this is not going away any time soon. british prime minister david cameron is back in the country to handle the problem. a couple of emails. >> david writes, whlie, sick if admitted on twitter that i watched "hillbilly's ham fishing" on animal planet? >> that's an excused absence. we call it noodling. reach your hand in the hole until you get bit and pull the fish out. >> the gold prices -- >> just sold a couple of teeth. >> desperate times, desperate measures, i guess. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ ain't nothing going to break my style ain't nothing going to slow me down ♪ ♪ oh no ♪ >> we didn't need a rating agency to tell us we needed a balanced long-term approach to deficit reduction. that was true last week. that was true last year. that was true the day i took

office. and we didn't need a rating agency to tell thaus the grid lock in washington over the last several months has not been constructive to say the least. we knew from the outset that a prolonged debate over the debt ceiling, a debate where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip, could do enormous damage to our economy and the world's. >> good morning, it's tuesday, august 9. live look as the sun comes up over new york city. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set this morning, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. >> good morning, mike. >> good morning. >> and andy server is back. how are you doing? >> hanging in. >> let's look at some of the papers here really quickly. >> the papers tell the story. >> t"the boston globe." >> top from "the boston globe." "the washington post."

worst day in world markets. since '08. "the new york times," stocks resume free falls. where are we? stocks over economic and credit woes. willie geist has one that he'll put in front there. that will work. t.j. can't do two things at once. "the wall street journal" downgrade, ignites global panic. the financial times, stocks plummet on u.s. downgrade. and the daily news right here, willie, of course, puts it in neat tidy perspective. panic. what's going on. >> well, it was the downgrade obviously from friday spilling to monday. and then continued worries about europe. and more than that, too, was the fact that s&p continued to downgrade other companies. some of that was unexpected. insurance companies also making the ratings of warren buffet's

berkshire hathaway negative and the selling continues to asia this morning. >> listen, asia, mike, getting absolutely pounded. how -- the president came on yesterday and -- >> why? >> because -- >> well, now, some people say it's a little much. >> why? why? he's the president of the united states. this is the -- this is a near catastrophic occurrence for many people. your 401(k)s, your iras, you ear losing your retirement funds and then you get to the big companies that are in huge trouble. the president of the united states comes on. he has nothing to say. >> that's not true. >> what did he say? >> all right, i'll tell you. you want me to tell you? actually, whip don't we roll it? let's talk about exactly what the president said yesterday. when the closing bell rang on wall street, the dow finished down 634 points. the sixth worst point loss in the index's history. the s&p fell 80 while the nasdaq dropped 174 points. so, president obama reaffirmed

his belief in the strength of the nation's credit, but added that their rate cut could be useful in future deficit talks. >> markets will rise and fall, but this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple a country. i realize after what we just went through, there's skepticism. that republicans and democrats on the so-called supercommittee, this joint committee that's been set up will be able to reach a compromise. but my hope is that friday's news will give us a renewed sense of urgency. i intend to present my own recommendations over the coming weeks on how we should proceed. and that commitment will have this administration's full cooperation. and i assure you we will stay on it until we get the job done. >> mike, so, so -- how about

this? >> did it help? did it hurt? what did he say? >> i don't think it helped. i don't know that it hurt. but he's our president. i -- i was expecting something a little stronger like, hey, i've called the speaker of the house. i've called the senate majority leader. these bustouts are on vacation when americans are worried. i want congress back in session. there's a couple of things we can deal with. we can deal with them now. i want to get it done now. show some sense of the urgency that he spoke about. >> he gave a speech. and i think that's what he did in the middle of the debt crisis. and all he did was deliver a speech. in the end of the speech, even democrats were saying, why did he do that? there has been the belief from diplomats and we heard it from three years. he thinks he can go and give a

speech and that's the ends and not the means to the ends. i fear we're seeing the same thing play out domestically now. and i agree with mike. he's president -- there's only one president. there's only one person who can cut through the din. and if he said i call the john boehner five minutes ago. i called harry reid, i asked them to return to washington. we're going to begin working right now on entitlement reform and tax reform, i think that would have made a huge difference. he's not going to do that. he's going to talk. all he does is gives speeches. >> no passion. >> but when it comes to taking care of the debt, all he is is talk. no passion, no plan. if you're going to bring it, bring it strong. he shouldn't have talked at all. if that's all you're going to say, let geithner do your business, right? if you don't have anything to say, don't say anything. it feels flat and i know people who just tuned out, tuned off. the market dropped when he was

talking. >> image if any he didn't say anything. you all would go crazy. i know what the president had to say. >> the president? >> yeah. >> okay. >> well. >> really? >> well, it's -- >> willie? did willie like it? because i don't know. >> i wasn't terribly fond of it. on the one hand, we keep asking to come out and show leadership argue right? take ownership of this. guide us through this. every time he comes out and does that, we're reminded there's not much he can do about it. and every time he comes out, he looks weaker because of the circumstances. there's nothing he can personally do about it. >> what mike was talking about was reconvening, reaching out to the leadership on the other side of the aisle. there are some things. and, you know, in these times, symbolism goes a long way. getting together in washington and, you know, same thing from the other side too. where were they? >> we got downgraded because of

this -- this dysfunction in congress. we can all agree that's what the s&p said. >> that's one part of it. but a much bigger problem. if s&p had downgraded us but americans were confident that this economy was going to turn around. they would be like s and who? i'm going to the beach this weekend. the big problem is, mike, and andy, i would love for you to join in here. i know you hear it every day. he lost a business community a long time ago. and they don't think he has a plan. he doesn't have people around him that understand business. he never has. and as repugnant as it may be to his base, and to a lot of independents, he's going to have to start calling people who were actually going to help send the signal to those that have $2 trillion on the sidelines.

the people who are going to reinvest in the economy is not -- >> they don't have money or jobs. >> no, there's $2 trillion on the sideline. >> business people. >> they ought to be giving jobs out. >> i don't understand business, okay? it's way beyond me. but i do understand what people tell me about business and i understand what political tell me about the business they're in. both democrats and republicans. so three points. one -- s&p, standard&poor's, they are a joke. they've been a joke since they missed every stop sign in 2008. >> thank you. >> okay. >> a total joke. but, a bigger joke is the fact that everyone, everyone you speak to, republican and democrat, boat sides of the aisles, they know in order to deal with what we're involved with right now, you are to take a look at medicare, social security, and taxes.

none of those were really touched upon in what happened in washington last week. and the third element is, the democrats are dysfunctional. yet the republicans, some of them, a substantial percentage of them, especially in the house of representatives, they don't want to defeat barack obama. they want to destroy him. how anything happens in that environment is beyond me. >> i will tell you one thing, for months now, washington has been telling wall street and the rest of business to screw you, if you pardon the expression. screw you. and finally wall street came back and said, no, screw you. you guys listen up. you guys respect getting the job done. you're not doing anything for this country. the grid lock is killing everything. you're going to take us down. that's what's happened over the past week or so. >> how's washington told wall street -- >> grid lock. not being able to sit down and comp ro -- compromise. it's okay playing chick within

the american economy by not being able to address entitlements and tax increases in a responsible way. i know all kinds of very wealthy people who say, you know what? actually if the right tax increase was around, we could talk about that. andrew ross sorki nvgs had an interview and he said if we're going to attack this, we have to talk about it in a serious way, along with, by the way, democrats getting serious about entitlements. >> any politician who say they won't compromise should be kicked out of office. >> a guy you know -- i don't want to throw his name out here without speaking to him first. but talks about social security. he's a wealthy guy. he will tell you, the idea that he's receiving a social security check is absurd. >> right. >> absurd. absurd.

>> it is absurd. it is absurd. so the president of the s&p welcomed the president to mark. did like what he had to say. calling his outlook on the debt talks encouraging. and later speaking at a democratic fundraiser in washington last night, president obama said he inherited many of the country's debt -- >> how long -- >> stop you for a second. >> no, you cannot. he inherited many of the debt and deficit problems. and he did, bush tax cuts, thank you very much. presidential candidates, however, reporting to the downgrade as just the latest sign that it's time for -- you know what? this is now where the republicans give us all their ideas and put a cool good candidate who's going to solve all of the problems front and center to talk about this, right? so here we go. they say -- >> should i just go. >> i'm excited. i'm going to feel hope. there's time for change in the white house. roll it. >> the fact that we have not been able to deal with our

challenges does result, i think, from a lack of leadership, leadership start at the top. harry truman used to have a sign on his desk that said the buck stops here. this administration's sign should be the buck stops somewhere else. >> for the first time in the history of america, the united states lost our top triple a rating. it didn't happen in the great depression. it didn't happen in world war ii. it didn't happen when we were engaged in korea or vietnam or now in the middle east or even under 9/11. but happened under mt. bpreside barack obama. >> the downgrade is so much deeper than the problems. we have a president asleep at the switch on the most pressing financial challenges of our country. >> can i talk? >> yeah. >> okay. i i think it's interesting. someone wrote a column about this yesterday.

the market drops 600 or 34 -- >> 34 points. >> and the president goes to a fundraiser that night. the last -- last week when the market dropped, on thursday, so many points. it was dana mill bank or maybe it was richard cohen. somebody in the post i think commented that the markets collapsed. that night, i think it's richard cohen. he's seen dancing at his 50th birthday party. and cohen said, maybe a cheap shot. but the images are so jarring. can you imagine george w. bush going to a republican fundraiser?

the night after the markets collapse. maybe he did. maybe there are examples of this. it sends a horrible message. republicans and democrats. blamed both sides, blah, blah, blah. i think seriously, if i'm in the middle of the greatest economic crisis in my administration, not going to go to a fundraiser that night. a political fundraiser to raise money. >> >> and sing with jennifer hudson and stuff. >> i don't get it. >> i don't either. >> he's talking to the base, i inherited this. george bush made terrible mistakes, the tax cuts, two wars, prescription benefits. >> democrats went along with so much. so let's not pretend that democrats didn't spend -- attacked george bush for not spending enough. which they did throughout the decade. >> they don't want to bend right now to create a yield.

