we asked what you you're doing up at this ur. rob has a couple quick answers. >> karen write i'm making between pounds of butter cream to begin of butter of the beer the rusty water, bourbon. "morning joe" starts now. >> you did not elect me president to dust the tough issues. you elected me to do the tough

things, to do the big things. the thing we all have to remember is that as much good as we have done, precisel because the challenges were so dark. because we wre inheriting so many challenges that we are not even half way there yet. when i said change we can believe in, i didn't say change we can believe in tomorrow, not change we can believe in next week. we knew this was going to take time. >> all right. 6:00 on the east coast. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, august 4th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. and senior political analyst, mark halperin. >> we can talk about change

tomorrow. down the road. >> happy birthday, mr. president. >> 50! >> the big 5-0. >> that's exciting. that's great. >> young. young. young at heart, though. >> young at heart. i guess so. it's been a sort of difficult week. he's trying to serve the base, right? >> a lot of liberals complainin that he's given in too much. >> we talked about george wills proposed slogan. the president said we can do better, it's going to take a ttle bit of time. in those fund-raisers, he's a better political performer than the people out there trying to take his job. on display, it's one of the nice things he had going. >> it is all relative, isn't it? >> i guess it is. >> with a debt deal out of the way, president obama is shifting his focus on getting reelected

as halperin pnted out. in chicago, the president celebrated his 50th bithday, which is today. he celebrated with a fund-raiser with the help of jennifer hudson. he vowed to focus on job growth. >> i hope we can avoid another self-inflicted wound like we just saw over the last couple weeks. we don't have time to play these partisan games. we have too much work to do. over the next several months, i hope congress is focused on what the american pple are focused on. making sure that the economy is good. making sure businesses are getting financing. making sure young people are getting trained for the jobs of

the future. >> former white house chief of staff and chicago mayor, rom e manual was athe event. emanuel was asked about a new mitt romney ad that shows chicago to slam the president on the economy. the mayor said it was hypercritical saying it was president obama's tough decision that put people back to work. >> 1.2 million people today have a job because he didn't listen to mitt romney who suggested detroit, meaning the auto industry should go bankrupt. when he was governor, massachusetts was 47th out of 50th in job production. in case he forgot that, i would like to remind him of that. when it comes to chicago, i'll get him a groupon for the seat at the next jobs.

>> okay. when asked if he was concerned about president obama's poll numbers he said he is out of that business. his comments come after the white house said the president ll conduct a midwest bus tour to count job creation later this month. >> do you think rahm's argument, ray nor emanuel's argument sells to middle america that he has saved jobs? >> it is an argument. >> of course it's an argument. there's also an argument that monkey's are going to fly spaceships. >> what you sell often isn't the case. >> i was trying to answer your question. it is an argument that jobs were saved. it is far worse than anything can accommodate. >> far worse than when they said pass our stimus plan, we are going to double down on

economics, we are going to spend $900 billion here, another trillion a year another trillion there and we'll never get above 8% unemployment. >> that was the promise made. we are at 9.2% now and the economy keeps stumbling along. >> very few think unemployment will be below 8% thinking it could be 9%. he's not going to be able to run successfully saying look what a great job i have done. it's a referendum on the future and how to turn things around after what happened the last three years. he's going to have to make the campaign about what the republican idea is. >> it's what he's got to do at the end of the day. it's got to be like 2008 where he ran more negative campaigns.

more negative campaign tv ads than anybody else. probably twice as many ads. he's got to do that, right, mike? he's got to destroy. he can't be hope and change. he has to destroy his opponents. >> unless they destroy themselves. his problem is beyond numbers, beyond the unemployment numbers. his problem is psychic. it's out there. if you are sitting around your house, you have two or three kids in high school, college tuition for them, how are you going to pay them. you are thinking the headlines. you now, something happened here i'm getting screwed. the gap between ric and middle class is rising. with two kids about to go to college, roll the dice. i'm a better shot at the future.

>> the point we brought up yesterday that is worth repeating and folding into this conversation repeatedly is the housing situation. people can't sell their house or buy one. that is something that doesn't seem to be moving. >> why do you lose your house? because you first lost your job. that's the -- >> you can't borrow off your house anymore. >> it's a nightmare. >> so many of the jobs, though, over the past decade have been built, certainly in my home state on construction, on somebody having a banker go up to him and say you know what, your house is worth 50% more than it was five years ago. take out a second loan. do that extension on the kitchen you have never been able to do before. buy a second house. northwest florida, you have

schoolteachers going to get loans from banks they couldn't afford just to put the 10% down on the condos because for the past five years you buy it and sell it before it's built. you are up 200%. it crashed. it's not turning around. >> it's not. >> if it doesn't turn around, the economy won't. >> there are few good numbers for the president to talk about. housing, credit, unemployment, real wages going up. the one number he has, if you look at his approval rating, it's much higher than it should be. so, he's got a lot of support that puts him as a credible candidate for re-election as long as the number doesn't go down and the republicans have to build a coalition they don't have yet. >> a lot of the argument from progressives and democrats is

more stimulus. infrastructure jobs. you can argue if it's good for creating jobs. there's no appetite for it. we are going toward less government, not more. pass another stimulus plan is not right. >> most progressive thinkers will tell you, unless they are blinded by ideology, we have lost the argument. it's not just because of barack obama conservatives. they lost the argument because of something that george w. bush did. they lost the argument with the wall street bail out. t.a.r.p. that was a defining moment in modern american history. you follow t.a.r.p. up with the almost trillion dollar stimulus package that congress put together. americans know it was garbage.

it may have been you that said yesterday, yeah, the guy you talked to at the gas station said i don't know a single person that got a job out of that. it wasn't wpa. it was followed by the detroit bail out. it saved tons of jobs. it was followed by a nine-month, a year fight on the health care reform. the american people, whether right or wrong, they are like we have had enough. it's not going to work. >> i think you are right. people certainly are not stupid. they are smarter than people in washington, d.c. and congress, most of them. what do we do? what do the republicans do about their dilemma? they have to campaign against barack obama saying we can do better. this is not good enough. we can do better. you are sitting there thinking, this guy or this woman is saying

we can do better and yet they don't want to repeal the bush tax cuts. what are they talking about. >> thank you. talking about the wealthy and the dilemma we are in. front page of the new york times, the bloomberg story and mubarak. i'm looking at this. it's a woman buying a $1500 pair of shoes. even with the economy in a funk and many americans pulling back ond spending, the rich are buying designer and luxury cars. anything that catches their fancy. retailers are more than recovering. they are zooming. many high-end businesses are able to mark up, rather than discount items that equate quality with price. >> how many shoes with 1500 bucks? >> one pair. there's a sector of our society doing just fine.

>> look at the other story you marked. you haven't gotten to it yet. >> about mayor bloomburg? >> yeah. >> i haven't gotten to that yet. >> trying to improve the lives of the richest in new york. they are roughly the same size. 84% of those in the city's detention facilities are black and latino youth. the disparity between rich and poor in this city is enormous. >> rich and poor, black and white. >> i want to stay on the story you are talking act about the $1500 shoes. >> look at this woman. >> something that is happening all over america.

the wealthy are getting wealthier. there's been a great recovery in this country, if you are rich. wall street profits are booming. the wall street journal, we pointed out a couple weeks ago, the wall street journal says corporate profits are higher than they have been in five years, but they are not hiring people. the rich, since 2008, the rich have been getting richer for a long time and the poor getting poorer. i don't think i have seen anything like this, where the middle class and the poor are getting worse while the wealthy are getting faster. >> every time at 8:30 in the morning when we talk to the wall street correspondent there, the last week hasn't been bad for the dow. the way it's gone up, there's been a disconnect between unemployment rising and the dow rising. it doesn't add up to a lot of people. >> the smart republican who runs

against obama is going to realize there's plenty of room on the left. the obama economics have led to this disparity and they side with the working people. if you can make that argument with policy that is are convi e convincing, that's powerful. >> i'm not talking protection. a populous conservative could win this thing and they could win it by saying three things. one, you are right, we are going to cut spending in washington, d.c. long-term debt, we are going to take care of that. number two, we are going to get out of the wars. three, we are going to make sure the biggest corporations in america at least pay, at least pay the same tax rate as the secretaries in those corporations. that is a winner. i don't care if you are in a conservative district or liberal district but nobody is saying

it. nobody is saying it. >> a lot of people who i speak to, the biggest mistake the obama administration has made thus far is they didn't focus on tax reform. it's the equity issue. >> this is about fair tax cuts. >> yeah. >> republicans want that. i'm not going about republicans in washington, d.c. rk republican leaders. i'm telling you republicans in my old district, republicans on cape cod and in nebraska, they want to make sure the biggest corporations on the planet are at least paying as much in taxes as they are. >> you think they could do us a favor? >> what? >> could you take off the shoes and show us what a $1500 pair of shoes looks like? >> i have never bought any.

