there's a lot of worry as you watch the downgrades come through. >> right. that's exactly what the market is telling you. honestly, it's not trading fundamental. it's trading as event driven. if any headline is perceived as being negative, it crushed the market. if any headline is positive, they try to take it back. clearly, the sellers are waiting for any bounce and the sellers are sitting right there. >> is this s&p downgrade of the u.s. credit rating, do you think that will bring us closer to a chance of falling back into a recession? >> no. i think what the s&p downgrade did is it highlights the dysfunction in washington. it highlights the need for washington to get onboard, get their act together to avoid that, right? because spending was out of control, the country is

frustrated with it, the country is disgusted with what they saw and the country, and the macro reports of late have not been positive. they've been anything, but positive, and i think the fact is that the market's now refocusing on the negative data that's coming out. we can't help it. do i think we'll go into a recession? yes. >> it hurts confidence. >> i think it does, but the downgrade brought to light the real need for washington to get on with an economic, to prevent a worsening situation where the competence and the investor psyche to get worse than it already is. >> ken with i cap corporates with perspective on this crazy, volatile day on wall street. back to you. >> here's a rundown of the story ahead. first, what does it mean when a country's credit rating suvers? we'll give you a crash course. your career choice could be limiting your potential. how expanding your job search

could get you hired. also, 30,000 children starved to death in just three months. it is unbelievable what is happening. a live report out of somalia from our chief medical correspondent. and 38 people including 22 of the nation's most highly trained elite troops were killed in a single helicopter crash. an] it's a fact: your nutritional needs can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge!

[ male announcer ] want to pump up your gas mileage? come to meineke for our free fuel-efficiency check and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. single deadliest incident the u.s. forces in afghanistan. nato has now cordoned off the area in wardak province where a transport helicopter went down killing 38 people. now 306 them were american

forcers, elite navy s.e.a.l.s on their way to help troops. barbara starr is joining us. barbara, it's just unbelievable when you heard the news. helicopters are rarely shot down in afghanistan. it's considered a relatively safe way to travel. does the military suspect that this could have been an inside job? >> i think at this point they are very clear that this was not an inside job. this was the taliban. army rangers on the ground reported seeing gun fire in the area at the time when the helicopter crashed. why is the area cordoned off now as you mentioned? well, what they want to do is get the wreckage out of there. they don't want the taliban to have any access to the wreckage to be able to issue some sort of propaganda videotape or take advantage of this incident in any way. there is still very much of a combat-type situation going on in that area, overall. so there are troops in there from the coalition trying to get

it all under control. the navy s.e.a.l.s were going in, as you say, to assist army rangers on the ground who had come under fire and wanted to get some extra -- some extra help on the ground, and that's the tragedy of what happened here. a lot of focus now in the coming next couple of days on the return of remains back to the united states. they are expected back in dover perhaps as soon as tomorrow, suzanne. >> most of the s.e.a.l.s that were killed were from s.e.a.l. team six. the same unit that killed the al qaeda leader osama bin laden in may. do we suspect that the taliban knew what kind of target they were hitting, that they knew that these were the same unit that went after bin laden? >> right. you know, i think it's pretty unlikely that they knew that these s.e.a.l.s were from the same unit that went after osama bin laden. i can't really fathom how they would know it. the s.e.a.l.s were actually on-call, if you will, to be a

quick reaction force, to go to the scene of any trouble in the region where u.s. troops might need some extra help, so they were already on call to go. that's not something that would be readily apparent to anyone outside the u.s. military in that very narrow area of afghanistan. it's -- it's not unusual for them to be involved in these very serious operations. they conduct raids, helicopter assaults really almost every day, every night in afghanistan. this is the dangerous work that these folks do, suzanne. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. the weekend deaths bring the total number of u.s. troops killed in the afghan war to 1,684. we'd like to put names and faces to the troops killed in saturday's helicopter crash. professionally, they were the best of the best. more than that, they were husbands, fathers, sons, fiances and friends. their family members are mourning their loss and praising their courage. >> the commitment that he put

into this country while we're out doing the simple things in life, they're doing incredible tasks that many of us may not care to know about. >> he sent me an e-mail the night before and he told me -- he said please don't worry about me. he said that's the last thing that he wants me to do. he said you and the girls are always in my heart. don't worry. this place isn't going to change me. i'm going to change this place. that's just how i am. >> he was just physically fit, mentally sharp, a great sense of humor. he was the perfect -- you know, when i think of the perfect soldier that was john brown. >> john brown was the rambo without the attitude. he was a humble healer in service to his country, a special forces medic on a mission in afghanistan. >> he was intense. he was funny. he had that dry humor. he loved his family, his sister.

he just became an uncle. >> i saw the men in uniform and i just fell to my knees. it was -- there's no preparing for it, you know. it's something that you see in the movies, not something you're supposed to live through. >> i want to tell the world that he was an amazing man. he was a wonderful husband, and a fabulous father to two wonderful children. he was a warrior for christ, and he was a warrior for our country, and he wouldn't want to leave this earth any other way than how he did.in ere, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

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where stocks are down sharply.