>> that is the point when everybody is going to blame george bush, the democrats went along and attacked george bush for not spending any money. >> we understand that the president inherited this. he inherited a terrible situation. but this moment now, 2 1/2, three years in. we don't want to hear about george bush being a terrible guy. we want to know what you're going to do for what's sitting in front of you right now. >> what's the answer to that? what's he going do? >> a jobs program. an investment in jobs program. i'm struck or continued struck by how little main street has been bailed out. there's been no direct aid to mortgages, to homeowners, and most importantly, right now, is to jobs to get americans back to work. >> they tried on mortgages which they screwed up. >> they did. >> get the government out of it. get business call business

leaders. if you can't get congress back, call 50 business people to the white house. >> business people don't want to come down there, mike. you know that? >> the president of the united states. >> hold on, you just said something. i talked to some of the most influential and powerful business leaders who basically said just what you said. i don't want to go down there. >> i don't want to go down there. >> been down there three, four times. nothing happens. he sits around. they talk, and, occasionally, fourth or fifth time, he'll come in, lecture his point. tell us, hey start hiring people and walk out of the room. how many times have we heard that. >> countless, countless times. they helped to get the country back to work. they don't want to go down there anymore. >> if i heard it from republican business ceos, i wouldn't say it on the air.

that's not news. if you voted against him, that's not news to me. all of the people i'm talking to are democratic ceos are thrilled about him being the president of the united states. they now say he's got nothing to say to me. he has no clue. >> mike said he said he's surrounded by people who don't understand this. >> the chief of staff. >> that's supposed to help this problem. that's supposed to address this problem. >> listen to bill dailey? >> he hasn't been so visible, right? coming up, bringing up former new jersey governor and former ceo of goldman sachs, george corzine. eugene robinson, "the new york times," joe nocera and kenneth cole will be here. after the break, politico reveals which former presidential campaign the obama administration is taking notes from to get the upper hand on mitt romney.

but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast, bill? good tuesday morning. good tuesday morning, everyone. bring the umbrella with you to many areas of the country especially as you go to areas of new england. later today, driving home from work, you deal with the rain. buffalo and pittsburgh, the rain is right over the top of you. now that's going to be heading in the general direction of new york, albany, over to philadelphia and dc later on today. here's the forecast. not as hot today because of the cloud cover. start off sunny, the clouds will move in. the rain will move in later on today. hot out there in the southern portion of the country. heat warnings around tulsa. around the southeast coastline we're hot too with heat advisories with the coast of south carolina and north carolina. the tuesday forecast. 109 today in dallas. cool beautiful weather that today it's around minneapolis. in the great lakes tomorrow, in new england thursday and friday. so the weather pattern is going to change a little bit in the end of the week. the hot sun is up there once

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we're going to be okay. even though america no longer has a triple a rating. no, those are reserved. triple a ratings are reserved for financial power houses like the isle of man. that's why the smart money is now putting everything in uncarded wool and wind swept cliff escapes. according to the s&p, this god forsaken rock in the irish is more trustworthy than the most powerful country in the world. america gets a double a plus, the only two-countries are belgium and new zealand.

that's us waffle-eating kiwis putting mayonnaise on our french fries with a serious hobbi thtt infestation. we start with "the washington post." a 15-city bus tour hoping to bring attention to the poor. to say what they say are the failings of president barack obama. they will be our guests on "morning joe" this thursday. the house of representatives program. they gave young people a chan saying government is it coming to an end. the house leaders made the announcement yesterday citing the $5 million annual cost of the program. >> i was a page. >> i was a nanlg the senate. >> of course you were. >> it's nice.

>> not as much of a need. but that is a real shame. because it was a great -- >> great opportunity for young people. >> it's interesting because i have people in their mid 30s coming up to me saying, hey, the page back when you were there not just staffers but members of congress and government. >> i have incredible memories from being a page. >> would you like to share any here? >> no. >> let's turn politico. patrick gavin standing by with the look at the playbook. good morning, patrick. >> good morning, everybody. >> a big screaming headline across the politico website this morning saying obama plan destroy romney.

it's terminator-esque. they're assuming romney will be the nominee. they're having a froesh assault on romney's business background. a page out of the 2004 george w. bush playbook. some similarities, albeit a little fud ji. you look at president bush and president obama, take away the politics, most americans look at them as good, decent guys, good family guys with good families, may not like their politics. john kerry and matt romney, you see some similarities there too. what the obama administration is hoping to accomplish, when you look at john kerry, the sense is that the administration thinks that mitt romney, and a lot of americans think mitt romney is unprincipl unprincipled, unauthentic and also weird. they're going to hammer that point home.

americans think he's awkward. there's the story of him putting the dog on the roof of the car all the way to new hampshire. there's interesting clips on youtube of him being awkward as well. all candidates have this. if they can hammer that point home, they can do what george w. bush did when he had a challenger in john kerry in 2004. republicans think it's ironic. here's barack obama, a guy who mastered the campaign against bush 43. here he is a man a product of washington campaigning and acting like bush 43. >> used the word weird as part of the description for defeating romney. does weird -- does that equate to "he's a mormmomormon"? >> i don't think so. they're looking at the superficial things that you can find a lot on late night comedy shows. you look at -- they mention the love of skinny jeans.

he can look awkward fashionwise. go to youtube and look up mitt romney trying to do his own version of the baja men's, "who let the dogs out". >> a lot of dogs here. >> it sounds like a -- just a -- a steady stream of personal attacks. >> yes. yes. and i think that barack obama and his campaign, i'm sure he'll try to distance himself from a lot of the attacks is looking to the fact that he knows unemployment is very much -- will be very unlikely to get under 8% come next year. he knows that the approval ratings are dwindling a little bit. >> the reality is he has to destroy his opponent. that's why -- they've decided he can't win on his merits. he's got to absolutely destroy his opponent. >> hoping change gives way to the other guy looks weird in skinny jeans. >> doesn't have rhetorically, but well eel see how it plays out in football

stadiums in denver. rick perry, apparently on saturday. getting in to this race. >> wow. >> all signs seem to be pointing that way. nothing definitive yet. he's giving a speech in south carolina on saturday. coincidentally the same day as the iowa straw poll. that's a good way for him to steal a lot of the media attention. same day, go straight to south carolina to new hampshire to visit the home of a state representative there who's been supportive of him. he's expected to then go to iowa and possibly as soon as next week, if all goes to plan, assuming that he throws s his in the ring will be an official launch in texas. >> josh brolin is very excited. you spoke with -- >> i spoke with rick perry -- >> i spoke with him last year. he said unequivocally, there would not be bailouts of any kind if he was the president. not even the kind in 2008. >> i said, wow. >> fred thompson and a cowboy hat. that's who he is. i think this guy is going to

work. >> what would happen to the car industry? >> if he runs. >> the markets would take care of all of that. >> look at ford now. >> the markets would sort out what would happen in the auto industry, the banking industry. >> those were good moves. >> yeah. >> and every speech. >> we have had some good ones here. >> yeah. >> might be nice if someone mentioned them. >> a look at the politico playbook. thank you. >> we'll see you. >> what do you think of rick perry? >> i think he's got a good message to sell. he's created jobs in texas. and i think republican parties looking for somebody. so -- >> it will be an interesting addition. >> well, he's somebody. >> he is somebody. coming up, david cameron cuts the vacation short, calling for parliament to do the same, as a wave of violence and rioting. london burning for a third straight day. it's spread to other cities. this gets uglier by the night.

we'll have that story when we come back.

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he has agreed that parliament will be recalled for a day on thursday so i can make a statement to parliament and hold a debate. we are all able to stand together in condemnation of these crime s crimes and to sta together to rebuild the communities. >> recalling parliament. in a crisis. >> isn't that what you do in a cris crisis. >> prime minister cameron speaking moments ago. everything necessary will be done to restore order. he says he's ordered 16,000 police officers to go to the street tonight. the riots have spread from london to birmingham and

bristol. they burned a 140-year-old furniture store considered a landmark in birmingham. teams alerting schools and protesters are taking vehicles left on the streets. overall, more than 450 people have been arrested so far. and police say at least 100 are under the age of 21. dozens have been injured including 35 police officers. the riders broke out in tott tottenham when a police officer was shot. it's the worst violence since the race riots of the 1980s. >> with the olympics coming up. >> less than a year. >> other news. >> missouri is making sure the tornado is not forgotten. several cameras captured the destruction of the ef-5 storm

tearing through the schools. students will attend classes inside a mall until construction is complete. now time for sports. >> shane victorino was in the limelight. he was handed down by major league baseball for his role at the weekend brawl in san francisco. a pair of giants' players were expected to get suspensions, received only fines. they had a full-fledged wrestling match. >> he took one in the back? >> he takes one in the back. >> the giants aren't suspended? >> they got suspensions as well. >> he's fine. >> and he's running out there. so the phillies and the dodgers playing in los angeles. roy halladay gets out of trouble in the sixth. how good is roy halladay? >> the best. >> in the ninth inning, it's victorino himself giving the

phillies a breathing room. that's the 12th of the season, phillies win 5-3. roy halladay, the first 15-game winner. >> the best team in baseball. with that rotation, absolutely. >> frightening in the playoffs. >> that's one of the things to think about. the yankees and the red sox. both rotations spotty at best. >> crush you. >> wow. >> red sox playing the twins up in minnesota. down 5-2 when big papi crushes the shot. ortiz had a 4-2 hit. eric saltalamacchia going back-to-back. that's a bomb. solo home run. the red sox, jeez, come all the way back to beat the twins, 8-6.

