comprehensive tax reform. would like the super committee to work on that. also will make the case for pro-growth policies passed through congress, through the white house. we heard from republicans, they would like some free trade agreements with columbia, panama, south korea, also possible extension of payroll tax. those are areas of compromise. he will make the case for substantial tax reform done through the super committee. republicans as a whole are not very receptive to the president's plan. listen to paul ryan this morning on morning joe. >> what we don't like is repeating mistakes. all this temporary booster shot stimulus didn't work in the stimulus package, didn't work when the last administration tried these things. we don't want to go with ideas that have proven to fail, we want to go with ideas that have proven to succeed. >> so thomas, what you see there is why this bill is as a gop aide told me earlier this week dead on arrival in united states congress. $447 billion is not something

the gop has, is going to be willing to pay for, considering a lot of methods to do that would be viewed as a tax increase. where is the common ground? perhaps we will see it from john boehner's speech later today and in the coming weeks. but the plan as a whole, no chance it is going to get through congress, thomas. >> luke russert, thank you. we will talk about four key indicators showing how much the economy is struggling of the unemployment benefits jumped by 11,000 last week. the labor department says we are paying more for everything. consumer price index, a key indicator rose in august. households receiving foreclosure notices went up 33% from the month before. and despite strong auto production in august that pushed factory output, production was

weaker than in july. ron, what's the take away from the numbers. what are they telling us about the forecast as we go into fall? >> thomas, it is more of what we've seen over the summer. numbers leave something to be desired to say the least. jobless claims above 400,000 is a disturbing number. shows we are not getting any movement as we hoped earlier in the year. i would discount inflation data. we are seeing downward price pressures in certain areas of the economy, more risk of deflation and recession than accelerated growth and inflation. i wouldn't worry as much about cpi as i would about weak manufacturing and jobless figures out this morning. >> why, and it appears they are coming down a bit. explain the fluctuation. now we are up above the psychological amount of 11,000,

people see green arrows across the board. explain what we're seeing. >> i don't think we're seeing much reaction to data this morning. what's happening now, the debt crisis in europe because it gathered so much momentum prompted the european central bank, u.s. federal reserve and several other central banks today announced they would supply very cash strapped european banks with unlimited supply of dollars. it is a technical maneuver. some french banks and others appear to be having a funding problem like our banks did in 2008. we are going with similar style solution and providing liquidity to european banks and markets responded positively to that news as another step toward fixing the european debt crisis. that's why the stock market is up today. >> talk about the rogue trader. >> one of many in the history of financial markets. >> he lost $2 billion to bad trades, $2 billion to bad trades. >> yeah. >> how is that possible?

>> well, you know, the failure to supervise in the financial industry here or abroad has never been a terribly surprising event. back in 1987, i remember a merrill lynch trader in mortgage securities who effectively drawered a trade. put a bad trade in a drawer, would cost the firm $300 million, and a lot of times, like in this case, no one was watching the shop. he was using a particular type of exchange traded fund, managed to elude attention of supervisors and lost money making big, bad debts. nick glees on did it ten years ago, seen it at a variety of firms in stock market history. this stuff happens. typically, risk management is not there, certainly not implemented in a way that would keep these things from happening. >> certainly people are watching now. ron, great to see you. >> thank you, thomas. president obama's problems go beyond the beltway. his approval rating is sliding

in some of the most economic states in the nation. that could mean lower turnout among his strongest supporters. karen hunter, msnbc contributor, and robert train up, washington bureau chief for comcast network. great to see you both. karen, start with the numbers. put them on the screen. the approval rating in california, new york, ohio, illinois, we have seen the labor lose power in states, unemployment on the rise. is the president's re-election bid in real danger, up when we're looking at targeted places of popularity for the president? >> if we look at the straight numbers, you should say yes. what happened yesterday in new york with the special election, a lot of people thought that was a referendum on the president. i actually don't think he's going to lose new york or california or a lot of states, but people will sit home because that's what happened in new york. what we're not doing is putting him against the republican candidate, which another poll shows he beats all of them. we can look at the numbers, but

