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school speech behind him, the president preps for the one that really matters. his speech on health care reform to congress. so what can he accomplish with a public speech that can't be accomplished in private meetings? bankers are looking for new ways to make megabucks. the wall street magicians have come up with a newfangled hokus pokus. a prolific photographer charges huge sums for a photo shoot. how did she get to the point where she had to pay a $24 million loan or lose the rights to all those photographs? for all the gripes about an

economy in the tank, apparently the recession is not hurting these car buyers. these aren't just fancy cars. these are the rock stars of the road. wait until you get a load of the price tag. good tuesday, everyone. it's the economy on msnbc. i'm contessa brewer. my partner in crime melissa francis is on assignment. all that huffing and puffing over the president's school peach, there was nothing controversial or subversive. he addressed the future leaders of our country and told them in no uncertain words what he's asking of them. >> i expect all of you to get serious this year. i expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. i expect great things from each of you. so don't let us down. don't let your family down or your country down. most of all, don't let yourself down. >> nbc michelle kosinski is at west broward high school in florida where watching the

president's speech was mandatory. what's the reaction? >> reporter: hi, contessa. yes, it was, indeed, mandatory. we just talked to a couple of students after they watched it. they saw it an hour early not because they wanted to delay it for editing, but because they wanted to get the whole school together. students found it motivational. we didn't find anybody who had anything negative about it. about the controversy, the students felt it was overblown. one student said it seemed the president was speaking from his heart and experience, didn't feel like just a prepared speech. even though we know the text of the speech had been out there a day ahead of time. the students said they felt te motion of it. they felt it was very heartfelt. we had a little bit of a laugh when one student told us she and her friends don't listen to her parents, but she felt when the president spoke that students would listen and one young lady told us she felt motivated by the speech and really felt inspired to do the best she

could in high school. of course, the parents have much more to say about this. as we said, everybody already knew what he was going to say ahead of time. it was more the timing of it. the fact that the white house put out a proposed lesson plan. the fact that students across the country are essentially a captive audiences. so much sensitivity about other issues going on. it's not surprising the controversy was there. it has almost become a story that there was controversy. now there's debate over the debate over the speech. and the students are kind of bewildered by that. but this school district felt that it was important for the students to watch it. they wouldn't give parents other options and wouldn't let parents take their kids out of school. that would be an unexcused absence. the superintendent of the schools said they offer kids a broad, well-rounded education and that preventing kids from watching the president's speech would have been preventing that goal.

contessa? >> thank you. the pressure is now on for president obama. here he was elected for his big vision, his promise for change. he's gotten bogged down in bipar sanship. his goals are on the line. let's bring in savannah guthrie. how does the president propose getting these warring sides together in a way that hasn't already been accomplished? >> well, look. this is the moment where he really has to bring these factions together. and by the way, they're essentially factions within the democratic party. some don't want the government-run insurance option to be part of reform. the liberal side progressives, some just held a demonstration out front of the white house today, feel there should be and it's a deal breaker. he's got to somehow find a compromise. there's some talk today about different ideas that might accomplish that. one that is getting a little bit

of a resurgence today is this notion of having a trigger. so you have health care reform, a bill that didn't have that public insurance option, but would provide that if insurance companies don't clean up their act, don't start having more choice and competition within a specified amount of time, at that point that the public option would be available. that may be one way to find compromise. but there's really no way to overstate how polarized these sides are on just that one issue of health care reform. >> savannah gitry, thanks a lot for that. you can watch the president's health care address to congress tomorrow night on msnbc at 8:00 eastern. the big question here on where this -- all right. let's go to the senate now. we are just hearing that there's a moment of silence beginning for the late senator ted kennedy. and there's the seat that he haddockhad occupied for so many years.

