the dow way into the red and more on what is happening with the markets. as we can see right now, ron, the dow bounced back a little bit, not much. a perfect storm of bad news is driving the free fall. what can you tell us? >> it started this morning in europe where there were rumors about the involsaeauinvolvancy n banks. it may very well threaten the solvency of some banks. it seems they're having a leh n lehman-like moment. one bank borrowed from the central bank overnight and $500 million at a rate higher than you need to pay for an overnight loan and that's shaking up the system. it's a symptom of distress and here at home we have gotten economic numbers that weren't too heartening. we had jobless claims bounce back above 400,000 and the real estate market is not doing what deshou

deshou deshould. back to increased volatility and more risk to the downside. >> another issue this morning that we haven't had to deal with a whole lot over the past few weeks is inflation. inflation to be a problem here in the united states. >> i think a lot of people misinterpret the inflation data. sort of a rearview mirror statistic when you look at the consumer price index. the federal reserve is really worried about the deflationary measures as it appears we are slowing down and europe is slowing down and china is slowing down. so, the fed is likely to look past the inflation data. in fact, a very important speech next week from ben bernanke at the fed's symposium and despite the inflation numbers it's possible the fed will take more steps that could be outlined as early as next week. >> more steps like? >> some of this stuff gets very highly technical. we have been dealing with quantitative easing rounds one

and two. i think it is more appropriate to refer to these new measures that are coming after the fed already said it will hold interest rates at zero for the next two years no matter what. in other words, the fed may buy long dated treasury bonds to hold long-term interest rates down just like they're holding short-term interest rates down to stimulate the economy. they may stop banks that pay the banks altogether to get the banks to lend more money. they may engage in something that is called inflation target. in other words, the fed might accept much higher inflation if it's worried about a double dip recession and another bout of deflation. so, this gets highly technical in the plainest english. i can say is if the fed moves, again, they'll take more dramatic steps to stimulate the economy and avoid a double-dip recession. we may hear that from ben bernanke next week. >> cnbc ron insana, thank you.

in the midst of this economic news, congressional caucus members are voicing their anger over the jobs crisis in america and turning up the heat on the president to take some action. lawmakers are visiting cities across the country, high minority unemployment trying to get people back on their feet. today's job fair is under way right now in atlanta, but it's this tuesday this tuesday's discussion in detroit that is getting a lot of attention. fired up congresswoman maxine waters issued some tough words for the president. >> the congressional black caucus loves the president, too. we're supportive of the president butie getting tired. we're getting tired. what we want to do is we want to give the president every opportunity. >> how long? >> -- to show what he can do and what he's prepared to lead on. but our people are hurting.

the unemployment is unconscionable. we don't know what the strategy is. we don't know why on this trip that he's in the united states now and he's not in any black community. we don't know that. when you let us know, it is time to let go, we will let go. >> congresswoman maxine waters joining me live from atlanta this morning. congresswoman, there's a lot of causes for the pain african-americans are experiencing economically. let's talk specifically about the president. how much of your frustration feels like president has not focused on the cities hit hardest by this crisis? >> i think what you see is growing in minority communities because the unemployment rates are so high in the african-american community, you're talking about 16%, but many who have been long-time unemployed, it's 35 and 40% in

some of these areas. you couple that with the home foreclosures that have hit the african-american community so hard and you look at the loss of wealth of the pew institute came out with new information that showed household wealth had dropped in the african-american community and the gap is widening. it's a 20% gap between white household, black household wealth. it is creating frustration and anger. we have to take positive steps. the congressional black caucus does its work, but we decided we're going to hit the road. we were getting out of washington. we put together these job fairs. >> the president, the president, congresswoman, has talked about congress a great deal over the past few days on his midwest bus tour. i want to take a listen to what the president said and then i want to talk about what he's saying on the other side.

take a listen. >> my attitude is, get it done. and if they don't get it done, then we'll be running against a congress that's not doing anything for the american people. >> we've got a lot of work to do and the only way it will get done is if democrats and republicans put country ahead of party. >> the last thing we need is congress to show up back at congress and do the exact same thing they've been doing. >> the president expected to unveil a major job's plan after labor day. how much congressional support can president obama count on from a congress that does not have a history of working well with the president? >> well, the president is going to have to fight. he's going to have to fight hard. we cannot back up from the tea party. we cannot be intimidated. we cannot compromise away the ability for us to put together proposals that are going to get this country back on the right track. so, this is going to be tough, tough fighting.

