tv Happening Now FOX News August 9, 2011 8:00am-10:00am PDT
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there may also possibly be a hostage and someone was taken away by ambulance after being shot inside there. bill: the swat team is working it to the book right now as you heard phil keating a moment ago. we'll see how this turns out in a moment. "happening now" starts right n now. jon: we begin with this fox news alert. hello to you i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody i'm jenna leave. we're here in the fox newsroom. happening right now market madness as wall street rebounds and braces for what could be a roller coaster ride. the dow is trading higher by about 200 points. overnight it was anyone's guess as to where this market is going, and still pretty much is that way as well. futures are bouncing all over the place, that's kind of the way the markets behaved yesterday as well. jon: it comes on the heels of one of the worst drops in the dow ever, the market dropping 630-plus points yesterday.
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world markets took a dive. many of them entering baar territory. jenna: greg burke is live in rome and we start with sandra smith live in times square. we see stocks are bouncing back today as of 11:00am. we are 90 minutes into the trading day. what are folks make of all this. >> reporter: it's tough to know what to make of this. we are spending the day out in the street really talk being to the folks to find out what they think of everything right now. the hopkins family is joining us right now. they were walking down the street, they are from tallahassee, florida. suzanne, what are you guys making of all of this? we were down 600, we are back up in triple digits today. what do you make of all this. >> it's a roller coaster. my husband is a financial adviser so we are used to watching the market. i'm optimistic long term but it is a little scary right now. >> reporter: it's really tough. that's really the tone we've heard in times square, called the crossroads of america.
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we've heard a lot of talk from people, they are optimistic. the hopkins family are here on vacation, they are spending money. a lot of them say they are making changes at home because they just don't know what the future holds. jenna: we have experience with volume tilt don't we going through the financial crisis. it will be interesting to see this a kwroupl years out. is there a feeling in general whether you're talking to tourists, or the market analysts that you're speaking to that the markets will actually improve? >> reporter: this is a tough point and sort of the crux that we're at right now. everyone has to decide are the companies that have sold off 10, 20, 30% over the past few weeks are they really worth that much less? what we're starting to hear from some of the analysts out there, hey there are companies where we'll see anxious buyers start to chip away from them. that will help the overall stock market situation, which we've seen today. at the end of the day, jenna, we
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saw a big sell off a couple of weeks ago, the next day we saw a rally. whether or not this is going to stick is the big question. all eyes will be on the fed this afternoon to see if they make any mention of will there be a qe3 another round of quantitative easing or stimulus for the market? we'll see. people say they are still investing, they are still optimistic, they are just concerned, jenna. jenna: thank you very much. sandra smith, fox business. jon: the concerns spread all overt world, yesterday's massive sell off on wall street weighing on stocks overseas. asian markets suffering huge losses and europe showing mixed results right now. greg burke is live for us in rome keeping an eye on the situation, greg. >> reporter: that's right. asia just got battered overnight. right now europe it's sort of a a mixed bag, it's like getting beaten by the yankees by a couple of runs. it certainly could have been a a lot worse. above all europe is just
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nervous, you know, the traders here talking about how bad it could be. there was such a scare yesterday that today turned out to be relatively good, you know, fear of what could have been a major crash coming along and perhaps it was major for some people, but not catastrophic overall, though yesterday was catastrophic in a certain sense. if you look at automakers in europe, fiat was down 11% yesterday. they have made some come back today. the european central bank continues to try and help italy and spain with their problems by buying their bonds. there is a question how long it will last before the euro zone crashes down. these are the third and fourth largest economies in the 17-member euro zone. there are two things that seem to be always safe here right now in the past couple of weeks, and those are gold and also the swiss franc, which is quite strong. people looking nervously at the violence in europe, first of
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course in greece and massive demonstrations in spain as a well and you have what is going on in the u.k. as well. everyone in italy is on vacation. it could be a hot time in the fall. the government will have to make as territory cuts, cuts in jobs and benefits, jon. jon: greg burke live for us from rome. jenna: he's certainly in the center of a lot of volatility there. there are certainly lots of mixed emotions from investors after the last couple of days. >> this is not the iceberg hitting the titanic by any means. >> hold onto your stocks no matter what. history has taught us it will rebound eventually. i'm hopeful that will happen. >> there is nothing more safe than united states bonds. our government can print money, we can raise taxes. jenna: today speculation the federal reserve may make a move and right now chairman ben bernanke and his team are meeting behind closed doors. the question that we're asking today is, what can they do
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really to boost the economy? anything, we are joined live by phil flynn. what is next, what are you watching for? >> you know what i'll tell you right now the fed has to send a strong message to the market today. i'll tell you what, right now you may have lost your full faith in the crucify the united states but right now it looks like the market has their full faith in ben bernanke and i think that's why they are bringing the market back up today. at least right now a lot of people believe that the fed is going to have the right words to convince this market to cool their heels, that everything is going to be just fine, and they have the tools and the arsenal. two big tools that the market is talking about today, the one we've heard quite a lot about, jen, as you know it's quantitative easing, that is basically the printing of the money, the buying the bond market. but a lot of traders are talking about a potential different way to do it this time, not the same way we did it last time, but do what they call the twist. now the twist is not a dance,
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what it is is basically trying to drive down the yield in the long end of the yield curve and drive them up in the front end, in other words invert the yield curve. the thought process behind that is if we can get investments for the long term, don't hang onto their money for the short term that will stimulate the economy. now they tried that in the 60s, it didn't work, maybe in this environment that is just the ticket to get this market back on the up side. jenna: 215 is when we start to hear from the central bankers. we've heard a lot. you've said that traders are waiting for the right words. we've certainly heard a lot of words on the economy. why does the fed matter most here versus hearing something from the president or hearing something from major investors? >> reporter: because the fed has followed through on what they've said. we have not seen the leadership from washington. i mean look at what the market did after president obama spoke today. it absolutely tanked. why? because he's given us more
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slogans. we don't need more slogans, we need leadership right now. this is not time to assign blame, who is to blame for this. or that, it's time to fix the problem. right now the federal reserve, they've been carrying this economy on their back since day one. you know, let's face it the only reason the economy has any signs of life is because of the fed and quantitate taeu quantitative easing. they have squelched hiring, the only reason we have any life in the economy is the fed. that's why we're seeing the market come up. they are hopeful ben bernanke can pull another rabbit out of his hat. jenna: let's see if he can do it. phil, we'll be watching what the fed has to say. thank you very much. something else we'll be talking about, jon, quantitative easing some say is really stimulus. we'll have neil cavuto about that in a little bit. jon: we're going to take you
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back to the fort lauderdale area, south florida, west 29th avenue and sunrise boulevard. authorities are still at that check cashing store which has been the scene of a bloody standoff this morning. you can see apparently a swat officer in this new video. these are not live pictures, we are trying not to show you live pictures that would reveal the locations of police, but it is believed that there is a gunman inside that store after a robbery attempt this morning. this all started about 100 minutes ago, the first alarm came into the 911 center. deputies responded to reports of a robbery in progress. one person we know has been shot. that person was lying on the ground outside the store. we'll continue to keep an eye on the situation there. they don't know what is going on. if they still have a gunman inside the store or not. we'll keep you apprised on "happening now."