at the end of the day, he handily will walk away with the presidency, if up against romney by a slight margin, and it is a long way away. >> robert, people aren't pleased with congressional republicans. bloomberg giving them more to blame for washington's problems than the president. but however, president obama is the first person that comes to people's minds when they think about fixing washington and the economy or lack thereof. >> of course he is the top of the ticket in 2012. no question about it. let's be honest. president obama is not going to lose california, he is not going to lose massachusetts or new york. to karen's point, traditional democratic base, jewish individuals, african-americans, latinos, blue collar folks, so-called reagan democrats, if they don't come out in full force in swing states like pennsylvania, ohio, florida, like north carolina, that's where the president has a real problem, and that's the main reason you see the president in

those presidential swing states. saw him a few days ago in north carolina and in ohio and so forth. will see him in florida. it is a numbers game. at the end of the day, president obama could run against mickey mouse. with 9.1% unemployment, mickey mouse may win. the reason is people are hurting and people always, always, always vote by the pocketbooks in presidential elections. >> disney is the happiest place on earth. you can't put him up against mickey mouse. >> i'm obviously being facetious. my point was back in 1980, had a deep recession. jimmy carter's folks were salivating when they had ronald reagan in the debate, thought he was a trigger happy cowboy. they thought this was the answer to their prayers. look what happened, he won in a landslide. >> this is a different culture. there's a lot more going on here now. >> talking about fair weather democrats. >> like i said, there's a lot going on. it is sad to watch the disloyalty, sad to watch the

fair weather nature, sad to see them vote their own interest instead of for the people. it is important the president get to the states in front of the american people and drive the message home. just talking about the jobs bill they are parsing up now. let's be clear, the healthcare plan he put forth, this wasn't it. called it obama care, was ripped apart because people in congress don't want this man to succeed. it's not fair. >> we talk about the jobs bill, it is the social appeal of what the country is going to throw their weight behind that's going to turn the tide in washington, d.c., we'll see what happens as everything plays out as the president tries to sell this. i think that the stalemate will continue, the way it goes through, if it does at all, it will be picked apart. >> sad for us, right? because we really need this. >> we'll see what happens. karen hunter, robert trainer. thank you for being with us. an effort is under way to

free journalists from iran. an official says a delegation of lawmakers is in the iranian capitol. they are trying to seal $1 million bail for freedom. talks are under way, but there is no timetable on possible release. they spent the last two years in iranian prison detained on the iran, iraq border. this is the closest they have come to being freed. going rogue, the palins come out swinging against bombshell allegations. is there any truth to a new tell-all book? and a racially charged death penalty case in texas has rick perry on the offensive. should he stop this man's execution plan for tonight? we have those details straight ahead. waiting, hoping. that's not how successful investing is done. at e-trade it's harnessing some of the most powerful yet easy to use trading tools on the planet to help diversify, identify opportunities, take action. it's using professional grade research and your brain

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the controversial book on sarah palin's rise to fame and her relationships in alaska is finally ready to hit book shelves. now we're getting details about the book that may have the palin family coming out swinging. savannah guthrie is here with more about the interview with the author. hi. >> a lot of people know joe mcginniss. he has been writing books since his book on richard nixon. now he focused on alaska's famous politician. to get the story, he got very close to his subject. the rogue, a 318 take down of palin by best selling author joe mcginniss paints a scathing portrait of the woman that could have been vice president. >> an utter fraud. an absolute utter fraud. >> you call her a tenth grade mean girl. >> oh, that's -- those are kind words, compared to what you would hear in wasilla today. the thing i found, savannah, that really surprised me was