who does that? who thinks that's okay. >> she's borrowing them. she's going to give them back. >> he has that look on his face. >> reverend mika, get off your pulpit. >> while this woman buys her shoes, on the other side of the front page, the mayor telling people, he's spending $130 million to improve the lives of black and latino men. he will contribute to $30 million of his own money to the effort. he's announcing the plan today and will be on the show monday. that's all. coming up this morning, senator sherrod brown, chuck todd, harold ford jr.

also the debt and obama's popularity. first, an update on the heat with bill karinss. >> august means football practice. the heat wave needs to go away soon. yesterday 114 degrees in little rock. the hottest all-time temperature they have recorded. 97 in atlanta. 109 the forecast in dallas. we are going to see a little bit of cooling off from denver to kansas city. a lot of people had a cool night, a cool morning. temperatures in the 80s. leave your umbrella at home. it should be a dry day. we are watching tropical storm emily. you have to feel bad for people living there. it's going to be a rough 24 hours for them. this storm brushes the bahamas,

then turns off the coast. no direct threat to the united states. probably see the worst conditions. we track that for the weekend. sunrise in new york city. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music

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they are calling it the super committee. we have this super committee with a dozen members of congress. >> equally divided with republicans and democrats. they have super powers. our prayers are answers. america's own leenlg on of dukes. which of our leaders has powers above those. harry reid, a.k.a. the senator drone. he'll talk to you about things for a long time.

senator john kyle, his golden stream of protection. shields the rich. i'm sorry, the job creators. >> professor kvetch, drowning out opponents. senator john mccain, old-man man. bitten by a radioactive even older man, he always gets his way. and any balls that happen to land in his yard. together, with other people, they are the super committee. >> wow! wow! >> i like it. >> let's change the topic. >> could we? >> it's a good idea. let's go to politico. >> okay.

okay. yeah. >> we have jim standing by. good morning. >> how are you? >> all right. we're doing abdomen. president obama's 50th birthday today. the election team is looking at the political landscape. how does it look for him? >> it's worse than they imagined it would be. look at the fundamentals of where he's at a year out from the general election. it's not just the economy is bad. unemployment could be as high as %. housing prices declined every single year, every single month. people are buying fewer things. this is the lowest sale of autos and home appliances for ten, 20 years. this map is much more difficult than it was in 2008. so many people are reliant on

president obama. the average american is getting more money, more dependent on government for income than anytime since 1929. it's tough to run against. some republican candidate is going to be able to harness the facts and make a powerful argument. >> an approval rating of 42%. the number that gives most pause is standing among inpendants. >> a long time ago, in 2009 when he started to talk about health care reform and he's not been able to pull them back. eventually, they will pull him back? we don't see data that's happening. he has to win the middle to win re-election. every poll that we have seen shows that independents are

skeptical. it's very small. he has a lot of work to do. it's contingent on him creating jobs. i have a plan for the future. people have not heard that, yet. internally, they are retooling the message and trying to rethink how they talk about the issues. yesterday went back to gallup. i don't know if you have gone to the gallup site, but you can track all the presidents, their ratings through their entire terms. where was lay greagan at this p? the last week of july three years in, 42%. but, you look at the trend line, the economy was getting better for reagan. so, even at 7.5%, it was good because it dropped from 11.

the problem here, mike, is the trend lines for the economy is bad. it would take a remarkable turn around to see unemployment drop 1% to 1.5% between now and next year. >> it's not going to happen. it's going to be above 9%. it's not going to drop below 9%. almost impossible. >> do you point out reagan the following year? >> the economy could turn around. nobody would have predicted in a reagan or clinton presidency, they would be reelected. they thought they were deadmen walking. >> id does cause him minnesota. >> it did. before we let you go, how about updates on the huntsman campaign. >> we have a fabulous story this

morning. a staffer quit, gave the e-mails to us that he had with the governor looking at all the dysfunction inside the campaign. the staffer is pointing the finger at the campaign manager, saying he's verbally abusive. it's 4,000 words. it's delicious. >> we come ul with fabulous and delicious when talking nasty e-mails. >> look at him. >> huntsman playing schroeder's theme from "peanuts." >> we have that for you. >> it doesn't offset the 4,000 word devastating story. >> tim pawlenty -- >> bad news for one is good news for the other. >> it's a summer bummer for everybody.

pawlenty has his own problems. pulling back on ads in iowa. he wants to put it into infrastructure. they are worried about what's going to happen. hubbard, i don't think it's such a big deal. he's got to find a way to get the momentum. >> you know who you are looking at there? >> yeah. >> i bet you are looking at the vice president. remember joe biden? biden could not catch fire. couldn't get above 1% or 2%. this guy is going through the same frustration as joe biden. he comes from minnesota. he's got a good record but he's not catching fire. >> tim pawlenty had not done

that. he can, but not so far. >> biden did well during the debates but never caught fire. we'll see. by the way, biden, says he came out in hams. member what he said on the first day of his campaign? i'm just saying, you can recover from a lot. >> you can if you are joe biden, the minute they are key states, i'm just saying, better not laugh at this guy too much. i think he could find hielf in a very good position. >> fabulous and delicious jim. >> yum, yum. >> we love it. >> new numbers that might explain why eating healthier is

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♪

welcome back to "morning joe." 35 past the hour. a new study finds that a healthy diet could be an expensive one. we knew this. this is why we have the problem we have. guys, don't do it. >> don't do what? i'm trying to save money. you complain in one segment about people spending too much on shoes. i'm trying to save money. >> i suggest you spend money in this department. eat more foods containing potassi potassium, vitamin d. it will cost you more than $1 a day or $380 year. 49 million americans must make food choices based on cost. >> willie, you can have a big

mac value meal, you supersize it. i have done the calculations. i have crunched the numbers. you save thousands of dollars by getting more fries. >> the word value is in there for a reason. >> trying to change his diet. the problem is -- >> double whopper. the double whopper is the best thing he's ever eaten before. >> flame broiled. >> it is healthy. you get two, two pieces of meat. it costs twice as much, right? >> no. no. >> it's great. >> it's wonderful. it gives you a nice shelf to hold your hands on when you fold your arms. >> helps coat your skin and everything. seriously. >> it costs money to eat well. >> it does.

>> families across america who want to eat well -- >> let's go to sports. what's going on? >> it is a real problem. >> thank you. >> it is a problem. >> shut up and do sports. >> she might have to start buying her own $1500 pay of shoes. thank you, donny. alex rodriguez investigated by alleged involvement for an illegal under ground poker ring. he will be questioned by the commissioners office. if he's involved in the game, he would face suspension. this is not the first time. he was warned in 2006 by major league baseball playing in similar games. he's been on the disabled list.

expected to resume in florida today. anything that has a whiff of gambling. i assume they have spoken with him. >> if you are making millions making baseball and they tell you not to do this. it breaks my heart. i hate to see it happen. he's a good kid, i'm sure. break the rules. what say you, mike barnicle? >> he has to be suspended. his problem is not dissimilar from a lot -- >> i know what his problem is. he can't feed himself popcorn. he thinks he is invisible. >> really? >> i did that trick on mika one time. she's walking through the street, she's invisible. she just figured out the cameron

diaz super bowl joke. it takes her awhile. >> that was quick for me. >> you think he's going to be suspended? >> i don't know. a lot of reports say people at a game, it got out of hands with fights and drugs. they say a-rod wasn't there. maybe all the games he played in, maybe they are going to forfeit all the games. i would hate to see it happen. >> he's not playing and the yankees won. they win, what about the red sox. another great game at the stadium. looking for his 200th career win. deep to right. homered in four straight games. here is the story. tie game. bottom of the ninth. guess who?

jacoby was tuesday night's hero. a home run to center field. it's the bomb. the winning hit for the second night in a row. boston wins, 4-3. simmons made the argument he could be having a good season. what do you think? >> he's remarkable. he keeps playing like this, he's going to get votes. >> you can make a strong case this year he's been the mvp of that team. go to situations like that. >> what is wrong with crawford? >> he's swinging seriously. >> you thought he would snap out of it after the first month, making adjustments. what's going on? >> i have no idea. >> what's wrong with burnett? >> can't find the plate. a day after pujols was hit, he

descended his retaliation pitch. they threw at ryan brawn there, hit him in the back. they were talking about it yesterday. >> they tried to throw it in. it's a very dangerous pitch. i don't want to hear about it. >> do you understand the argument? it looked intentional. >> look at the location and danger of the two of them. down here it's -- >> it's more intentional if it gets hit backwards. >> millions, we can go that far. >> did you see that ball? >> did it hit him? >> who do you think is pitching, greg maddux? >> they threw it into his back.