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[shouting] jon: no this is not some third-world country. you're looking at the scene in england right now. the chaos there takes a deadly turn after a 26-year-old man dies from a gunshot wound. it's the first fatality since the violence erupted there. more than 500 people arrested so far in what is being called the worst civil unrest in that nation in decades. britain's prime minister david cameron calling the violence quite sickening. >> let me first of all completely condemn the scenes that we have seen on our television screens and people have witnessed in their communities. these are sickening scenes, scenes of people looting,
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vandalizing, thieving, robbing, scenes of people attacking police officers, and even attacking fire crews as they are trying to put out fires. this is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated. jon: it is unbelievable what is going on there. amy kellogg will join us live from london with a report in just a couple of minutes. jenna: several days of that. obviously more when we get it as jon just mentioned. happening right now the remains of the 30 american service members killed in that helicopter crash in afghanistan have finally returned home. two planes landing just moments ago at dover air force base. 22 of those killed as we've been telling you are members of the elite navy seals. we have these pictures so favre 12 of them. we want to show you these photos. i know some of you have questions about why we show these. we'd like to show you who we are welcoming home today. our thoughts are with their families. we'll have more on the story a little later in the hour.
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jon: such a sad, sad event. texas governor rick perry is looking more like a presidential con tkepbd rear right now, he's heading to two key primary states this weekend. so how might a perry candidacy change the political landscape on the republican side? a live report on that next. also, it's the city of brotherly love, and it's taking a tough, new stance in the fight against violence. flash mobs, what the mayor of philadelphia is doing. jenna: we continue to watch the dow after yesterday's plunge, rick has more at the.com wall. >> reporter: a rally going on. will it stick? we want you to go to the chat room, go to it there and click on america's asking. i want to take the next couple of minutes and ask you guys to go online and pose your questions or your comments about the economy, what are your hopes and dreams, what are your fears and concerns. kcath says obama should take a lesson from harry true man.
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>> reporter: back in the chat room, it's buzzing on the economy. we asked you for your comments. these are a couple. gwen says the president doesn't know how to accept responsibility for the state of the economy. kayla says one way to boost the market is to keep president obama off the tv. she didn't like what happened
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yesterday when the president jumped in front of the cameras. richard says congress needs to return to washington, stop the political bickering, roll up their sleeves and get to work for the american people. send in more comments, we'll read them coming up and more coming up a little bit later. back to you guys. jon: we could soon see a big shakeup in the field of republican white house hopefuls. the governor of texas rick perry said to be on the verge of entering the race. he will be in two key primary states, new hampshire and south carolina this weekend. how big a splash might perry make and would he become an instant frontrunner? our chief political correspondent carl cameron is covering this for us from arnold's park iowa. what does it mean for the people already in the race, especially the number one mitt romney. >> reporter: it means they have a serious, serious opponent to consider, and that opponent isn't going to be taking part in
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the debate in iowa this thursday or in the straw poll on saturday because he'll be at the conservative blogger's conference talking about his vision for the country. rick perry is definitely going to mess things up for mitt romney and michelle bachman and others, just because of what he does as he sets the stage. they said it would be mitt romney beating obama in texas. the poll is several weeks old now. it would be a statistic cal dead heat. perry has left his mark with with his prayer rally that took place in houston. it's a significant over shadow potential for michelle bachman as well. rick perry is casting himself as a straupb much evangelical conservative, and that is in fact the niche that michelle bachman has been cultivating in
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her run for the republican nomination, and poll after poll shows that if perry were to get into the race he would immediately be contending forefront runner status against either bachman or romney, leaving the rest of the field essentially way, way back. so perry is poised to do this. his aides have been saying for months that once he got the prayer rally behind him he'd be making his announcements and his plans very clear within a week to ten days. it's not going to happen on saturday but it will happen within a week to ten days from now. jon: how about fundraising? rick perry can count on support from deep-pocketed texas businessman and others nationwide, right? >> reporter: absolutely. he's been having a steady stream of groups from all over the country come down, fundraisers, and donors and bund hrers, people making it a business of going to their families and putting together large blocks of money for the candidates. this trip will be instead of
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them coming to him, him going to them. the fact that he's going as a southern governor where they hold sway, rick perry is clearly going to go for it. jon: be sure to tune in thursday night when the republican candidates, at least the announced ones square off. fox news channel, the washington examiner and the iowa republican party are cosponsoring this debate. bret baier is ho*etsing the action, 9:00 eastern, where else, fox news channel. jenna: the mayor of philadelphia taking a a tough new stance in the fight against violent flash mob attacks. rick, we've covered a few of these attacks before. what is happening now? >> reporter: this is a problem that's been plaguing the city of philadelphia for a little over a year now. these are roving groups of teenagers that cause havoc around down and mayor michael nutter saying now, enough is enough, putting new rules into effect for all teenagers in
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philadelphia, 18 and under. i lost the video here, so we will not be able to push in on that. you guys have it in the control room. michael nutter imposing strict occur fuse on teenagers. 9:00pm on the weekends. if you're under 18 you have to be home by 9:00. they are increasing the number of police on the street, including mounted units to make sure the kids follow this rule. the mayor had a message yesterday not only for the bad kids but for their moms and dads too, listen. >> if you are out causing problems, if you are out doing things you should not be doing we are going to get you off the streets. parents, it is your responsibility to know where your kids are, what they are doing, and who they are with. they are your children. you need to raise them, and you are responsible for them. >> reporter: it's unbelievable but kids as young as the age of 11 have been arrested in some of these flash mob riots in
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philadelphia. and the city is also keep open a city youth centers longer, expanding their hours to give kids a police to go instead of out on the street. they are offering help to parents whose kids are simply out of control. jenna: that sounds like a good idea, 9:00pm is the deadline. >> reporter: and the weekends. jenna: it sounds like movie night. that's what is going to happen, 9:00pm. we'll continue to watch it. you're home by 9:00pm. jon: i'm in bed by 9:00pm. good nor mayor nutter. parents, raise your children. what politician says that these days. wall street is seeing a bit of a rebound after a big plunge yesterday. the pain of the sell off is being felt not only on wall street on main street. who do americans blame for all this economic turmoil and how might it affect the 2012 elections? those questions and answers coming up next. also keeping an eye on that swat situation at that check-cashing store you see there, this is in
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jon: wall street traders hoping they can make up ground after yesterday's massive sell off. they have a good start to the morning so far. take a look at the dow right now, up 173 points, but look at that lower number, we are under 11,000. between the downgrade and the hits to the market there is no shortage of finger pointing going on. before the downgrade a cbs news new york times poll found 47% of americans blamed republicans for the gridlock surrounding the debt ceiling deal.
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29% blamed president obama. 20% said both are equally to blame. so where does this blame really lie for all this economic turmoil? joining us to weigh in fox news contributor, dinin e berelli. kristen powers is a post columnist. a lot of americans blame republicans for what happened, yet it was after the president spoke yesterday that everything really hit the skids on wall street. >> the market tanked significantly while he was talking and after he was talking. about blame game is not going to solve our financial crisis. you have the liberal left who was demonizing the tea party movement, for example as the cause for the downgrade in the s&p. the tea party was sounding the alarm several years ago that we are spending way too much money. when president obama took office our debt to gdp was 40%.