that the people that know her best like her least. >> mcginniss spent four months in alaska, claims he spoke to approximately 200 people, a mix of old associates, acquaintances and former friends. but the book was causing controversy before he wrote one word. >> she had a problem with you living next door. >> she did, and i don't know why she did. >> really, you don't know why? >> i really don't. >> but the experience becomes a huge part of the story. >> you really became a character in the book. >> sarah made me a character. she's a phenomenon. i said that to todd when he came trom pg across my lawn to confront me about living next door. he said why are you writing about her anyway. i said todd, i have been writing about politics since 1968. your wife is a phenomenon. there has been no one like her in american politics before. no one has come from nowhere to get so far. >> in a statement to nbc news, he writes that he is a man that

quote traffic in innuendo and false hoods, and spent the last year sburg marginal figures with an axe to grind in order to churn out a hit piece to satisfy his own creepy obsession with my wife. he says talking with those that knew palin convinces him there's less than meets the eye. he accuses her of using her children as props and wasn't much of a mother at all. >> people that knew the family the entire period of time the children were growing up told me in ways that i found very believable that sarah palin was virtually nonexistent as a mother. >> he describes a rocky palin marriage with todd and sarah fighting incessantly, threatening divorce, something they have denied in the past. another bombshell, he writes that both todd and sarah have used cocainethatin has not been verified. >> how do you substantiate something. >> talk to somebody that snorted it with her, and talk to many of todd's friends who describe him

as having been on the end of the straw frequently in his youth. i am not saying that todd and sarah palin today abuse cocaine or even use it, but there is no question they both did at one point in their lives. >> he quotes friends that speak of a sexual encounter palin had with basketball star glen rice in 1987 when she was a sports reporter for a local anchorage station prior to her marriage. it is not clear from the book whether rice admits or denies the encounter. he told mcginniss in a short time we got to know a lot about one another. it was all done in a respectful way, nothing hurried. he continues she was a gorgeous woman, super nice. i was blown away by her. afterward, she was a big crush i had. he portrays palin as hands off when it came to governing alaska, but a ruthless political opportunist that crushed her enemies, and rarely lived up to the fiscal conservative image she championed. >> hypocrite, at the best, at

best she's a hypocrite. >> and at worse? >> she's a vindictive hypocrite. >> he acknowledges he talked to few friends. >> do you think you were fair to her in the book? >> i was as fair as i could possibly have been, given the fact she told all the people who were closest to her not to talk to me. >> in his statement to nbc news, todd palin says former members of sarah palin's administration interviewed for a separate magazine story said joe mcginniss was the most disingenuous, and intellectual dishonest writer they'd ever dealt with. he went on to say i ask the fathers and husbands of america to consider our privacy when one summer day i found this guy on the deck of the rental property just 18 feet away next door to us staring like a creep at my wife while she mode the lawn in her shorts. >> probably one of the first responses of many to come for a lot of people that will have questions about the book.

people that pick it up will have to judge it for themselves. savannah guthrie, great to see you. customers in a bike shop are lucky to be alive. watch this as a car came crashing through the store, tearing through it. the car mowed down everything in its path, narrowly missing two people, one on crutches. luckily no one was hurt. the store reopened the next day. no word on whether charges will be filed against the driver behind the wheel. brandon wright, a 21-year-old motorcyclist pulled out from beneath a burning car is expected to recover, and is going to be speaking to the press about that this afternoon. brandon has a group of good samaritans to thank for still being alive. today we are sure to hear about that coming up at 1:00 p.m. when he speaks from his hospital in utah. [ grandma ] why do relationships matter? [ grandpa ] relationships are the basis of everything. [ grandma ] relationships are life...