the brewers won that game, 10-5. they are up three and a half games. >> if you are a fan, i would charge. >> ten game suspension. >> seriously. going up against a guy like that. come on, give me a break. you put it up there, i'm taking him out. dunlt belong in the majors. up next, the must read opinion pages. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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♪ >> it's true that i turn 50

tomorrow. which means that by the time i wake up, i'll have an e-mail from aarp. asking me to call president obama and tell him to protect medicare. >> welcome back to medicare. 46 after the hour. a nice live shot. time for the must read opinion pages. we are going to pick this one from "the washington post" by harold. he says it's still obama's party. the democratic threat to obama will come in the general elections when millions of voter who is searched for obama. obama needs to figure out what to say and do to rekindle their and everyone else's hopes. >> mark, harold is right. but the president, he's got to do two things.

he has to drive this out. what is the white house plan? >> i mean, i don't think it's likely the president will get a higher percentage of the white vote than last time. a lot of the people are first time voters and the president won them. i think in a modern age, with the campaign that well funded, they are going to find a way to communicate. he needs a message that keeps his base happy. >> if you say that he's not going to get more white votes, more suburban votes, that's going to turn this into a democratic version of krorl rove in 2004. >> they are going to pull out the base. the base in l.a. and new york -- >> the base in florida. >> it's correct, if you look at the polling, he's doing well with liberals.

they may like him in the poll, but will they be energized huff in ohio and florida to vote. unless the republicans nominate someone they shouldn't, hi will be energized. >> can they do it? >> first of all, the way the republican scales look. that's not necessarily enough. i think that the smim lus and saving of jobs, people can't see it. he needs to do something that people can see, feel and taste. we were talking about a job czar at the break or something that really makes people feel he's on their page in terms of jobs. >> remember, everybody was excited about the president in 2008 during the democratic base and they were so charged up? it was the democratic version of reagan in 1980. everybody was for something.

i wonder if you can get as many people out if you lead with what a lot of democrats lead with. yeah, look at the republicans. that may be a great point but hope and change gets people out. will romney and bachmann do the same? >> or rick perry. >> rick perry. >> he still has a good chance. >> you think he's going to run? >> i do. >> the president will frame them in a way that makes them seem like you have to get more. i understand megan wants to win. i believe hope beats fear. >> would you be sur prooifed, if they hoaxed them. there's a huge gap between the

middle class and the extremely wealthy in this country. >> he's president of the united states. he wants to be president again. >> he wants to be president again. i just don't think, outside the political class that somebody in middle america is going to say okay, it's the republican's fault what happened in the last four years. people come out and say he's sometimes the president and i can hire him or not. >> not that it's the republican's fault. >> whether it is or not is irrelevant. i'm talking making that sell? it's not my fault. i'm your guy, not him. i'm your guy. you have a better chance with me than him. >> harry did it in 1948.

maybe it's the new nothing congress. i don't know. >> willie? >> it's tough, willie. i think you are going to get a phone call. >> you think so? >> when they get in trouble, who do they call? >> they want willie geist. look looks like i'm going to be with him. he sat down in a music store and started to play. >> did he really? >> yeah. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union.

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oh, please tell me it's time. >> it is. for the news you can't use. i have good stuff for you from jon huntsman. >> good. >> he was on a trail yesterday strolling through manchester's downtown area shaking hands, doing what candidates do. he walked into a music store to meet some folks. here is the interaction. >> jon huntsman. >> i heard about you this morning. >> i hope it was good. >> well -- it was just a small tweet, if you will. i do know there's competition between you and romney. >> we're all candidates, right? >> yeah. >> perhaps he's been reading his cover piece in new york

magazine. a few moments later, huntsman is inside the music store, he's convinced the try his hand at the electric keyboard. >> really? >> yeah. >> come on sit down. sthend ♪ ♪ >> all right, jam it up. ♪ >> that's pretty good. i like it. >> if he's the nominee, i think he does it at his convention speech. mika, this one is for you. president obama took his economic team out to lunch to

celebrate the end of the debt fight. >> okay. >> the thing is, we are going to see how you do it right. >> here it is, mika. good stuff eatery on capitol hill. he that has cheddar cheese burger, a heaping side of fries and big old burgers. no word on what the first lady said. >> yeah, i think she might want to take a look at his diet. >> you have to go for the giant cheese burger. >> jillian tett and chuck todd coming up next.

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♪ grover norquist has more power than the congress of the united states. he should run for congress. grover should be examined into where does he get his money. it's time to peel all the layers of the onion off glover norquist. anyone else that gets that powerful and famous, the president or whoever it is, you want to dig in. where does he get his money? where does it come from? how many people on the payroll? where does he get his money? who is he slaved to?

>> welcome back. top of the hour. >> if you are as popular as the president, why would you have to run for president? >> mike barnicle and mike halperin is still with us. gillian is back with us. >> we are back to europe. the problems continue. that's your paper. wall street journal talks about italy's woes on europe. it doesn't get any better on the other side of the atlantic. >> we had five seconds after they finally got a deal on the debt, then boom! back to panic mode, again. >> yeah. >> we saw japan intervening to weaken its currency. there's been a lot of tension overnight. it's going to be a sticky summer. >> we are so focused on what we

have been doing in washington d.c. a lot of people ask, how could we lose? how could the dow lose after they get the deal? it loses because things are going badly in europe. >> a whole bunch of companies across the world came out and issued a statement, honeywell, good companies. the message from them is the last few months haven't been so bad but looking forward, they are getting worried. not just the u.s. economy, but global economy. >> finally a good day yesterday. >> the dow breaking an eight-day skid ending the day up 30 points. the s&p 500 and nasdaq ended the day posting gains. this comes as a new jobs report shows growth in the private

sector with only slight job loss in manufacturing. we are learning that bror rowing jumped after president obama sinced legislation. the debt limit rose to new heights. $238 billion or 100% of the current gdp. "the new york times" is porting today after facing intense pressure from the white house, tim geithner is expected to stay through president obama's first period. >> our debt is 100% of our gdp? >> it's getting that way. i have always heard the number you had to be aware is is when it's 90% of gdp, it's when you start a negative feedback. everything feeds on itself and the economy falls off the cliff. >> that's a good point.

right now, two american economists came out with a good book a few years ago. if you come back fom history, the debt to gdp ratio. not only is it hard to get out of it, but you have a slowdown growth after it. leveraging is worth it. the fablgt the economy is sluggish, it shouldn't be a surprise. it's the historical norm. whooi did they think this time could be dimpt and we could box a historical trend. >> when you have arguments from paul krugman who says debt doesn't matter, when countries start spending so much that their debt equals gdp, you have a negative cycle. i don't think any country ever bucked that trend.

you start going 100% of gdp. it feeds on itself. there's a crowding out of investment. you are working around the clock to pay off your debt and interest payments. it's a terrible challenge for the president. he's got to do a couple things at once. he's got to take care of the debt and grow the economy. >> you have to be an optimist with a capital o to think your children are going to have a better shot at doing better in this country than you are doing right now. it's a huge issue for the president of the united states. we feed off this. it's almost all negative. when you reduce it to the smallest size, people living ordinary sizes, no they can't rack up debt like that. >> jn king said when the fundamentals of the economy are strong, it's hard to say it's strong right now. the debt gdp ratio is a horrible

fundment fumental to have in place. >> mike was talking act you have to be an optimist to think your children are going to have a better life that you. do you believe your children are going to do better off than you. for the first time, the answer is no. look at all the college students that are graduating and they n't have a job to go to. >> one of the reasons i love america is the americans tend to be optimist. it's about getting back to mojo and looking for fresh ideas. if you go germany and the netherlands right now, something fascinating is going on now. the euro has seen a decrease in

output, an economic hit. unemployment has tually not been surging. it's been falling or rising slightly. right now, what i think the washington elite need to be doing is asking what can we do to get americans back to work? what lessons can we learn. maybe it's time to think of other ideas. i'm not trying to pretend the u.s. has the arnszs, but perhaps in terms of the policies, there are lessons to be learned elsewhere. >> there's a catch 22. you were talking about it earlier, joe. numbers of companies in wall street reporting increased profits. >> thank you. >> part of the reason for their increased profits is that they have laid off employees over the last year and a half and have

been without payroll, health costs, things like that. their profits go up and people remain unemployed. >> it's flatted lined or gone down in the yur row zone. it's clearly not good for the economy as a whole. if nothing lse, that debate about productivity versus j growth should be on the table now. >> we are getting july unemployment numbers tomorrow. that should be interesting. again, these companies making more money, but they are not hiring. they don't need to, i guess. >> no! >> they just don't need to. if you are the ceo of the corporation, you are not going to hire them now. the demand is not there. why is the demand not there? let's go back to housing.