boston goes up a game and a half in the a.l. east. and if you take two out of three from the yanks, you get yourself on the cover of "sports illustrated". >> great story. >> great for pedroia. >> yeah. >> such a great player. guy is incredible. he's incredible. he's -- he plays bigger than anybody in baseball. >> he really is -- he's a great player. >> end table. >> how about the braves and the marlins? dan uggla, grounds to short. hustles down the line. beats it throw. why do we show you this? it extends the hit streak to 29 games. in the night, braves win the game, 8-5. this is incredible. reason to be thankful the nfl is no longer in lockout? look no further than the arena football. playoff game, sharks taking on georgia. georgia's returner, the fan grabs him before he can -- and

hold him in a bear hug before you can get out of the end zone. then he tries to where he is it will ball free. the best part, his players come and congratulate him for the help on their kick coverage. >> my lord. >> on the kick coverage. jacksonville penalized on the play. no one seemed to care. he's proud of himself. >> what? >> it's the other player. >> watch this one more time. >> never been to one of those games. >> it's packed. looks fun. >> like the old aba. >> i don't get it. >> you see -- >> yeah. >> i was going to say, there i wish i had been in the arena. inwanted to go to the australian rules. and soccer. the premier league. i wish we had more stories about that stateside.

>> it's simply the best. we have highlights from a game last night. >> let's check in. >> this is my favorite of the league. >> gets a little frustrated. watch the collision. ready? out? >> rolls all the way. >> a little bit of an overreaction. >> he swiped at him with the cleat. flails. >> check out that -- >> look at the momentum. >> that's how hard he kicked him. >> the same direction. the goalie pulled up a bit if you watch it again and again. >> look how many times he rolled. >> you can't do that if you're the goalie. >> he thought it was the ball. >> i think in the thai league, maybe you can. >> there's an ambiguity. >> they keep moving the line. exactly. sandy is going to sort through the must-read opinion pages.

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kind of hard to sell treasuries when we have a market meltdown. i don't care what they're rated. it's the best thing out there. >> isn't that the crazy thing. while the markets burn, you know? and because of the s&p downgrade, where are people running? >> treasuries? >> treasuries. >> people keep saying -- they didn't say treasuries were unsafe. they said they were less safe than triple a. and stocks are always -- >> everybody is running through. >> time for the must-read

opinion pages. starting with joe's. the mern dreamerican dream hang balance. you talk about when you were a little boy first. my dad was unemployed. when we drove to church, we'd drive past country club drive, and huge houses and cadillacs in the driveways and in the south, the golf course that people like us never got on. we weren't townies, we were in town. so our friends that belonged there couldn't even take us there. because we were in town. i remember all these years later, my mom and dad saying to me, work hard, go to school, work hard, keep fighting, scrapping. and one day you can live in those houses. no resentment in the least. in fact, they looked at those doctors' houses and the lawyers'

houses and the bankers' houses with admiration. >> and respect. >> aspiration. >> and said, wow. >> okay. those people work so hard. and you work hard, that will happen to you. >> so that is the scene for this part of this portion of the piece that you wrote. i spent this past weekend driving through neighborhoods much like the type my parents took me through on sunday mornings so long ago. but the large homes with driveways filled with mercedes and bmws seemed like relics from a different age, much like the $1500 shoes from that "new york times" recently reported were flying off of the shelves of certain manhattan boutiques. the images of the massive homes and $100,000 cars seemed to clash with the morning headlines announcing a downgrade at the united states credit rating and the death of 30 u.s. troops in an endless expensive war. while america stumbles toward default, millions of americans

are unemployed and the middle class keeps getting squeezed. this weekend, i began to wonder 40 years after the sunday morning drives, whether the parents across the country still embraced the american dream with the evangelical fervor that made a 7-year-old boy sitting in the back of a buick believe that in america, anything is possible. >> mike, are parents telling their kids that? >> i don't think so, joe. that's one of the pivot points of next year's election campaign. for both candidates. the republican candidate and the president of the united states. it is this. we have a country now where many, many parents look at their children across the breakfast table, the dinner table, and they know instinctively that those children more likely than not are not going to have the same quality of life as the parents have enjoyed. unless something drastic happens. >> i was talking, mike, to an immigrant a couple of weeks ago who worked around the clock to send his daughter to cornell. the american dream.

an ivy league school. guess what? she doesn't have a job. a year later. it -- it's -- it's unbelievable. >> right. and, you know, the dream is not dead. but the dream is not as big and as accessible as it was when you were in the back seat of your parents' car. >> in the middle class, andy, is getting squeezed. you look at the difference between the richest americans and the poorest americans and look at the middle class. you know what i'm saying? this is not about morality. we can have the morality arguments about capitalism later. this is about a vibrant capitalistic system that keeps the middle class engaged enough, to keep people, little kids thinking, i can do anything so i'm going to work hard. >> i'm a gap like that is that

wide, the ability is one of the cornerstones in our democracy. the ability to move from one segment of the economy from working class to upper middle class. >> mobility is the key. >> mobility. >> you have another one. >> we'll go to break on dana mill banks. the perilous president. it's not fair to blame obama for yesterday's stock market rout. almost certainly the markets ignored him. that's the problem. the most powerful man in the world seems strangely powerless and irresolute. he delivered a statement on the economy beneath the portrait of abraham lincoln but that's as close as he came as force leadership. he lookled grim and swallowed hard frequent lip as he mixed fatalism with markets will rise and fall, with vague patriotic exhortations -- this is the united states of america. there will always be economic factors that we can't control, obama said, maybe -- but it would be nice if the president gave it a try? mike? >> we end this hour the way we begin the hour woneri erinwondee

president chose to speak at all. he brought nothing to the table. >> really? can the president -- is the president right? is there little he can do to control this? oh oh we like to see him announce something bigger. he's announced extended unemployment benefits, payroll tax holidays. we need something big. [ 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. ♪ sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two.

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time for news you can't use. steven colbert, jon stewart navigating, inspiring confidence. >> maybe standard & poor's are tough graders. are there other countries who still have triple a ratings? >> everyone from australia, denmark, germany, strongest economy. the netherlands, sweden, the united kingdom, and even, wolf, the isle of man right off of the coast of the uk. >> ouch. we're below isle of man, this place? ♪ let's hear it for the boys let's give the boy a hand ♪ that place has better credit than we do? there's no industry there. they just horse around in the pool all day -- just -- i'm being told that's man island, not isle of man. >> folks, it's nothing to worry about.

wall street, cooler heads always prevail. >> you can see the dow jones industrials down almost 300 points. >> we're down almost 400 points. >> the dow is now down 500 points. >> down nearly 600 points. >> down 631 points. >> wall street spending yet another day in what's being described as freakout mode. >> don't panic! everything is fine. just down here looking for my emergency hobo satchel. okay? a number -- remember, folks, just remember. oh. remember, over the long term stocks always increase in value, okay? this is just a temporary correction. okay? there's no need to lose confidence in the system. and, yes, yes, perhaps, perhaps we're experiencing a wee bit of a contraction here.

but do not pull your money out of the stock market just yet. okay? just -- just get in there. get in there. get in there. >> oh. >> the rooster. >> yeah. >> the emergency hobo satchel. you had a red rooster, right? >> i had a red rooster i used to carry her around under my coat. >> just in case. >> never knew. the late '70s were tough too. >> all right, still ahead, former new jersey governor jon corzine andinson of t"the washington post." [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and your bills. so you can view them by category... or by month. you can set a budget... and it'll even alert you when you're getting close

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i'm not surprised. i said that people shouldn't pay attention to standard & poor's. and the rating agency is presumably bringing to the table some specialized knowledge. well, where they were supposed to be doing that with mortgage-backed securities, they screwed it up badly. they just told people this is wonderful stuff when it was crap and they didn't check it. but with regard to -- there is no -- everybody knows everything. so. welcome back to "morning joe," mike barnicle is with us. eugene robinson, eugene, glad to have you on today.

i'm sure you're going to brighten the mood this morning. >> mr. sunshine. >> under no circumstances will i break the -- >> should i read from your column? oh. >> talk about chickens. >> yeah, we need to talk about chickens. >> i love chicks. >> let's do it. >> we can talk a little bit about somebody else's problem. >> that's right. >> what's that? >> somebody else's problems right now. you were in london for a couple of years. you surprised at the riots going on? >> i'm surprised. if you paid close attention, maybe you could have seen something coming, but i'm very surprised. because i didn't have the sense that it -- especially in britain, i would have anticipated that maybe a city like paris, for example, such alienation and such a gap between the center city and the -- and the poor suburbs and a racial gap and a religious gap

that maybe something like this might have happened. but in london and birmingham and elsewhere, again, now, there's liverpool. >> spreading across the entire country. >> pretty remarkable. and -- >> david cameron is come back in to the country. he's calling parliament together. mike barnicle and even mikka last hour suggested maybe that's something the president should do. we're in the middle of the economic crisis. call -- demand that congress come back to town. and say, you know, the debt ceiling challenge is behind us. he's not leave this month without coming one a brand bargain. the world's watching. >> grand bargain or jobs initiative or -- >> jobs bill. >> or whatever. >> so fill in the blank as to what they do. i think it's great. if you fill in that blank. if you, you know, if the