we know that they already decided that there are some things they're not going to agree to. they're not going to agree to raise revenue. i understand some of them have signed a pledge already and we and the president and the leadership have got to take this to the people as we're doing with these job fairs. we're coming to the people and the people are getting more informed and more educated and more inspired and they will help us fight. >> congresswoman, what you're saying is the same thing that a lot of other folks have been saying around this country over the past few weeks that the president needs to be fighting more. how should president obama be fighting? what should this fight look like? >> well, in the first place, when we were basically held up in raising the debt ceiling until they got all of those budget cuts that they demanded and, of course, we didn't raise any revenue. we didn't close any tax loopholes.

i believe that the democratic party, the president of the united states should not have backed down. i think that we should have made him walk the plank because, if we had not lifted the debt ceiling within 24 hours, they would have been back. they would have joined with us because they know that the people of this country would not have allowed us to be in default for any period of time and shut this government down. so, you cannot be intimidated, you cannot back up. the tea party has shown that they have strength and our constituents are asking us, where's your fight? where's your resolve? that's the kind of thing we have to do. >> you were fired up two days ago in detroit. i would imagine the white house has seen that clip over and over and over. have you heard from folks at the white house yet? >> no, i have not talked with anybody from the white house. but i'm more concerned about the people out here than i am concerned about anybody else.

first of all, we've got to show that we feel their pain and that we understand what they're going through. we understand the joblessness and we've got to get out and not only inspire and motivate them, but try and connect them with opportunity. these job fairs have asked the mro employers from all over the country that come to washington and lobby us all the time to lobby us and we have to say, bring the jobs to the people. many of them are hoarding cash like the banks are hoarding cash. we want that money in our communities, in our country stimulating the economy. >> congresswoman maxine waters in atlanta, with quite the crowd behind you. hope it goes well down there. thank you, appreciate your time. >> thank you, the people are here. meanwhile, we're getting new details about the job's plan that president obama will unveil after labor day. let's go straight to the north lawn and nbc mike viqueira. mike, reports out this morning saying the white house will

press congress for another round of stimulus spending idea here being the short-term stimulus should help long-term deficit reduction. what will we actually be able to get through a congress? >> you know, craig, the interesting part of this many ideas the president has put forward have been put forward in the past. you are talking about free trade agreements with south crea and other nations. you're talking about a payroll tax cut that the president passed along with republicans back in december for a year. he wants to extend that to another year and, craig, he also wants to extend that to employers. have a payroll tax cut on some of the payroll taxes they pay like social security and medicare and some of the things they contribute to in everybody's paycheck. they're talking about other things like infrastructure, traditional projects like spending on bridges and roads and airports and things of that nature. but perhaps the most significant and the more detailed plan comes in the second half of this. when the other shoe drops, craig.

that is when the president comes out with specific proposals as the white house says he will do. to bring down the deficit. remember that supercommittee has that thanksgiving deadline to bring it down by $1.5 trillion and no details in that, although republicans insist that taxes won't be part of it. but the president said yesterday that taxes will be part of the detailed plan he puts forward and be even greater than a $1.5 trillion, craig. >> also some breaking news a short time ago regarding syria. what can you tell us about that? >> that's absolutely right. the president came out today in the face of this escalating violence and repression. the brutal repression on bashar assad and after weeks of saying it was up to the syrian people and sort of dancing around the issue or stopping just short of calling for him to step down, today the president and secretary couldn't call for him to step down and impose some very strict sanctions on that country and here's what the secretary of state had to say on that score this morning. >> the transition to democracy

in syria has begun and it's time for assad to get out of the way. we understand the strong desire of the syrian people foreign country should intervene in their struggle and we respect their wishes. >> clearly, this announcement today has been coordinate would the united states closest allies. the canadian leader coming out and four square calling for assad to step down. little bit later on today the president's vacation begins and he will be in martha's vineyard and he arrives there a little later this afternoon. craig? >> mike viqueira from the white house for us this morning. thank you. to tampa now where school officials say fear set in after one of their students was arrested for plotting to blow up their school. jared cano was found with stuff

in his room. they also found a journal that contained names of administrators that he wanted to kill police said they found all of these things inside that apartment. the chief of the tampa. police department joining us from tampa. what can you tell us about the 17-year-old suspect? >> well, he's a former student at freedom high school and he had been expelled in the past and we were fortunate enough to receive an anonymous tip that led us to jared cano and his apartment and we were able to take him into custody and confiscate those materials that he was going to use to build these destructive devices and plant them in the high school. >> we're also learning a little bit more about cano's criminal past. what can you tell us about that? >> well, he's been arrested by the tampa police department. he's no stronger to us. he's been arrested for some property crimes and he also was arrests for breaking into a