this is the first day of trading since the decision by standard & poor's to downgrade the u.s. credit rating. right now dow jones down 283 points or so and it is quickly moving. we are also following what will take place at 1:00 p.m. eastern. cnn will carry live a presidential statement. president obama will make a statement to the american people regarding this economic crisis. the downgrade of the credit. i want to bring in brianna keilar, our white house correspondent there. brian a what do we expect the president to say? a lot of people are frustrated and very nervous with the economic crisis and what is taking place today. >> reporter: very nervous and frustrated and certainly the markets are reflecting some of that, suzanne. expect the president when he talks to -- when he addresses and remarks at 1:00 p.m. eastern to talk about the economy in general. yes, i'm told, by a white house official he'll talk about the downgrade by s&p, but his remarks are going to be broader than that, expect him to take a

reassuring tone and cite examples of why there should be confidence in the u.s. economy. certainly something to combat concern about the downgrade. we heard over the weekend white house officials and surrogates for the president really talking -- really hitting s&p for the downgrade saying that the math was flawed and that certainly hitting the process and house republicans in particular for really just the chaos that we saw going into the debt ceiling battle, and expect the president in his remarks, suzanne, to say that the fiscal commission, this congressional commission that will be tasked with finding a path forward in deficit reduction here in the coming months that they need to do so and we've heard this before in a bipartisan way and will he have a commitment to doing something significant so that they can build on the deficit reduction and one final point, suzanne, a white house official tells me to expect the

president to tell me about the loss of navy s.e.a.l.s in afghanistan. a statement was put out over the weekend and this is the first time that we'll hear the president address that tremendous loss of life in afghanistan. up . >> a real tragedy there. some of obama's biggest supporters seem to be quite frustrated about what has taken place and some of them say that the president wasn't strong enough, negotiating the debt deal, that he's in part to blame for the credit downgrade thatty we see. do you think the president will come back and defend himself, and defend the administration in terms of what led to where we are right now? >> reporter: you know, i'm want sure if he'll specifically address that suzanne, but something we heard from the president and white house officials and this has been one of the standard lines is that the president has been willing to make decisions that was unpopular. this has been part of his challenge to republicans when he asked them to do something that was unpopular with their base,

namely, increasing taxes. what you should expect in these remarks, something that we heard before from the president. an emphasis of what he called a balanced approach, addressing an entitlement reform and something not popular with democrats and something not popular with republicans. >> we'll be rating for the president's address and obviously, he'll try to comfort americans during these hard economic times, during a time uncertainty and a lot of frustration. we'll be listening very closely to what the president's message is. we have been taking accounts of the financial fallout and we've been trying to figure out what this debt debacle means including this downgrade to the country's credit rating, but there is a political fallout as well. president obama facing a backlash from some of his supporters who see him as too quick to compromise, too slow to defend traditional democratic values. joining us to talk about is drew westin. he is a professor of psychology at emory university. he is author of "the political

brain and the role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation" and he also wrote a "new york times" editorial entitled "what happened to obama." i want to thank you for being here and just read very briefly something that caught our eye. you wrote, faith with the greatest economic crisis, the greatest levels of economic inequality and the greatest levels of corporate influence on politics since the depression, barack obama stared into the eyes of history and chose to avert his gaze. it's a pretty tough for you on the president here. what did you mean by that? >> what i meant that times like this call for really strong leadership, and if you think about the presidents who have exercised that kind of leadership in crisis, fdr being the greatest example, he didn't say, hey, let me split the difference with wall street. they just crashed the economy. let's find the golden name between good and bad and between the special interests and the public interests.

he said at no time in history have such a group of powerful mean united in their hatred for one man, and i welcome their hatred. can you imagine president obama saying anything like that? >> do you blame him for what has taken place here, the fact that we now have this downgrade and it's a deal that many people think wasn't good enough to get us out of this economic mess? >> well, you know, we have a mixture. we have on the one hand, we have a republican party that's been completely unwilling to compromise, and we have a president who is so bent on compromise that it almost doesn't matter what the substance of the compromise is. so between the two of them, you've got -- you've got bullies on one side and you've got a guy who just doesn't understand bully dynamics on the other, but when someone tries to bully you, you have to give them the punch in the face. you don't say i'll back down this time and maybe you'll be nice next time. you're not the only one who believes that obama should give them a punch in the face. we saw talk show host tavist

smiley, he's on a bus tour. he's also very critical of the debt deal signed by the president. here's what he said on cnn's "american morning." >> the congress and the president respectfully have declared war on the poor. you can't sign into law legislation that raises the debt ceiling and opens up a crater in the floor. no unemployment extensions for poor people and no closing of a single corporate loophole and not one new tax e not one new tax on the rich and the lucky, so once again the corporations get off scot-free. wall street and the big banks get off scot-free and all these cuts aimed ostensibly at the boor. >> do you think the problem is that the president's got his priorities wrong? i don't think he knows what his priorities are. the reality is they think tavist is absolutely right. you don't cut $120 billion in tax breaks for the rich and then start cutting medicare and medicaid and taking my 81-year-old mother and saying

you what? you're on a fixed income, let's chop it back by a couple thousand dollars to so we can give money to hedge fund managers who are paying 14% on their income and the average american hears that and they say that is not what we believe in. that's not what we think is fair. your editorial promotes critical response as well. one from senior editor of "the new republic." he says he fails to explain why any president from the post-war era has endured the total failure of his domestic agenda. even george w. bush and ronald reagan infuriated supporters by routinely watering down their a jebdza. do you think he has a point here? does he have to compromise? is this not part of the presidency and part of the job to try to find the middle ground? oh, sure. compromise is the essence of politics, but you don't compromise on your values and you don't find that golden name between good and evil and between good and bad policies. you have to compromise where it

makes sense, but you also have to put some -- you have to put yourself behind a vision and i don't know about you, but i don't know what this president's vision is of where he's taking america, what he believes, what he thinks will fix this ailing economy that's got so many people at the end of the month saying i don't know how i'm going to pay my bills. i don't know how i'm going put gas in the tank so i can get to work. that's the vision that he hasn't offered the american people. >> all right. drew westen, thank you. >> we'll listen to what the president has to say and whether or not he articulates his vision and that's at 1:00. that is this afternoon. he'll be addressing the nation about this economic crisis as well as the debt downgrade. this downgrade is having impacts across the world. we will check in with richard quest to see what it means overseas. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪