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today it's over 72%. that is outrageous. we have some serious economic concerns that need to be addressed and they need to stop doing this blame game, because it's not getting us anywhere. jon: i get all kinds of emails and top lines from the folks on our chat who say, hey, please don't describe what was achieved last week any kind of a budget cut, what they've really done is slow the growth in future deficits. >> yeah i think a lot of what you've seen in the markets actually is a response to the fact that the deal that they reached was really not the type of deal that the market wanted to see. it was not anything that was substantial. that's where a lot of anger is coming there. yes, the real problem is the deal that they reached. it just isn't going to do enough to get us to where we need to be in terms of cutting our deficit. jon: let's get back to the question from the lead in, from
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your vantage point, who gets the blame? is it both parties? is it both branches of government? >> if you look at that poll people were blaming republicans more but i think that ultimately people are frustrated with both parties in washington, and the president, while, you know, in that poll he wasn't getting as much of the blame is ultimately -- he's not running against congress for his re-election, he is going to be running against another candidate. if the economy is not doing well and our deficit is not getting under control and people don't feel like things are moving in the right direction he will be held accountable whether or not he gets the bulk of the blame in this particular situation. jon: i know you're not probably called upon to advise the white house regularly, but if you were what would you tell mr. obama to do? >> be a leader, stop the spending and make decisions that are in the best interests of our country. he had numerous press conferences over the past several days when the market was tanking and he had no solution, no plan.
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even when there were several plans in play harry reid stopped the debate for cut, cap and balance and also for the ryan plan u. want to talk about gridlock, look at what harry reid did when there were suggestions and ideas on the table and he would not allow them to go forward. jon: we've talked about this before, even the president's budget didn't get a single democratic vote in the senate. that would suggest he is a little off the mark when it comes to budgetary matters. >> i think they felt it was already dealt with in the most recent deal, it superseded his budget. they thought that it had all been addressed in the debt deal that they reached. look, i think both parties are going to have to come to the table and make more compromises. the criticisms for the democrats and for president obama are on the mark in terms of not really taking on entitlements, but at the same time, and i know the tea party people don't like to hear this. there will have to be revenue
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razors. there is no way to do it. jon: tax increases. >> yeah. >> you can't do it in this economy, you can't do it. >> you actually can. if you got rid of the bush tax cuts and went back to what they were tkaoug the clinton administration that was a booming economy. >> we need regulations reform. >> you're not going to raise them drastic here but there is going to have to be closing of the loopholes and other things like that. >> we need tax reform, regulation reform, we need to grow the economy. taxing people more is not going to grow the economy. you talked about the flash mobs earlier that are taking place across the country, these people don't have any jobs. unemployment is over 16%. among teens it's over 40%, it's outrageous, people need to be employed, that way they will contribute to the tax revenue but you can't raise taxes on people, eye not going to work. jon: thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. jenna: congress taking a closer look at s&p's decision to downgrade the u.s. credit
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rating. why lawmakers are now getting inch srofpltd why now? we have that just ahead. the remains of 30 u.s. service members killed in afghanistan arriving today back home. we are learning more about the 22 navy seals killed in the worst single day for american troops since the start of the war. here is one of them, brian bill, 31 years old from connecticut. his friends and family certainly grieving, along with the rest of the country, helping him as a hero. we have new information on the mission he gave his life for. straight ahead. >> the community will remember him as being a her oh being someone that has not just served his community but someone who has served this count throw and served this world. "hey wrinkle face!" that's what people could say if you're still using a liquid foundation
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the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus es. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. jon: jon scott here in our acwi sigses room where we bring in satellite feeds from around the country and the globe. here's what we're watching now, on remote two the four, is this the day that dallas
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finally gets break? look at that number, 95, dallas has been over 100 for i believe 38 straight days. will they get a break today? maria molina is on it from the weather center. remote 272, a report of an overturned boat off the coast of torrence, california, the coast guard and other authorities have responded. they are looking for survivors, it's not clear whether anybody was on board that boat, but they are searching. then, take a look at the dow, a remote 218, the dow up 190 points, it is just tingling the 11,000 barrier. jenna has a look at what is ahead for wall street today. jenna. jenna: you're right, you said it earlier, it looks better than it did yesterday, that's for sure. in the meantime what's happening in washington, the senate banking committee is now gathering information on standard & poor's, that's the rating company that made the decision to lower the credit rating for our country, no word yet on if there will be a hearing but
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one aide says all options really remain on the table. the question is why are they doing this now? elizabeth mcdonald of fox business network is with us. what exactly is this committee doing several days after this? >> this is the chairman of the -- the chairman has put out a statement saying this is irresponsible, others say they want to see the effect off foreign american costs and -- foreign costs and their households. i've been looking at the math behind it and it's simple, the $2 trillion error that s&p is being accused of making, what happened was s&p used an annual growth rate and government spending on discretionary programs, very simple, of 5 percent, the government came back to them said no, you should use 2 1/2%, which is going to be the inflation rate over the next ten years, so that blew out the $2 trillion difference. that's because they came back and said we don't trust you're going to keep the caps on spending and the decifit reduction deal.
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given the fact that the bottom has loaned past the debt ceiling 106 times since 1940. jenna: let me stop you there. when we hear on error, we think that somebody is adding up two plus two, that equals five and that means a huge mistake. you're saying in the models the projections they were building, they were plugging in another number than what the government would like them to use. >> that's right, jenna. it came down to essentially a difference of opinion. on what each side of this thought. jenna: can they bring us -- can this committee bring this and reverse the downgrade? >> they can't do anything about it, s&p is a private company, so what is going to be the outcome? you're going to see a lot of political grandstanding, in my personal opinion, and you know, s&p is still going to say look, you need 4 trillion plus in spending cuts over the next decade and if you don't do it, you know, you still risk going down to aa in six months or two years' time if you don't come up with the 4 trillion plus in cuts over the next decade. jenna: we'll see if they can
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kind a -- find a model that gets us there. >> thank you. jenna: appreciate it. jon. jon: jenna, the remains of those 30 american service members killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan have been returned to the u.s. the planes, arriving at dover air force base within the last hour. among those 30 american heros who died, 22 navy seals. they're just a few of the brave men who have given their lives in service to you and our country. jason workman, one of the seems, would have celebrated his third birthday this friday, he leaves behind a wife and one-year-old son, his grandfather remembers how vibrant he was: >> it didn't sink in for a while. it seems pretty hard to realize, he was still alive the last time we had seen them, he was a real big, healthy kid. he just died doing what he thought was right for him to do, like the rest of them. all of them did the same thing. a lot of families like ours
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are grieving heavily. jon: still some mystery about what happened, the chinook helicopter apparently was shot down in eastern afghanistan over the weekend, the taliban as you can imagine is claiming responsibility for a successful attack. are we seeing a growing insurgency in afghanistan as we begin drawing down our troops in that country? joining us now, michael o'hanlon, senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the brookings institute. what was this, a lucky shot by the taliban, or is this a sign of something more serious, more sinister? >> as you suggest, it's too soon to be sure, and of course i'm sure the military is doing investigations to learn more about the specifics. my guess is that just like any time in war, there is a certain amount of unpredictability and randomness and this probably was a lucky shot, the initial indication which isap seems to confirm are that the taliban did shoot it down. their weaponry is not that advanced, i haven't heard any mention of a possible surface to air missile or anything like that, but
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certainly is helicopter that's landing close in proximity to enemy force social security vulnerable to enemy small arms fire and specifically rocket po ped grenades and a lucky shot could be adequate to bring down that helicopter. we had that sort of experience in somalia with black hawk down, the famous episode in 1983, the technology hasn't changed that much either with the helicopters or the rocket propelled grenade. it's not an easy shot if you're the insurgent but it's not impossible, and therefore i don't draw any conclusions yet and certainly whether or not this foretells a strengthening insurgency. unfortunately the insurgency has proven its -- itself resilient regardless. i'm not going to draw conclusions from this tragic incident. jon: there are reports there may have been night vision equipment involved, even if they didn't have a heat seeking missile to shoot this helicopter down, there may have been a pair of night vision goggles that could have come with help from iran. >> well, that would