house out in his neighborhood, in which he stole and when the officers took him into custody. he actually had that firearm on his person. we didn't find any guns in the apartment yesterday, but we're still investigating. you know, trying to track down if he had access or had possession of any firearms that he intended to use next tuesday. >> are you concerned at all that he wasn't acting alone? do you think there were some other folks out there helping him? >> no, there's nuthing to indicate he had some accomplices but, again, the investigation continues. so far everything that we have, including the manifesto was all written in the first person. i, i'm going to do this at this time and i'll put the bombs in these locations and these are the individuals that i'm targeting. everything we have to this point indicates that he was acting alone. >> tampa police chief jane castor. thank you so much, appreciate you. >> thank you. never too early to talk about the republican candidates short list of running mates.

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gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. >> i tell the governor, i can't remember his name. he is coming into the campaign. >> we welcome all candidates to the race and we're looking forward just to a wonderful election and getting the issues on the table. >> mr. president, america's crisis is not bad luck, it's bad policies from washington, d.c. the gop candidates are in new hampshire and south carolina today, two states that are key for the race for the white house. even as they crisscross the country, a question of who they might pick for their number two should they win the nomination, that discussion is already under way. jonathan alter a commelumnist a

gentlemen, thank you so much. jonathan, i want to start with you. a year and a half left to election day and we're already talking about possible number twos on the ticket. >> it's only a year until the nominating conventions next summer when they'll make these selections, but, craig, you're absolutely right. it's grossry premature to war game any of this with any degree of certitude. >> that won't stop us this morning. >> remember when sarah palin was picked, joe biden's reaction was, sarah who? nobody had a clue. >> who is on the short list right now for number twos? who are you hearing? >> marco rubio is on a lot of people's short list because he would solve some real problems for the republicans, both because he's from florida and because he's a latino. and they need to cut into the president's support among latinos in order to win this election. so, a lot of people who think this year might be the exception that proves the rule and it will

be rubio no matter what else happens. there are actually some other latinos who might get considered. the new governor of new mexico, susanna martinez is somebody who they're taking a close look at, too. >> i know there's also been some talk out there about bob mcdonald, as well. virginia's governor who has not made it a secret that he is pretty interested in the idea. >> that's right. virginia is another state that's going to be hotly contested. so, they have to look at the geography and you have to look at the democrats and rubio rides to the top and the other thing that you have to look at is the ideological constituency that a vp candidate might attract and might be able to help presidential candidate sort of offset a weakness with that constituency. with rubio, again, he's a tea party favorite. if mitt romney is the nominee, in particular, he's not strong with the tea party.

he will want a vp candidate that is able to offset that deficiency and rubio will do that and susanna martinez in new mexico, as brian sandoval, the governor of nevada, who also is hispanic and is from a hotly contested state and has appeal with tea partiers. so, a lot of possibilities out there. the reason why we're talking aby about this, though, is we're looking at the weakness of the presidential candidates and depending on which candidate emerges with the nomination, that will go a long way. >> jonathan, what about, what about chris christie? >> you can't ever rule chris christie out. i don't think you can rule him out jumping in at the last minute for president. >> you think he is still in this thing? >> there is so much pressure on him. you have republican operatives who are, they are focus grouping for chris christie and then bringing him the results to try

to pressure him to get into the race. those are not authorized by the christie organization. and chris christie is still saying that he is not going to run. but what rick perry's entrance shows, craig, is that you can get in late and still be a form able candidate. >> ten second before we have to get out of here, ken, what about paul ryan? any chance at this point paul ryan gets in the fray? >> i just don't see it. a representative with low name i.d. nationally and no national fund-raising network and his number one achievement or the thing he's most known for is the budget plan that democrats have shown an ability quite successfully by saying it will end medicare. >> it's not demagogue. it would end medicare and turn it into a privatized program. so, i'd just be careful with

that word. >> ability to use it as a political issue against him and other democrats and they would do it, if he were a vice presidential candidate or a presidential candidate. >> jonathan, ken, thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thanks a lot, craig. three weeks away now from the big brian williams will moderate wednesday, september 7th. right here on msnbc, the place for politics. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma,