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there's been a potentially grim development in the case of a missing utah woman. two years ago, susan powell, a 28-year-old mom of two vanished without a trace. yesterday, they found human remains in a desert not far from where her husband claims she was last seen. susan's parents now say they're just waiting for word from police. >> it raises our hopes that we're going to have some kind of closure of what happened to her. but on the other hand, it also takes away the hope she's alive. it is both edges of a sword, i don't know where we go with that, it is something we're living with. >> michelle, it feels like the family has been on a roller coaster ride a dozen times or more in the last 22 months, trying to get clues. it is not the first time bones have been found in the powell case. remind all of us about the case, what might make this discovery

different. >> well, susan went missing, thomas, in december of 2009. since then, a lot of focus has been placed on her husband josh who was only named a person of interest. police said on a number of occasions he is not cooperative with them. he picked up the children and moved to washington state not long after susan went missing. from that point forward, every time a body is found or bones discovered, any time there's any kind of movement throughout various states around utah, investigators go out, they try to determine if it is susan, and all those times have been like a fire drill. thankfully, because we want her to show up alive. having said that in this particularly discovery, this makes it different because this is a place investigators were searching. they came across this. this isn't something someone else called in, they were out there, they came across the discovery. we should know soon enough whether this is susan or not. >> as you point out, the only person of interest police have cited in the case here is the

husband, josh. and if i remember correctly, he took the kids camping that night, correct? >> he did. >> late at night, cold outside. >> very cold. >> took the kids camping. the proximity of remains to the home as we showed the map a moment ago, is that a big red flag? >> it is in this particular case. if you remember last month, investigators called a large press conference in nevada, more than 200 miles from where she went missing. this spot is about 30 minutes away from where josh took those kids, allegedly camping in the middle of the night. this is an area they have targeted. also last month, police did execute a search warrant, not an arrest warrant, but a search warrant on josh's family home where he lives now with his father in washington state. so again, not a suspect, only a person of interest. and we're moving forward with the case. >> and there's a war of words

between the cox's, her parents. it escalate, susan's father suspects the husband. josh's father who you say josh lives with claims susan was promiss cue us, and her father says he is a liar. >> i see this so many times in the last 12 years of covering these types of cases, something like this draws a family together or completely rips them apart. in this case, it ripped the powell family apart, along with susan's family and friends. susan's family, i spoke with one of her good friends in the last 22 months. what she told me earlier, susan did confide in her and say josh's dad did come onto me, i didn't feel comfortable about it. that's why we moved to utah. i did not talk to josh's father this morning, i want to make it clear. what i can tell you based on published reports is that what he is saying susan was flirtatious toward him, they had some sort of relationship.

there is something going on in the court system now to prevent the powells, steve powell, from publishing susan's private journal, her private diary from when she was in high school. there has been a two week order on that. they are trying to get a permanent order and there's been restraining orders and a lot going on in this case. right now, let's keep it on susan. if you have information, pick up the phone, call the police. >> great advice there. we will keep on it to see what they say about the bones found. >> have a good day. >> you, too. high school scores down across the board. are these standardized tests a true measure of our intelligence? melissa harris-perry sounds off. and rick perry and donald trump. did they keep the dinner meeting simple? a texas barbeque? find out how the dining and meeting went coming up. down the hill?

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the obama administration delta serious set back to al qaeda operations in pakistan. we want to check in with nbc news pete yms. what's the update? >> a senior administration official tells nbc news the second in command in pakistan, rather the chief of operations of al qaeda in pakistan was killed earlier this week in an operation in remote pakistani tribal region of waziristan. this is on the heels of last month when the second in command in al qaeda was killed in a military operation in the same area. this was you remember after bin laden's death, is a was harry became the number two. that's the one killed last month. now the kmings says the chief of operations for al qaeda in

pakistan has been killed and the official says this will further degrade al qaeda's ability to recover because he had operational experience and connections there, and had been working closely with the taliban in pakistan to conduct coordinated attacks. >> pete williams in washington for us, thank you. >> you bet. here are other headlines we're following in the news now. police suspect an explosion triggered the fire on a norwegian cruise ship killing two, forcing everyone to evacuate off the norway western coast. 262 people were on board when the engine room fire broke out. at least two people were killed. several others had to be taken to the hospital with burns and smoke inhalation injuries. neither snow, rain, heat nor gloom of night could slow the post office, but the economic recession is taking a toll on the long-standing institution. they are proposing consolidation of the large processing facilities nationwide from 450