a lot of people remain upside down from housing. unemployment, real unemployment at 15%. >> scott kelly had a piece interviewing five people who were unemployed in the their 50s who were unemployed for two or three years who now get rejection. these are talented educated people who held jobs for their entire lives who cannot get one again. forget the emotional toll. they now get rejected from computers. >> yeah. >> even those jobs have been replaced. incredible piece. >> the president is in chicago. what's he doing? raising money running for re-election. there's nothing wrong with that. and to celebrate his 50th

birthday. how many people in this country between 48 and 52, 50 is the margin here, have lost their jobs in the last year and a half. every day, they wake up knowing they have no shot at getting a similar job to the one they had. none. zero. >> if there was a crisis, there's another one. congress needs to go on vacation and be in their districts. why isn't there a national summit to say we need to -- >> yeah. >> nobody in washington has the answer. that's why they talked about -- >> the president has a list of things and the republican haves a list of things. what can we do? >> we have been talking about this since february, 2009. mike has been talking jobs, jobs, jobs. the republicans have been

running the house for a year and a half. they are not talking jobs. neither side is doing it. >> if the white house invested one tenth of the energy and invested in the bail out with the drama and heads directing this, you would have a situation now where politicians would not be nearly as unpopular. after all the frenzy focus on the drama and the tensions it really is back to focusing on the core issues, growth and how america is going to get out of this. >> these people are lost in the dark. they are young, not cheap but need jobs. >> germany and netherlands are examples. unemployment is 6%. it's quite a bit lower than the u.s. think back when germany was the sick man of europe. it's astonishing what is

happening there. >> i said republicans being in charge of the house for six or seven months. my dad went through this. i wrote about it after he passed away. he was about 40 and for a year and a half, during the recession, drove around the south looking for a job. he was an industrial engineer. at one point, he just gave up and realized he wasn't going to get that job. we thought, mike, it was scary. looking back, my mom was saying -- can you imagine waking up at 40 years old and being out of a job? now, can you imagine being 50, waking up out of a job? it's frightening. >> you know, mark was talking about how the house and senate is going to take a month off. they won't be back in washington until after labor day. they work tuesday, wednesday and

thursday, then go their separate ways. what they don't realize, i clearly don't think. you lose a job, you lose more than your weekly income. you lose your sense of pride. you lose your sense of place in your family. you lose the compass within you, what's going on in my life. >> what do my kids think of me. >> exactly. when they go to school, you don't go to work. why hasn't someone called jack welch, steve jobs, boeing, come to washington. we are going to sit here for three, four, five days. somewhere in this country, there is is next new idea. there's the next great thing that is going to happen. let's find it before we trip over it. >> one of the listens why you

can't have today because he -- one of the biggest problems is america has had a historical way to deal with shifts in unemployment. people moved. there was flexibility. what is broken now, you have a population coming up now which can't just move. >> you know, actually, there is a big problem right now. my dad, we didn't make a lot of money. we were very middle class. my dad would always, every friday night sit there with a spread sheet in the 20s. 23,000. every friday night, he had a spread sheet out and figured out how he was going to spend $20 here and $20 there. he was unemployed for months.

now imagine you get caught up in the fever of the past five years. >> credit card debt. house. >> by the way, my dad, his entire life, they were born in the middle of the great depression, their entire life, they had one credit card. one credit card. they never used it. it was in case of emergency. >> yeah. >> so, had my dad had the credit card dead, this is a generational thing. it was a different time. >> children of the depression. >> children of the depression. imagine him unemployed at 40. upsidedown on the mortgage, credit cards maxed out. multiply it a million times. it's why we are where we are. >> go back to the great american flexibility or it's going to

involve looking into solutions. there are alternatives out there. they are not necessarily the right ones. >> i wish george bush said after 9/11, up stead of saying going shopping, stay home, work harder. do what the german's do, save money. a decade later we would be in a better position heading into the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. i'm not blaming george bush. it's the mind set of americans, the shopping. >> the $1500 shoes. seriously. who is doing that? >> what? huh? >> what is this woman thinking? i don't understand. >> she's wishing she knew donny deutsche. >> if the economy comes back -- >> they are nice shoes. >> they are nice shoes. >> consumer spending has been

driving this economy. >> i don't get it. coming up, we'll talk to ohio senator -- no, that's not true. you know that. >> i need a cigarette. >> all right. >> sherrod brown is going to be here. we have chuck todd coming up. first, here is bill karins. he's got the forecast. >> it's been that way all summer long. it was amazing. the northern half of the country got a break. the southern half, no luck for you. if you are traveling through new england and new york city, it was rainy yesterday. cloudy. we are going clear it out slowly. this is probably one of the best forecasts for the entire country. we look at the hartland, arkansas, louisiana, alabama, mississippi all through texas, everyone should be in the 100s today. 109 in dallas. look what's happening in dallas

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routinely gets authorities extended through congress. it happens 20 times since 2007. this time congress decided to play politics with it and as a consequence, they left town without getting this extension done. >> i'm focusing my attention like a laser beam on congress. we need both houses to enter vacation for a couple days. get off the beach. get out of your mobile homes or

whatever you are traveling in, come back and pass a bill. >> okay now. with us now from the white house, host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. we haven't talked about the faa impasse. bring us up to date. >> it's a fight between house republicans and senate democrats. it's a fight between a congressional republican from florida and jay rockefeller, a democrat from west virginia. they are the ones truly at a stand off here. the bigger fight has to do with the issue of unionization of some employees. this fight, in particular about extending the funding for another month, which keeps things going. it has to do with an amendment that mica included, house republicans included that would cut subsidies for rural airports

to keep service going and just about all the subsidies are in states with democratic senators. it looked like a total political target back and forth. now senate democrats, harry reid, president obama all were willing to give in on that. not every democrat is on board with giving in on this portion of it. this was, congress is having a political spat. you throw up your hands saying really? are you kidding me? >> faa, we just got done with the debt ceiling challenge. let's talk about what we are talking about around the table this morning. we are back to jobs again. the $64,000 question at the white house and all of washington, how do you get the

economy kick started again. the president has to be worried about it. >> he is. you talk to economists here, anything they want to do, they politically can't. they would like to throw in stimulus that's more than a payroll tax cut. there's no political appetite for it. >> have they spent the $900 billion on the stimulus? is that all in the system now? >> it is. there was only 500 billion of it. half of it was tax cuts. >> right. >> the actual cash infusion is somewhere, i believe, around $600 billion. that's gone. >> mike was talking to a guy at a gas station up in boston who said i don't know anybody who's had a job with the stimulus program. i remember my mom talking about

wpa and so many people working for wpa. there's a question obama people are going to have to answer as we get closer to the election. who got these jobs? i hear it all the time when i'm out? who did it help? it didn't help anybody in my neighborhood. >> by the numbers, some argue there wasn't enough to do a wpa style that you would have done in the '30s. they didn't have that kind of money that they were spending. i guess around here, you see the cymbal. they tried to put it on there. there's infrastructure projects they didn't start. i talked to a couple local el t elected officials who got

stimulus dollars. they had to get it out the door by a specific time. one hand you are thinking that's a good thing. it meant a lot of repaving of roads. you couldn't do a bridge project because of the per am ters of getting the money out quicker. >> he said i had no idea there weren't that many shovel ready projects out there. >> in his defense, they repaved a lot of main streets and retained teachers, police officers and firefighters who would have been laid off without the stimulus. as far as building a bridge -- >> that was a shock to the president. he said i had no idea there weren't that many shovel-ready projects. >> there's a different

definition. you know this, really, paving roads is the only shovel ready job. >> chuck todd, thank you. another real opera for us. >> uplifting. yeah! go washington. >> i love politics. >> chuck, what do you have on the show today? >> we have ray lahood talking about the faa. >> that will be good. that will be good. coming up -- thank you chuck. protesters continue in syria. now, the u.n. is getting involved. the latest on that, next. first look at the cover of time magazine when morning show returns. [ male announcer ] looking for a complete picture of your money?

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♪ welcome back to "morning joe." a nice shot of new york city. a quick look at the news now. the united nations is accusing syria. it's the first broad international response to the violence in the country. it ces as the regime in hamas.

it's the most direct and intense offensive. military tanks moved into the city center yesterday. more than 100 people have been killed in syria since sunday. susan rice, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. calls it long overdue. obama opposed sanctions. none were included in the u.n. statements. >> washington trivia for you, mika. see if you can answer this. they had a hearing on the appointment of the new ambassad to syria, robert ford. guess how many senators were there to question the potential ambassador about the situation in syria. the answer is one. one. senator bob casey of pennsylvania. the only senator present. the news continu.

>> such a long time. the u.s. relied on syria to be a force of stability. they tolerated things. you know, the reality is, if you try to stop change by having stability at all costs, you have interruptions. >> that is so pathetic. it's really, really sad. e? one. yeah. >> what's more pathetic is off what you were discussing with chuck todd, the faa situation. 4,000 people out of work, not paid. construction workers are out of work as a result of the inability to reach a deal. you have two people, congressman john mica and jay rockefeller holding up the lives of nearly 75,000 people. >> okay. >> the news continues.