>> again, the senate reconvening after their august recess. during that recess, they lost for many of them a dear friend and a cherished colleague, senator ted kennedy who had served in that role for a generation or more. and there is the seat that he occupied for so many years. it wouldn't have been a seat that he would have enjoyed being in for this health care debate, an issue that he fought so hard for for so many years. and instead lost his battle with brain cancer just as this deal needed him, the folks who are intent on passing this needed that voice there in the senate. my big questions today on where this health care reform is going, they've been talking about how co-ops could effectively replace the public option. would that work? and will republicans support any legislation, regardless of what's in it? and how pivotal at this point is senator olympia snow in getting a deal done? the white house has been

negotiating with her. looks like she may be the one to break the log jam. day one on the job for new supreme court justice sonia sotomayor. right now the court is holding a formal welcoming ceremony. earlier sotomayor posed with her family in her new digs at the high court. in just a few minutes we'll see the justice again outside the supreme court. the world's major oil producers are not expected to cut oil production. opec meets tomorrow in vienna. its president finds that the global economy rebounding means the organization won't need to take action and said its members are expected to stress compliance with output limits already in place. melissa francis, cohost of it's the economy, will be there to attend. gold climbed above $1,000 an ounce today amid concerns of the u.s. dollar. the rush was sparked by a united

nations report out yesterday that criticized the dollar's position in the global economy. the value of the gold has been on the rise since the recession, since precious metals tend to keep their value in tough economies. hey, forget cash for clunkers. a spring of expensive luxury cars coming on the market. so what do those automakers think? who's going to buy this in the middle of a recession? plus, south carolina governor mark sanford says despite his affair, he's no bill clinton. he also reveals his secret agent mission. more of his revealing interview just ahead. and with the near collapse of the mortgage industry, wall street's looking for the next big way to make big bucks. and it could be life insurance. you know, big payouts if you die early. let's take a look at how that would work. to silence headaches... doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand... of pain reliever. tylenol rapid release gels... release medicine fast.

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. live picture of justice sonia sotomayor outside of the supreme court. her first day on the job. let's bring in nbc justice correspondent pete williams. they named this day something that's very hard to say on television. investiture. >> right. this is now over. they're standing outside. this is chief justice john roberts with justice sotomayor standing at the very top of the supreme court steps. just behind them the big brass doors that lead into the hallway. through that is the supreme court room itself where just a moment ago she was formally made a supreme court justice, even though she's already taken two oaths of office, the constitutional oath and the judicial oath. this morning she had her

relatives in. her mother is there. her stepfather, her brother, and her sister-in-law were all with her today at the court. now, the usual tradition is after this chitchat at the top of the steps, they will walk down the steps. they're going to do it now. there was a question about whether the weather would permit them to do it. but they're going to walk down the supreme court steps, the chief and the newest supreme court justice. she's actually already performed some of the duties of a supreme court justice. she has already voted in some of the decisions the supreme court has to make on which cases to grant and which cases to refuse. those come in during the summer. and she's already exercised her full constitutional prerogative as a justice. now, what will happen here is when they get to the bottom of the steps on to the plaza of the supreme court, they'll stop again and chitchat some more. this is really a photo opportunity in the grandest sense of the term. one of the most ornate settings

in washington for it. it wasn't so long ago that chief justice roberts went through this exact same ceremony himself when he came to the supreme court. he was welcomed by the ranking member of the court who wasn't a chief justice, that's john paul stevens. so now the chief justice will leave. her family members will come over. and that will end the investiture. >> thank you for walking us through it. nice to see the justice on her feet again. remember, she had an accident there, a mishap. and so while she was going through her confirmation hearings she actually had an ankle in a cast which made for a rather uncomfortable day for her. there she was walking down all those stairs, no handrailing in sight. without the cast on it's got to be a good feeling for her. wall street made a fortune by bundling mortgages together, selling them as investments. it forced the nation's biggest firms to the brink of failure. some went over the edge. but it look like wall street's ready to play another shell

game. this time not with mortgages but life insurance policy. betting on the health of the eld elderly. explain how this works. >> sure. the life settlements business is when investors essentially buy a life insurance policy from someone who's ill or elderly, expected to die fairly soon. and in that process they hand over the death benefits to the investor. the investor pays the premiums. when the person dies, they get the benefit. they're hoping you die fast because their profits are bigger that way. >> in other words, they go to grandma. grandma is not expected to live long. she has a million dollar policy. they say maybe, what, here's $400,000? >> sure. so life insurance companies have -- will give you a bid if you want to cash in your policy. it's called a cash surrender value. it tends to be a very small amount. maybe $100,000 for the million dollar policy. a life settlement broker comes in and says i'll give you $300,000 or $400,000. a much higher amount. a better option. it's good it exists. in effect, i die right away, they get the million dollar