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markets. the dow bouncing back just a tad. at one point it was down more than 500 points today and right now down about 460 on a perfect storm of bad economic news, including inflation rising. so did the number of first-time unemployment claims. up over 400,000. president obama taking heat from political opponents for his decision to take a ten-day vacation while a national job crisis persists. the martha's vineyard trip has become a trudprigz it first family but critics believe the president needs to stay inside the beltway to work on solutions to revive our economy. donovan slack is the white house reporter with the "boston globe." already there at martha's vineyard. let's talk about perception here. what is the white house going to be able to say? how are they going to be able to justify this vacation right now? >> well, so far they haven't really said anything and we don't really expect them to. but i know it's a crazy day on

wall street and i have to say it's a beautiful day today on martha's vineyard. >> let's talk about martha's vineyard because how much of this is about the vineyard itself? if the president were taking a vacation to a more blue collar destination, do you think he would be getting the same type of flack from critics? >> you know, if i remember correctly, every president gets some sort of flack when he goes on vacation. george bush got flack when he was out at the ranch. the president and his team expect the flack and it certainly started early this year. the president has not even arrived yet and already the republican national committee, local gop here in massachusetts have issued press releases, exchle for him taking any kind of vacation. >> do we know the number of days compared to presidents past? >> no. i mean, this is his historic,

you know, historically he takes ten days or so at the end of august, as he's always done. spend the entire month of august on his ranch in texas. >> drew the short straw at martha's vineyard for the next few days. you enjoy that. >> no complaints here, craig. >> i would imagine not. >> thank you. news from the happening front now. the national association of realtors reporting that home sales drop 3d.5% last month marking the third decline in four months. and the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage has fallen to its lowest level since 1971. it's now 4.15%. the city of detroit has been especially hard hit by the housing crisis in an effort to bring their communities and started offering about 200 free and reduced priced homes to officers living outside the city limits, but less than a dozen are moving in.

>> opportunity. one from a financial standpoint. okay, that helps me, you know, she's become more expensive every day. >> as this thing starts to get legs and i think once booker is in here and other officers start to visit and see the kind of homes that are available in the city, they'll make the same kind of decision he's made. >> msnbc contributor melissa joining me. columnist for "the nation," as well. can a program like this in detroit, can a program like this be enough to bring that city back? >> i don't know if any single program is enough to bring detroit back. it's a city that's struggling in a lot of ways. this is a brilliant program and i think it is indicative of exactly the opposite sort of thinking than what we've seen, for example, in wisconse wiscon. instead of looking at public sectors employers and saying you're a drain on our system, instead, you look at public sector employees and you say,

wait a minute, police officers are valuable in our community. we want to get them into our community and particularly with police officers because we know that when community policing is happening and people know their police officer and when their kids go to school together you end up with better quality policing and a better quality tax base in your city. >> this is one of, i mean, one of many programs around the country. there's a similar program, as well, called the officer next door. what other things can local governments be doing in places like detroit to revive stalling economies? >> look, i think the key that i really like in this detroit story is that rather than doing what so many cities have done, which is to kind of give aways to the corporations. you know, you come in and put your business here. supposedly you'll make jobs and often you give away so much in tax insennives they don't even make the jobs. instead they look at the residence and what can we do for the residence in the communities? it's a tough neighborhood, but we live in that community

because being there is being part in service to the community and also, by the way, a great place to live and to raise a family, if you're willing to get over some of those cosmetic issues that make a neighborhood anxiety producing. >> more than 50% of the officers live outside the city limits. i mean, how reasonable is it to expect some of these officers to have sort of a vested interest in the city and the community when they live on the outskirts, when they live in the suburbs. >> again, officers, teachers, these are the sort of community pillars that we want them living right next door to us because we want them to have the same interests in these neighborhoods that we have. >> all right, i enjoyed you last night, by the way. >> thanks. great to see you, again. >> i caught you on lawrence last night. you're filling in for lawrence o'donnell, "the last word" here on msnbc. >> thanks. just in time for the back to school shopping season, a clash between a controversial clothing label and the cast of mtv's