to 200. and that could mean a loss of some 35,000 jobs. the ultimate goal to save the postal service $3 billion. the food and drug administration is working to find the source of contaminated cantaloupe blamed for a deadly listeria outbreak. no official recall was announced. officials say most of the sickened cantaloupes are from one region in colorado. jenson farms is voluntarily recalling sant loeps that went to 17 states between july 29 and september 10. former u.s. marine dakota meyer will be the third living recipient of medal of honor for acts of heroism. he charged through heavy gunfire five time to rescue american troops and afghan soldier. but he denies he is a hero. >> i don't even like the word hero, you know. hero, i'm the furthest thing

from a hero. i'll accept it on behalf of the marine corps and for the guys that died. >> we will think of him as a hero. president obama invited him to share a couple of pints of beer on the patio outside the oval office yesterday before today's white house ceremony which we are bringing you live at 2:45 eastern time. a presidential election comes down to simple math. win 270 electoral college votes, win the nomination. if republican leaders in pennsylvania change the way the state awards electoral votes, it could start a national trend that puts more pressure on obama's re-election team. right now, 48 states are winner take all for electoral votes. how would the proposed changes impact the electoral math in pennsylvania. >> well, it would give the republican party that controls thomas the pennsylvania legislature and governor's

office significant control. in the process, would disenfranchise voters and votes individually would not at all have the same weight they currently have in the current electoral congress process. it is kind of complicated because it goes to redistricting. right now, the republicans again controlling the house and senate could move one and simply make it rule in the land that based on congressional district, votes would be given to the presidential candidate. if this happened in 2008, president obama would have gotten significantly less electoral votes. he still would have won, but would have gotten less. because of the current situation, the economy and so forth, there's concern about it in the state of pennsylvania. i don't think it will actually come to fruition. i think it is talk. jay costa, the minority leader in the pennsylvania house, said recently that there are a lot of republicans that are concerned about this electoral process

vote counting now for a year away, while many people across the state are concerned about a paycheck next week. so there's a real concern on the part of the president and democrats across the country to create jobs. that's really where the focus is now. the whole idea about electoral ways, kind of not important to most people across the country, certainly not in pennsylvania. >> certainly there are lots of bigger fish to fry in the country when it comes to the economy and americans out of work looking for work. however, is this something that you think in the long run could catch fire? >> well, if the republicans want to create a significant problem in the state of pennsylvania long term, and across the country, i think it could be. there is kind of a commitment as we all know on the part of the republican party to remove barack obama from the white house. they've said it over and over and over again. pennsylvania, there's a consistent kind of thread to

that. but the will of the people has to be considered. and i think the idea that you take away an individual's right to vote essentially is a concern. you have to remember the republican party suggested that we show id to vote, and other ways to frustrate voters, particularly voters of color across this state and across the country. i think that's a concern here. >> you make a great point, there are a lot of bigger concerns for people to worry about. we will continue to watch this. e. steven collins, thanks for your time. >> good to be with you. since rick perry is in office, 235 convicted killers were put to death in texas. in the next few hours unless his administration steps in, the number will become 236. dwayne buck was convicted of gunning down his girlfriend and another man in 1985, but his lawyers are asking for his execution to be halted because a

psychologist told jurors in the sentencing phase of the trial that black criminals were more likely to pose a danger if they were to be released. the assistant district attorney in that case has written to the state this week saying no individual should be executed without being afforded a fair trial, untainted by considerations of race. and linda gethen who wrote that joins us. i want to get to this. then texas attorney general john core nine now a senator called for review of six trials involving this psychologist in 2000. why was his testimony so critical to the case? >> this particular witness was brought forth by the defendant to testify to mitigation. that's one of the questions that go to the jury. when the defense proffered the witness, he said blacks were

reported disproportionate, that's not a problem. on cross examination as any effective prosecutor would, the prosecutor continued to question in that line of questioning and asked the witness did the fact that mr. buck was black contribute to his possible future dangerousness, and he answered yes. race should never be injected in front of the jury in any case, particularly a capital case. >> linda, when you were second chair prosecutor in this case, the lead prosecutor has said she has no concern whatsoever in regard to the case. are your concerns more about the fact that race played regard in sentencing than it did to whether or not dwayne buck was guilty? because this was a brutal crime. >> no doubt he's guilty and that's not what the issue is at all. my concern is in fact that race went before the jury in the punishment hearing.

