job number one, create jobs now. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off, time for a jobs program, one day after a nerve-rattling loss of over 500 points on the dow, some encouraging news that jobless rates dropped in june and more jobs were created than expected. the stock market finished modestly higher and president obama tried to assure american voters that we're going to get through this. this much we know, his

presidency depends on it. but is there anything he can do right now? i say yes, there is. people need work, they need jobs and if private industry won't do it it's time for the government to step up. the government is falling apart, all roads and bridges, the best of america was built during hard times, things like the empire state building and the hoover dam and the golden gate bridge. also, rick perry's religious jamboree in houston, a gathering of the faithful or the fringe? one participant calls the statue of liberty quote a demonic idol, right there in the middle of new york harbor. and somalia, a devastating famine has preyed on the weakest. let me finish with this new idea, it's time for good old action. let's begin with wall street. jim cramer, of host of "mad money."

the economy added 117,000 new jobs in july. what are your thoughts? >> i thought that was just plain unadulterated okay news, we were looking for something un-okay. there was a thought that maybe there would be no jobs created. chris, there's a lot of bad news, but this wasn't one of them. this was something that was a relief. >> what do you make of the fact that the dow ended up 61 ahead of where it started. we didn't have the second fear run. i was afraid there was going to be a run on the bank after yesterday. >> it was really not our fault this time around, the 500 yesterday, the down 200 at one point today, after being up 176. it's europe, it's europe. they're falling apart over there. they don't have any leadership. there's nothing coming out of europe that makes any sense at all if they don't develop a plan sunday night to take care of the never do well countries, including italy. we'll be back down 200 on monday morning at the opening. >> let me ask you a tough

question, this question may not conform to your speed of answer usually. is the federal government spending too much right now in this year right now? or too little? >> right now, not enough. >> thank you for the answer. >> i had, leader, eric cantor on today, i said look, he was going on and on about how bad unemployment is. i said obviously we've got to extend the unemployment benefits, right? he said no, we've got to help small business. we'ring about to get a retail collapse. >> he said, helped unemployed? >> that doesn't make sense. let's take it back from the theory to reality. if we hear that a company in south philly will hire 500 people, every clothing store, everything would be booming down there. it's no going to happen. but it would be job creation if boeing doubled its contract with

air force planes, that would be great news this in seattle. in houston, it's space, in the southwest, west virginia, it's bobby byrd, it was jack murtha in johnstown, pennsylvania. why do people have this disconnect. they know that the government creates jobs, every time in our life, we know that world war ii saved us economically. all our experience is that the government crease jobs and you hear eric cantor with this religious notion of some kind that somehow this belief in small business means the government shouldn't do anything. when small business is the area of the economy that does best when the government spends money. >> small business is the companies that get started around a big project that the government funds, that's how it works. you get, that's, it's a feeder system. small business doesn't start first. >> why do they keep saying that government spending is bad when we know we need to have somebody spend and the consumers is scared, the investor is scared. if the government has got the

nerve to do it, don't they have to do it? we studied this in school. we learned it from history, we learned it from parents, talking about jobs reopening in the neighborhood, defense contracts being let. and yet, the right wing has sold this ideology of do nothing. >> it's a great way to elect a president, isn't it? if you get the unemployed so that they're so disenfranchised so they don't have enough money to spend. you get very, negative poll readings for president obama, by being obstructionist, it does work, chris, that's the other part of the ledger. it's not necessarily good for the country, but it works. >> business is sitting on $2.5 trillion, they're not hiring anybody. we've become a robotic nation. is that where we're headed? big corporations are never going to hire people? they'd rather have robots? >> we had the labor secretary on this morning. we asked her, do some deal where you repatriate the money and in return the government will have to rehire some people.

well, hey, we're thinking about it both the democrats and republicans not doing their best to create jobs. you bring back the $1 trillion and get some people hired. the money has to come back. and the president has to say, i want it back and want it back now. >> i want you as secretary of the treasury. >> i'll take that job in a flash. for more on the politics of the economy, let's turn to long-time democratic consultant, bob schrumm. it sounds like rethe and democratic old-style politics have met. the latest "new york times" clsh cbs poll has 62% of the country saying that nation should give higher priority to creating jobs. you just heard from cramer, i don't even know his politics. my question, everybody grew up knowing that whenever the government let a contract, every

time they spend money, there were jobs and jobs around jobs. why don't they do it? why doesn't obama do it? >> i don't get it. he ought to put a real jobs agenda in front of the congress. real job creation. even if they're not going to pass it, then he ought to fight for it. jfk didn't stop proposing medicare because congress wouldn't pass it. you got to go out there and fight for those things you believe in. >> i think -- what would teddy kennedy do it right now? what would he do right now? >> an infrastructure investment bank, which he john kerry has been pushing very hard to get the money out there to the roads, bridges, the railroads, get the construction spending going. that's one thing you would do. you would certainly extend unemployment compensation and you would also draw some real dividing lines with republicans. the old-fashioned democratic message, you would ask the country, who is fighting for the middle class, and you would prove that you were the one