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because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. people with certain heart conditions may experience slow heart rate. [ woman ] whenever i needed her, she was there for me. now i'm here for her. [ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. >> we're watching the markets where the dow is down sharply. this is the downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. right now the dow jones down by 299 points. we are also waiting for the president to make a statement to the american people. that's happening at 1:00 p.m. eastern. we will carry that live. he will be addressing the economic crisis and the credit downgrade as well as other issues. now -- people are saying a lot of different things about the downgrade and here's some perspective from some of the top

money minds that are out there. >> the current level of debt is quite high and under everyone's plausible scenarios, it's going continue to rise for the share of the economy. >> the figures that we published are accurate and the analysis is sound. >> s&p's track record has been terrible and as we've seen this weekend its arithmetic is worse. >> the markets are going to be a little uncertain. the key thing is whether the two other rating agency will follow s&p. i don't think they will, and if they don't the reaction's going to be rather minimal. >> this isn't the end of the world. it's double a-plus, that's still a really high grade and it's disconcerting in the middle of the crisis as it's deepening. >> the impact of that credit downgrade is not only being felt by the united states, but also overseas. richard quest joins us from new york. you're an expert on all of this as well and what are you seeing from the asian and european markets? how are they responding reacting to this today?

>> reporter: well, let me look at asian markets first for you and they were all sharply lower as the nikkei in tokyo and the shanghai composite and australia all down roughly between 2% and 3%. those markets have long since closed. in europe at the moment, the worst losses are being seen in the german market where the dax index is down 4%, and i think what you're seeing there are worries about transfers of wealth from germany to the other european countries down in the southern part and down into spain and particularly italy. especially now we have the european central bank and the european version of the fed, euro fed is buying italian bonds. put this into the equation that we are now seeing in the u.s., the dow jones off just about 2.5%. the nasdaq off over 3.5% and you really do understand that we have a financial world that is

unhappy. they don't believe that it's a crisis and a calamity, a catastrophe and a disaster, but they do believe that on both sides of the atlantic, there is something smelly in the back of the fridge that hasn't been rooted out and that actually needs to be dealt with, and that's what this downgrade, that's what spain and italy and that's what the markets are telling you today. >> richard, do we expect this to be a trend? do we expect to see this again tomorrow, more downgrades? >> reporter: well, downgrades maybe not. in terms of down markets, i think you've got to ask yourself, okay, eventually, i promise you this, even miserable old cherries will sell in the market and someone will make them into a plum jack or something, so eventually things do get cheap enough and people do buy the market recovers, but will we see a long-term or medium-term recovery? no. not until there has been a reason for that and at the moment that reason doesn't

exist. >> and richard, the value of the u.s. dollar, is it less today than it was say last week overseas? >> all right. let me look at the dollar briefly. the dollar lost ground against the euro. it's down a half a percent. it's down half a percent against the pound and the swiss franc lost ground there. you take your choice with currencies and the dollar will be affected by the bond market, by commodities and we've seen gold rise very, very sharply. the dollar, just for today, the dollar is a side issue and we'll come back to that one, dough doubt, in the next few days. >> all right. richard quest, thank you very much, richard. if you're one of the millions of americans who are on the job hunt, are you looking in the right field? that question to alison kosik, she has top tips for make a career change.

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so a blistering heat in many parts of the country. our own rob marciano who is a golfer, but shouldn't be golfing in this weather, i suppose. >> you can work on your setup indoors. >> we were just talking about this last week, when will it end? >> yeah. >> we were hoping this week we would see the ridge break down and see temperatures cooler than they are, but not a whole lot. not certainly enough to brag about. little rock records, 108. that broke the 106. joplin. springfield, and everyone up and over 100. dallas is at day 37 and today would be the 38th day in a row of seeing 100-degree plus and now there's a suburb outside of dallas that their small reservoir has completely run dry. so this has turned into a serious situation. heat indices, of course, in the orange and pink highlighted areas and that's where you can see temperatures that will feel like they're well up over 110 and 115. when you talk about the forecast

high temperature for dallas today that doesn't include humidity, 106 and we don't get cooler tomorrow. it doesn't look like it until we get later in the week and toward the weekend and even through wednesday it looked like dallas would break the all-time record for streak, a number of days that would be up and over 100 as we cruise through the rest of this week. let's talk cooler things and show you cool video out of the netherlands. this is a climate that's like northern california or the pacific northwest. it's fairly cool. they don't get tornadoes very often. we well, this rare one ripped through and did a little bit of damage. i'm not sure if they rated this on the ef scale, but certainly impressive footage there coming to you from holland where it was in the spring time and might be tearing up some tulips right about now, but no major injuries or damage, but cool video nonetheless. >> we have to hold off on the golf game for a while. thanks. top tips we'll tell you how