we're not asking for this prisoner to be released, we're not asking for anything simply but a rehearing on the issue of punishment where race wasn't brought up. >> how big a roll is politics playing in the potential is pol playing in the potential of that hearing happening?e is politics playing in the potential of that hearing happening? >> certainly it is playing a roll. the person that can change the course of events, governor perry, is a presidential candidate, and on your own network spoke out about death penalty recently, but we're hoping and optimistic that this case is distinguished from other cases in that the governor's office looks closely at the facts in this case. as you stated, then attorney general cornin separated this case with sex others. all the other cases have had rehearing. mr. buck's case seems to have fallen through the cracks. that should never happen in any

case, particular case where death could be an ultimate outcome. >> are you optimistic? >> i'm always optimistic. anything can happen. and we still have time, and i'm fully confident the governor's office will review everything and i'm optimistic that the right thing will be done. >> linda, thanks so much for your time. we'll watch this along with everybody else concerned. linda geffin, former harris county assistant da. >> thank you. the class of 2011 is in a bit of a slump when comes to scores. according to college board, average math scores fell. what does this mean? a sign of less intelligent kids or real learning is being compromis compromised. joining me, melissa harris-perry, column nis for the nation, uniquely qualified to answer questions about sat

scores. should we be surprised by the numbers? >> i don't think we should be surprised. there are a few things we learned about the scores over the decades. the first is that they track more closely with parental income and parental wealth than with actual achievement in college. the fact we're in the middle of an economic recession, so parents' numb and wealth is decreasing, it is not surprising you see the main thing it correlates with is also decreasing. part of what college boards are talking about is that you have so many first generation students taking the sat in hopes of getting into college, so when we look at the ago gat, sort of the first generation students are pulling down the overall average. the fact is those scores never did much to tell us what kinds of college students the kids were going to be. it mostly told us what sorts of households the kids came from. >> let's talk more about that. the college board says 1.65

million students from the 2011 class took the sat. out of that, it expanded to 44% minority, 36 first generation college goers, 27% english as second language. isn't that level of diversity a positive sign? >> yeah, it should be, right? what that means is that there's a broader group of american high school students who are imagining themselves as american college students. first generation, black and latino students, and students who have families that they typically might not expect these kids to go on to college, but now they're imagining they can. the problem is with the sell he can activity of the colleges, sat is tracking more with background questions than with actual capacity to perform in school. you may have a more diverse pool, but not end up with more diverse outcome on college campuses. >> as we flip through the video of the book, i get hives

thinking about taking the sats. i will leave it there. melissa harris-perry, thanks for being here. appreciate it. >> thanks, thomas. so we know she's a lover of music. michaele salahi goes from gate crasher to gaga wannabe. her husband thought she was kidnapped. turns out she ran with open arms to a journey of her own. almost tastes like one of 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.

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more celebrities are falling prey to hackers. the fbi is on the case. the latest to actress scarlett johansson and mila kunis. they are investigating how nude pictures ended up on the web. sienna miller spoke to the "today" show about how she was hurt by hackers working for news corp. >> everything has impacted enormously, had a huge impact on relationships. on a personal level, that feeling of violation, it was bad for me. what's come to light, victims of crime were being hacked and that's atrocious. that's on another level. >> joining me now, analyst and fbi profiler, clint van sant. these are part of the hollywood elite, celebrity status aside, how serious is this on a criminal scale and what are the legal ramifications?