"jersey shore." jeff rossen joining us with more on this situation, literally and figuratively. what's the word, man? >> you heard of product placement, right? this is the opposite of that. kind of bizarre, too. out of no where abercrombie & fitch put out a press release saying the situation and i'm quoting here "could cause significant damage to our image by wearing their brand." this is the same company that sold a t-shirt last year basically using his name on the front. mark your calendars for the first time mike "the situation" sorentino didn't cause a controversy, it came to him. >> that was pretty easy. >> reporter: on mtv's "jersey shore" the situation has worn clothing from abercrombie & fitch. nice green pants. now company says the association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand and it's offered the situation and the rest of the cast a substantial payment to stop wearing it. >> i would never wear what the

situation wears. >> probably wouldn't date anyone to wears the things that he wears. >> reporter: this same company has been under fire for exploiting children in racy ads, featuring half-naked teenagers. the company has also been accused of discrimination against black, asian and female employees. they settled several lawsuits. abercrombie was even criticized for marketing push-up bikinis to young girls this year. >> it seems incredibly hypocritical that abercrombie would point the finger at the situation and say he's too unseenly for their brand given their outlandish publicity stunts. >> reporter: speaking of the situation, abercrombie & fitch cashed in on his name last year. marketing this t-shirt the fitchuation. >> i think it's a publicity stunt. >> reporter: but not so fast. the situation hasn't agreed to

the deal yet. >> if i was the situation, i would take the money and run. if someone is going to pay you not to work, by all means, go for it. >> the situation did not comment about abercrombie's new offer, none of the cast did. mtv released a statement telling us "it's a clever pr stunt and we would love to work with them on other ways they can leverage jersey shore to reach the largest youth audience on television." craig, on the edge of your seat waiting to see if he takes it. >> this could just be the opening that the situation was waiting for to launch his own clothing line, jeffrey. >> yes, you'd wear what he wears. >> absolutely not. jeff rossen, thank you, sir, appreciate you. sex parties, prostitution, yacht cruises, cars, cash, sounds like an episode of "miami

vice" or perhaps "jersey shore," as well. miami football's program. could the ncaa impose the death penalty? 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. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day.

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get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. down red arrows across the board. there's a look at the markets right now. the dow dropped some 250 points in the first ten minutes of trading. s&p and nasdaq also down all of this amid worries of inflations of new dismal economics and new dismal employment numbers and concerns over the financial crisis in europe. the university of miami's football coach says his team is recovering from the shock of some scandals allegations and the ncaa is calling for fundamental change in college sports. it all stems from an investigation into the relationship between a former booster and the university of miami football team. the booster shapiro is serving 20 years in prison right now for

running a ponzi scheme. >> i don't know what the facts are. again, my job right now is to fully cooperate with the investigation. and nobody wants us to move along more quickly than i do. we talked about extra benefits and we talk about all these things that are examples all over the country. so, it's something that we take very seriously. >> mark is a sports radio talk show host. for folks not familiar with this miami story. let's give them the background here. a booster that says he gave improper benefits to about 72 current and former players, as well. sex parties, prostitution, yacht cruises, cars, cash. how unprecedented is all of this? >> well, you forgot the suv rims, too. this is a buffet of malfesance. you heard stories of the $100

hand shakes and the dinners and the tabs being picked a. this one is a doocy. i have to say, i spoke to an official at university of miami. let's take a step back. this is not the most scrupulous man in the world. how many hundreds of millions did he scam from people? hey, did he think that when the money went away and the hookers and strippers and these guys would remain to be his friends? absolutely not. >> the ncaa acknowledged that they have been investigating the university of miami for about five months now. there's clearly something to the allegati allegations. one of the things that struck me about all of this is that app r appears to highlight, once again, in college athletics these middlemen and their relationship with college athletes. >> you know, there's definitely something there and you have these people that want to be called. they have the cash to do it. i want to point this out, too.

when the kids, when they say like at ohio state, well, we didn't know this and we didn't know that. that is a flat out lie because i will tell you universities are tireless at telling their players, especially football players, perhaps on a daily basis to the point of an eight-hour classayi saying here what you can and cannot do. look around both sidelines. at major college football games. they're there and they're there and they are also the guys patting somebody on the back. even if it's a bad game, he's telling him, you're the man because he wants to hang with him. >> ncaa said this should lead to a fundamental change in college athletics. do we think this happens or do we think this is another example and we'll be talking about another big tom blue chip university five, six months from now being accused of the same thing? >> i tell you my thoughts on this. in 1987 the death penalty was

given to smu. the ncaa right this second -- what's that? right this second, right this second they're thinking, is it time to reinstitute this death penalty because things slowed down after that and they picked back up again. we can go on and on with the different universities and the different problems. that's what's weighing on the minds of the ncaa. do we slow it down to say we're putting our foot down again on what is happening? that is the question. >> coach, the coach there saying that the vast majority of the players knew nothing of this. there has been a great deal of discussion over the past few months, it seems at least, the concept, the idea of paying college players or if not paying them, at least providing them with stipens.