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good news for those in the job market. employers added 117,000 jobs last month. so if you're one of the 13.9 million who are still unemployed, alison kosik, she's here with today's top tips on why switching careers actually may be a good idea right now. alison, is that what's going to land you a new gig? >> reporter: it certainly is a good possibility of a way to get a job, suzanne. you know, if you've been laid

off, out of work, looking for a job, out of the jobs report we found that there were jobs in health care, retail, trade manufacturing and mining, those that we saw gains in those areas and a decline in government jobs is one down side to that report. a new career builder survey finds that 54% of workers found new jobs in entirely different fields than where they worked before. here are some examples. a financial adviser becoming a teacher. a music teacher transitioning into an animal care tech it fig and a bookkeeper who became a truck driver. suzanne? >> wow! that's pretty incredible. so if you did a complete 180 in your career that's pretty jarring for your folks. how do you know if your skills are right for a new career path? >> you know, you really have to get the training and the background. one interesting thing that's aligned with that is kind of the anxiety about switching careers and when asked why they were anxious, 50% of those polled said it was pressure to prove

themselves while 40% said fear of the unknown and 21% said being unfamiliar with new technologies put them on the edge. so careerbuilder said use sites like careerpath.com where you can use the job discovery wizard and see if they match up with any openings out there. also, if you have a field in mind, but think you may need more training consider taking an online class or getting additional certifications or degrees because it only makes you look marketable, and it shows that you have initiative, suzanne. >> is there anything you should do with your resume or cover letter to make sure it gets noticed? >> oh, yeah. with the average employer, suzanne, taking 30 seconds or less to review that resume, you've got to stand out and brad carissue of onbound training solutions, put it at the top of the resume, but he says don't try to hide your reasons for switching career snoops thank

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you have been sounding off on the "talk back" question. does america need a liberal version of the tea party. carol costello has your responses. what are they saying? >> are you ready for them? the "talk back" question is does america need a liberal tea party. becka says, please, no, one tea party is enough for america. and i am republican. and this from amy, the will of the people is being ignored. they are playing chicken with the future of the united states with a single clue of what life is like for people struggling to survive. do we need a liberal protest

movement, yes, but do we need a crazy liberal protest movement? no. and this is my favorite. the middle needs to get pissed off a little more. we are getting screwed by both. please continue the conversation. >> i wish i had a clip of that video because i can imagine the head banging there. everybody is frustrated, and dare i say angry about what is going on right now. they have a lot of questions. hopefully the president will answer a few of them in an hour or so. we will see. great question. >> thank you very much. i will be back in 15 minutes. it's bigger and brighter, and even easier to find cnn's most compelling video. we will invite you to check out the bold new look of cnn's

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these numbers are unimagine blg. we're talking about 12 million people in dire need of assistance in the core of africa. there was a severe drought. saw mall jaw hit the worst. 30,000 children have died in the past 90 days. cnn chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta arrived in the region a few hours ago.

he joins us live at the largest refugee camp on earth, and it's unbelievable when you think about the crisis taking place there. you cannot wrap your head around it. the united nations says it's the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. >> reporter: i have been to a lot of natural disasters, and i have never seen a camp quite like this and as big as it is. 400,000 people are probably in the camp right now. that's the size of most medium sized cities in the united states. one thing that really struck me is that this has been an on going problem for a long time. 300,000 people here at this camp, several months ago before this drought really hit its peak, and 100,000 people have come into this camp.

suzanne, it may come -- they walk sometimes up to 100 kilometers from somalia to the border to get into a place like this. the drought caused the lost of their crops and livestock, and they had to travel sometimes like this with their kids in toe. by the time they get here, they are so malnourished and in need of medical care and they are in line with literally tens of thousands of other people. it's really hard to describe. >> sanjay, help us to understand, how did we get to this point? humanitarian groups have been frying to get food and basic supplies there. in this day and age how is it that people can still starve to death? >> reporter: with regard to the drought it was neither sudden or unexpected, so it should not have been treated as a surprise. it seems to have been from a

resource standpoint. they anticipated the drought for 60 years and as a result of the drying up of drops and the livestock would not have anything to eat and you see how the cycle continues. there was no preparation. there was not aid taken into these areas ahead of time. food and water, basic supplies to offset the needs, and there is also the superimposed problem with conflict, this idea that there's this islamic militant group that for a long time did not accept western aid into the country, and aide workers in the past have been killed, and even though they lifted the ban subsequently, there's mistrust in the whole thing and that makes the problem worse. >> such a shame. thank you. we will watch more of your reporting tonight. "ac/360" is tonight, at anderson

cooper 360 special report. somalia. the top of the hour, and i am suzanne malveaux. investors are responding today to the u.s. credit rating downgrade by selling dow jones stock now down by 306 points today. it's the first trading day since standard & poor's cut the u.s.'s pristine credit rating. this never happened before. >> this is without question the tea party downgrade. >> the tea party is asking. >> don't shoot the messenger.

the white house is furious over the credit rating downgrade. president obama will talk about it at the top of the hour from the state dining room. cnn will carry it live along with analysis. a nato helicopter had to make a hard landing in afghanistan today, and thankfully nobody was hurt. it comes just two days after the taliban shot down a u.s. helicopter, killing 30 americans and eight afghans. most of the dead were of the elite u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s. >> he talked about joining the military, and to serve his country, and for him it was god

first, and his country and family. >> for all of those on the helicopter, every life is important, not only this incident, but all the ones before them. >> the bodies of the dead americans could be flown home as early as tomorrow. and then the syrian government rolled into another town to crush anti-government protests. the brutality follows similar attacks on two other cities this weekend, both saudi arabia and kuwait recalled their ambassadors to damascus. in texas today, a sentencing hearing continues for polygamist sect leader warren jeffs.