payout. >> now they collect all these settlements and package them together and go to pension funds and say you want to buy a little slice of this? >> sure. they're going to look to institutional investors. could be mutual funds, life insurance companies, pension funds. they're going to try to sell the bonds. wall street is going to try to package the bonds. a bunch of life settlement policies into a bond. much like a mortgage. >> if the insurance policy, say if someone gets older and they say why am i carrying this life insurance anymore? there's nobody who needs this money? why am i paying this premium? if they drop their policy after paying on it for so many years, that's just money the insurance company paid. now if somebody comes in and says don't drop your policy, i'll pick up the premiums, even give you a lump of cash and move forward, doesn't that mean the insurance companies lose out? >> the insurance companies could be in a lot of trouble if this works. that's a big if. this hasn't taken off. this is a market that's sort of

poised and could go either way. if it took off it would be a real problem for the life insurance companies. they try to estimate what percentage of their policies they'll have to pay out. that's a very, very low number now. if this business took off it would be a very high number. their sort of estimations wouldn't work out the way they proposed. >> there's $26 trillion, you write, in life insurance policies in the united states. what we saw with mortgages, could the same thing happen here? if nobody owns it, if everybody's slicing and dicing it, all of a sudden it leads to this big implosion? >> probably not. i mean, probably not in the same sense. the problem with mortgages is they were very correlated to what happened in the rest of the economy. when house prices started falling, everything else started falling. consumers started spending less. the economy started shrinking. the correlation here is death. and death isn't particularly correlated to the rest of the market. in terms of systemic risk, i think the problem really is how do life insurance companies react to this.

but it's -- i don't think the underlying problem is going to be gigantic, systemic risk. >> we interviewed a duke university professor who says the bitter part is it's a return to the good old days. thank you so much for coming in and explaining that. >> my pleasure. let's go right now live to the white house press briefing. here's press secretary robert gibbs talking about the president's speech tomorrow to congress. >> -- lay out clearly what health reform means to americans. for those that are fortunate to have health insurance, but still struggle with skyrocketing premium costs or insurance abuses, he'll address those. for those that don't have health insurance, he'll obviously address the need to provide accessibility to affordable health insurance. and i think he will obviously clear up any confusion about what's not in health care reform. and, lastly, i think he will answer many of the big questions

about how we move forward on health care reform and what -- what he considers reform to truly be. i think those are the three points that he's set out to do, will weiait on the details for e president's speech. >> as we look ahead to friday and september 11th, what kind of message do you expect him to deliver? what is his focus of the day? >> i mean, obviously, first and foremost is to remember -- >> okay. so there's robert gibbs. his message here from the white house, it's one we heard from bill burton earlier today, is that the president's going to get specific on what his goals are, what he wants to see passed and what he does not want to see when he goes before congress tomorrow to try and get these lawmakers on the same page to overhaul the health care system here in the united states of america. well, it's back to work for members of congress. as i said, president obama's gearing up for the big speech

tomorrow night. we're live on capitol hill with how the battle over reform is shaping up. another candidate says he will not run for ted kennedy's senate seat. and this decision blows the race wide open. that story's next on "it's the economy." clean so deep... ...it's like your old mop's worst nightmare. ♪ [ thunder crashes ] [ man ] love stinks. ♪ love stinks! ♪ yeah! yeah! [ female announcer ] swiffer wet cloths clean better than a mop with new cleansers that attract dirt deep into the cloth and lock it away. new swiffer wet cloths clean better, or your money back. ♪ love stinks!