president has a -- has a plan and decides to -- >> should congress be sitting on recess for the entire month of august when the markets are collapsing, not just in america, but across europe? >> you know, there's a -- there's a poll out today showing that congress has held it even lower esteem in the lowest esteem since "usa today" is doing the polling in terms of do you want -- should all of the bums be thrown out essentially. should your congress be re-elected. that's a high number. and now that's down 50/50. it's crazy congress is not in session with a crisis. >> does it have to do with the lame duck deal that came to pass after all of this sort of bickering and moaning and the

lame deal. >> everything had to do with the lame deal. >> you voted for the lame deal. you go on vacation. you voted for something that led to a downgrade of our credit rating for the first time in history. why are you on vacation? why are we in crisis? >> good question. it's not that you just voted for the deal. it was all sort of the dysfunction that led up. >> dysfunctional machinations before. >> correct. and frankly, for the first time, an actual threat of a willful default which had to get everybody's attention. a downgrade's gop fingerprints. the so-called analysts at standard & poor's may not be the most reliable bunch, but there was one very good reason for them to downgrade u.s. debt. republicans and congress made an

incredible threat to default on our obligations. this isn't the rationale s&p gave, but it's the only one that makes sense. like a lucky college student, the ratings agency used flawed logic and faulty oh rit ma tech to somehow come up with the right answer. it's pretty simple, if you threaten not to pay your bills, people will and should take you seriously. >> that's what it is. >> mike? >> it's one thing to try to defeat an opponent in the election. that's what they want to do. they want to defeat president obama. there's a specific fringe that wants to destroy president obama. and they're willing to do almost anything including taking this company to the brink of default to achieve that objective.

that's wrong. on the other side of the aisle, you have a certain percentage of democrats who refuse to accept the reality that social security and medicare have to be looked at. they have to be reformed. that's part of the problem. that's part of where we are right now. we really -- so, do you think at the end of the day that it was s&p looking at the republicans and looking at the dysfunction of the process and finally saying, you know, enough of this, if they're going to, i guess we came within one hwa? 24 hours from defaulting on our debt obligation. >> brinksmanship. >> that would be brinksmanship. >> the day of, really. >> they said that explicitly in their report on the downgrade. it was the brinksmanship. they talked about a political system that was so broken that it couldn't do big things. so i guess i would put that to you. if we couldn't do big things at this moment where we have a

looming debt ceiling and default with the -- forgive the term, the metaphorical gun to our head, if they can't do something huge at that moment, what hope do we have to do something big? raising taxes on one extend and looking at medicare on the other. how can we do that ever? >> keep hope alive. especially today, right? keep hope alive. it's got to get done. so -- so it's got to get done. how does it get done? i don't know. it's got to get done. it's got to get opportunity in a way that moves us forward rather than leaves us in a sort of sour stay cis stasis that we seem to be in. we move like a crab, three inches this way, three inches that way. in the end, we're not getting anywhere. >> what do you think, joe, would happen if the president of the united states, had he not said

what he said if he said nothing, look, we're going to call congress back in to session. if you get back to washington, i want them to reread the simpson bowles report. i will pay 50% of what's in the report. any half -- anything they come up with that equals half of what's in simpson bowles, i'll accept, i'll sign. where would that happen? >> where is that in the conversation? the president -- >> he commissioned it. >> regardless. the president is 100% the republican parties fault, i still think the best move to think next tuesday night i'm going to be addressing a joint session of congress. i wanted to come back in.

doesn't matter whose fault it was for world war ii. the reality of the situation, we are where we are in the middle of a crisis. winston churchill didn't spend the first three years of world war ii blaming nevil chamber layne for what happened in 1936, 1937, and 1938. bombs were dropping on lon cop. the president of the united states, doesn't think boldly. he doesn't. the president would say, i want congress to come back. i'm going to speak to a joint session. we'll take 50% of the blame. hit's forget about what's going on. maybe we should have listened to simpson bowles. maybe democrats should have put their own budget out. we'll take 50% of the blame. republicans, you take 50% of the blame. let's come back together. let's look forward instead of looking past.

if the president didn't show up, it makes it republicans look bad. everyone loves to say he's a law professor. you know what they do? they get a distinct world view and beat the hell out of you until you adopt your world view. and believe you me, if you're writing the three-hour exams at the end of the semester, you adopt a world view. >> answer every question with a question. >> he's more like -- i think harold ford said that, that's the editor of "the law review." that's a great idea. let's put this -- this is a great idea. we're going to put it in the review and then answer questions

about it. professor persson taught me towards who would bear down on you. we need that sort of focus. i don't think he's shown it yet. >> but there's a broader context, though. because a lot of what's happened in the market as far as i can tell, day-after-day has a lot to do with what's going on in europe. the year paeeuropean debt crisi. you have to create a american momentum and consensus. but you have to get the g-7 or the u.s. and the eu on the same page. >> the way i look -- the way i look at the problems and the problems across the world? >> mm-hmm. >> i look at that as an opportunity. i say if we do get our financial house in order. and if we do take care of the long-term structural debt while investing in short term, exactly

suddenly everybody says, screw europe. the united states is leading again. >> we're much better positioned. our society is not aging as r d rapidly as europe. we're the meganagnet because of system of education. >> and immigration. >> because of immigration. we do immigration better than any european country. >> and by the way, the reason why -- and jean can speak to this better than anybody, the reason why there are riots right now in london and there aren't in the united states of america, at least for this week, knock on wood, mobility. people believe in the united states of america in the idea of mobility immigrants -- you can't talk to an immigrant. he went down on a sunday morning. they believe in the american

dream. >> they're thrilled to be there. they work hard, the kids study hard in school. they try to assimilate as best they can. they work two or three jobs to accrue enough jobs for the next step in this country. if you say about europe, you talk to people who are smart about the whole thing that were involved in this going on in the world, the people i've spoken with, they view the threat of contagion as the biggest fear in europe. does it jump the pond? does it come over here. they view the biggest fear here as the lack of growth in our economic engine. there is no growth the way there was 10, 15, 20 years ago. that's the big fear. >> to your point of mobility. as we move forward, as we strike a grand bargain on debt and as

we new engine for growth, it has to -- somewhere in the package has to be preserving and reinforcing the mobility which has been tricking our society. there's less mobility in the few research centers done a multiple year study of mobility. it's alarming some of what they found. it's a west mobile society thit used to be. it cannot continue. gets down to when you were 7 years old. >> you look at two different americans. the two different americans. the financial sector got their feet back upon the ground, for the large part because of government bailouts. they're making more money than ever before. in are more poor than ever before. the middle class is struggling

more than ever before. that division has been happening now for 20 years but accelerating. why? there are a lot of different factors in there. can't blame one person, politician, or party. but systemically, this is -- this is one of -- >> you have to find a way to break the cycle. >> i believe this is one of the great long-term threats due to a vibrant capitalist society. >> it is. cannot be allowed to calcify. cannot be allowed to settle to a society of rich and poor. it's not -- >> that's where we're going. >> oh, yeah. >> coming up, how will the state economies respond to the s&p downgrade? former new jersey governor jon corzine will be here. up next, joe nosera joins the set. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. this is day 39 in dallas, texas where you will hit 100 degrees in a row. it's an incredible streak. only topped by the streak of 42 in 1980, the hottest summer on

record. i think we have a good chance of breaking it. we may as well go all the way. 109 in dallas today, 106 on wednesday. close to 100 on friday and saturday. it will be a close call. forecast, bring the umbrella. the big city, rain will be moving on later this afternoon to this evening after a sunny start. southeast, same for you. thunderstorms will be plentiful. but a beautiful day from kansas city to minneapolis. that's where the fallish-type air has moved in. about time. washington, d.c., no such luke for you. you're watching "morning joe" presented by starbucks. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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the fact of the matter is, we could not have been clearer leading up to the compromise on lifting the debt ceiling that there would be danger and damage done simply by playing chicken with our economy. playing chicken with full faith and credit of the united states.

we've seen that. in the long run, as the president said, we, very clearly, are a triple a country with a triple a economy. and we are the safest of safe harbors globally. >> 21 past the hour. with us now, columnists from "the new york times," joe nocera. >> this is big. >> a couple of big pieces. >> traded out from sorkin. >> i like that piece. >> thank you very much. >> sweet thing. >> i'm going to grab that saturday. >> let's get the saturday piece. can you have that brought over here? i'm going to read from it. while we get there, how do you think the president is doing at this point? >> on the economy? >> terribly. franklin roosevelt lived through eight year of the depression, plus. he didn't solve the depression.

they were die hards for the rest of their lives because this one man inspired them and gave hope it would end some day. this president goes on tv and by the time he's done, the market is down 100 points in a 15-minute speech. i don't think he's -- i don't think he's ever been comfortable with the general subject of economics but he's been thrust into this moment where economics that all that matters. >> let's talk about fdr. a great point. he remain in the depression eight years. my parents -- mike i i talking about this before. my parents raised in dalton, georgia, born in the middle of the great depression, always believed fdr was king. parents from our generation say the same thing -- what did he say? >> he saved the country. >> my mom still says it and

she's about as right wing as you get. >> two reasons, i think. he had the advantage of a totally democratic congress. he could try anything. he did. you had a sense he was throwing things at the wall seeing what would land. the works projects and getting people to work on infrastructure. all that sort of thing, he was willing to do it. it didn't pull the people out of the depression, no, it did not. it gave people the sense of if you wanted to find work, you could find work. he was an inspiring speaker. when he got on the radio and he spoke to the country about where we were headed, he just gave people a sense that if you just hang in there, it will get better. >> "new york times" -- when did president obama become such a lousy speech maker?