doing it. >> i don't understand it. keep going. >> the other night the president said, i talked about change, you know, we're going to believe in. but i didn't mean change right away. i didn't mean change tomorrow. we have to wait for change. you know, that is a depressing message, that tells people just endure. what he needs to be saying is we'll never stop fighting for change. and he has to carry that fight to the country. >> well, let's talk about reality here. and you and i grew up in america. we know this country, the president knows this country. when something needs building. we look at chicago, there's a city that's been running well over the years. it's policy makes sense. they've got the best downtown. they've got it all figured out. they've got the best museums, everything is there for the people. it works. what is this fear of government? this sense that government is incompetent. why is obama selling that by his inaction? he doesn't seem to believe in it any more. >> i don't know that you can, at this point. given all the rhetoric,

government inaction as a distraction. can you defend putting government back to work, people back to work. you can defend building a bridge. you can talk about the fact that the whole interstate highway system in this country was done by government. a president who decided we could go to the moon. that was done by government. government now needs to step into this economy, and to spend more while having a long-term deficit reduction plan tied to the pace of recovery. that's what any economist would say, that's what jim cramer was saying a minute ago. instead we this this mythology and i think it may be a self-serving mythology. i think the republicans may want to wreck the economy, make it even worse, assuming that's their road to the white house. >> i don't know what their motivation is i've been told by people their stockholders would kick them out of their ceo jobbes if they thought they were holding back on investment to screw a democratic president. i don't know what motivates people. but it seems like the profit sector isn't working, the profit

motive isn't working to create jobs, the government better create jobs. the unemployment rate is not reflective of how many people are out of work or underemployed right now. we all know how many people are underemployed. how many people are working the jobs they could be doing a lot more, are being deprived of that opportunity. we know that places benefit when things are built and people are put into jobs, not thrown out of them. why does the public resent that? why have they been led to resent that? >> i don't think the public resents that. i think the tea party republicans have done very well, by talking about big government in the abstract. by talking about debt in the abstract. i think the president has done as you know, about as well as he could in a very difficult situation. he's now got to turn and he's got to turn and communication with the country. he's got to fight for jobs. he's got to go out there and be willing to draw those dividing lines and say, look, i'm fighting for you. these guys are fighting for the special interests. take even financial reform.

which they never talk about. he ought to be saying, we want to make sure the wall street excesses are reined in. the other guys want to let speculation run rife. which could destroy the jobs. >> bob shrum, as always, a wise man. coming up, we're talking about what the country needs, a a jobs program. there are too many people out of work and too many things that need getting done and not getting the people matched up with the jobs that need to get done. the president needs to stand up to any republican who says we shouldn't be spending money. shrum is right, make them say no. make them say, this bridge is fine as it is, as dangerous as it is, we don't have to fix it. you're watching "hardball." ease of cooking is very important to me.

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isn't it time we stopped talking about green jobs?

this country is broken and there ought to be a way to fix it government can put america back to work on the bridges that are out there. the dangerous updating of our infrastructure. we did during the great depression, most of the great things we see in this country, public-sector jobs were done during the great depression. democratic congresswoman marilyn edwards and eugene robinson, columnist for the "washington post." i've got two people i trust. let's start with this why doesn't president obama start acting like a democrat and start creating public-sector jobs. has the talk of a deficit scared democrats out of being democrats. >> i think the way we get this economy rolling is talking about the government investing and not just talking about reducing spending. i'm going to have this argument and debate within our democratic caucus and also with the president and say now is the time to actually spend money. you say infrastructure? really big word, roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, pretty

simple. put people to work. we have 151,000 bridges in this country that need repair. that's a lot of jobs. >> why don't you go down to richmond and look for bridges below code and all the water systems and sewer systems that are out of date and put them on local television and say there's one man against fixing all of these things, he's eric cantor. >> that's my job working for tip o'neil, thinking of things like that. >> this is a country where a couple of years ago, we had a bridge fall into the mississippi river in minneapolis. it's not as if there's not a need there. there's a huge need for infrastructure improvement. gg go to almost any developed country in the world and look at our airport. >> have you seen our airports lately? l.a.x., it's a dump. have you been to train station in new york?