a jury found him guilty last week of sexually assaulting two girls, and they were 12 and 15-year-old at the time. jeffs faces the possibility of life in prison. you would be hard pressed to find any happy people in kemp, texas, today, and that is because the mayor turned off the entire town's water spigot, and it's going to be 107 degrees this afternoon. the water will stay off much of the week so the water towers will refill. the pipelines date back to the great depression. awesome. she has been in the water for more than 16 hours now. diana ni yad, the 61-year-old woman wants to become the first

person to swim without the protection of a shark cage. >> i wanted to be a woman for people my age, who will look at me and say, 60? it's true, we're a younger generation than the 60 that went before us. we have many, many years of vitality and strength and service left in us. >> she first tried to swim the florida straits in 1978 when she was just 28. if she succeeds this time, she should arrive in the florida keys about wednesday morning. we want to take a closer look at the markets where stocks are down sharply following u.s. credit raiding downgrade. this is the first day of trading since the decision by standard & poor's. i want to bring in alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, and then ed rollins at the

exchange. >> the good news is, the dow is off its lows. it's down only 325. don't blink. the volatility is leading to wild swings of 100 points in a matter of minutes. there's another factor affecting the trade today, and s&p also downgraded fannie mae and freddie mac. doesn't come as a huge surprise, because they are arms of the government and they rely on the government. what it may do is make it more expensive for them to borrow. u.s. treasury, suzanne, they are still in strong demand today. it's still seen as a safe haven. rates expected to rise because of the downgrade, and we're not seeing that happening at this point. we may not be aaa, but aa plus it's the second highest government here, and the u.s. did not default so will be able

to pay interest on the bonds. so even though stocks are sharply lower, we're not seeing any panic here either, even though we are seeing the dow drop 325 points. it's ordinarily selling and not panic selling. >> alison, i want to go to ted rollins at the chicago mercken tile exchange. what are you seeing there? >> this is where the securities alison was talking about are bought and sold, and from the outset of the opening here in chicago, people were flocking to u.s. treasury bonds. there was a sense that after the downgrade, oh, no, we're going to have an interest rate hike, and money will cost more for cars and homes and etc. and etc., and that's just simply not happening, as alison said, there's nowhere to park your money. if you don't want to be in the stock market, u.s. treasuries are still the safest way to go. we're seeing that play out here today. analysts think that that will play out in the near future.

the only issue is, like alison also mentioned, fanny, freddy and the other agencies tied to the fed, they are seeing a downgrade and you may see that at local levels, too. it could cost the local governments money. the bottom line, though, people are still flocking to the u.s. and spending money buying treasuri treasuries. >> thank you so much for putting this into perspective. here is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of today. does america need a liberal tea party? carol costello is joining us from new york with more on that. very provocative question. >> hear me out here. many are curious with president obama and said he caved to the right wing on budget cuts without getting tax increases in return because republicans won't

go there. a cnn contributor says liberals need to play their trump card. they are scared to say what a majority of americans think. hbo host, bill maher, say liberals need a radical wing of their own named after the american pioneers that had to turn to cannibalism to survive. >> we need loud mouths and bad dressers that can say be loud. the new crazy is the sensible. we will not lose the war of bad ideas. >> and then we have this. >> we need to have an american

swing, kind of an american square, a nonviolent change where people from the grassroots get involved again. >> that, gore says, will even the playing field. is that what america needs? the "talk back" question today, does america need a liberal tea party? face book.com/carolcnn. we are seeing live pictures now, and we understand that these pictures are of groups of people who have been seen allegedly looting, and believed to be related to the weekend riots. we saw pictures of folks trying to break into stores, rushing police, and all of this happened following about 100 people arrested sunday night and early

monday morning in connection with violence that erupted over the weekend. there was violence that erupted and continued in isolated out breaks elsewhere in the city on sunday. the violence that happened on saturday, it started in this ethically diverse working class suburb, and it started because of the shooting death on thursday of a 29-year-old man. these shooting deaths are rare in britain but people quite angry and upset taking to the streets and expressing their anger. more than 100 people sunday night and early monday being arrested. it looks like things might be heating up on the streets of london again. as we look at the live pictures, we will bring them to you. it looks now as if you are seeing some of the police almost chasing -- you see a group of people that are actually moving and running. we are going to try and get more

information on what we're watching out of london as violent protests seem to be emerging and following 100 people arrested over the weekend. we will take a quick break, and sort out these pictures. naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life.

[ male announcer ] time to check your air conditioning? come to meineke now and get a free ac system check and a free cooler with paid ac service. meineke. we have the coolest customers. you are looking at the faces of some of the nation's fallen heroes. 30 u.s. troops were among 38 people killed when a transport helicopter went down in afghanistan. most of the americans were elite navy s.e.a.l.s on their way to help fellow troops during a heavy fire fight. it was the deadliest incident for the u.s. forces in a decade-long war. today family members are

mourning their loss and praising their courage. brian todd reports on the heart break in a family in a community. >> reporter: kimberly vaughn describes that horrible moment when they came to the door and told her about her husband. >> i fell to my knees. >> reporter: kimberly is now left to care for 2-month-old daughter chamberlin and reagan. >> i want to tell the world that he was an amazing sxhan a wonderful husband and a fabulous father to two wonderful children, and he was away for our country and he would not want to leave this earth any other way than how he did. >> reporter: in the hometown, a community grieves for nearly two dozen young men who they never really got to know. mary's restaurant is a hangout for some of the s.e.a.l.'s base

at virginia beach. >> you feel like you are at rock bottom again, and you feel like you are not succeeding at what needs to be done, and you have to ask, is it worth it? is another life worth it? >> it's very sad, a very sad day. >> reporter: these were secretive elite commandos that could never reveal what they did to these people. we're told none of the s.e.a.l. killed in this operation were on the bin laden raid. they wanted to throw a parade for the s.e.a.l. after the operation, but knew he couldn't. >> it hurts. you know. it's a shared pain and everybody thinks so highly of them.