>> the fbi has a lot of responsibilities, but this is a potential federal violation. whoever is hacking in, realized there's at least 50 celebrities allege they were hacked into, this is a crime that could well send people to jail. thomas, you and i have to question, who is taking nude pictures of themselves and keeping it on their cell phone, fortunately not me, but stars do things different than you and i do. >> this is the type of situation that we heard from the murdocks from news corp. and the type of scandal coming from the investigations that the british papers were doing for "the daily mail", conversations hacked into. what is the fueling the rise in privacy invasion, what can people do to protect themselves, double down on their own security? >> number one, bad news sells or any news sells seems like concerning celebrities. i think part of it is that

celebrities aren't doing things to protect themselves. there's things that not only a celebrity but that you and i need to do to protect our cell phone. there's at least three different things i can think of. >> and those are? people have poor judgment. >> they do. number one, don't take -- yeah, tlae that's a fact. number one, don't take nude pictures of yourself and keep them on your cell phone. besides that, everybody needs to create a voice mail password and change it every so often. that means when you go on the cell phone, you have to put a password in. hackers rely on people being limit the number of messages that your cell phone can hold on to and thomas after you've heard that message, delete it so nobody can hack in and get the message. lastly buy a cell phone, i've got one i use, if i lose it, if somebody steals it, i can go online, tell the phone to wipe everything off. wipe the messages and my address

book, wipe it all off and keep that backed up on your home computer. you've got the information, you can download it to a new cell phone. >> food for thought for a lot of people, clint, thanks so much. >> thank you, thomas. >> michael jackson amassed a huge amount of debt over his lifetime. new details about what he's been able to leave his family. it may surprise you. that's next. why do we have aflac... aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do. aflac! pays cash so we don't have to fret. [ together ] ♪ something families should get ♪ ♪ like a safety net ♪ even helps pay deductibles, so cover your back, get... ♪ a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aflac! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ beatboxing ] setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family,

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welcome back. our type for the flip side. with the announcement this week that michael he state earned $310 million since his death in 2009, the jackson family is even closer to settling the singer's $500 million debt. mj's mom and the kids will receive $30 million in trusts but it begs the question, how did the king of pop get so deep in the hole? there was the real estate that jackson bought, the neverland ranch, 2600-acre property for $19.5 until and added $35

million in amenities like a go cart track and rail lines and the big purchase of the 250 song beatles catalog for more than $40 million. he also owned a fleet of 75 luxury vehicles including four limb mows and collection of vintage cars, zeeb bras and giraffes and alpaca's and bubbles the chimp, cost $17,000 annually. imagine what jackson paid over the 20-plus years they had together. very interesting to know he has made so much money since his death in '09. that's going to do it for me. i'm going to see you back here 11:00 a.m. eastern. until then, can you follow me on twitter at thomas a roberts, craig melvin will pick things up for the next hour. we've got breaking news up next. another big blow to al qaeda, major developments in the mission to save the post office.

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that's why we bought a subaru. good day, we start with breaking news, we are just learning that another leader has been killed. pete williams has the latest from washington this afternoon. what do we know? >> well senior odd r administration official tells us al qaeda's chief of operations in pakistan was killed earlier this week. his name was abu al shari and they say this was the result of a drone strike in the remote region of waziristan and this comes as al qaeda was reeling from the death two weeks ago of the number two leader of all of al qaeda, also killed in a drone strike. that action took away the person the terror group had chosen to be second in command after al-zawahri who resumed

leadership of al qaeda when the u.s. killed bin laden. the administration says the person killed this week was a key threat inside pakistan because he was collaborating with the pakistani taliban to conduct coordinated attacks there. >> pete williams, thank you. to the other big story we're watching, panic mode. it has been a tough week for president obama as he tries to sell his jobs plan. one top democrat says it's time for the white house to panic. >> hello north carolina? >> president obama hop scotching swing states trying to sell his jobs plan. >> can we put a stop to the political circus and do something to help the economy? >> but back in washington -- >> it's received as a cool response here on capitol hill, not only from republicans but a lot of democrats as well. >> it's been a week of bad news for the president, including the weekly jobs report suggesting layoffs are up. a new poll showing