>> i must be perky. it's a morning show. i'm not doing it. it is bad. sorry. a judge in egypt, mubarak killed hundreds of his people. egyptians were captured. mubarak was wheeled into court and placed inside a metal cage with his two sons. he was ordered held in a military hospital on the outskirts of cairo. there may be truth to the reports that he has cancer. today, the former interior minister and top officials have their day in court. all seven men face the death penalty if they are found to be

guilty of the deaths of protesters. >> the biggest policy push of mayor bloomburg. he stands to spend $30 million for young black and latino men cut off from an educational life. he will personally contribute $30 million of his own money to the effort. they developed the own concept. the plan, expected to be announced would boost it. mayor bloomburg will be on "morning joe" on monday as our guest. that's good news. >> yeah. it's a staggering story. >> the disparity is unbelievable. the drop-out rate is incredible. i hope others follow the lead.

i look forward to talking to him. standing by, rick stengel and harold ford jr. we'll be right back. (telephone ring. pick up) usa prime credit. my name ...peggy. you got problem? ggy? third time i've called, 's time i speak with a supervisor. supervisor is genius...i transfer. transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! hello...my name is...

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happy and perky. i can't wait, i know rick is going to do it. we are all going to be okay. right, rick? >> joining us now, former democratic congressman harold ford, jr., along with rick stengel here to reveal the latest happy, sunny issue of time magazine. >> i'm so sad that i'm going to disappoint you. >> what? >> it's a gloomy cover. >> what? >> the great american downgrade. a picture of george washington on the dollar bill with a black eye. it's a terrific piece looking at what's happened in the u.s. from the international perspective and how the credibility of the united states is in question now in a way it's never been before. no moodies or other agencies downgrade america but ourselves.

it's a tragedy, really. how is that for good news? >> it's more than a tragedy. >> it's unbelievable. >> it's who we are becoming, which is pathetic. it's pathetic. what you want to do, what i want to do is take the bulk of members of congress, the house and senate, take them away for a week, have great historians come in and tell them the story of america. tell them who we are. >> when freshmen came in, there was a history seminar. >> scarborough is not here at the moment, but newt gingrich thought harvard was too liberal of a place. most of the members of congress, particularly the tea party insist america was built mature on the notion of compromise. we would not be the nation we are today without compromise. >> right. >> one of the things people

don't talk about. i talked about it. the system worked mostly because of a system built on compromise. that means giving up something you want for something someone else wants. no one gave up anything. it was a compromise with no big benefit. >> the thing about american politics is you have 40% saying they don't like either party. in a sense, because they were quite centric. yet, you have an incredible polarization making compromise so hard. >> it's interesting. joe klein wrote a little bit about this. one of the things we are seeing now, this greater political polarization than out in the culture. the culture has a lot of agreement about the issues people in congress do not. pat moynihan said culture trumps.

in the '60s and '70s, there was more difference in culture. >> if you go back to the patterns, there's a polarization now. you have to go back to 1930s to see it. then it was lower. something changed inside. >> our contenders always have polarization. joe wrote a piece earlier in the week. the difference today, two differences is one, there's a leadership vacuum in washington. the president has done a tremendous job on cars, finding bin laden. there's a lack of a leadership, more of a leadership you need. look no further than new york. look what cuomo did in new york. look what chris christie has been able to accomplish there. scott walker has taken on tough, tough issues. washington now, leadership comes in the form of raising money,

talking about how you are going to position yourself. we need more courage out of that place, which you are not seeing now. this was slightly contrary. the gang of six. look at the gang of six. what is it we worried about under the last administration? concentration of executive power. it's what scholars looked at since world war ii. we don't have to worry about it anymore. congress came to the fort for better or worse. it enshines the minority. you have a tiny percentage of one-half of one-third of the federal government leading the whole thing. it is constitutional. the result is not what we want but the system did work. >> you have a piece here how the tea party hijacks america. >> i stole a piece of it. it's basically how this one

segment of the government, because of their own views basically speared the whole ship. again, it is constitutional. it protects the able of a minority to have its viewpoint out there. we have something that isn't useful. >> part of the problem might be with us. with what we do and don't do in the media. it struck me, over the past few weeks now, listening to the whole tea party deficit debate going on. two things struck me. one, a huge number of people in congress house and senate voted to go to war in iraq like that with no debate. they extended this debate out over six, seven months. you know, they sent people to die like that. this became so polarized. the second thing is, you have people within that very small

minority, radical minority and republican party, michael is writing about them in time magazine. one of them, i'm watching on time magazine, and he's a dead-beat dad from illinois. he's telling us we have to live within our means? call him out. call him out, you know. >> you are entitled to your own opinions, but not facts. in our society, they have their own facts. they dispute the facts other people have. there used to be a consensus about what is correct. no, the debt crisis isn't going to hurt us. everybody has their own facts now, not just their opinions. >> go ahead, harold. i want to know if you are talking act the tea party. >> to mika's point, everybody is so different from the tea partiers. they don't care if they lose.

this is mission based. they believe they were sent here to reduce government spending. they didn't care what happened along the way. they don't fear the leadership in washington. most freshmen, the leadership will take you off the committee. they will make it hard. they are unafraid of their own leaderships. boehner cannot threaten them. i think those are factors that make this situation different and unique. >> didn't they market their message quite well and have a backing and following? >> i agree. >> you make it sound like they walked in with a bunch of guns. >> whether they will get reelected, whether their constituency broadens and grows or not. >> i think they -- this is going

to get them reelected. >> they won't face the primary. i think a lot of them will lose. >> really? >> tea party members of congress today, the tea party won't go anywhere. they hurt themselves in this debate. a small minority in their party but independents that put barack obama in office think they are unreasonable. a lot of them should be called out because of their hypocrisy. >> 65% of americans agree with the cuts in the deal. this is all feeding into their narrative. there's a narrative here. >> here's -- we wrote about this. we like big government, but low taxes. we like the things government gives us, but we don't like to pay for it. i like the cuts too, but we need the revenue. 60% show they wanted a combination of revenue and cuts. >> everyone is talking about

these cuts like there's a lot coming. if you look at the fact the american gdp is $14 talking abo something like that. i mean they're tiny when you look forward to what's going to happen to the american economy over the next decade. most of the cuts are going to bite basically from 2017 to 2021. so it's deferred. so, yes, there's been a lot of screaming. the real work is yet to come. >> but these mandatory cuts will be immediate, though. the ones in december. the 50-50 we talked about earlier in the week, that will happen now. so that will happen after december. >> the deal really does nothing but averts the crisis at hand. mark halperin making the point. we've got to treat jobs this way. we have to. >> right. yes. there has to be a huge jobs

movement. yeah. >> so no thanks to you, rick. >> joel stein, a funny piece by joel. >> cute puppies and bunnies, stories about bunnies, kickers. let's kind some local news kickers. rick, thank you. the cover is the great american downgrade. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." when your eyes are smiling... you're smiling. and when they're laughing... you're laughing. be kind to your eyes... with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably... and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you.

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oh, look at the cathedral. >> what is that? >> the cathedral of baseball. >> that is the largest cement mall in america. >> 161st street. that's beautiful. >> it is one of the most solice places. >> the old yankees stadium was better. >> solice. >> you know the place, willie. >> i don't love it. i like the team on the field. >> welcome back to "morning joe." >> look at those legs. >> you know what -- can you call ann. >> i'm calling ann. >> do you shave your legs? >> he's a swimmer. >> let's talk about tim tebow

for a second. >> could we please? i don't know who he is, but talk about him. >> here's the deal. only a week into nfl training camp. broncos quarterback and golden boy tim tebow already getting some criticism. >> why? >> yesterday former steelers running back merril hoge was some really tough words for tebow. said he's watched all the film on him. his analysis, tebow is, quote, awful and embarrassing. >> give him a chance. >> tebow found a powerful ally on twitter, none other than lebron james. he said tim tebow will succeed in the nfl, it takes time. lebron said guys get on that tv and act like they was all world when they played. how about encouraging him and wish get best instead of hating. tebow himself jumped into the twitter conversation posting only this, hey, merril, appreciate that.

tebow is competing with orton for the starting job in denver. >> he may not have the greatest natural skills for an nfl quarterback but lebron is right, he's a winner. remember bernie kosar, he didn't have the sweetest throwing motion, but he was a winner. >> he'll find a way to get on the field somehow. he'll be around. >> listen, i've been following this kid for a long time. i'm cheering for him. >> oh, yeah. five minutes. >> all right, wrap it up. >> changes your life. >> forever. >> what's coming up, willie. >> i touched his cloak when he was here. seriously my gout went away in an instant. he is a great guy. he's a winner. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement,

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you did not elect me president to duck the tough issues. you elected me president to the big things, even if it took time. the thing that we all have to remember is, is that as much good as we've done, precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we were inheriting so many challenges, that we're not even halfway there yet. and when i said change to believe in, i didn't say change we can believe in tomorrow, not change we can believe in next week, we knew this was going to take time.