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just getting in breaking news from the united kingdom. the british military says it's nvgtding a suspected explosive device found on an air base. that's all the information we have now. we're borworking on more detail milwaukee police say they have finally made an arrest in a string of killings dating back more than 20 years. walter ellis faces two counts of first-degree murder and more charges are expected. police say his dna was found on the bodies of women killed between 1986 and 2007. they suspect nine victims. one of the victims, a 16-year-old runaway. san francisco road crews win

their race against time, reopening the crucial bay bridge just in time for today's back to work rush. the 73-year-old bridge was closed saturday after an inspection uncovered a crack. the reopening had been delayed until tomorrow which would have forced roughly quarter of a million commuters to find alternate routes. looks like the crews got work done early. at least three massachusetts democrats are weighing whether to run for the late senator ted kennedy's seat. that field is suddenly wide open. kennedy's nephew, joseph kennedy ii, said he's not interested. aides said representative michael cap wan know is planning to file nominating papers as soon as today. representative ed marqukey doest know. south carolina governor mark san ford is talking again. this time on radio.

san fo sanford faces his biggest audience yet during the kevin cohen program. the governor will take questions from callers. it'll be his first radio appearance since that secret trip to argentina. by the way, he said to the daily beat, everyone goes through a secret agent mission some time in their life. hmm. while we're on the subject of governors, former illinois governor rob blagojevich has a brand-new mem hua out today. it's called "the governor." the truth behind the political scandal that continues to rock the nation. in it blago presents himself as an innocent man. he talked about his situation on the "today" show. >> when you want to tell the people who hired and trusted you you didn't let them down, you look for the highest mountain top you can find to shout out and say it just ain't so. no one hears you atop a mountain. the next best thing is to write a book.

>> he likens his situation to the book "alice in wonderland." he says so much of this story is upside down. i didn't do anything wrong. president obama says he wants to make saving for retirement easier. coming up, we'll take a look at how it works. and whether really you end up with more money come retirement time. plus, the president made his much criticized speech to the nation's school kids today. up next, we'll talk to a parent who was vehemently against the idea. we'll see if his opinion changed after the speech. but worry what happens... if you get sick, or change jobs. eight ways reform matters to you. a cap on deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. no annual or lifetime limits on coverage. preventive care. covered. pre-existing conditions. covered. no higher rates due to gender. extended coverage for young adults. no more coverage denied if you get sick. and guaranteed renewal, even if you do. learn more today.

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package has been found at the royal air force base in england. this is according to the ministry of defense in the united kingdom there. at first they said it was an explosive. now they're calling it a suspicious package. apparently the investigation has begun at this air force base there in the united kingdom. again, we're looking from more information. when we get it, you'll get it, too. the pressure is on today as president obama, senate majority leader harry reid and house speaker nancy pelosi work through the points of health care reform. can the president's speech to congress change the direction of this battle? kelly o'donnell joins us now. i know they're talking to senator snowe of maine. she's the one -- she's been involved before when the republicans were reticent at supporting a bill. how does it work if they get her on the side of passing health care reform, kelly? >> i suspect, contessa, the president may know senator snowe's phone number by heart.

because i think those phone calls to her often happen because she's a moderate republican and has voted with democrats on many things. and is believed to be in the democrats' corner when it comes to this important negotiation that's beginning again right now, the so-called gang of six. three republicans, three democrats on the senate finance committee who have put out this 18-page document which gives us a summary of what they're talking about. having senator snowe would be very helpful, of course. we expect it's quite possible that the other two republicans on this committee may not be as willing to go along based on some of the ideas that are in this framework, as they call it. the tough part will be, can this get out of committee is the term of art here. will there be enough to get it to a larger vote? the democrats have the majority. so that helps. but it could still be a real numbers game going forward because there are some democrats who are moderate, who are not as in favor of some of the ideas. so senator snowe has always been

pivotal. and she is again in this conversation, because she may have some influence with other members of her party or she may be the symbol of bipartisanship that the white house might be looking for. >> so let me put up that graphic again of the gang of six. and you're talking about having three republicans, three democrats. you know, i don't know. maybe was it a week ago, kelly, when it looked like their dealings had really hit the wall and then over the weekend max baucus goes back and said, okay, let's rework some things. here's what i don't get. say they get senator snowe on the side of reform. how does she then help break the broader log jam in terms of getting enough support for a bill in the senate to pass? >> reporter: well, that's really a difficult question. because many of her republican colleagues in some ways view her as sort of a democrat in republicans' clothing with if you know what i mean. because she does often stand with democrats on some of these bigish isgis issueissues.