>> reporter: mcgwire was a s.e.a.l. for ten years, stationed near virginia beach. >> is there any survival -- >> i think all s.e.a.l. go through all the emotions. if they had a chance they would do it again. >> current and former navy s.e.a.l.s and their commanders will try to raise money for the foundation, a group dedicated to giving financial support to those left behind. >> brian todd joins us from norfolk, virginia. the loss of every troop's life is equally tranlgic, but the impact of losing so many in one day has attracted more attention. can you put this in perspective for us? what does it mean for the military community? >> reporter: well, suzanne, for the community around here it's devastating. it's exceedingly painful. you talk to family members of

the s.e.a.l.s, and it's a huge, huge loss. for the affect on the force, that's painful because i talked to a navy s.e.a.l. a short time ago, and he said the s.e.a.l.s are not a large force and don't deploy in large numbers. the loss of 22 all at once, that's a big blow. but possibly with the drawdown of troops in iraq, some s.e.a.l. there there could be freed up, and it's not easy to fill the s.e.a.l.s ranks, and about 200 try out every year and 20 make it. you get a sense of how hard it is to fill the ranks. >> i will go to afghanistan for the september 11th attacks, and the hopes are bringing the americans home and training the afghans to take over. does this incident make people you talk to less confident in that mission.

>> the civilians in this area question that, and question what it's going to be like when u.s. forces leave, and are the afghans going to be up to the task. that's an on going issue here and wondering whether that will come to pass the way u.s. leaders hope it will. as far as the mission itself, if you talk to military people who are deployed on the mission, they are confident in the afghans and confident in being able to carry out their mission, of course, and that's a different perspective you get between civilians watching it and military members taking part in it. >> brian todd. thank you very much. we wish the military community and their families our condolences and the very best to them. the u.s. downgrade ripples around the world. we will check on the international markets up next. it fits you so perfectly... it fits you. you wake up and you're revived and rejuvenated. it's just like wow! tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america.

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we're keeping an eye on two developing stories. one, of course, the stock markets and how they are reacting to the credit downgrade and also focusing on live pictures here. these pictures out of london, potentially more violence and a standoff between police on the streets and protesters. this involves police in london that arrested more than 100 people sunday night and go into early monday morning. these protests erupted in riots on sunday night. the reason behind this is that there was a shooting death of a 29-year-old man, and people in the neighborhood believe that police shot him unjustly, that the riots took place because

this young man was seated inside of a cab, and that cab was stopped by the police in some sort of attempt to arrest the individual, and shots were fired and people in the neighborhood say that the police held down this 29-year-old man and shot him in the head, and the police denied this, but this has caused a lot of anger in this particular part of london, and in this ethnic klee diverse neighborhood. some people believe it was racially motivated, and we're watching as people begin to gather again in the streets of london, and riot police, as can you see, holding batons and shields, waiting to see what happens next. can you see one of the riot police approaching several of the protesters there, and you see a gentleman who is in yellow, and the police approaching him, and it looks like a standoff situation and not a lot of activity yet, but a

very tense situation in that part of london because of the death of that 29-year-old man under some unusual circumstances, and some people believe in the neighborhood, and the riots that led to more people arrested, 100 people, in a 24-hour period of time. obviously a very tense situation as the police stand there and wait to see what develops next, what happens next. and we are going to keep a close eye on those pictures, and bring more information to you if there are further developments. we're also watching the markets where stocks are down sharply. this is the first day of trading since the decision by standard & poor's to downgrade the u.s. credit rating. the dow down by 317 points or so. we're awaiting the president in about 30 minutes, just over 30

minutes, and he will make a presidential statement in the state dining room at the white house. he will be addressing a lot of the concerns that people have about what is taking place, the economic crisis, and the downgrade in credit and what is happening in the world markets and the response to this, and fannie mae and freddie mac being downgraded today as well, and where does the country go from here. how does the government and how do individuals, how are they impacted on all of this when it comes to home loans, mortgages, and the price just to borrow money, the interest rates, and the value of the dollar as well as u.s. credibility around the world because of the unprecedented move at standard & poor's downgrading the u.s. credit and the fallout from that. the president will come out in about 35 minutes or so to address all of this to the american people. the action by standard & poor's is being felt around the

world. i want to bring in andrew stevens who anchored cnn international hong kong. you have been following this, and obviously the international markets, you have europe and asia reacting to the credit downgrade. what has been there response today? how nervous are they? >> reporter: they are very nervous, suzanne. they are reacting not so much to the credit downgrade, because a lot of that had been expected. it was still obviously a shock when it happened, but it's more of the ramifications of the downgrade. what will it mean for the u.s. economy. let's start with asia. i am in hong kong, and it's 12:30, but sounds like it will be another rough day tomorrow. there's a lack of clarity of what it will mean for the stronger term, the strength and health of the u.s. economy. there is a potential of rising interest rates, and will that

slow down the u.s. economy, that will worry the asian exporters. we saw the big selloff in the asian exporters, and the commodities, those are people that fuel the economy with resources, and shanghai down 4%. it's the same story in london, only there's another twist, and it's not about the u.s. but also about what is going on in europe. will italy be sucked into the debt containment. at the moment the bond issues is key to look at how the confidence in the italian market is going, and it's looking good only because the european central bank is in there buying. there's a lot of huge issues at the moment. >> thank you very much for bridging that to us. we will be following how the world market is responding to the economic crisis. what do the leaders of standard & poor's say. we'll hear from the managing