his remarks on the market were flat and uninspired as they have been throughout the debt ceiling crisis. amazing to think back to 2008 when on the stump, he was such an inspiring person. >> maybe he's one of these people who's better at running for -- running for election than running the country? maybe he is. the debt ceiling, he didn't have his own plan. he had nothing to sell to the country. he put himself in the position where all he's doing is basically trying to negotiate between the democrats and the republicans allowing congress, basically allowing congress to battle it out. instead of having something solid. >> but that's all he's done. even when democrats ran the house in the senate, he had huge divisions on health and stimulus. on health care. nobody in the house or the senate knew whether he even

supported a public option a year and a half into the health care debate. this is how he -- >> and, as angry as democrats are at the tea party republicans for what they did, part of the blame goes to the president for not having a smarter sense of how to proceed and being constantly reactive. >> gene, what is this -- this is sort of his management, isn't it? what joe just said about not having a plan. is this a default. >> i had this conversation at the white house about having a health care debate. about, you know, does the president come out with a plan and say, look, it should be this way or does the president, in fact, essentially try to goevt

and let it come out of congress? there was a view in the white house that legislation has to bubble up through congress and imposing the presidential tell plait -- template beyond the broadest outlines that it can't be communist and wreck the country that beyond the broadest outlines that putting a template on it squelches the process. >> i had my law reference wrong. i said he was not like a law professor. he was like a law editor of the law review. he's an immediate yea tore. he sits, what do you think? what do you think? he doesn't understand, mi krk k

-- mikka, he controls the world stage. he has a power with the bully pulpit that no one else has and he will not use it. >> he can't control it if the republicans will not negotiate on anything. >> that's just not true. that's not true. >> just to interject quickly. when he drew the line, when the president drew the line and he said this an no further. he had to get a longer term deal to get past the election, he got what he wanted. when he used it, he swayed public opinion. >> and mika, a president -- >> no. >> mika, a president that cannot control 45 back pinchers in the opposing party in the house of representatives is too weak to be president of the united states. it's that simple. lyndon johnson would have eaten these people up for breakfast and spit them out before lunch.

>> these people are the very people that don't care about -- >> a strong leader doesn't put up with it. >> it doesn't matter if you care or not. you make them irrelevant to the process if you're strong enough to do that. >> i don't disagree about the 45, 60 members of the republican house who are members of the tea party. but he is president of the united states. he's not a back bench freshman republican. to joe's point, fdr on the radio, had president obama gone on tv at some point in the course of the debate and say look, i'm going to tell you something every american knows. we have to have means testing for social security. this isry dick allow interest to raise the retirement age. 2 1/2 years with the justice department and 57 attorneys general going after financial services institution, we're going to give them a breather and hit the drug companies.

why does l irk ipitor cost 50% now than it did eight years ago. that's added to the cost. he never did. >> read from my column. >> saturday, i loved. i loved saturday's piece. we talk about the republicans using the threat of default to assist on cuts. you know, they're digging in their heels on any types of revenues. >> i'm sorry. >> i'm going to read the piece. he wants you to read the piece. >> but look how sick the economy is. standard & poor's downgraded u.s. debt for the first time in history despite the better than expected jobs numbers, unemployment remains stubbornly and unexpectedly high. companies have cash, but they're not hiring, blah, blah, blah. choking off spending can only make matters worse. mark sandy, the well-known

economist at moody's analytics acknowledged to me that if major spending cuts take place in 2013 as is currently envisioned, they will cost the country 1.5% of the gdp. the debt ceiling it seems to me guarantees another recession. that's what i think. that scares the hell out of me. >> well, we can spread the blame around on why we have now done something possibly even destructive at a time when we're in a real economic crisis. >> could joe talk about his column? >> sorry. we have a deficit problem. we have a jobs problem. to put the debt problem ahead of

the jobs problem and ahead of the economy is to basically say, we don't care about economic growth. we don't care what's going to bring the economy back. >> it makes it worse. a slowdown of revenue to the federal government is going to make the deficits even higher. >> that is true, that is true. but mike is right. we need to reform medicare. no question about that. we need to have higher taxes on the rich. we do. the george bush tax cuts have been ruinous to this country. >> can anybody argue that? >> here's a true thing with the column. >> i'm loving this. >> joe nocera, today in "the times". >> i keep arguing, but i don't want mika to hit me. >> one wealthy well known figure to stand up and say publicly he

or she is willing to pay more in taxes. that phrase, "shared sacrifice." we knew -- >> i had to know somebody. i know somebody who thinks that -- who's very rich and well known, but he won't say it publicly. >> i think -- i think a lot of people would say it publicly, closing the loopholes, spending more in taxes. but not to allow this congress and president to be reckless with the money and spend us more to debt. i said this during -- i said this during the showdown, if the president would come forward with $3 of cuts for every $1 in tax increases, closing loopholes or whatever, that would work. but do not ask me to pay more taxes if we're not going to get the cuts on the other side. i see -- >> he's not asking that. >> there are good cuts and bad cuts. >> i've seen -- but we've said this repeatedly on this show. we can do two things at once, we

can take care of the short run and take care of our long-term systemic debt. >> i could not agree more. i think that's totally right. that requires a concerted effort by congress as opposed to the fistfight going on now. that requires people not just to get in the room and beat each other up, be uh to get in the room and say how do we solve these problems in a pragmatic way. that's what's missing completely from our politics. >> who has the power in washington to do that? >> huh? >> who has the power to do that. >> it's the power -- >> just asked the question. the power to bring the people in the room has been kpexercised tt power. he did it every day for weeks. it's what they do when they get in the room to count. what about all of the bush tax cuts? 2001, 2003. they lowered the tax rates to historic lows.

historic lows. >> does he have -- the president in the 20s, the reagan administration? >> no. >> reagan raised taxes ultimately. >> but -- >> he sure did. >> '86, '87. the top tax rate was 27%, 28%. >> i don't think that's right. >> 1% under bush. >> let's check it. economic growth when the marginal tax rate was 90% in the 1950s. don't tell me tax rates make that much difference. >> i'm not telling you that. historic highs. i'm not saying historic lows. 155 billion turned to a $1.3 trillion deficit. i'm with you. i'm not defending george bush.'e 2004. joe, we're glad you're here. we want to talk more about your columns. >> columns are awesome. >> tuesdays and saturdays. >> i literally look for them and go there first.

"the new york times," joe noc erk nocera. >> coming back. jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

>> i know that our troops will continue the hard work of transitioning to a stronger afghan government and ensuring that afghanistan is not a safe haven for terrorists.

we will press on and we will succeed. welcome back to "morning joe," president obama said the u.s. will press on in afghanistan despite the deadly shootdown of a helicopter carrying u.s. and afghan troops. during his remarks yesterday, the president said the attack would not stop the u.s. from securing the country. he also expressed sadness for the 30 americans kill in the crash. >> the reason i'm so hopeful about our future, the reason i have faith in these united states of america is because of the american people. because of their perseverance and courage and willingness to shoulder the burdens we face together as one nation. there is no one who embodies it qualities i mention more than the men and women of the united states armed forces. and this weekend, we lost 30 of them when their helicopter crashed in a mission in

afghanistan. their loss is a stark reminder of the risks that our men and women in uniform take every single day on behalf of their country. day after day, night after night, they carry out missions like this in the face of enemy fire and grave danger. >> it was the deadliest incident for u.s. forces in the decade-long war. seven afghan soldiers were also kill in the taliban-led attack. eugene, so, how do we secure the country that the president is vowing to continue to do? >> boy, let's ask the russians how you secure that country. i've been skepticxepskeptical o ability to secure that country.

i don't think it happens. >> every casualty carries a hard ache for everyone left behind. but the men who were killed the other day in the rocket-propelled grenade attack symbolized so much of what this country's effort is about in afghanistan. it's a devastating blow to us. because of the symbolism involved in this, you would hope -- i would hope that the president of the united states and perhaps the vice president as well go to dover air force base when these caskets are returned to this country. probably tonight or tomorrow. coming up next, talking with former governor jon corzine. heel join the set. "morning joe" continues after a break. [ male announcer ] where'd you get that idea?

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seems to me, credit rating is about what's the chance you're not going to get paid back. the chance is zero the united states will not pay its debts. so i think the downgrade was more dramatic political stuff than it was affecting anyone who holds debt at the united states right now. i don't think any of them are worried we're not going to pay our debts. >> welcome back to "morning joe." 45 past the hour. joining us, former democratic senator and governor of new jersey and former ceo of goldman sachs, jon corzine. >> good to have you back. >> is it europe, america? what's the cause? >> all of the above. break down in confidence. both on main street and on wall street. the main street being a lot more important because those are the folks that have the economy. they spend. if they don't have confidence, they don't feel comfortable. >> how do we get them spending again?