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certainly be a very important development, if true, and not out of the question. also not out of the question that night vision goggles could have come from some other source, and so -- but you're right to highlight the extreme importance of that kind of development if it's proven to be the case. i just haven't yet seen evidence of that. jon: the bigger overall question is we are drawing down our forces there, should this -- and i hate to use the word successful attack -- by the taliban, should that make us rethink in any way what we're doing? >> well, i'm not in favor of the accelerated draw down but it's not a radical change from what was previously anticipated, because the afghan forces are getting better and stronger. but you're right, the insurgency is strong, too. as we've seen throughout 20 # one. even after all the progress made in the south, in kandahar and helmand specifically, we're seeing an insurgency that's strong, especially in the east, close to where this attack occurred. that's part of the reason i would have -- would have
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liked to see stronger forces remain in afghanistan recall next year, but again, president obama i think probably made a mistake on this but it's not a huge mistake, it's not a radical change from strat agree and ultimately the afghan police are going to have to carry down the bulk of the fighting once we wind down in the coming years, anyhow. i think they may be up to it. i think this may slow down the progress, the somewhat premature draw down but i think the afghan army and police are the singlemost encouraging thing that i've seen on my trips to afghanistan, especially the army. jon: michael o'hanlon of the brookings institute, thank you. we have been showing you the pictures of some of those service members from the various branches of the service who gave their lives over the weekend in that terrible helicopter crash. rick folbaum is live with more on how you can help their families. >> reporter: we heard from the grandfather of one of the navy seals killed in afghanistan and people all across the country want to show their support for the navy seals who lost their
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lives and their families, really for the entire navy seal community, so we've made it very easy for you to find a way to help the navy seems, go to foxnews.com home page, the main home page of fox news, go down a little bit, scroll down to the latest news portion of the site, then you'll see over here, navy seal foundation, how to donate. it's in red. very easy to find. please check it out and see what you can do to help out these american heros and their families. jon. jon: rick folbaum, thanks. the search is intensifying for three fugitive siblings. we told you about them yesterday. police say their multi-state crime spree began when they fired on an officer during a high speed chase. now a new tip could expand the search area. but are officers any closer to finding these three? >> these are very dangerous fugitives out there. they've attempted homicide on a law enforcement
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officer, they are a suspect for that, we know they had a bank robbery, went to georgia, use high caliber reps -- weapons. we know they have an arsenal of weapons. if you're a law enforcement officer, use caution. remember, these three are very dangerous. they will shoot at us. they'll shoot at our citizens. use everything you can to be safe out there. and remember, if you engage them, you'll be going to a battle.
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jenna: now the search for three armed and dangerous siblings accused of a violent crime spree, investigators have a tip that the dohertys may be in tennessee. we're getting our first look in the meantime inside the bank robbery in delgase, georgia, police say they showed up armed and wearing masks, they fired into the ceiling, they made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. these are a few of the pictures we'll show you.
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bureau of investigation services, he joins us on the phone, commander, we know the siblinging are from florida. why were they in your city? >> we believe at this point that after the incident occurred in pascal county august 2nd, they worked their way up i75 to valdosta and that's when the bank robbery took place around lunch time. jenna: what exactly happened? can you tell us about what they did when they got inside that bank? >> sure. shortly after noon, around 12:19 p.m., we had a white vehicle which we now know is the subaru that we and along with the fbi are looking for, pulled up in front of our bank, the service bank on norman drive in valdosta, we had three individuals that exited that vehicle. we now know that one was female, two were male, they
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are -- appear to be the folks that were in pascal county, they went into the bank, two of the three were armed with weapons, two of the three went in and fired shots in the ceiling of the bank, told everybody to stay down, and at which point a third person came in and with a bag and they took an undisclosed amount of cash. jenna: real quick, where are you as part of the investigation, how are you working with the fbi and some of the other areas to track these guys down? >> i can tell you not even 15 minutes ago we met with the federal bureau of investigation and we are working a joint investigation with the fbi. jenna: any new information we should know that came out of that meeting? >> well, sure. i can tell you that the fbi and the valdosta police department are following up on leads as we speak. we continue to receive leads quite a bit, so we're following up on those. jenna: we'll be waiting and watching. we just put up a tipline as well. we'll be curious to see when
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we actually track these three down. commander, thank you very much. looking forward to talking to you again. >> thank you very much. jon: that is a strange, strange case. america's relationship with china, they owe more than a -- own i should say, more than $1 trillion of our debt, and yet, we're footing the bill for aid to the chinese. a live report on your tax dollars at work, just ahead.
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jenna: a fierce storm destroying trees and pulling down power lines in new jersey of all places, residents of lyndon said it took 15 minutes to cause this destruction. crews are working to clear trees and open the roads. electrical crews are racing to restore power. it's much needed. pretty hot in new jersey
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these days. jon: glad it wasn't my car under those trees. it is a combination of wind and heat causing problems for firefighters in oklahoma. grass fires are quickly moving like fan springs, temperature -- in sand springs, temperatures reaches 110 degrees today and for firefighters inside those protective suits, it feels about 30 degrees hotter than that. jenna: we think we have a battle on the east coast because there's a little heat here but we really haven't seen anything, especially when it comes to texas. jon: texas and oklahoma. jenna: in dal a. folks are closing in on day 39 of 100-degree plus temperatures. maria molina, we have nothing to complain about, do we? >> definitely no complaining here. this is bad, but in dallas, texas, we started this streak of 100-degree weather on july 2nd. we're headed into mid august and still no changes. take a look at this 5-day forecast.
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saturday, triple digit heat and on saturday, we'll be reaching day 43 of that streak. so that will be breaking a record if we do achieve this throughout the next several days and we are forecast to do so. a lot of sunshine as well, another big problem we've been talking about throughout the state of texas are the extreme drought conditions still in place and unfortunately no rain and many areas need more than 15 inches of rain just to be near average for this time of the year, as far as precipitation goes. closing in on day 39, early this morning, not even 11:00 in the morning central time, it's already # on degrees in dal a. factor in the humidity and it's going to feel even hotter. we are expected to reach a high of 108, 104 in san antonio. aside from the heat we are expecting more showers and thunderstorms today, some across the northeast, nothing severe out there but we are expect to go see severe thunderstorms possible in atlanta, georgia, and some across the central plains. concerns out there will be large hail, damaging wind
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dpufts and isolated tornadoes. not expecting to see tornadoes across parts of the southeast. as we head into tomorrow, dallas, 106, but as you take a look further to the north, we're going to see a relief from this extreme heat, 78 the any minneapolis, much cooler, 75 rapids city, and acros portions of new england, 61 degrees, so much cooler. areas further off to the north will experience below average temperatures but still, no relief unfortunately for the state of texas, kansas city also looking cooler as we head into tomorrow with a high of 77. jenna: we'll take the relief where we can. hopefully in texas soon. maria, thank you very much. jon: we are clawing our way back on wall street, that smiling sound you hear is your 401(k), enjoying a bit of relief after that big six # one point drop yesterday. there you see it up 216 points. we are back above 11,000 at least. neil cavuto joins us to talk with what's ahead
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jon fox news alert. it is 5:00 p.m. in london. take a look at these pictures. police are bracing for another night of rioting and violence, as looting is spreading to the united kingdom. prime minister david cameron, saying 16,000 officers will be on the streets of london tonight to try to prevent more of the kind of thing you're seeing there, a burned out car, a burned out shell of a building, all a result of these riots that has brought out triple the number of rioters after some of the worst violence in decades. rick folbaum is in the newsroom with the latest. >> it's tough to look at these pictures of london. it's a few hours still until nightfall and as you said,
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triple the usual number of police will be out on patrol tonight, plus they'll have a new tool at their disposal, plastic bullets, and as you said, they'll be trying to put a stop at three consecutive nights of riots around the capitol and other cities around the u.k. as we more than 500 have been arrested, over 40 police officers have been hurt in all of this. the violence first broke out saturday after police shot and killed a 29-year-old father of four, people very upset about that, but other riots seem to be upset about government plans to cut benefits and public sector jobs, but what's happening in the u.k. seems to be random people, rioting over a bunch of different issues, rather than one single cause, almost using the violence in london as an excuse to riot in other places around the country like birmingham and bristol in the south and liverpool in the north. the rioters are organizing using text messages and social media so police are monitoring those outlets, they're setting fires to buildings and retail stores.