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standard & poor's is standing by its decision to downgrade the u.s. credit rating

in the face of hearth criticism. timothy geithner says the agency showed terrible judgment. poppy harlow with cnnmoney.com just spoke with the global head of sovereign ratings and he talked about what the u.s. would have to do to get the aaa rating back. poppy, what did he say? >> he vae mentalan meant disagr what geithner had to say. if things don't change we could be downgraded again. we need two things. political stability in washington, a discourse that shows we can follow-through on the debt reduction plans, and secondly, we need revenue, more money in to pay down the debt. the point on taxes was interesting. take a listen. >> it's possible also that the

administration will be able to persuade by next year congress to, you know, do what the administration wants to do and secure extra revenues from high-income taxpayers, and that could enter the mix in which the out look could possibly revert to stable. >> so that's very interesting, his words on taxes because there has been a lot of talk about whether or not taxes need to be raised and a lot of experts you talk to say if you do the math it's not going to work without increasing taxes one way or another. and historically, five nations that have been downgraded from the aaa status and got it back eventually, it took nine years to get that back, between nine and 18 years for that country, so we may have a long road ahead. >> it would be significant if we got it back earlier than that. >> right. president obama facing a backlash from some of the strongest supporters.

i will talk with a columnists about the political fallout from the debt mess.

we're watching the debt crisis play out in the stock market, but what about the

political fallout? obama faces backlash from some of the supporters. we have a senior political columnist. what struck me this weekend was talking to obama's supporters, who were not only alarmed by the drop in the credit, and they said obama had not been strong enough in getting the deal and, two, he could not overcome the credit debacle. do you think the credit downgrade makes obama a one-term president? >> no, i don't think -- talking about one-term presidency at this point is premature. we're a long way off from the elections. and elections are heavily influenced by what the economy is doing, and people vote with their pocket book when they get to the booth. the fact that obama's base has been frustrated buys his performance in the negotiations

and his over all economics. some people feel he spent far too much. he is stuck in the middle here. but for all the blame game going on in washington, people give him most credit for dealing with the deficit and the negotiations and then the democrats in congress and then republicans. >> and "the huffington post" has been a big supporters of the president, and this is what was told over the weekend. >> first of all, editorially, you know, we have been very critical of many of obama's policies, and our reporters, our journalists and everybody, you know, has been puzzled by the fact, and when you have a national consensus about prioritizing growth and jobs, obama has not stood up for that. >> john, do you think that she has a point here, and the

republicans are successfully steering the president's agenda? >> i don't know that they are steering the president's agenda, but they think the president should be focused on jobs, and that is to what democrats believe is to have more government spending. and this is really a problem with two -- we face a downgrade for two reasons. one, unsustainable deficit and debt, and then the more polarization will be the problem. and that's what people like arianna huffington are saying. >> does it appeal to moderates

that he desperately needs? >> people are elected if they are moderates. he is caught between two extremes that are increasingly polarized. if his base believes the best way to create jobs through the economy is through more spending and the right wing of the republican party believes that the problem is spending, and that's a difficult divide to bridge. that's the responsibility of the new joint committee. leaders in the congress put forward like the gang of six to serve, we'll be okay. if they put the most extreme members, we have even more problems ahead. >> we will be looking to see who is on the committee. thank you very much, john. your mortgage, your car loan and your credit cards, how will they be affected by the u.s. downgrade? an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too.

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the s&p has now followed the downgrade of the u.s. credit rating with another downgrade this time lowering the rating of mortgage giants, fannie mae and freddie mac. what does that mean for fannie mae and freddie mac to be downgraded? >> it's pretty significant. what is happening right now, as a result of the down grades, investors are selling the bonds that fannie mae and freddie mac issue, selling the mortgage-backed securities they issue. important because those bonds are the source for much of the mortgage money that banks lend. after all, fannie mae and freddie mac buy the mortgages and then package them and sell them. and that could put upward pressure on mortgage rates. however, it's not quite as simple as that. there are counter veiling forces as work. stay with me.

typically treasury bond yields are the basis for mortgage rates. they are right now in the eye of the storm. after all, that's where s&p first did the downgrade, right? because they are in the eye of the storm, investors are rushing into these so treasury bound prices have been rising, which means their yield, their interest rates have been going lower. so as a result, mortgage rates actually have been dropping. the 30-year fixed rate mortgage right now, which is tied to the 10-year treasury note, that is at 4.5%. that's the national average according to bank rate.com. for adjustable rate mortgages tied to 1-year treasury notes, right now the average for a five-year adjustable rate mortgage is 3.2%. those are very, very low interest rates, suzanne. >> what about other loans? what does it mean for other loans, potentially? >> auto loans are typically tied to three-year treasury notes, if we are talking about a four-year

car loan, and the national average right now is 5.6%. very affordable. credit cards? they don't move all that much in relationship to what is happening in the treasury market. in fact, they are tied to the prime rate, which right now is 3.25%, and high credit card rates, 14.4%. and they are not going to change all that much. >> okay. good deal. thank you very much, allen. appreciate it. we will have your responses to the "talk back" question. does america need a liberal version of the tea party?

we have been sounding off on

the "talk back" question. does america need a liberal version of the tea party? carol costello? >> i have enjoyed the responses. does america need a liberal tea party? this from trisha, yes. i have a good name for it, the pea party, p'd off enough already. and then this from lori, as tempting as it is to want one, i think it would be even more dangerous. we need to listen to insanity if we win over the crazy and the stupid. and the democrats and liberals are radical enough. and then the taxes on the rich are too low party. and then the coffee party, that's what we need, slogan? at least we're awake. please keep the conversation going. thank you as always for your comments. we are just moments away