>> first of all, we need to send out signals of confidence making. it's easy to sitton si on the sidelines when you're not governing. >> of course. >> i would love to have the president call the four leaders of congress back to washington next week. walk out together and say we're going to do the grand bargain. >> what a great signal that would send. >> an enormous confidence-setting tone for the market. and they ought to have the program that's along with it. i believe they ought to extend the unemployment payroll tax. they ought to do something that even a lot of democrats are talking about, a repatriation of those corporate dollars that are offshore. they should do it under fair conditions, maybe even fund an infrastructure bank at no tax rates. if they spend it on stock buybacks and other things that

are corporate financing, they would have a higher tax rate, 15% to 20% on repatriation. we ought to get that money back. things ought to get done. we need to be setting a bipartisan tone about what we're doing. >> governor, do we need to do something about real estate foreclosures. the -- so many families, i think, feel poorer just because -- >> they are. >> because they are. >> they are. the price of the biggest asset is declined. >> poor after their 401(k)s are down a couple trillion dollars in the last four weeks. i think that you should try to do this. we're a country of the rule of law hard to implement. but getting the things to do

that voluntarily sounds like a great idea. but banks don't like to write off debt. we're seeing that in europe and other places. that could be encouraged through tax credits and other means. but we have it backwards. we do need to solve the debt problem. it needs to be solved in 2014, 2015, 2016. it needs to get done. this's a grand bargain. but we need to get jobs in the system now. confidence and some actual programs. going to do the trade bills sitting there since i was going on in the senate. we're talking about columbia, free trade -- absolutely ridiculous in everybody's mind that we can't move these simple things. >> the things that we can't agree on. >> thank you.

you touched on housing. which we don't bring up enough in the conversation. that is not moving, at all. >> right. >> and how -- wouldn't injecting some life in to the housing market be a big reason to move. >> if it were an easy issue, there would have been serious -- >> how did we do it? >> you're going to have to write off on somebody's balance sheet, this is a time when banks are weak. and so there is a real tension plus you have a legal framework that's who gets it first benefit. >> the banks more to do that? >> oh it could. it depends on based on what i saw in the markets yesterday on financial institutions, the -- the i think there were some of them down 20%. 15%. some of the biggest institutions. >> they took the biggest hit. >> yesterday. >> yeah. >> not easy. >> so it's reflective of some of those problems that you're speaking about in housing.

i think there are programs to do, but they are not easy to execute. >> governor, you laid out a couple of things that will seem obvious like good ideas things seem obvious, which is to call back congress and to put together some kind of -- >> certainly the leadership. >> and put together some kind of jobs program. you've been the chief executive of a company and also a state. what's stopping the president from doing those two things? >> if he calls and peel say i'm not available. >> that's not good enough, i'm afraid. >> i heard you talking about linden johnson, at some point there ought to be consequences for people who don't play ball. >> would you like to see the president get up there and say come on back? >> as i frame this statement, it's a lot easier to be one of the guys in the peanut gallery talking about what people ought to do, but yes.

>> gene? are we being unfair comparing -- >> little bit. >> are we being unfair? are we being onfair? >> yes, we are. >> thank you, gene. >> that comes with the job. if you're president and great things happen, you might get credit. if lousy things happen, you get the blame. that kind of comes with the territory. being unfair, president obama cannot wave a magic wand and make everything better. are there things, more things he could do, perhaps bolder things, i would like to see, because it's a lot harder news cycle to deal with than president roosevelt had to deal with. >> you certainly found it's a lot harder being governor than it is being senator. >> yeah, but it's a lot more important. it actually matters, how your kids are, who gets into

hospitals, health care, it's a really, really important job. >> all right. former governor environment

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♪ nothing going to break my stride ♪ ♪ nobody going to slow me down >> we didn't need a rating agency to tell us we needed a balanced long term approach for deficit reduction. that was true last week, that was true last year. that was true the day i took office. we didn't need a rating agency to tell us that the gridlock in washington over the lafrt several months has not been constructive, to say the least. we knew a prolonged debate over

the debt ceiling, where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip could do enormous damage to our economy and the worlds. >> good morning, it's 8:00 on the east coast as you take a live look at new york city. >> it's beautiful out there. >> back to "morning joe." back with us on set, mike barnicle. >> let's look at the papers really quickly. an avalanche of worry from the boston globe, "the washington post," worst day in world markets since '08, the "new york times," stocks resume, free falls, where are we? stocks over economic and credit woes. what's going on? >> well, it was the downgrade, obviously, from friday, spilling into monday, and then continued worries about europe, and then more than that too was the fact that s&p continued to downgrade other companies, some of that was unexpected.

insurance companies, also making the ratings of warren buffett's berkshire hathaway negative. the selling continues into asia this morning. >> listen, asia, mike, getting absolutely pounded. the president came on yesterday -- >> why? >> some people say it's maybe a little much. >> why? >> he's the president of the united states. this is a near catastrophic occurrence, your 401(k)s, your losing your retirement funds, the huge companies get in trouble. the president of the united states comes on and has absolutely nothing to say. >> that's not true. >> what did he say. >> do you want me to tell you? let's roll it. let's talk about when the president said yesterday when the closing bell rang on wall street, the dow finished down 634 points. that was the sixth worst point loss in the index history, the

s&p fell 80 points while the nasdaq dropped 174 points. president obama reaffirmed his belief in the strength of the nation's credit, but added that the rate cut could be useful in future deficit talks. >> markets will rise and fall, but this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a aaa country. i realize that after what we just went through, there's some skepticism, that republicans and democrats on the so called super committee, the joint committee that's been set up will be able to reach a compromise. but my hope is that friday's news will give us a renewed sense of urgency. i intend to present my own recommendations over the coming weeks on how we should proceed. and that committee will have the administration's full cooperation. and i assure you, we will stay

on it until we get the job done. >> mike, so how about this? did it help? did it hurt? >> i don't think it helped. i don't know that it hurt. but he's our president. i was expecting something a little stronger like, hey, i've called the speaker of the house. i've called the senate majority leader. these bust-outs are on vags when americans are worried. i want congress back in session. there's a couple things we can deal with, and we can deal with them now. we can get them done now. show some sense of urgency. >> he gave a speech. that's what he did in the middle of the debt crisis and all he did was deliver a speech. at the end of the speech, even democrats were saying why did he do that? there has been the belief in the foreign policy realm. you hear this from world leaders, international diplomats

and we've heard it for three years. this guy thinks he can go give a speech, that is an end and not a means to the end. i fear we're seeing the same thing play out domestically now. there's only one president. there's only one president that can cut through the din. if he said i called john boehner five minutes ago. i called harry reid, i asked them to return to washington. we're going to begin working on entitlement reform and tax reform, i think that would have made a huge difference. he's not going to do that. he's going to talk. he gives speeches. >> there is no passion. >> when it comes to taking care of the debt, all he is is talk. i hope he proves me wrong. >> there's no passion, no plan. if you're going to bring it, bring it strong. he shouldn't have talked at all. if that's all you're going to say, let geithner do your business, right? if you have anything to say, don't say anything. it was just very flat.

i know people who just tuned out, turned off. the market dropped actually when he was talking. >> can you imagine if he didn't say anything? you all would be going crazy. i know somebody who liked what the president had to say. >> the president? >> yeah. >> no. >> willie? did willie like it? >> i wasn't terribly fond of it. on the one hand, we keep asking to come out and show leadership, take ownership of this. >> knock him down. >> guide us through this, every time he comes out and does that, we're reminded there's not much he can do about it. every time he comes out he looks weaker because of the circumstances. there's nothing he can personally do about it. >> what mike was talking about, reconvening, reaching out to the leadership on the other side of the aisle, there are some things. in these times, symbolism goes a long way. optics, getting together in

washington and same thing from the other side too. where were they? >> we got down graded because of this dysfunction in congress. we all agree that's what the s&p said. >> that's true. that's one part of it. but a much bigger problem. if s&p had down graded us but americans were confident that this economy was going to turn around, they would be like s and who? i'm going to the beach this weekend. the big problem is, mike, and andy, i would love for you to join in here because i know you hear it every day. he lost the business community a long time ago. they don't think he has a plan. he doesn't have people around him that understand the business. he never has. and as repug nant as it may be to his base and a lot of independents, he's going to have to start calling in people who are actually going to help send the signal to those that have $2 trillion on the sidelines.

it's all right to reinvest. it's all right to get back in the economy. the very people that are going to reinvest in this economy have no confidence in washington, not just the president but also the republicans. >> they also don't have any money or jobs. >> no, there's $2 trillion sitting on the sidelines. >> they ought to be given jobs. >> i don't understand business. it's way beyond me, but i do understand what people tell me about business. i do understand what political people tell me about the business they're in, both democrats and republicans. so three points. one, s&p, standard & poor's, they are a joke. they've been a joke since they missed every stop sign in 2008. >> thank you. >> a total joke. but a bigger joke is the fact that everyone, everyone you speak to, republican and democrat, both sides of the aisles, they know that in order to deal with what we're involved

in right now, you have to take a look at medicare, social security and taxes. none of those were really touched upon in what happened in washington last week. the third element is, the democrats are dysfunctional, yet the republicans, some of them, a substantial percentage of them, especially in the house of representatives, they don't want to defeat barack obama, they want to destroy him. how anything happens in that environment is beyond me. >> i will tell you one thing. for months now, washington has been telling wall street, in fact the rest of business, to screw you, if you'll pardon the expression. screw you. finally wall street came back now and said, no, screw you. okay, you guys listen up. you guys aren't getting the job done. you're not doing anything for this country. this gridlock is killing everything. this is going to take us down. that's what happened over the past week or so. >> how's washington told wall street to -- >> gridlock, by not being able to sit down and compromise, by

not being able to address the problems mike is talking about. >> saying it's okay to default. >> saying it's okay to play chicken with the economy, by not addressing entitlements, not addressing tax increases in a responsible way. i know all kinds of wealthy people who say you know what, actually, if the right tax increase was around, we could talk about that. >> actually, andrews ross sorkin interviewed hank paulson about this. he as a lifelong republican said if we're going to attack this in a serious way, we can't take anything off the table. he suggests as a republican, we have to talk about raising revenue, along with democrats getting serious about entitlement. >> any republican to spaces they won't compromise should be kicked out of office. >> that would be a lot ever them. >> you can't do that. >> a guy you know, i don't want to throw his name out here, talk bs social security, he's a very wealthy guy. he will tell you the idea that