she's a vote often they can count on. there will be some republicans who will not like ideas that are in this no matter what happens. that could be a problem for the white house. >> that's really her role, then. it would be trying to convince her colleagues on the republican side. it's not that her one vote could really do anything for or against health care reform? >> reporter: we saw that in the stimulus, for example, when she and senator collins were prominent voices back at that time several months ago, trying to encourage not only others to look at it, but perhaps to bring ideas from the republican side that could be included that might make it more appealing to some of the moderates who could come over and support these kinds of ideas. for example, we've been talking about today this finance committee version has no public option, so-called government-run system which would allow people to buy insurance backed by the federal government. that's not in here. that's something republicans certainly wanted to see. >> again, republicans have been digging in to the point where they said the public option's not the only sticking point.

there's a lot of -- in some ways it does seem like republicans are just ready to fight tooth and nail against reform, period, no matter what the legislation contains. >> reporter: a few minutes ago the minority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell was speaking on the floor of the senate saying he believes the american people want them to start over. that it has not been a problem with the white house sales pitch but what they're selling. that's the view of the top republican who thinks they still need more work and to not be rushed, especially with tomorrow's perceived deadline with the president coming here to talk to both the house and senate. >> i think there are probably a lot of independent-minded americans who think the same thing. that maybe it would be helpful to go back to the drawing board and see how do you fix a system that is broken so much. kelly, thanks. >> good to see you. today the president urged kids to stay in school, to work hard, make their parents and their country proud. but so many people did not want their kids to hear that. here's more of what the president had to say. >> every single one of you has

something that you're good at. every single one of you has something to offer. and you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. that's the opportunity that education can provide. >> michael patrick leahy is a spokesman for the nationwide tea party coalition and the parent of a high school freshman. good to see you. >> contessa, very nice to see you today. >> did you watch the speech? >> i did. >> what did you think? >> well, you know, it was a plain vanilla speech, nicely delivered. it was far less political than it would have been had we not on the conservative side pointed out that it was part of an indoctrination program. the lesson plans were really the problem. >> how do you know that? how do you know it would have been indoctrination had you not spoken up and made your complaint loud and vociferous? >> well, they didn't release the

speech until just, you know, 24 hours before it. the point here on this, contessa, is this is part of an overall game plan to try to politicize education. now, the original lesson plan which we objected to asked for students to say how they could help president obama. because of our activism -- >> i'm going to just stop you. because president bush did the same thing. asked for school students to collect pennies to help people in afghanistan. how is it any different? >> well, this is different. because there is a lesson plan that said, originally, contessa, as i'm sure you know, the original lesson plan was tell how you can help president obama. that's just not appropriate. as it is, the speech was less political, largely because we activists put pressure on. now, there still is a political

element here, con tes is a? >> did your son watch the speech? given you were able to read the text of it ahead of time, did your son watch? >> i don't have a son. i have a daughter. >> your high school freshman. i'm sorry. did your daughter watch the speech? >> that's all right. i gave the school instructions that she would not watch the speech by herself if their teacher in williamson county chose to include it as part of the curriculum. william son county schools did not offer it. >> don't you think this is all craziness? the president is going to give a speech on education and this is going to be -- i mean, look. i get if we're giving money to banks by the bucketfuls, i understand that outrage. but this just seems like, i mean, such a silly thing to get upset over. >> well, i don't think so, contessa. i think it's very appropriate to raise the fact that it's the parents who are responsible for

the education of the kids, not president obama. >> actually, the teachers -- you sent your freshman to a school. isn't the teacher responsible for your child's education? >> parents and local teachers, that's correct. one thing i will point out, president obama has this really bad habit of making false assertions and false promises in a lot of his speeches. and he did the same thing in this speech today. he made a false assertion about his own life. i mean, he said -- >> okay. so now we're getting right down to the bottom of it. >> hear me out. >> my point exactly. you are one of the so-called birthers, you question whether -- >> that is factually incorrect, contessa. >> i have your words right here. >> it is factually incorrect. >> i have your words right here. >> no. that is not true. i am a transparency champion. and here is the factual misstatement the president made to millions of school children. he said that his father left the family when he was 2 years old. that's not true.

