>> not bad. >> here is a look at some of the protesters now. they are protesting chinese policy against tibetans. do we have that? there it is, right there innocence nightly news anchor brian williams is in pittsburgh now. what's the big message from the president today? he has all these world leaders now who are going to be hanging onto his words, brian. what's he hoping to accomplish? >> well, first of all, it started yesterday, before the u.n. and savannah guthrie, our white house correspondent is just a few feet from us reporting on that angle. the fact that with all these domestic issues that we have been rightfully harping on for days and weeks, the president, starting at the u.n. yesterday, and continuing today, i don't think it's an overstatement to say is setting some long-established foreign policy traditions on their ears. and yet, here we are in one of the great, vibrant american cities of all time. and contessa and melissa, i

don't know if there is a way to express exactly how much they have shut down the city of pittsburgh. this vibrant place, you can't hear a bus, a car, an aircraft. one police boat just went by a short time ago, but they have controlled the protests by draining the city of any population, any moving people. there's a pirates' day game going on. the last crowd count was 200 people. i drove right by the entry gate to the stadium wondering what brave souls are going to venture down here? there are humvees at every swerks. it is an eerie sight. >> have they gotten a specific threat that led them to such drastic action? >> they never talk about such things. but it is a really kind of post-9/11, don't ask any questions, lock it down. we saw at the democratic con

vention if boston, restaurant tours and merchants excited to have the business in town. they were closed for a few days as opposed to making money off the business. denver and so on and so on. at london at the last g20 we all attended and covered, what happened is the protesters got police off balance by keeping their plans close to the vest and breaking those windows at the bank of scotland that got everybody's attention this is a much smaller and more controllable piece of real estate and i'm afraid, with protesters numbering -- arrests numbering around 14, 15 protesters, as our own john yang put it, in the triple digits so far, we have seen nothing of consequence. >> brian, you know, this is melissa francis, by the way, sounds like a missed economic opportunity. one of the reasons you bring all these people to your city or you host something like this is you hope for the economic benefit of everybody coming to town, going into the stores, seeing what a great city you have. you know, people from around

coming to see world leaders, isn't it a missed opportunity? >> well, that's the thing. you can sell this to a metropolitan area based on increased commerce, hotel rooms, the airport and some ancillary businesses. but if you own a luncheonette, as they say in the local accent, in downtown pittsburgh, you're not going to see any business because you're not going to see any people. they have been swept from the streets. parts of down up to pittsburgh long like sarajevo at the height of the war. >> i understand small business owners in pittsburgh are irate and the mayor saying, yeah, look, we are hoping to make all this money, but got to spend an awful lot. he is estimating some $19 million on security and the like that it's going to cost him. he says what he is earning, you can't put a price on is the popularity of pittsburgh, the way that it is not a dying, rust belt city that so many people. >> no one is seeing that because no one is allowed to go downtown. >> well, brian's there what do

you think? >> brian can be their commercial. >> they hopefully will meet some of the local folks here, some of the kindest in the nation. you have got one of the few city bridges in the united states with hanging flowerpots on it, not just for the g20, it's always that way. this is a great place. it's the first lead certified convention center, fully green, in the nation, where the meeting will be held. they will get some feeling and flavor for the place, i hope at least they spend enough time here to do that. >> brian, it's good to see you. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thanks for having me. >> catch brian's newscast tonight, "nbc nightly news" on at a 6:30 earn time, he will be reporting live from pittsburgh. >> of course that is why he was there. more tension at the baucus bill markup this time, how long it is taking to get through the more than 500 amendments. >> take a listen between this exchange between senator max a baucus and senator kyl. >> mr. chairman, let me just