he is receiving a social security check is absurd. absurd. >> it is absurd. it is absurd. so the president of the s&p welcomed the president, did like what he had to say, even though you didn't, barnicle, calling his outlook on the debt talks encouraging. later speaking at a democratic fundraiser in with a warks president obama said he inherited many of the country's debt -- >>ky just stop? >> no, you cannot. he inherited many of the country's debt and deficit problems, and he did, bush tax cuts, thank you very much. presidential candidates pointed to the downgrade as just the latest sign that it's time for -- you know what? this is where the republicans give us all their ideas and put a really cool good candidate who are going to solve all the problems front and center to talk about this. >> should i just leave? >> i'm excited. now i'm going to feel hope. now there's time for change in

the white house. roll it. >> the fact that we have not been able to deal with our challenges does result, i think, from lack of leadership. leadership starts at the top. harry truman used to have the sign on the desk that says "the buck stops here." this administration's sign should be "the buck stops somewhere else." >> for the first time in the history of america, the united states lost our top aaa rating. it didn't happen in the great depression. it didn't happen in world war ii. it didn't happen when we were engaged in korea or vietnam or in the middle east or even during 9/11 but it happened under president barack obama. >> the downgrade in the market conditions are a reflex of bigger problems facing the country. again, we have had a president asleep at the switch on the most pressing financial challenges of our country. >> can i talk? >> yeah. >> i think it's interesting, and

somebody wrote a column about this yesterday. the market drops 634 points, and the president goes to a fundraiser that night. the last week, when the market dropped, i guess on thursday so many points. was it anna millbank or somebody commented that the markets collapse and that night, i think it was richard cohen, he's seen dancing at his 50th birthday party. and cohen said, it may be a cheap shot, but the images are so jarring. seriously, could you imagine george w. bush going to a republican fundraiser the night after markets absolutely collapse like that?

i'm sorry, maybe he did. maybe there are examples of this. it just sends a horrible message. republicans, as well as democrats, i blame both sides, blah-blah-blah. i think seriously, if i'm in the middle of the greatest economic crisis in my administration, i'm probably not going to go to a political fundraiser that night to raise money. >> milike sing with jennifer hudson and stuff. >> i don't get it. >> i don't either. that, i don't. >> the other thing, going is one thing, the message he's using at these events. i understand he's talking to his base about i inherited this. >> he did. >> george bush made terrible mistakes, taxes cuts, two wars, prescription -- >> can i say democrats did much too much spending. let's not pretend that democrats didn't spend. actually, attack george bush for

not spending enough. >> they did throughout the decade. >> republicans don't want to bend. >> that is the point, when everybody is going to blame george bush, he willingly went along, and attack him for not spending enough money. >> we understand that the president inherited this. he inherited a terrible situation, at this moment, two and a half, three years in, we don't want to hear george bush being a terrible guy. we get that. we want to know what you're going to do for what's sitting in front of us. >> will today's federal reserve meeting offer much needed advice. up next we'll talk to kenneth cole about his latest project that has nothing to do with shoes or fashion. it's generating debate. but first, here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> there's been a lot of interesting weather going on around the country. this piece of video is very interesting.

this is video out of the high school in joplin that got destroyed by the tornado this spring. that's the cafeteria that got blown away by 200 miles per hour winds, the ceiling collapsing, that's the auditorium, you can see the band chairs. this high school was destroyed. what are they doing as far as school is concerned this spring? they're going to have it at the mall. that's the only place they can house everyone in joplin. as far as the forecast, there's rain heading into new england in the late afternoon and evening. maybe a thunderstorm. have the umbrella. won't be as hot. the clouds moving in. thunderstorms likely in the southeast. our friends in dallas, 109 today, cooler toward this upcoming weekend. beautiful weather on the west coast and over around minneapolis today. 75 and not humid at all. you're watching "morning joe" on tuesday, brewed of course by starbucks. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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♪ >> if they lowered our nation's death rating, for the first time in history, it's below aaa. my job is to cheer up america. cheer up, america, there are some things we are still number one in. >> hey, america, we've won 44 straight super bowls. >> aaa. >> we've made more "scream" horror movies than anyone. >> aaa. >> we have the most laser tag kills, the most stretch limos.

aaa. >> we're number one in sass kwauch sightings. we've got the best smelling magic markers, the most chinese owned real estate and the most silver dudes who will move for a dollar. you can take that to the check cashing store. >> aaa! welcome back to "morning joe." 21 past the hour. joining us now, fashion designer and activist, kenneth cole to discuss his new website. where do you stand.com, a site named to spark debate an political and social issues. where do you stand? >> mika, i've been trying to figure that out. >> that's why you started the website. >> that's why we created this as a social service outreach. i was thinking the irony this morning. the s&p downgrades, our debt, aaa, and countless americans

probably now joined aa. >> really! >> everybody is kind of wondering where they stand. we now, because it's kind of story telling and positioning and brand telling isn't a seasonal event. it's of the moment. so we started introducing this platted form. within this singular platform, it's going to be what you stand in, what you stand for. you are going to have a choice to go either which way. what you stand in, we're going to give you some fashion perspectives and we're going to give you varied fashion alternatives and you're going to satisfy and satisfy all your fashion andingling aesthetic needs. it's going to be news feeds on these relevant timely news feeds so you can contribute to hopefully an intelligent ongoing

debate. it's wheredoyoustand.com. it's a static platform we can connect in a more meaningful way with people everywhere. >> this is something i feel like you've been thinking about for some time now, because, you know, when he has the position on an issue, he does not hold back from letting me know. now you can share it with the world and engage a discussion. >> anybody who's driven down a west side highway and look up at a billboard and know where kenneth cole stands. you always say fashion is about who you are on the inside. style, i guess. why has it been so important to you, not recently with the billboards, but through the course of your career to use your platform to get ahead of some of these issues? >> because i felt it's a privilege that somehow we've been afforded over the years that we've been able to speak to people on a more substantive level. fashion comes and goes. it's here now and it's

interpretive, what's fashionable to you may not be to you. if i can connect to you and talk to you about stuff that survives any given moment and i can talk to you on both levels, what you stand and what you stand for, i think i have a bigger place at the table. so it's just a privilege that we've built over time. we continue to look for ways to talk about, you know, issues that touch you and also aesthetics that inspire you. we've continued to do it. people have embraced it. >> do you have any sense, from the stands that you've taken on gun control, on gay marriage? do you have any sense, has that had any impact on your business up or down? >> i have opinions on everything. that's my problem. i have sought outlets for them.

this is a new world today, because we have the notion of social media for us, we've been doing this for 20 some odd years, but the technology today has made it so it's non-static and it's of the moment. it's not a dialogue, it's not a monologue, it's a dialogue. that's what's killing obama, for example right now. he got where he is on this platform, this social platform. he engaged an audience that was unempowered up until that point. it's that same audience now that's torturing his existence, but every other political person's existence, because that critic was singular. it was a few empowered members of the elite press. today, everybody is empowered. everybody out there has the ability to let you know how they feel. those few silent opposition isn't silent anymore. >> yeah, but isn't part of the president's problem, you just indicated, you know, the

facebook generation, whatever, twitter and all that stuff, isn't part of his problem, perhaps, is an indecisiveness that would be offset if he were more decisive like your brother-in-law, the governor of new york. he's the same age, same generation, susceptible to the same social network, facebook, twitter, everything like that. he's been very decisive. incredibly popular. >> he's been very decisive and very thoughtful. he's come about this from a very different place. it's hard to compare the two. barack obama is trying to figure out how this works. we all are. this whole social existence today has no rules. we're writing them every day. kind of what works, what is appropriate, what is meaningful, what's effective. we don't know that. he's just trying to figure that

out. so, you know, it's hard. the critics are so loud. and it creates so much interference and it's so hard to get a message through. he's an ineffective messenger. i think his messages over the years have been good. one little funny thing for me, the notion for health care, for example, 40 million americans are now going to have health care that never would have. this is a huge generational accomplishment. it's a legacy that our entire generation will remember, but that story isn't told. what's told is obamacare, what the cost of this is, the cost in anything that has a benefit, but we only hear about the cost, not the benefit. his story doesn't come through. he doesn't tell his story. social media could help him do it better. he's the first president that avails himself through video. he's interactive through

twitter, he tweets which is this funny little thing. >> you've had fun with tweeting. >> i have filters on me because i put filters on myself because i'm not sure that i can -- i trust i can appropriately withhold certain sentiments at the wrong time. the president of the united states has the ability to tell you how he feels on what and when. >> we talk around this table a lot about what the president, what the government can do to create a better climate for business in this difficult time. the dow is down 634 points yesterday. as a man who's run a business for a long time, what would you look for from the government? some people say they need tax breaks, taking down the corporate tax rate, things like that. what would you look for from your government to stimulate the economy, if anything? >> you know, the reality is we're all in this together. at the end of the day, there's -- we're polarized. government today is totally dysfunctional, you have two

sides not working together. it's probably never been this bad. but at the end of the day, we all bear the burden of whatever comes from it. there isn't that collaborative sense. it needs to somehow, i think somebody was talking about it awhile ago, how do you ultimately create the sense that regardless of the process, we are all are going to share the same destination. the sense of cooperation is not there. it needs to be there. perception becomes reality. you create the sense it's dysfunctional, isn't working. what happened yesterday will keep happening. that's my concern. >> kenneth cole, thank you very much. i appreciate it. what's the website again? >> where do you stand.com? >> barnicle, i expect to see you there. >> can we get more advice, mike barnicle is of the belief that under armour t-shirts underneath his shirt is a good look. >> if he would share that with

us. >> trust me, he would share. >> michael has his own look, and i think it works for michael. >> is that right? >> that's where he stands. >> coming up, before the bell. >> thank you. also prime minister david cameron cuts his vacation short and calls for parliament to do the same as violence spreads outside london. we'll be right back. your car. ♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles. ♪ [ man ] this is onstar. i got a signal there's been a crash. do you need help? yes, please. i've got your gps location. i'm sending help. [ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism.