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you just saw the pictures we showed you, they're pelting police officers with bottles and fireworks. the police holding cells in london are full. so officials are hoping for a much quieter night tonight. we just got a map that shows you where these trouble spots are, not just in central london but other parts of the country as well. you can see those hot spots, to give you a sense of how widespread these are. certainly not the image that london and the u.k. as a whole wants to present ahead of next summer's olympic games there. we'll be monitoring the latest situation as we approach nightfall. we'll bring you more information when we get it. back over to you. jon: rick folbaum keeping an eye on it for us, thank you rick. jenna: wall street rebounding right now, rebounding sort of. jon: got about, what, one third of the way back? >> jenna: a little bounce. will it hold. that's one of the big questions today, hi everybody, we're glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee.
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jon: yes we are. i'll jon scott. brave bargain hunters are snapping up stocks after yesterday's retreat, traders hoping for good news from the federal reserve as the central bank considers its next move. jenna: brave bargain hunter is the only kind. there is speculation ben bernanke could announce another round of buying bonds to help stimulate the economy and later today the president will be meeting privately with treasury secretary tim geithner. we just showed you the dow. again, it looks better than yesterday but we want some perspective on this. newell cavuto, managing editor for fox business news, great to have you as always. i read this in the "new york times", this is noon on the east coast and lunch time, it resonated, this is what "the new york times", anyone hung ring for a robust economy and looking for employment, is still hungry. that was in response to the president's speech. is there anything the fed could serve up that makes us less hungry? >> it puts the pressure on
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ben bernanke as sort of the last surviving adult to provide food for those hungry, because the president didn't impress anyone with his remarks yesterday, the same could be said of republicans who didn't say anything that really got investors jazzed one way or the other, so fiscal policy seems to be at a bit of a lock, jenna. invariably, all eyes turn to the federal reserve chairman, he who controls the proverbial spigot. in two prior attempts to open it up it did add the desired effect, essentially printing money, providing cash to banks as sort of a backstop in case they were getting alarmed, and buying up these notes and securities in the open market, you hear a lot of talk about that, quantitated easing is the big word for it. but what it means it they'reo sow they're sort of mopping up the securities that others aren't buying and buying it themselves and giving the cast directly to the banks to shore them up. the fed has indicated that punch bowl is being taken
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away and as recently as only two weeks ago said they've already, you know, stored it in the attic. they're going to have to apparently take it out again and indications are while this might not the proverbial qe3, for want of a better expression, they're going to be back in there doing this again and that's what the markets want to hear. this is a little eye ironic when you think about it, jenna, the capitalism that abhors rescues or bailout the, when it comes time to saving their own heinie sevment are all for it, and that's what they want, that's what they're doing bidding up prices and that's exactly what they're going to get. jenna: that's what the markets wants, as you were seeing, ahead of this decision. we have about two hours until this happens. what about the rest of us? is this something that we want as a country? when we mention stimulus in another form, you get a lot of people with raised eyebrows and the fed does it, it seems like it slips by. what's the deal there? >> i've always compared this to a nicotine fit, in other words, if you're in a real
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bad way, and you're a desperate smoker, and someone just sort of slips you a couple of marlboros, that gets you over the hutch. it doesn't remove the fact that you're addicted to something pretty bad, so there is a direct oomph that we pick up in the market but we have been there and done that and my fear is we never learn from that, in other words, if we do run up on this, we forget history, it was, keep in mind, back in 2008 when t.a.r.p. initially failed, remember that was president bush's first effort to rescue the banks and brokerage houses at the time, congress rejected it, and that led to an 800-point falloff in the dow, then to sort of calm the market beast, this was reproposed, rejiggered, passed by congress, then everyone thought the markets are going to calm down, only to discover a few months later, we were down 4000 additional dow points. so it's like with kids, and this -- i know from
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experience, you can play kickdown, but eventually, even when you give them what they want, they invariably demand more. now, i just fold like a cheap suit and keep repeating it. that's why you wouldn't want me as the federal reserve chairman. i just think it's a bad idea, and i worry that i take nothing away from today's rally and welcome it, but be careful what you wish for. longer term you get it in droves. jenna: what happens is ben bernanke says no more punch for you guys, he's going to hold the line and say we're actually not going to do this anymore. >> you have a big selloff and a huge temper tan trum and it would be nasty, but if you're telling wall street, in other words, we here at the fed have done what we can do, the president and the fiscal policy and the obtackles you're running against with the debt limit, they've done what we can do, but as far as expecting an instant panacea from washington short of tax cuts that might be in order here you're not going to see it. i think it is very unnatural
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for the federal reserve in a low interest rate environment to bid those rates still lower, mopping up and buying any treasury notes, bonds, securities it can get its hands on. yes, that does help stabilize things for the moment, but it doesn't get away from the underlying problem that we still have a extending problem in this country, we still have a debt problem in this country, and all the mopping up in the world doesn't gloss over the fact that the floor is filthy. jenna: no one puts it like that, neil! we appreciate it that you do. thank you very much. >> sure. jenna: you have a lot of hours left today, in depth financial coverage, every day, 4:00 p.m. eastern time. for more on fox business network, 6:00 p.m. jon: and his kids just called me. they want something! the debt ceiling bill, passed by congress, included no new revenues. you might read that as taxes it's an issue president obama and democrats plan to tackle in the next round of debt talk, but republicans have made it clear they
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oppose raising tax rates. lawmakers on both sides are now eyeing tax expenditures as a way to accomplish their goals. jim angle, live in washington. tax expenditures, jim, what are they? >> >> reporter: well jon, that's just a fancy word for the accumulation of tax deductions and subsidies in the tax code. some people call it spending by another name. so going into the tax code, to clean up all of those ducks and subsidies is seen as the best possibility to unite both democrats and republicans because it could generate money that could be used both for decifit reduction and to actually reduce tax rates. listen: >> this is where the revenue deal is to be done. i don't think there's the political will to do significant increases in tax rates. the deal to be done is to look at the tax preferences and walk them back in some intelligent way. >> tax expenditures or tax preferences add up to about $1.3 trillion a year, more than all individual and
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corporate tax collections combined, so there are at least theoretical savings to be had. the list of existing reference -- preferences include easy targets such as ethanol subsidies which congress is already after and many smaller deductions in credit, but the big deductions are things millions of americans know and love, the largest is making employer-provided health insurance tax-free, which if taxed would bring in $282 billion a year. the home mortgage interest deduction is the second largest at $89 billion, followed by the savings in 401ks at $63 billion, and deductions for charitable contributions at $40 billion. a lot of programs for the poor are also handled through the tax code. so the choices will be difficult, but this is the only real possibility for an agreement to increase revenues. jenna: this is an elegant way to kind of thread this needle between those who don't want to raise any revenues for the decifit and those who want to focus on
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taxes, this can actually kill two birds with one stone. >> but there will be a battle over how much if any savings should be dedicated to lower tax rates and reducing the deficits. some analysts suggest one third for decifit reduction and two-thirds to reduce tax rates in hopes of boosting economic growth and generating jobs. jon. jon: jobs would be good. boy do we need them in this country. thank you very much, jim angle. >> you bet. jenna: we are just days away from the nation's first straw poll in the presidential race and republican candidates are getting ready for their first debate in iowa this time. coming up, one of the journalists who will be asking them some very pointed questions. we have a special preview coming up. china has tells of dollars in foreign reserves parked in u.s. treasury. so why are we still giving them money for development? we'll go deeper on that. rick folbaum is here with your thoughts on the economy. >> reporter: we're in the chat room, we invite you to join us, we're going to ask you do you think there's a
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buying opportunity on stock? is anybody in a stock buying mood after what we saw happen on the dow? it's ticking up today, curtis says no stocks here, i sold mine years ago and will never invest in them again. what about you? send me your comments and we'll read them, the begs ones, on the other side of the break and more of "happening now" when we come right back.