>> good morning. it's thursday. it's 8:00 on the east coast as you take a live look at new york city. welcome back to "morning joe." back with us on set we have mike barnacle and mark halperin. >> happy birthday. >> happy birthday. >> it's the big one. >> big 5-0. >> young. >> young at heart, though. >> young at heart, i guess so. it's been a sort of difficult week. but a lot of liberals complaining that he's given in too much. >> well, we talked yesterday about george wills proposed slogan, can't we do better than this as a country and the president is saying, yeah, we can do better, it's just going toake a little bit of time. he in those fund-raisers is still a better political performer than the other people out there trying to take his job. when he puts that on display, it's one of the things he's got going for him in a very tough environment. >> yeah. it is all relative, isn't it?

it really is. >> i guess it is. i guess it is. >> all right. with the debt deal out of the way, president obama is now shifting some of his focus to getting re-elected, as halperin pointed out. last night he celebrated his 50th birthday, which is today. he celebrated with an elaborate fund-raiser. the crowd sang happy birthday with the help of jennifer hudson. the president expressed his frustration with the debt ceiling stalemate and vowed a focus on job growth. >> i hope we can avoid another self-inflicted wound like we just saw over the last couple of weeks. we don't have time to play these partisan games. we've got too much work to do. over the next several months, i hope congress is focused on what the american people are focused on, making sure that the economy

is growing, making sure that businesses are getng finci financg, making sure the young people are getting trained for the jobs of the future. >> former white house chief of staff and chicago mayor rahm emanuel was at the event to support the president and take a few shots at his potential 2012 opponents. emanuel was asked about a new mitt romney act that uses chicago as the backdrop to slam the president on the economy. the mayor responded saying the spot was hypocritical saying it was president obama's tough decisions that put people back to work. >> 1.2 million people today have a job because he didn't listen to conventional wisdom drafted by then ex-governor mitt romney who suggested that detroit should just, meaning the auto industry and all the related industrial base of america, should just go bankrupt. when he was governor, massachusetts was 47th out of 50 in job production. in case he forgot that, i'd like

to remind him of that. so when it comes to chicago, i'll make sure i get him a groupon discount on the seats o the idea festival for the next job. >> when asked if he was concerned about president obama's poll numbers and fund-raising efforts, emanuel joked that he is, quote, out of that business. the white house announced yesterday that the president will conduct a midwest bus tour to tout job creation later this month. >> you know, the -- do you think rahm's argument, mayor emanuel's argument sells to middle america that he has saved jobs? >> look, it is an argument. >> well, of course it's an argument. there are also an argument monkeys will come out of spaceships and create jobs. >> as you know what sells often isn't what is the case. i was trying to honestly answer your question. and it is an argument that jobs were saved. the problem is, the situation is far worse than anything that has been done can accommodate.

>> and far worse than they had predicted, mark hal republicpri they said pass our stimulus plan. we're going to spend $900 billion here, $700 billion on t.a.r.p., another trillion here and there and we'll never get above 8% employment. that was the promise made. we're at 9.2% right now and the economy keeps stumbling along. >> many people think the unemployment rate will be below 8% and many think it will be above 9% as he runs for re-election. he's not going to run successfully saying look what a great job i've done on jobs. he has to make it a referendum on the future and how to turn things around after what happened the last three years and make the campaign a lot about who the republican nominee is and what their ideas are or i

don't think he can win re-election. >> that's what he's got to do at the end of the day. it's got to be like 2008 where he ran more negative campaigns. and this is just empirical. >> tv ads. >> more negative campaign tv ads than anybody else in the history. probably twice as many as his nearest -- he's got to do that right, mike? he's going to have to destroy -- he can't be hope and change. he's going to have to destroy his opponents because right now the economy is worse than it was. >> unless they destroy themselves. his problem goes beyond the unemployment numbers, his problem is like psychic. and it's out there. if you're sitting around your house, you've got two or three kids in high hool, you're thinking of college tuitions for them, w are you going to pay them, and you're thinking -- you're reading the headlines, you're saying something has happened here, i'm getting screwed. i mean the gulf between rich and middle class is ever widening.

that's his problem. can he convince those people with two kids about to go to college that, hey, roll the dice, vote for me again, i'm a better shot at your future helping you than the other guy. >> and the point that was brought up yesterday that is definitely worth repeating and folding into this conversation constantly is the housing situation and those two people probably can't sell their house or probably can't buy one, and that is something that doesn't seem to be moving either any way. >> why do you lose your house? you lose your house because you first lost your job. and that's the -- >> and you can't borrow off your house anymore. >> right. >> and so many of the jobs, though, over the past decade have been built, certainly in my home state, on construction. on somebody having a banker go up to them and saying, you know what, your house is worth 50% more than it was just five years

ago, take out a second loan. do that extension on the kitchen that you've never been able to do before. buy a second house. i mean i can tell you in northwest florida, you would have school teachers going to get loans from banks that they couldn't afford justo put the 10% down on the condos because for the past five years, you buy it and you sell it before it's even built, you're up 200%. it crashed. that's not turning around. if that doesn't turn around, the economy doesn't turn around. >> politics is more than numbers but there are very few good numbers for the president to talk about. housing, credit, unemployment obviously, real wages going up. the one number he still has is if you look at his approval rating given t economic situation it's much higher than it should be. >> it's amazing. >> so he's got a floor of support that puts him as a credible candidate for re-election right now as long as that number doesn't go down. the republicans are going to have to still build an elek

toral coalition. >> you can argue whether that's good policy or not for creating jobs but there's no appetite for it. we're going toward less government, not more government. the idea that you're going to pass another stimulus plan is just not realistic. >> i think most progressive thinkers out there will tell you, unless they're just completely blinded by their ideology, and they're saying it this week, we lost that argument. and it's not just because of barack obama conservatives, they lost the argument because of something that george w. bush did. they lost the argument with the wall street bailout, t.a.r.p. that was a defining moment in american history, in modern american history, and, mike, that -- you follow t.a.r.p. up

with the almost trillion dollar stimulus package which congress put together, and americans are smart enough to know it was garbage. you know why they know it was garbage? because somebody said it here yesterday, it may have been you. yeah, you were telling me the guy that you talked to at the gas station said i don't know a single person that got a job out of that stimulus package. it wasn't wpa. that was followed by the detroit bailout, which i believe like rahm emanuel, saved tons of jobs. that was followed then by a nine-month, a year fight on health care reform. the american people are like more government. again, whether they're right or wrong, they're like we've had enough, that's not going to work. >> i think you're right. and people certainly are not stupid. they're much smarter than the people we have in washington, d.c. in the congress, most of them. so what do we do, what do the republicans do about their dilemma? and the dilemma would be they will have to campaign saying we

can do better. this is not good enough, we can do better. you're sitting out there around your kitchen table saying this guy, or this woman, michele bachmann, is saying we can do better and yet they don't want to repeal the bush tax cuts? i'm getting hammered on my tax -- come on. what are they talking about. >> thank you. and talking about the wealthy and the dilemma that we're in, front page of "the new york times" -- >> oh, that's devastating. >> but i'm looking at this. it's a woman buying a $1500 pair of shoes. even with the economy in a funk and many americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and anything that catches their fancy. luxury goods stores which fared much worse in the recession are more than recovering, they are zooming. many high-end businesses are even able to markup rather than discount items to attract customers who equate quality with price. >> how many shoes do you get for

$1500? >> one pair. and they're flying off the shelves. because there is a certain sector of our society that's doing just fine. mike. just fine. >> look at the other story that you marked and you haven't gotten to yet. >> is that bloomberg? >> yeah, about mayor bloomberg, who's going to try to improve the lives of poor people in this, the richest city in this country, new york, while the populations of young white, black and latino men in new york are roughly the same size, 84% of those in the city's detention facilities and nearly all of those admitted to children's and family serves facilities are black and latino youth. the disparity between rich and poor in this city is enormous. >> rich and poor, black and white. >> throughout the country it is widening. >> so the mayor -- >> i want to stay on the story about the $1500 shoe.