his mother left his father, moved from honolulu to seattle when the president was between 3 weeks old and 7 months old. so that's a fact that is incorrectly stated. and that's the pattern of the president. >> okay. your blog, michael patrick leahy, your blog offers the same argument against the president being a legitimate citizen born in the state of hawaii. i have it pulled up in front of me. this is your site. >> my statement, contessa, do not misrepresent the facts. >> my question to you -- >> you are misrepresenting the facts. never have i -- go ahead. >> i'm just curious. is this really more about your anger at having president obama in the white house? >> no. it's about having a president who is a rhetorician and

somebody who makes false assertions and statements all the time. false statements like to the tea party movement. come and talk with us. he didn't do that. his promise to a line by line review of the health care bill. hasn't happened yet. >> there's no cohesive piece of legislation. i'm willing to reserve judgment on that until we see a cohesive piece of legislation. >> he made that promise months ago. it hasn't happened yet. >> you've come in and shared your perspective with us. it was an interesting conversation. thank you. >> get your facts right next time. >> thank you. appreciate the time. famed celebrity faf photographer annie leibovitz has a deadline to pay back a $24 million loan or lose her life's work. she owes the money fo a group which consolidated her debt in 2008. she put up three homes and her entire election of work as collateral. the company has sued leibovitz

for breach of contract. an international outcry stirring up after a father arrested for kissing his daughter on vacation in brazil. the 48-year-old italian tourist is under police watch at a hospital. he got sick after a judge rejected his plea for bail. the girl's mother, who's from brazil, says this is a case of racial prejudice. here's her quote. they saw a white man, foreign man, with a much darker skinned girl. they didn't try and inform themselves or find out who was who. they immediately thought it was a foreigner trying to pick up an 8-year-old girl. the mom says it was an overreaction to new brazilian laws intended to crack down on child sex tourism. police are interviewing witnesses today. italian authorities are getting vovred. we'll be right back. decisions, decisions. which beneful prepared meal tonight? roasted chicken recipe? okay, savory rice and lamb stew. [ barks ] you're right. tonight is a beef stew kind of night. you've made another fine choice.

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okay. this next story is about cars. it's about fancy cars. and i just want to warn you that nothing i'm going to talk about

is less than $72,000. right now luxury automakers are rolling out their brand-new 2010 models. here we are, it's a down economy. we've seen dismal sales numbers in the car world. these cars are -- expensive might be an understatement here. you have the jaguar xj starts at $79,500. the most expensive, bugati. the porche -- i don't even know how to say this. this is how far removed i am from the luxury car world. i mean, really. if you can buy these cars, you can afford someone to tell you how to pronounce the names. cnbc's phil lebeau is in chicago with the story. who in the world is in the market for, what, a car that costs $300,000? >> reporter: they're not only in

the market, they're buying them. even though ultra luxury vehicle sales have dropped 51% here in the united states this year, you have to look at these vehicles as being global vehicles. the united states market may be down. but it's still going strong in china, in india, in the middle east. if you're a company like bentley, contessa, you build maybe 1,000 models which they introduced last spring. they look at this as we're going to build 1,000 of these. i don't know the exact production number. however many they build, we believe there are 1,000 people around the world who are going to spend $300,000 for the vehicle. right now we're going to see a lot of these vehicles coming to market or being introduced. even though it's a down market overall, worldwide these companies believe this is time to have these cars coming out. >> look, when you see very wealthy people shoveling millions of dollars into fine art work, say, that's stuff that

appreciates over time. it's not like van gogh is painting another irises. when you're looking at -- what was the one who were just talking about. the -- not the bentley. the other one that costs $1.7 million. >> the bugati. >> yeah. does that appreciate in time the way artwork does? >> most people who are buying these vehicles, contessa, they're not looking at what am i going to be selling this vehicle for in five years. most people look at it as i'm one of x number of people who have a chance to get this vehicle. they're going to be customized exactly as that customer would like the vehicle customized. if you have a chance to drive a vehicle that has 1,001 horsepower, your only interest is having the vehicle. not on whether it appreciates or doesn't. >> where do you drive that