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jenna: thank you for responding when we asked for some of your comments on the economy. rick has been watching your messages pour into the website. >> one says the market is like legal gambling, he doesn't like it, g.k. says when the market has a huge selloff, to buy those companies that are on sale is a great opportunity, and kayla wants to invest in jon scott's tie collection. jenna: no kidding! wonder what a stock like that would trade for! >> i'll get back to you! jenna: we'll ask our viewers what they think it's worth. jon: she's always commenting about my ties. jenna: who knew!
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>> jon: a somber day at dover air force base in delaware as the remainder of our troops killed in that terrible helicopter crash in afghanistan are coming home. meanwhile the crash investigation intensifies. the video you see here shows a chinook helicopter patrolling the scene. the military suspects that a shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade brought down the chinook, so it was a lucky shot, but there are also serious questions about events leading up to the operation. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with a bit more information. jennifer. >> reporter: hi jon. we're now learning that that ceremony at dover will last for several hours. among the vipss present will be secretary of defense leon panetta, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, the new head of centcom, special operations command, but the pentagon is not allowing media coverage. this is their statement as to why, quote, due to the catastrophic nature of the crash the remains of our fallen service members will
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be returned to the u.s. via dover air force base in unidentified status until they can be positively identified by the armed forces mortgage area affairs office at dover. in fact we've learned the remains and ashes are comingled at this time and some of the families did not give the pentagon permission for the media to observe and record the ceremony. the afghans whose remains also arrived at dover will be sent back to afghanistan once they are identified. u.s. navy seal aaron vaughn from virginia is among those killed, a father of two who loved his family and serving the country, his widow remembers their life together: >> it's funny the things you remember. the smell of their skin. the way they walk. you know, just come in the door, put their keys down. just little things that i'll miss. i just remember him climbing into his truck and telling me he'd see me soon.
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and how much he loved me and the kids. so i will always value and cherish that moment. the last moments that i got to spend with him. >> reporter: but there are more questions than answers about what brought down the standard chinook ch-47 helicopter, normally special operators tell me they would cross-load on multiple aircrafts to reduce the risk to the entire unit, the rangers who called for help weren't pinned down with fire, we understand, none were injured, and they were the ones that secured the crash site without taking casualties. the taliban target was not a high-value target, but yet, it looks like the seal team deployed in hayes. the question is why. other questions about why the pentagon is not releasing the names of the dead, it's normally pentagon policy to do so 24 hours after the second of kin is notified. the pentagon is also unaware at this time as to who will investigate the crash. no one has been assigned to investigate this crash, and
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that is normally done within the initial hours after such an incident. jon: a lot of aftershocks from this terrible event and i know they're going to reverberate through that building you're in for a long time to come. jennifer, thanks. jenna: we have breaking news on the sentence of of polygamist leader warren jetts. >> reporter: the jury has decided t. didn't take long, 35 minutes of deliberation after convicting him last week, of aggravated sexual assault. they have decided to send him to life in prison, plus 20 years on top of that. this is a report that according to tweets from the texas attorney general's office who is saying that the polygamist leader, warren jeffs, has been sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years. he is the leader of the fundamental church of jesus christ of latter day saint, not affiliated with the mormon church, and he is 55 years old, he is considered god's spokesman on earth among his followers, and
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there are about 10,000 of them around the country. again, he was convicted last week of sexually assaulting two underage girls he had taken as quote unquote bribes, the joir deliberating after finding him guilty and once again, sentencing him to life in prison, plus 20 years. back to you jon. jenna: more as we get it, rick. thank you. jon: we are two days away from the gop debate in iowa. it is a debate you can see only on fox. who stands to gain the momentum in the first caucus state? we'll have a preview of that event coming up. plus, could the way that we elect our presidents change dramatically in this country? one big state is joining a drive to scrap the electoral college.
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jon: the united states sends hundreds of millions of your tax dollars in aid to, guess what, china. money that critics say could be better spent at home. is it time to stop sending aid to a country that currently holds so much our debt? william la jeunesse has more for us. >> reporter: critics say does it make sense for american taxpayers to borrow money from china, pay them interest, then send all the money back in grants to their scientists and universities, on studies that auditors say have little or no value, especially to us. a military and economic giant, there's not much china can't buy, yet u.s. taxes foot the bill for chinese students to study retirement in beijing, prostitution and hunan, and why the chinese smoke. >> here we are sending money to a nation we are diametrically opposed to in
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a time when america is broke >> the national sniewlts of health gave chinese universities $30 million to solve largely chinese problems. >> this is about the national institutes of health, nameless, faceless bureaucrats, spending opm, other peoples' money, in a way that is inappropriate. >> it's possible that not all of this is as well-spent as it could be. >> clayton dube says scientific programs help shape public opinion. >> if you look at what ordinary people think and feel about the united states , it's definitely, it definitely has an impact. >> reporter: including the $275 million the u.s. spends to improve china's internet access, urban transit, and development. >> the number one recipient of the taxpayer dollars were chinese state-owned corporations. >> reporter: some in congress want to end all aid to china, including the
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peace corps. >> in many ways our peace corps volunteers, our young people, are our best ambassadors. >> while this may be true, many in and out of congress say now is a good time to stop sending aid to foreign countries that don't need it and programs that don't deserve it. jon: our chat room is pretty fired up about that report of yours. william la jeunesse, thank you. well, the road to the white house winds through the corn fields of iowa this week. the republican presidential hopefuls to set to square off in a debate on fox news channel. iowa holdings the first contest in the presidential campaign. thursday's debate comes just days before the crucial straw poll in ames. susan frekio is the washington examiner's chief congressional correspondent. susan, what are you looking forward to in this big debate? >> well, i think it's an important time for all the candidates. if you look at the poll
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numbers, then the frontrunner is really not running away with this thing yet, so there's a lot of opportunity there for any of these candidates to pick up speed and become a favorite. tim pawlenty, for instance, really has to do well in this debate because his poll numbers are pretty low and iowa is a place where he is counting on for a big win to kind of boost his campaign and get him to the next caucus and the next primary coming up in the winter. so it's really a big, big deal for him to do well in this debate, kind of hit it out of the park, and especially since during the last debate he was kind of accused of not throwing any punches and kind of looking a little whimpy. we'll see what he does. also michelle bachmann, she is a native iowans and really new to the seen, yet her poll numbers have taken off. so there's a high expectation she will do well in iowa, and she did great in the last debate. people are going to look to see if she can keep up that performance on thursday. mitt romney is another important candidate, he's the frontrunner, but he's not really participating in