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>> welcome back to "morning joe." the u.k. facing its third straight day of rites. the clash is spreads beyond london to other cities. david cameron says he will recall parliament and ordering 16,000 officers to walk the streets tonight. michelle kaczynski reports from london. >> reporter: for a third terrible night, london burns. this a century old furniture store in the south. while other scuffles broke out around the capital and beyond. destruction, attacks on police. cars and buildings torched. the looting everywhere. sneakers, tvs, liquor, you name it, all proudly hauled away in daylight. others posted their loot online. >> the violence we've seen, this

is sheer criminality. >> needless opportunistic. >> reporte >> reporter: it does have the feel of crime by young men and women voracious for violence, raging since saturday. sparked by anger over the police killing of a young father last week which is under investigation. some riters claim it's still about that. >> the police have too much power and they're using that power. >> reporter: relatively small groups of rioters are attacking dozens of neighborhoods throughout the city. who's getting hurt, their own stunned, disgusted neighbors, who have lost businesses and homes. >> we left basically with the clothes on our back. >> i don't know why people do this. >> reporter: here as one building went up in flames, neighbors escaped from windows on rooftops. while police chase trouble makers at the bottom, those at the top right are busy attacking

their vehicles. police admit they've had trouble controlling this, calling in reinforcements from outside london. firefighters haven't been able to do their jobs, a description used for this capital city, a war zone, the explosive violence, only spreading. >> michelle kaczynski reporting for us from london. >> do you believe that? >> it's amazing. it keeps getting worse, spreading outside london. >> maybe simon hobbs knows. >> simon, what's going on there? >> the british love to drink and they love to fight. >> yeah, baby. >> it's that simple. >> it is that simple, isn't it? >> the problem was the riots started in a place where i used to live in tottenham which is where the race riots were under factory. this looks like real criminality. it was sparked initially. tough times in the u.k.

>> you know, it's interesting you say that, because we see what's going on. by the way, are you a spurs fan? >> i didn't catch you, joe. >> i said, if you're from tottenham, i take it you are a spurs fan, correct? >> i used to live right outside the spurs ground. you wake up on the saturday morning and you could see was horses to control the fan. i wasn't a tottenham fan. >> let me tell you about the markets. >> we talk to talk about english premier football. you do bring up an interesting point about -- i read other reports how this start the as a legitimate concern about police brutality. >> potentially, yes. >> at the beginning and thugs came in and thought it was a great opportunity for mayhem, breaking windows and rioting and those have spread out. these riots don't seem to have anything to do with the initial grievance, nor does it have to

do with economic conditions. it's just mayhem. >> who knows? it's so difficult when you see the pictures and you're not there on the ground. that's the impression you would get from here. it's hard times in the u.k. austerity is big and the atmosphere is not good for a lot of people. they know they're going to lose their jobs. so many public sector workers are going to lose their jobs. they have a sales tax in the u.k. of 20%. >> my lord. >> when i say rich, those earn over 150,000 pounds, which is $225,000, they're at a marginal rate of 60% now. it's tough, what the u.k. is going to keep its aaa credit rating. let me talk about the markets. i hoped to be able to tell you we're going to have a strong bounce. we're looking at a higher opening, probably 120 or 130 points. yesterday we had real harsh selling. it was almost the worst day that

we had in three years. the dow down 5.5%. as i keep telling you, over the last 12 sessions, we've now lost 15% of the dow. the banks were interesting yesterday. in one session, bank of america down 20%. citigroup down 16, j.p. morgan down 9. the ft reporting there was an emergency meeting of the financial stability oversight council, which is the fed and treasury, checking they had enough liquidity and there wasn't a systemic problem. they said everything was fine. it's just in this environment, as you know, so many hedge funds trade, they make money by borrowing, they borrow and trade. when they suffer losses over here, they have to sell some of their best trades or best stocks in order to raise cash to cover those positions. i'm not saying that's what happens with the banks. fubl in double dip, the bank are going to be rerated. if they believe the market is going to come up from here, if they believe we don't have

recession. we have a fed meeting today. a lot of the market will be looking for the fed for salvation. that result comes out at 2:15. as we've spoken about before, they are out of bullets, there are action otic things people are talking they might do. they might keep their pallet dry for the moment. >> simon hobbs, thank you very much. up next, texas governor rick perry says an announcement on 2012 is coming. >> did kenneth cole talk about perry? >> no. >> is he a perry fan? >> i suspect not. >> probably not? you don't think so? >> i don't think in every fashion. >> we'll see, not in every fashion. introducing the schwab mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you.

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call liberty. they can help you live a better life. call the number on your screen. ♪ >> this is a very bad, no good day. 634 point drop on the market for two months, i've been leading do

not raise the debt ceiling. the day of reckoning came last week. this is in addition to the ninth worst day in the stock market last week where we had an over 500 point drop. senior citizens are looking at their portfolios right now. they've taken a huge hit. make positives decisions. that's what we need to do. we need a new president. we have to make positive decisions to turn the economy around. >> 44 past, minnesota congresswoman michelle balk marn is one of the front runners in iowa as they head into this week's amos straw poll. bachmann faces a new challenge, an unflattering "news week" cover. >> come to amos, where going to have a ball. >> campaigning in iowa, michele bachmann is energetic, focused, taking aim at president obama. >> when the ratings downgrade came out last week, where is president obama? did he rush to the microphone to give confidence to the american

people? he got in the helicopter, he took off for the weekend. >> reporter: those close to her say she's unfazed by this week's "news week" cover photo, captioned as the queen of rage. >> have you seen it yet? >> i have not. >> it's a close up photo with the title queen of rage. >> we'll have to look at that. >> "news week" editor said michele bachmann's intensity is gallon van icing iowa. lois roam no wrote the cover story. >> it's a provocative cover story. she's stirring a lot of intense passions among the electorate and a lot of intense passions among her own party. i think the cover reflecting that. >> reporter: how could a woman that critics describe as attractive look this bad? >> she looks blank and confused. >> reporter: in the cover story bachmann tells "newsweek" it's

anger. it's not anger. americans aren't expressing unhinged anger. the country is not working" ba bachmann has built a fan base. she's also generating excitement among evangelical voters. by making no apology for her position on social issues. on sunday, backman was in a church where there was a conversion of a began man whos straight. also controversial bachmann's own must reads, a list includes a book defending slavery. >> i don't think we have seen a candidate with sort of the views, frankly, the extreme views that she holds last in national politics. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell reporting. >> what do you think of the cover? >> i did not like the cover. >> there wasn't really anything

in the article. >> the article didn't say that -- it didn't back up the headline. >> first of all, it's an unfair portrait. you take pictures of us a thousand times a day, you're going to find a bad picture. it's quite a coincidence that barack obama went two years -- let's take that down, please. went two years on the campaign trail and it was always glamour shots. i never saw a bad shot of him. i never did in two years. so michele bachmann gets this treatment. this happens. >> we're going to ask tina tomorrow. we're going to ask her. got to do it. texas governor rick perry reportedly expected to announce his candidacy for the white house on saturday. politico announces perry will remove any doubt. >> any doubt? >> in a planned speech in south carolina. the announcement falls on the same day as perry's first trip to new hampshire and the iowa

ames straw poll. he trails mitt romney by 7% but with a narrow lead over michele bachmann. when it comes to tea party support, the undeclared perry beats romney and bachmann by single digits. this thursday, eight gop candidates will face off in iowa's first debate. >> that's exciting. >> up next. >> go ahead. >> i think it's exciting. you never know what's going to happen in that campaign. >> the best of late night, up next. ♪

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>> china has warned the u.s. that its days of squandering borrowed money are over. yeah, maybe we shouldn't tell the chinese that last week we spent $76 million to see the "smurf" movie. let's keep that on the down low. >> we're going to be okay. even though america no longer has a aaa rating. now, those are reserved. aaa ratings are reserved for financial power houses like the isle of man.

that's why the smart money is now putting everything in uncarted wool and wind swept cliff scapes. because according to the s&p, this god for saken rock in the sea is the better than the richest country in the world. the other two countries with that rating are belgium and new zealand. that's us now. waffle eating kiwis, putting mayonnaise on our french fries with a serious hoblt infestation. >> maybe standard & poor's are incredibly tough raters. >> everybody from australia, denmark, germany, the netherlands, sweden, the united kingdom, the isle of man off the coast of the u.k. >> ouch! we're below isle of man, this

place? ♪ let's hear it for the boy ♪ let's give the boy a hand >> that place has better credit than we do? there's no industry there. they horse around in the pool all day. i'm being told that's man island, not isle. >> folks, there is nothing to worry about. on wall street, cooler heads always prevail. >> you can see the dow jones industrial average is down almost 300 points. >> the dow is now down 500 points. >> down nearly 600 points. >> down 631 points. >> wall street spending another day in what's being described as freakout mode. >> don't panic. everything's fine. i'm just down here looking for my emergency hobo satchel. remember, folks, just remember,

just remember, over the long term, stocks always increase in value. okay. this is just a temporary correction. okay. there is no need to lose confidence in the system. okay. yes, yes, perhaps perhaps, we're experiencing a wee bit of a contraction, but don't pull your money out of the stock market yet. just get in there. ♪ ♪ [ country ]

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♪ friday night i crashed your party ♪ >> what did you learn? >> rick perry announces something important about his future on saturday. >> that's exciting. >> what did you learn? >> big day on saturday. i feel like everybody from everybody that. >> i i learned that fred irons brother passed away in his sleep at the age of 69, very good guy, funny guy. >> we're sorry to hear that. >>er