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can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. what a difference an a makes, or does it? welcome to our viewers around the states and around the world. wall street spending another day in what is being described as

freak out mode. you have see the dow jones industrials down almost 300 points right now and the most apparent reason is the first ever downgrade of the credit rating of the government by standard & poor's. friday s&p dinged the rating from aaa to aa plus, and today it did the same to freddie mac and fannie mae. moments from now president obama is expected to address the matters from the white house. first i want to share details of what you might not necessarily be getting from all the dramatic headlines out there. the number one downsize of any credit downgrade is higher interest rates in line with perceived higher risks. but interest rates on u.s. treasury bonds right now, guess what? they are lower than on friday. prices conversely are higher, and government debt still in

demand. a yearaear after canada. you may have heard the public scolding from china, quoting the u.s. has to re-establish the common sense principle that one should live within its means. we have our guests. let me bring in brianna over at the white house. this was a late edition to the president's schedule. we expect to hear from the president. was was the thinking at the white house? >> reporter: a late add, wolf. this is being billed by the white house not as just reaction to the downgrade by the s&p, but

as general remarks about the economy, as we see the markets react to the downgrade, we see the worsening situation in the euro zone and concerns about how that will affect the u.s., and expect president obama to sound a reassuring note, to be a consoler, if you will, and try to point to some areas of the u.s. economy that people should be somewhat optimistic by or reassured by. he will address that we expect the downgrade, wolf, and we saw this all weekend long from white house officials and surrogates of president obama, slamming the credibility of s&p and pointing a finger at house republicans that we saw, the chaotic process that led to the debt ceiling deal. that finger being pointed both ways there. we're expecting the president in a way to capitalize on the message still coming from s&p and urging bipartisan a congressional commission to

seize the moment and do what the white house, wolf, calls a balanced approach to deficit reduction, and that means adding tax increases, and in addition dealing with entitlements, something else the republicans don't want to do. >> donald trump is joining us on the phone right now. donald, thank you very much. what would you like to hear from the president on this historic tumultuous day? >> it has been an amazing period of time, wolf, when you look at what is going on in the country, which speaking for standard & poor's, and i don't have a great respect for them, and they were 100% wrong on the housing market, and i don't know what they are trying to do by doing this other than get nice publicity for themselves or try to salvage their representatiut. to do what they did is incredible, and it would be a great time for the republicans and the democrats and the

president to get together and really knock out something that would be good and really good for the country. i think it's a great opportunity to do something great for the country, meaning balance things out, and balance the budgets, or at least close to balance the budget to put it in the democratic term, but go out and do something really great for the country. come back from your vacation, and do the right thing. this would be a great opportunity. >> they do have a format. they have the super committee, six democrats and republicans that are supposed to come up with a new plan by thanksgiving. but the problem has been the democrats really don't want to have major entitlement cuts, cuts in social security and medicare and medicaid, and the republicans, they don't want time-out any tax increases. how do you bridge that gap. >> that's true. the other problem is thanksgiving, that's a long time away. this could be knocked out in two days if you had real leadership. you need real leadership. people can knock something out in two days.

i heard about the wonderful committee, and thunder i hear thanksgiving and it could be extended beyond that date, and you say what are they doing? why can't they do it now? on your show and others i have heard they will have $4 trillion in cuts, and trillion is a funny word because three years ago you and i never heard of that word, and now it's the common word of choice, right? but -- >> we don't talk about billions anymore. we talk about trillions. yeah, we talk about trillions instead of billions. >> we used to do billions, you and i would do the show and we talk billions, and now we talk trillions. we don't mention billions anymore. >> right. so let's talk a little bit about what would be important -- would you like to hear the president say, i think you have eluded to this, you know, congress, you are in recess until september 7th, and these are criticediiti days, and get back to wash and let's get joint programs that the country can see to create jobs and try to reassure

investors out there, and is that what you want to see? >> absolutely that's what i want to see. thanks give something a long time off and it would be a good sign. i think people should be called back and you work out a deal. if standard & poor's did one thing that was good, wolf, they should have been able to reunite the republicans and the democrats and the president on maybe getting a deal done, because it's an embarrassment to the country. all over the world, i am getting calls from people in europe and asia, and they are saying what is happening with your country? who is running that country? they cannot believe the things happening. and then you look at the market, and obviously the markets are down, you know, tremendously all over the world because of us, and they are not because of something else, but it's because of us. people are calling me, big people, and they are saying what is going on with your country? what is wrong? it's rather amazing. >> yeah, well, you know, what is also amazing is the drop about 300 points today. it comes on the heels of more

than 1,000 points over the last few weeks. this has been pretty steady now, long before standard & poor's came out with their downgrade of the u.s. credit rate, credit worthiness from aaa to aa plus, and why does s&p, which was as you point out, wrong in failing to understand lehman brothers or aig before the great recession, as it's called, why do they have such clout today? >> i don't think they should have. i watched the gentlemen today on the show and on different shows, and i think they are having a good time going around and talking about s&p. i don't think they should be given credibility but they are given some credibility. frankly the country is not very credible right now. we're not being viewed upon -- if you look at what is going on when you want to invest, they say go to china, you will get a

better return. it's sad what is going on. but s&p, i think, frankly, you know, they shouldn't be given the kind of clout that they are given. a lot of it is just tradition. they have been around a long time. but they made so many bad calls that they should not be given the credibility that they are given. >> what about this proposal that mike huckabee put out there, and you would be a good secretary of the treasury, is that something that you would be interested in doing? >> i just heard about it this morning. first of all, i respect him a lot. i think he's a great guy, and that's before the proposal. but i just heard about it this morning, and, you know, one thing, i can tell you a couple groups that would not be happy. opec would not be too happy and china would be not happy, because these are people ripping off the country like nobody has ever ripped them off before. and getting back to that, if the country ran well an