vehicle? >> i've driven it in the southern part of france. i know it sounds strange. there are places you can drive these. >> you're so fancy. i want to drive one of those cars there, phil. >> i drove it for about 20 minutes. they said, that's enough. >> not bad. phil lebeau, thanks buddy. a bizarre accident at a labor day event in hooper, utah. this one caught on camera. powered parachute flying over the event drops prizes to the kids. suddenly just lost its lift. it crashed right into the crowd. six people including several children were hurt. witnesses said it looked like the pilot was traveling about 30 miles an hour when he crashed. in less than an hour the shuttle "discovery" will undock from the international space station and start the trip back home. jay, good to see you. what's this i hear about them having a toy, buzz lightyear, on this return trip home?

>> reporter: they sure do. they have one on board. in fact, they're bringing him back. he's been up there a little over a year. you know, he was named after buzz aldrin, the second man to step on the moon. that's about all i know about him. i just know they've had him up there. he's been riding along with several crews by now. >> did those guys have a successful mission? >> reporter: sure did. everything has gone extremely well. but this undocking you mentioned that'll be taking place at 26 minutes past the hour, contessa, it'll be tricky. you remember it was very tricky for them to get in and dock this mission because shortly after they launched, they lost their six small steering rockets. anyway, they don't have them to undock. this space station is the size of a small city block. two football fields set side by side. and they want to make sure that they don't damage backing away from them. because they'll be using the extremely large steering thruster rockets.

>> before when they were docking it, we described it like using a chain saw when what you really need is a scalpel. jay, good to see you. thank you. we'll be watching for the undocking process. president obama has unveiled his plan to help you put away more money for retirement. but millions of people are out of work or underemployed. so how do you set aside more money at a time when you need that money to buy groceries or pay the rent? we'll break down his plan. ♪ take me home ♪ take me home ♪ to my family ♪ ♪ i need to be surrounded by ♪ the ones who care for me [ female announcer ] clean you can see. softness you can feel. tide with a touch of downy. ♪ take me home without my makeup. now, it's no problem.

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president obama in his weekly radio address announced new initiatives to make it easier for americans to save for retirement. the new plan puts some of the focus on 401(k) plans which were battered by last year's stock market fall. in fact, the dow lost 34% in 2008. the third worst performance since the great depression. so if you had a 401(k) account worth about $100,000, you would have seen a $34,000 drop. let's go to san jose,

california. emily brandened writes, the planning to retire blog at u.s. news and world report.com. the president first said he wanted to see some automatic enrollment in retirement accounts. explain what he meant by that? >> the new initiative that was passed is -- right now companies can already automatically enroll workers in 401(k) plans. these streamlined the process. there's preapproved language that especially small businesses can use to automatically enroll workers in the 401(k) plan to get them saving. if employees don't want to do this, they can opt out. >> the president also talked about saving the tax money that you get back as a refund after you file your taxes. can't you do that anyway? >> you can. right now you can put part or all of your tax refund into an i.r.a. account. what's going to be new in 2010 is you can check a box on your tax return and it will -- you can put all or part of it into savings bonds. that's what's going to be new in

2010. >> what about your sick days and vacation days that you accrue? >> that's the other part of this. if your employer gives you a cash payout for your unused sick, vacation days, other annual leave, you can now put that in your retirement account. instead of getting the cash you can save that money for retirement. >> isn't this a little -- look, if they want to make it easier for people to invest, why not raise the limit for how much you can invest in a year? >> that's a good question. what they're focusing on is people who aren't saving at all. so you want to get those people who are saving not anywhere near the limits or not saving at all, you want to get them saving something. you want to start people on the course to saving for retirement. >> thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it. let's go to chatham, massachusetts, right now. we're looking at breaking news. our nbc affiliate in boston is over the scene. apparently there's been some reports of sharks off the coast.

as you can see, this looks to be a big old shark. now, i'm not suggesting that we're at the beginning of "jaws." the 2009 version. but, geez, off the coast of massachusetts? that looks like a big shark. remember, this is from a helicopter overhead. so that looks like a chwhopper. live pictures of what looks like a shark off the coast of chatham, massachusetts.

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