this is an anecdote of something -- one anecdote happening all over america, the wealthy are getting wealthier. there has been a great recovery in this country if you're rich. wall street profits are booming. the "wall street journal" we pointed out a couple of weeks ago, willie, said corporate profits are higher than they have been in five years, but they're not hiring people. the rich -- since 2008, i mean the rich have been getting richer for a long time and the poor have been getting poorer, but this recovery, i don't think i've ever seen anything quite like it where the middle class and the poor are getting worse while the wealthy are getting richer exponentially. >> at 8:30 in the morning we talk to our wall street correspondent down there. the last week has been bad for the dow. but the way the dow has gone up, there's been this disconnect between unemployment rising and

the dow rising. corporate profits going up and yet still more people unemployed. that doesn't add up to a lot of people. >> the smart republican who runs for president will realize there's room on the left of barack obama on this very issue. they can say the obama economic policies have led to this disparity and that they side with the working people. if you can make that argument not just as a rhetorical point but policies that are convincing, that's powerful. >> a populous conservative, i'm not talking about protectionism, but a populist conservative could win this by saying three things. you're right, we're going to cut spending in washington, d.c. long-term debt, we're going to take care of that. number two, we're going to get out of the wars. we've been fighting for a decade. enough is enough. and number three, we're going to make sure that the biggest corporations in america at least pay, at least pay the same tax rate as the secretaries in those

corporations. >> up next we'll talk to senator sherrod brown about the challenges of forming that debt supercommittee. will both sides really allow taxes or entitlement reforms to be on the table? also where things stand with the faa shutdown that's leaving thousands of jobs -- >> where they stand? they suck. speaking of sucking, let's go to bill karins. he's got a terrible forecast. you know, it is a satan sandwich, it's hot as hell out there. what's going on, man? >> unbelievable temperatures out there. you can be kidding or whatever you want to call it talking about arkansas or other areas. temperatures were 114. it was hotter yesterday in little rock than it was in phoenix, arizona. that's the ridiculous stuff. yes, joe, you get the patent on satan sandwich. i never heard that before. temperature forecast today, just as hot. 109 in dallas. this is about the peak of it, though. from here on out we'll knock temperatures down a degree or two. it's not going to be cool but we

won't be setting all-time records. in new england we're getting a break, it's pretty nice. you've got to feel for people in haiti and dominican republic. tropical storm emily has stalled just south of this. it can produce one to two feet of rain and that's going to cause all sorts of problems the next 24 hours. we'll watch florida on saturday. after that this storm should pass right along the southeast coastline, mostly offshore and then out to sea. but emily wasn't supposed to stall where it has now, so keep tuned on this forecast. haiti, it's going to be bad. probably fatalities and a lot of damage from all that heavy rain. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

there's a drive to deep center. back in krcarera, at the wall a it is gone! there's that extra base power i was just talking about, his 18th home run of the year. and the red sox -- >> i've got to tell you the most incredible thing about this is, is it's not just one night that ellsbury hit a walkoff against cleveland. >> two nights in a row. >> i've just got to say thank

god, thank god i'm not a cleveland indians fan. thank god nobody at this table is a cleveland indians fan. >> you showed the clip, now it's my time. >> here's senator sherrod brown. >> rooting for the red sox is like rooting for the drug companies. it's like they have so much money, they buy championships against the working class middle america cleveland indians. it's just the way you are. >> if we're the -- >> i was listening to that game last night and it was very difficult. i was hoping i wouldn't see it this morning. >> if we're the drug companies, are the yankees the tea party? >> perhaps. that's a judgment to make. >> come on, come on. take that out somewhere else. all i know is broken hearted -- two nights in a row. jacoby ellsbury coming off almost a season-ending splinter in april, beat you guys.

>> i know that. this isn't news. this was last night. >> i don't know if you knew this or not. he did it two nights in a row. >> i get the sense the senator is not enjoying this. >> i should have been on "morning joe" tuesday morning after cleveland won monday night. >> we never report on any of the red sox games when they lose. fortunately, it doesn't happen much these days. senator, thank you so much for being with us. >> barnicle, i yearn for the day of frank malzone and rico. >> so how's cleveland doing? they started out great. they're having some problem its -- problems right now but what's their future look like? >> they're a young team. they are surprising people, they have had a good run. they're three and a half, four games out now against detroit and not doing well now, but they're a young team that's going to be good in the years ahead and i will gloat a couple of years from now. >> that's good, that's good.

>> as you gloat today. >> gloating, that's awfully tough, mike. >> speaking of cleveland, how is the city of cleveland doing, the city of youngstown, the people of those places saddled with high unemployment in an economy that seems not only not to be getting better but the potential of it improving over the next 14 months as we head into the next election is not good at all? >> well, those communities are hurting. i mean there is not much good news. the good news there is, is that in this country historically it's been housing and autos that have been pulled us out of recession. housing isn't doing that, to be sure now, and doesn't look to be doing it soon. in ohio, manufacturing is picking up. auto is not -- not again, the growth is too anemic to be sure, but we're seeing it in auto in large part because of the auto rescue a couple years ago. we're seeing gm do significantly better, chrysler, ford is doing

well. there actually have been job increases in northern ohio. we're seeing some of the old auto plants, one of the missions of my office is to help turn these old auto plants into other kinds of manufacturing, especially clean energy. we're seeing that starting to happen near dayton. we're hopeful in mansfield. we're seeing some things in other places, and we're seeing some transition. ohio got more jobs and clean energy out of the recovery act two years ago in that first year than any state in the country. across parts of our state we're seeing growth there and we're seeing growth in aeronautics but it's still a long way from where we need to be as a state and as a nation. >> so did anything happen to you psychologically last week, given your career, given the way you've conducted yourself in public life in the house and the senate, the things that you stood for, when you were confronted with that deficit bill and what will entail from that deficit bill in your vote? what went through your mind about that? >> well, my first thing that went through my mind is we could

not afford to default on the obligation of the united states of america. the only responsible thing to do from my view shall and some disagree of course, is we could not let our nation do that. the president wasn't going to swoek t going to invoke the 14th amendment. the good news is some people in the house of representatives want to privatize medicare, we were able to stop that and most importantly the shift has to focus on job creation. one of the first things i think we should do is end the tax breaks that encourage companies to go overseas. if a company closes in toledo or lima, ohio, and moves to shanghai, they can deduct the cost of moving from their federal income tax. that's the next battle. to write tax law and trade law that encourage them to stay in the united states. >> should the president have used the 14th amendment? >> i think he didn't want to. i don't know if he should have in the end. it was so unprecedented, all of

this. the debt limit was raised 18 times under reagan. nobody had their political mission to take us to the precipice like that. we've never gone through this. i don't know if the 14th amendment would have worked as well as some hoped. but this was a sore did chapter. nobody looked good. it was embarrassing in many ways for the whole country to because of and for the congress to act. i hope we don't have to do that again. >> let me ask you. should the president have used the 14th amendment? >> i would have given it some thought but it's in the past now. they worked this deal out. the deal they ended up getting they probably could have gotten a few months ago. a lot of political blood was spilled and i do the president credit for doing the responsible and accountable thing. senator, you talked about ending tax breaks for companies moving overseas, considerable talk around reducing the corporate rate.

would you be in favor of those two ideas if they were part of a broader or larger jobs or stimulus or tax reform package? >> i'm open to anything that's comprehensive on what we do with corporate tax structure. but it can't -- it can't be -- it has to be at least revenue neutral at worst, because we can't -- we can't do more tax cuts that clearly haven't worked. taxes on upper income people were raised in the '90s and budgets were cut and there were 21 million jobs and a budget surplus at the end of the clinton years. they were reduced particularly for upper income people twice in the next decade, in '01 and '03 and bead basically nonexistent job growth, not even keeping up with population gain. so i'm not into one of these we find other ways to cut taxes. i'm open -- if there's a way to bring these moneys back from

abroad and investing them here, but companies are sitting on their cash reserves already. companies in this country have significant cash reserves, they're making money. we've got to find a way to encourage them to invest those dollars here, not to pay more stock dividends or -- we've got to find a way to get them to invest here. however we partner with that, i'm open to anything. >> so senator, we have the -- the news comes across this morning, the wires, that our debt now, our deficit, 100% of gdp. of course 90% is sort of the tipping point a lot of economists believe before you just start a cycle that takes a country down. so we're going to have this supercommittee come forward. and the question is will republicans put new tax revenues on the table?

will democrats put entitlement cuts on the table? >> that's a question? >> i asked will they? will they do that? because if they don't, then our debt is just going to keep going up. >> what have we really done, accomplished. >> well, i think there will be some compromise. i think that we will see some, for instance, hedge fund managers in wall street pay a lower tax rate than a teacher or construction worker in garfield heights, ohio. but we know those kinds of loopholes, i've got to think republicans finally will give on those. i think democrats will look at what do we do with entitlements. but one place i won't go, i won't go to raising the social security retirement age because there are so many people who work in factories and work construction and cut hair and work as waitresses, they can't work till they're 70. people like you in the studio and i can work till i'm 70 if the voters allow it. but the fact is if we can find a

way to differentiate there -- >> right. >> but certain things to me are non-negotiable. >> how do welow down the rate of growth in medicare to make that program sustainable the next 20,0 years. >> well, the issue is growth in health care costs. medicare is run more efficiently in terms of administrative costs than private insurance. we've got to find a way to deliver -- it's health care costs overall that are eating us up. people don't get raises because the company is paying more for health care. government can't afford medicare, medicaid because we're paying so much for health care. we've got to manage growth -- we've got to manager our health carry costs overall. medicare is the issue because it's public payer is medicaid but it's got to be in a more fundamental accepts than that. i think we did a lot of that during the health care reform where we're finding ways of

everything from we can negotiate drug prices with the drug companies. we can do biogenerics which will save significant money on generic pharmaceuticals. we can do things with medicare and medicaid dual eligibles. we can do things such as when people leave a hospital that first month after discharge, that you can save significant money by making sure there's compliance with going to the doctor, with exercise, with drugs they're taking, all of that. so we can do a lot of those things. that's the really important part there. >> senator, one quick question before we let you out of here. who do you figure will be first back to work, the united states congress or grady sizemore? >> you've been waiting on that one. >> yeah, i have. >> you did make me laugh. i really didn't want to laugh at anything you said, but thank you. >> senator, i'm sorry about these boys. they're sort of punchy this morning.

thank you very much. great to see you. good luck with everything. coming up, new weekly job numbers due out any minute. disbefore the bell is next. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. i know you're worried about making your savings last and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here -- to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path.