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the iowa straw poll, but he is considered the one to beat, so everybody will be watching to see what romney does and says during the debate on thursday. jon: sometimes the person who is most important is the person who's not on the stage and i'm going to get this time around that person might be rick perry. all indications are that he's going to announce the campaign but he is skipping iowa all together. how do these other candidates address the perry factor when he isn't yet an announced candidate? >> well, i mean, he's not there, but yet, he is. so he's beating a lot of them in the polls, so i think there will be an opportunity for every one of these candidates to talk about perry and what he means to the race right now and what his absence means to the iowa straw poll. jon: well, it is going to be interesting to watch. i know you are going to be busy for the next couple of days. we'll have that for you, that debate. susan ferreche, thank you
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very much. she's going to be joining jonathan hunt online now. there's jonathan if you want to hear what susan has to say, live, fox news.com, you can join in on the discussion. be sure to tune in thursday night when those republican candidates square off. fox news channel, the washington whr, and -- examiner, and the iowa republican party are co-sponsoring the debate. bret baier hoes. it begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. and you can only watch it where, jenna? >> jenna: right here on fox news. lucky guess! the federal reserve faces growing pressure to take action. right now, chairman ben bernanke is considering his options. we're going to hear from him in less than two hours. what else can be done to calm these markets? we have analysis and insight, straight ahead. to keep in balance after 50,
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called low testosterone or low t. come on, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. jenna: welcome back, everybody. the electoral college could be a step closer to being a piece of history. this after california joins a growing effort to award the state's 55 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote in presidential elections. this talk about what this means and why it's significant. shannon bream is joining us live in washington today. hi, shannon. >> reporter: hi, jenna. as it stands right now, all but two states direct all of their votes to whichever candidate wins their state's popular vote. but critics have been working for decades to change that. they point out that a candidate has won the presidency without winning the country' popular
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vote four times in the our history. states do have the authority to decide how they will allocate their electoral votes, and eight of them have pledged to give all of their votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. you just mentioned the new commitment comes from california which has 55 of the electoral college votes. in order to change the entire system, though, you have to get enough votes from states representing 270 electoral college votes. proponents of the change have reached 49% of that number. they are gaining steam. but there are a lot of critics who say this breaks from what our founders intended and could be unconstitutional. just last friday members of the republican national committee approved a resolution opposing the change saying the rnc is dead set against ditching ditche constitution's mandate. supporters want to be clear, for them this isn't about being a red or blue state, it's just a
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better way to truly represent what the people of america choose when they head to the polls on election day. jenna, though, it's not without controversy. jenna: not at all. we'll see what happens, shannon. thank you very much. jon: well, right now investors are waiting to hear from the federal reserve. the central bank is meeting to consider a course of action factoring the recent nose dye on wall street -- nose dive on wall street yesterday. but they are running out of options. here's fed chief ben bernanke last month on capitol hill discussing the use of some measures that remain untested. >> we have a number of ways in which we could act to ease financial conditions further. of course, our experience with these policies remains relatively limited, and employing them would entail potential riskings and costs. jon: the managing partner of chatwell investment management. a lot of people have speculated the fed is out of bullets when it comes to fixing this economy. is it? >> well, i think so.
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i've been saying there's just not many things left for them to do, and bernanke said it as well. there is one thing, and we talk about it all the time on this station, and that is why not try cutting taxes across the board, stimulate the economy? spending more money, you and i both know what's coming, it's qe3. because everything else has failed. jon: all right. and what's qe3 going to do for us? >> well, it's going to create, again, a lot more printing, a lot more money going into the system. that is going to be, just so you know, from an equities and stock standpoint, they benefit sometimes from more money going in. long run, we're going to have terrible, runaway inflation, and bonds don't do very well during periods where a lot of money goes into the system. and right now i will tell you, i think we're going to see qe3, that's called quantitative easing number three, and i can't believe we're even talking about it. jon: is that part of the reason why gold has been on such a tear? >> >> yes. and i think gold continues to go
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higher because it's inflationary. remember, when you hear qe3 or printing of money, that means inflation. that means the cost of everything that everyone buys goes up in value. that's not good for the economy long run. jon: all right. so, you know, you're used to advising people who may have huge portfolios. what do you say to somebody who's sort of eking out an existence and trying to hang on in this rough economy? what's the, you know, if they have a couple of bucks to invest or how can they either preserve their investment, what money they have? >> well, first of all, you must keep at least a year's worth of spending money on the side in money market even though it's earning you absolutely nothing because you never know how volatile these markets are going to be. anybody who has a bond fund, this is a very good time to start moving out of that bond fund and maybe buy into some utilities because when interest rates go higher, and they do when we have quantitative easing and when we have inflation, those bond funds are going to lose value.
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so don't think because they're bonds or because they're invested in bonds it's a bond fund. these will go down in value. start to move out of those. what do you say to people who don't have, you know, a lot of money and a lot more money coming in? you really need to put money aside, invest it wisely and reduce your spending, and that's another problem we're going to have. the cost of goods are going to go up, we're going to see less money being spent. this is not a good scenario. jon: as a nation, would it help us if we have had a greater poof savings? >> well, i think the savings rate is, you know, one thing. but what would really help is if we start to have a lot more people start to become consumers and get the economy going. and with all the policies that are coming in and all the policies we have in place right now, that's not what's going to occur. there's really a wet blanket on the economy, and it'll be interesting to see what mr. bernanke says today because i cannot imagine for a moment it's going to be real positive in terms of anything that's
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going to help this economy in the short run. jon: so this would be a good day for jenna to buy me lunch, is that what you're saying? >> i think jenna should buy you lunch every day. jenna: i knew that was coming. jon: ed, the managing partner of chatwithinvestment manager. jenna: always trying to get a free lunch, i don't know what to make of it. he's hungry, i guess. jon: yes, i am. jenna: you can see the markets higher today, but there's still so many questions about what's ahead for d.c. we have a live report from the white house with. also, the impact of downgrading america's debt with former wyoming senator alan simpson, what he has to say about what's next. he, of course, was on the big debt commission for the president. we want you to participate in the discussion. what do you want to hear from the senator? rick, anyone can ask him anything. open book right here. >> reporter: open book. we're going to pose your questions to senator simpson. one has already come in, jenna, why did the president ignore the
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senator's panel's recommendations? maybe you can ask senator simpson that. thinkway, go to the america's asking portion of the home page of "happening now" at foxnews.com. you can log in using your twitter, your facebook account. ask your question, we'll pose it to the senator. we've got him coming up in just a couple of minutes on the other side of the break. more "happening now," don't go away.