>> when i see 105,000 in college stadiums and jerseys flying off the racks and i do feel that paying the players a bit more, i'm not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a bit more. a, would keep them in school longer. and b, arrest some of this. i have seen in a few cases where players have done it for their families. with that said, yeah, will it stop it totally? absolutely not. something else to note. there have been times. there was a time in a day in the college locker room some players say, i didn't know what was going on. no, you know what's going on where kids use to police them selves. i think that has gone by the wayside. >> sports radio talk show host mark, thanks, appreciate you. >> it's my pleasure. thank you for having me. the gang of four. google, facebook, apple, amazon.com companies ruling the business right now. will one king of the tech titans

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the dow down right now about 400 points and believe it or not, that is about 100 points better than it was an hour and some change ago. markets continuing to take a tumble. we'll keep following it for you. amid all this market turmoil, though, power brokers of the digital age are flouri flourishing. in tech circles they are known as the gang of four. google, facebook, apple, amazon.com, each of them a household name to american consumers, and they are all in the race to the top. but in an ever-changing world, who has the clout to be king of the mountain? a financial reporter for the "washington post" joining us this morning. what does each of the four have and what does each lack for total world domination? >> these companies are just impossible to escape at this point. every consumer deals with them so you've got google, world's most dominant search engine, and

they're creeping into phones now with their android and then you have apple, of course, led by the legendary steve jobs, tons of devices that have become wildly popular in recent years. you've got amazon, the world's biggest online retailer and then finally, facebook. they have the world's biggest social network. >> and none of the companies is complacent right now. days ago, i read where amazon is expanding. talk about what amazon is trying to do. >> amazon, you can see, they used to just be selling plain old books and they have gone heavily into digital age so they're making, they obviously have the kindle device, it's been reported they are going to make their own tablet. they're looking a little more like apple, even. you saw that this week with the google announcement they are buying motorola. you have these companies that start from really different points, really different business models, starting to converge because they know they have to compete on every front and so google, too, they will start making phones themselves, manufacturing them, not just providing the android software.

they are going head-to-head with apple. >> how do these companies look in five years, perhaps even ten years from now? >> hard to tell. they are definitely all going to be around. this is not some kind of bubble. these are all products and services that everyone absolutely needs. you are probably going to see them merging a little more and more to look like each other and maybe achieve some sort of balance, because they do have to work together. that's the thing. they are really intense rivalries but facebook doesn't really have devices and you can see that people definitely check into their facebook accounts using google's android phones, apple's iphones. they need each other. they can't destroy each other as much as they want to sometimes. >> if you were a betting woman, which company dominates the landscape or do they peacefully co-exist forever? >> they might peacefully co-exist. i think of the bunch, you can see that google and apple have something of a running start. obviously facebook is much smaller. amazon still mostly is in the business of retailing. but both google and apple have

already caught the eye of government regulators who are wondering if they are getting too powerful. >> thank you. appreciate that. >> thanks for having me. we've got some breaking news right now that we are following here. breaking news in gaza. israeli aircraft, military officials there reporting an air strike on southern gaza following deadly attacks on southern israel. breaking news in gaza. israeli aircraft hitting southern gaza right now. that's breaking news. we are going to continue to follow it. also learning that seven people have been killed there. militants saying five palestinians were killed in the air strikes. contessa brewer will pick it up from here on the breaking news and lots more. how are you? >> we're watching several developing situations. we have more on gaza ahead. also, the situation in syria is getting intense. you've got the president, the administration and the markets tanking amid a weak economy. all of this raising questions

about whether the president should take off for vacation as he's supposed to do in a few hours. a new twist in the case of a missing american woman in aruba. what police now say about the prime suspect in that case. we'll be right back. ♪

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morning as investors worry about predictions for a slower global economy. >> the world is in a situation where the new normal is extraordinarily low growth. >> there's no reason why we shouldn't put americans back to work all across the country rebuilding america. >> president obama says he's got a plan to get the u.s. economy moving again, that includes tax cuts, budget cuts and a second stimulus. but for specifics, you'll have to wait until after labor day. >> why doesn't he tell us today? >> a lot of people want answers. approval for the president's handling of the economy's at a new low of 26% in the latest polls. even the president's loyal supporters are pushing him for more, again and again. >> our unemployment is at depression levels now, and so this is why we're speaking up. >> too little, too late. >> the gop presidential candidates are piling on. >> his plan three years ago ha