it's a rat hole. "the new york times" echoed what i had been saying on "hardball," quote, the point is it's long past time to get serious about the real crises the economy faces. the fed needs to stop making excuses while the president needs to come up with real job creation proposals. and if the president blocks those proposals, he needs to make a harry truman-style block against the gop. the millions of american who is should have jobs, but don't. my fear about the president, who i really do respect, is getting on that bus, gus, he's going to be riding around the midwest, for what purpose? he's not pawlenty. he's not some politician running for the presidency. he's got the job. >> i think we've got to go out to where those roads and bridges are. you don't have to drive to richmond. can you go outside washington, d.c. or in washington, d.c. and find the roads that are in repair. we had a water main break in my district right across the washington beltway. it held up traffic up and down

the eastern seaboard. we can do these things. this is not rocket science, i mean it was done, after the great depression so that we could get people back to work. spend $1 billion. a lousy $1 billion on infrastructure and get 30,000 jobs out of that. >> why aren't we doing that? >> we need to. >> why aren't leaders proposing a big jobs bill? why don't they do it? >> wait a second, chris. we had a proposal for $600 billion to be spent on building roads and bridges and it's stalled. and right now you know what the republicans are proposing? $200 billion. the urban land institute says we have $2 trillion in infrastructure needs and they want to spend $200 billion. >> why do you have to tell me this now, i read the papers every day and i don't know this. >> you should know this. >> it's my fault? >> no the americans who are out of work know it.

>> let me go 0 it an independent journalist here. the democratic party is not selling itself as a jobs party because it's not actually fighting for jobs. they control the u.s. senate. where's the jobs bill for the senate? >> good question. there are democrats like representative edwards and others who talk about infrastructure. who understand the need to -- >> that's about as good a word as stimulus. boring, boring words. >> bad words. but there are other democrats who frankly are cowed, i believe by the kind of republican message machine. that debt and deficit are somehow a more urgent problem than the deepest and longest-lasting recession since the great depression. a period we're going to look back on and have to come up with a name for. like great depression, if it continues. unprecedented numbers of

americans out of work. >> yeah. >> i wonder -- >> not just, not just the infrastructure which is a huge part of it. but the real estate crisis. >> i know we have that problem. my problem is i believe in capitalism, like we all do generally. but there's a problem with capitalism. you can't rely on it to create jobs. big corporate board rooms are stuffed with money. $200 trillion is sitting in their wallets, not spending. and they're firing people and bringing in robots, that's what's going on. >> that is exactly why we have to have government and now you know there's been so much beating up on government that people actually believe government can't do anything. but what government can do is hire people, send the money out to the states, get the road crews going again. put the woulds ds 1 billion to create the 35,000 jobs another $6 billion in economic activity from the truck that has to bring

the food by to the road crew to the cafeteria. this is not rocket science. >> and the time to do it is now. >> labor is available, money is cheap. >> thank you, you're looking at me like will you stop giving speeches -- i won't. up next, the truth comes out, a foshl michele bachmann aide says he quit because of her tendency to make things up, the next in the sideshow. say something int. so how about this weekend we learn some new tricks of the trade... then break out our doing clothes and get rolling. let's use some paint that helps us get the job done in record time and makes a statement when we're finished. we're lowering the cost of a new favorite color. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. take your painting skills to the next level at one of our free paint workshops.

now the sideshow, first, fed up, how one of michele bachmann's recent chiefs of staff describes his sentiments after repeatedly having to face the backlash of bachmann's tendency of what he considers to be blatantly false statements.

and then a staple in many of her speeches that obama has added more to the federal debt load than all of other presidents combined. that's right, all 43 of them. well the former aide expressed frustration in a "wall street journal" interview, saying it was simply not true, yet coy never get her to drop that line. the piece points out that when it comes to staff, bachmann has a an unusually high turnover rate. and next up, florida governor rick scott is launching a new initiative to reach out to voters and take a trip down memory lane once a month. taking over the responsibilities of an employee at a local business. he joined the staff of a local doughnut shop. given a sentimental choice, given that scott earned one of them in his early days. he plans to continue the project with one workday a month. many voters were not amused by the publicity stunt, stopping by

to hand the governor their pink slips and calling for job, not doughnuts. and quick thinking by gop candidate, rick santorum, when the lights went out during a speech last night, let's take a look at his unexpected reaction. [ applause ] >> i guess my time is up, so -- [ laughter ] ♪ strangers in the night >> so -- >> well he could have used a spotlight there. nothing like a little frank sinatra to prove that when it comes to the candidate, the lights are on and somebody's home. that brings us to texas governor rick perry, gearing up for a big prayer event at reliant stadium in houston. not quite unexpectedly, the number of i plans to come is rather low. just how many seats are still available in a stadium that can hold 71,000 people? roughly 63,000 seats still

available. it's a bit ironic that the event is entitled the response. if that's a response, what do you call a regret? that's tonight's big number. that's "hardball" for now. up next, your business.