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jon: let's check the markets right now. it is a day when the bargain hunters are out. the dow is on the rebound, up 217 points right now after the 634-point freefall yesterday. so as you can see, we have a long way to go just to recover yesterday's losses. we just looked into how fed chairman ben bernanke could try the help the markets and maybe the overall economy, but what does the obama administration say? fox business network's adam shapiro is live at the white house for us now. adam? >> reporter: and they will be watching here at the white house to see what the federal reserve,
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the open market committee decides to do as we go forward because they clearly have an influence on inflation and interest rates. but president obama yesterday, you heard him, talking about putting americans back to work, and he called on congress to do something we've already done, you remember when he signed into law the payroll tax cut holiday. all of us have enjoyed a 2% drop in the amount we pay in at least our portion of our social security taxes. it expires at the end of this year. that costs the government roughly $112 billion in revenue. and extending unemployment benefits, that cost the government $56 billion but kept seven million people from losing their benefits. it expires at the end of the year. critics of the president say, look, when you do these things short term, it doesn't work. and what you need to do is make it more long term. in fact, one of those critics, curtis duh bay from the heritage foundation, says the results of that will be obvious. >> the president first wants to
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extend the payroll tax holiday. that -- payroll -- any tax holiday does not help stimulate the economy because businesses and families make decisions based on economic conditions in the future, not in the short term. so no matter what type of tax holiday it is, it will not work. congress should take the payroll tax holiday, take the revenue that that would reduce taxes by and use it to permanently reduce marginal tax rates. >> reporter: and it would add to the country's long-term debt if we were to extend unemployment benefits as well as the payroll tax cut holiday. but congress will have to address that issue. the president's calling on them to do it. jan? jon: adam shapiro at the white house for us. adam, thank you. jenna: adam set us up great for our next interview. we've heard lots of suggestion, we're going to have some perspective from former wyoming senator alan simpson. he was a co-chairman of the president's national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform, aka the debt commission.
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senator, nice to have you back with us. >> it's always a pleasure. jenna: some great questions from our viewers, and i'd like to start off with this one because it really hits home. shep had this to ask, what would you recommend a voter to do? we've called, e-mailed, written and tweeted, and it all seems to fall on deaf ears. what do we do next? >> go to their town meeting. they're out there now, it's their august recess, unless they're so goose si they won't have town meetings. when they get up say we're going to cut spending, we're going to do that and say, would you, please, be specific? i've listened to your mush now for quite a while. what are you going to do to restore the solvency of social security so that you won't waddle up to the window in 2036 and get a check for 23% less. what are you going to do with regard to the defense budget where you have a health care plan where you pay $470 a year and no co-pay, and it costs $53 billion? what are you going to do with contractors? what are you going to do with medicare which is on automatic
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pilot which is just going to be out of control whether you call it obamacare or i don't care or no care. it can't work. it's unsustainable. that's what you do. just nail 'em. just say i'm tired of your bs, i want some specifics. jenna: can they quote you on that, senator? >> indeed, they can. jenna: i have a feeling a few of them will. we have a lot of questions about what's happening today specifically with the fed. looking on screen to the treasury secretary, tim geithner was just there, and he's going to be meeting with the president later today. but first we get a decision from the fed, and one of our viewers, jay fry, had this to ask about the fed, whether or not they're accountable for some of the mess that we're in right now. how would you place the fed when we're talking about the debt crisis, the deficit and all those entitlement programs? is the fed even related to that? >> oh, sure it is, and i'm not enough of a wizard to know all the ways, but anytime you have somebody that can do a qe1 and a qe2, quantitative whatever, effluvia would be a word -- not
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a good word -- [laughter] anyway, and to go for number three on that, i think, would be a big mistake. then i think i heard the gentleman before say then starts the creep. everybody's talking about the little guy. the little guy is the guy who's going to get cremated when you get inflation kicking in and interest rates kicking in. the money guys, the big money guys that sit around all day and play arbitrage and back and forth and hedge and hedge that, don't worry about them. they'll always take care of themselves. but the tragedy is when you mess around with this economy like this and you have a predictable trajectory of debt, deficit and interest and you're not doing a thing to correct it, a real thing like $4 trillion at least in ten years, the little guy is the guy that gets hurt the most. what an irony. what a sick irony. jenna: senator, one of our viewers wants to know whether or not you've been asked to jump into the race in 2012, whether to get back in as a senator,
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maybe even a vice presidential candidate or a presidential candidate. >> well, it just makes my heart sing. i mean, what the hell? that's the goofiest thing i ever heard in my life. i never aspired to that when i was there. i'm a legislator. i couldn't administer my way out of a paper sack. but i sure love to legislate. i love the hearings, i love to learn, i love to research, i love the debate, i love the floor debate, i loved everything about it. and that's, that's what they're not doing. they're not legislating. they're meeting in their caucuses to figure out how to screw the other party instead of how to heal america. what a sad thing to watch. it didn't work that way when i was there. you worked with guys on the other side. i didn't have to agree with ted kennedy or admire what he did, all i knew was when he shook my hand or looked me the eye, he never broke his word once. now we have guys that won't compromise on anything. you could give them the whole deal, they wouldn't even know
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what it is, well, i'm not going to do that until i get this. stupid. jon: and, senator, cody, wyoming, is a much better place to be in the august than washington d.c. >> ooh, it is. it's about 67 degrees out here. [laughter] jenna: well, that might lead to some cooler heads as well. >> well, i held hearings on the aarp when i was in congress. they'd say, look, simpson, you're out. easy for you to shoot this way. look, i chaired the veterans affairs committee, i said, what are we doing taking care of guys who never served over six months, they shouldn't receive the same benefits as a combat veteran. what do you do with the aarp? i had a hearing on them, they were furious. i said, are you just all marketers there? or is there any patriots? it's always fun just to poke holes in the sacred cows and lead them right to the chute and hit them right between the eyes with the prod. jenna: senator, we appreciate your comments. we hope to have you back soon
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and do this again, sir. thank you. >> you bet. pleasure. jenna: and we'll be right back with more "happening now." good things to think about. - because it's completely invisible. - because it's designed to help me hear better. male announcer: introducing amp, a new kind of hearing aid, so tiny, it's invisible. female announcer: amp is comfortable to wear and easily removable. amp, the hearing aid for people who aren't ready for a hearing aid.
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megyn: hey, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. have you seen the latest "newsweek" cover shot of michele bachmann titled "queen of rage"? let's put it this way, even the national organization of women is ticked off about it. and wait until you hear the magazine's defense. plus, charles krauthammer accusing president obama of failing to lead on the debt crisis calling his remarks yesterday weak and small. is that fair? we'll discuss it. and the criminal case is reportedly falling apart against dominique strauss-kahn, but the maid who says he sexually assaulted her in his hotel room just filed a whopper of a civil suit. why now?
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kelly's court back in session. see you top of the one. jon: rick folbaum has been keeping an eye on your communications to us, lots of great messages in to us today. he shared some of them with you before and has a couple more for us. >> reporter: busy chat room. jon: yeah. they're on fire. >> reporter: especially a couple of comments particularly aimed at the idea of foreign aid. jon: jim angle did that story about foreign aid to places like china. >> reporter: right. renee writes; we're sending money to countries that don't need our assistance. and then there's this comment from nicklaus, why are we allies with pakistan? they hate us. stop aid for all international countries that help lazy people become even more lazy. just a couple comments. jon and a comment from c.j. who says i would love to be a democrat again but not until the progressives or the far left get
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out. all kinds of interesting political thoughts in our chat room. >> reporter: busy day, we'll do it again tomorrow. [ jon ] we don't just come up here for the view up in alaska. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster. the only time you can savor three sweet alaskan crab entrees all under $20, like our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake or sn crab and crab butter shrimp. [ jon i wouldn'tut it my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. my name's jon forsythe, and i sea fd differently. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil no and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's
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jon: while we were on the air, something happened that we were unable to report. the president has traveled to dover air force base in delaware to welcome home the bodies of those service members who were killed over the weekend in what turned out to be the worst single incident and the worst overall day of the war in afghanistan. thirty american troops were killed, many of them navy seals. you see the pictures of 12 of them on our screen right now, but there were also other service members, air force and so forth, who died in that single attack. some of those who were killed were motivated by the events of 9/11, and, again, we thank all of them for their service. the president, as i said, has gone to dover air force base under very tight securitto
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