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welcome back to "morning joe." congress may now officially be on august recess but that has not silenced the political rhetoric coming from that building right there. the latest debate, senators over the inability to agree on funding for the federal aviation administration. with democrats and republicans duelling on this issue, president obama is weighing in, ramping up the pressureo pass a bill that would get money to the faa. it is the partisan bickering contues, tens of thousands of workers are out of work without paychecks. nbc's lisa myers has details. >> reporter: the shutdown of 240 airport modernization projects already is affecting real people. luka had to layoff 70 workers in brooklyn. >> looking them in the face is like telling to their families, sorry, we can't feed you today. it's a hard feeling. >> reporter: so far 70,000 construction workers have been laid off and 4,000 faa employees furloughed.

many say the financial impact i immediate. >> september mortgage won't get paid. >> reporter: troy swanburg said every expense is scrutinized, even a birthday party. >> 2-year-old daughter's birthday is coming up right now and it's added a lot of stress -- the question has come up to me from my wife, do we need to cancel her 2-year-old birthday party. it's embarrassing to me this the position congress has put me in. >> reporter: the president said all of this is hurting a weak economy and urged congress to stop bickering. >> this is a lose, lose, lose situation that can be easily solved if congress gets back into town and does its job. >> reporter: but for now both parties seem more focused on the blame game. democrats accuse republicans of political extortion. >> it's as if someone puts a gun to your head and says give me your money. >> reporter: you see democrats want to temporarily fund the faa through next month but republicans demand that any temporary funding also cut subsidies for flights to and

from 13 rural airports, some in states of powerful democrats. the government has to subsidize tickets to keep service running to many small cities. >> when you can't even pass one slight reform of cutting subsidies that are as high as $3,700 per ticket, we're in pretty sad shape. >> reporter: earlier this week theadministration pressed senate democrats to give in to the house. they refused. now the administration is imploring both sides to end the impasse. >> this is the thing that really makes the public mad, that congress can't do their job. >> reporter: for "morning joe," lisa myers, nbc news, washington. >> let's get a check on business before the bell with simon hobbs. he's live at the new york stock exchange. front page, simon, of "the wall street journal" italy's woes weigh on europe. we take care of business in washington for a day or two and

now we've got to focus back on europe. things look bad over there. >> yeah. i actually kind of think that europe is a huge problem. we've got a news conference going on at the moment with the head of the european central bank. many people in the market hope he will signal they'll start intervening to start buying up the bonds to try and prevent the c contagion. it looks like we're going to be 150 points down on the dow at open. we've had the weekly jobs number come through. you've still got 400,000 americans applying for unemployment benefit last week so no joy coming through there. let's put a broader picture on what's happening. we were essentially falling for nine straight days. that would have been the first time in 33 years that we had that. but then we got this rally coming back yesterday which took us up by the close up 29 points on the dow. that was on the basis of an article in the "wall street journal" that one of the former

fed officials was talking about the possibility of force feeding more cash by the fed into the economy. i think the rest of the world has looked to that article overnight and become a little more skeptical and saying the guys associated with greenspan, he's saying it might work. he's not saying they will do it so a lot of questions are still there to be answered, if you like, and still the market looks like it's going to resume this downward trend, guys. >> simon, good morning. the 114,000 private and public sector jobs, we saw last week we didn't produce as many jobs. what's your thinking on the floor? >> the thinking on the floor which is tomorrow we'll get 75,000 jobs created. even if we meet that market expectation, the market presumably won't move. but that's terribly bad news for america's economy. we've got to be generating 250,000 to actually start bringing down the unemployment rate. if we come in at 75,000, i assume we'll be talking about

unemployment still rising. let me mention one more thing, sir. the fed officials are talking about between them between a 20% and 40% chance america could go back into recession and that's what we're grappling with now. it may be we may get the reeked in the second half because fuel prices, gas prices have come down. maybe the consumer will start spending more and maybe all those bottlenecks we have because of the quake in the japan and that interrupting the automotive supply chain will work their way out but people are lowering their estimates about the second half of the year and this is a very nervous market in those nine sessions. despite the fact that we surged yesterday, we have still lost 5.5% on the dow. >> all right, keep us posted. thank you very much. simon hobbs. coming up, with two days left on the job, austan goolsbee could hardly contain his glee with john stewart last night. that clip and more when we come back.

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as you know austan goolsbee has two days left on the job, today and tomorrow. >> he must be so sad he's leaving. >> it's tough working in that white house, especially under these current economic conditions. he was n "the daily show" last night. jon stewart couldn't help but notice his glee. >> your title was -- tell me your title. >> chairma of the council of economic advisers for two more days. >> look at you. can we get a shot of his face? no, you are giddy, you are giddy. >> i will admit to some small enjoyment that i'm getting out

of town. >> you are giddy. >> once you get to washington, there's only so long you can go -- there are a number of people there whose tray tables are not in the full upright and locked position. eventually, you know, you've got to get on with it. so, look, i just feel bad the president has got to work with these folks for years to come. >> well, you know -- i swear to god you are as giddy as a school girl. look at you. i swear to god. i feel like you should have a baby pacifier and some glow sticks. it's like you've taken ecstacy. it's like i'm going home! >> so he's got two more days. >> he was goaded into that. >> that's a very healthy guy. >> that's cute with the tray tables. >> wish him the best. >> he's right about the tray tables. >> so do you ever wonder if the president -- do the president and first lady think maybe we

want to go back to chicago sooner rather than later. i mean it is -- it is a long, hard slide, day in, day out, day in, day out. think how tough it has to be on the first lady and the kids. every day. >> that's why even the top people last two years. you talk about axelrod, gibbs, rahm emanuel, you name it. it burns you out. >> and they all love getting out. it took david axelrod about two weeks to be back in chicago. he's looking good, feeling good. i mean it's -- it is -- man. >> gibbs is a shell of the man he once was. all svelte these days. >> he's like the kate moss of the political set. >> is that bad? >> no, it's not bad, it's just an odd image. >> jon huntsman, yes, i think didn't we a couple of months ago appoint him the next president? how's it doing?

>> stop. he's going to be fine, right? >> he's just showing off for talent. he was up in new hampshire yesterday. he strolled into a music store and he was coaxed into tickling the ivory. >> come on, sit down and hit a few. go ahead. ♪ >> that's some good playing! >> the snoopy song, i love it. that's nice. >> a cute children's song and well played. >> so he's got that going for him. that's fine.

>> you just wait. >> we'll be back in a moment. some drama in washington yesterday. did you hear what happened? yeah, yesterday a man jumped the white house fence. did you hear that? yeah, but after a brief chase, the secret service was able to talk president obama into coming back and continuing his term.

they're calling it the super committee. >> we have this super committee, it has awesome powers. >> a dozen members of congress. >> evenly divided between democrats and republicans. >> a super congress that would have super powers. >> our prayers are answered. america's own legion of doofs. but which has the power of mortal legislators. i'd say it might include harry reid, a/k/a the senator drone. he'll talk to you about things for a long time. senator jon kyl. his golden stream of protection shields the rich. i'm sorry, the job creators. oh, look, it's professor kvetc , drowning out opponents with his supersonic line. the gentleman from new york would like to recognize! senator john mccain or old man

man. bitten by a radioactive even older man, old man man always gets his way and any balls that happen to land in his yard. together with some other people, they are the super committee.

wow, that's something. welcome back. time to talk about what we learned today. willie, you were just telling me, the president has a 40% approval rating. >> inside the state of florida, president obama in the low 40s right now today. >> a lot of swing states will be a battle. >> i learned from the great senator, sherrod brown from ohio, that the red sox are the new evil empire. he is correct and he is on to something. >> what did you learn, mike? >> i learned that austan goolsbee thinks exactly the way i do. he too wants to go home. >> i love that. >> what did you learn? >> simon hobbs said 75,000 jobs this month. if that is true we continue to have challenges. >> mika. >> what austan said about the trays. >> oh, yeah. >> some people in washington don't have their trays in the upright position. >> why do you hate when