complete my thought here. one minute, you will complete your thought. >> okay. >> complete my thought and then make another point. >> since you are delaying, senator. >> mr. chairman, mr. chairman, i am not delaying, i am making an extremely important point. it is a very version important point, you you are also delaying. >> tempers flaring there. >> newsroom. >> a little more. >> democratic senator from delaware, thomas carper, a member of the senate finance committee, are you and your colleagues feeling a lot of pressure over negotiating how this bill moves forward, senator? >> actually, the little vignette you just showed there between senator baucus our chairman and senator kyl i don't think is i will pl-- illustrative of what going on. i think we are making progress. i think most people realize not getting something done is not acceptable. we spend way more money in this country for health care than other places we don't get better results. 14,000 people that woke up today

with health care, will go to bed without it. 40 million people that don't have health care coverage, big companies and little companies going bankrupt because of health care, the idea of doing nothing, not acceptable. i believe at the end of the day, we will work through our differences and maybe some heed exchange but at the end of the day, we will get the job done. we can't afford not to. >> senator, you said you won't support a bill that is deficit neutral, but a lot of times that mean there is will be taxes to balance out the spending in there are you worried about adding any taxes, whether it's on companies or wealthy or middle class at a time when the economy is struggling so much? >> the congressional budget office was asked, gosh, two or three months ago to take a lack at the other legislation in the house, the health care legislation in the house and to tell the budget committee whether or not those pieces of legislation increase the deficit or decease the deficit. congressional budget office, actually increased the deficit. was asked whether or not the house passed legislation, house regulation reined in the growth of health care cost it did not. it is imperative for us to do

two things, one, rein in the growth of health care costs, two, reduce budget deficit. the legislation we are working on right now reduces the deficit by something like $50 billion over the next ten years and the ten years after that, by probably $1 trillion. so, that's what we need to be focused. >> i hear you but pardon me, i don't think you answered the question about whether you are concerned about raising taxes. are you concerned about raising taxes? >> most of the deficit -- most of the cost of this health care coverage is borne by finding efficiencies in the system. some of it is from new revenues, more in terms of finding efficienci efficiencies, less on revenues but a combination of both. >> to melissa's point, would you be willing to pass on new taxes in order to keep health care reform deficit neutral? >> well, the legislation we ultimately passed i think will be deficit neutral. and there will be some new amendments, i will vote for those. most of the efish shens and cost reduction will be found through efficiencies and savings there is plenty of that. >> do you feel like there is enough attention being paid to

the very core point why health care costs are skyrocketing in the first place? >> i think among the reasons why it is increasing, we are in a fee for service delivery system, doctors get paid more money for more services, more fees, more this, more that, and they do that and order all those extra activities, in part to provide better health care in part to reduce the likelihood, medical malpractice lawsuits and but they also do it in part to make more money. and at the end of the day, we are going to move away from fee for service, going to move toward the health care delivery systems and mayo clines and cleveland clinics of the world, coordinate the health care delivery systems in medicaid, medicare and other kinds of health programs we have in this country. they work, they reduce spending, tally provide better outcomes for less money. that works. >> senator carper, thank you for joining us today. we appreciate your insight. >> thank you. house members are working to fast forward new rules to protect credit card workers. congresswoman moloney and

congressman frank introduced a bill today to get the credit card law to start in december instead of february. >> it forbids card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances for 60 days and if the card holder pays on time for the next six months, the company must restart original rate. the fbi is now involved in the case of a census worker found dead near a kentucky cemetery. the victim, bill sparkman, was found earlier this month hanging by a rope from a tree. he had the word "fed" scrawled in marker across his chest. authorities still trying to determine if sparkman was murdered or if he killed himself. a federal judge has ordered authorities to release the father of a man charged with plotting an explosion in the united states. 53-year-old mohammed zazi is charged with lying to investigators, but he is not charged in the alleged bomb plot. his son, 24-year-old najibullah zazi is accused of scheming for a year to detonate homemade bombs in the united states. today, a grand jury handed up serious charges against him. nbc justice correspondent, pete

williams, joins us. what is the accusation against the zazi son here? >> reporter: well, these are terrorism charges a week ago, he was arrested and charged with lying to the fbi. now, he is accused of a conspiracy to set off bombs, or in the arcane language of the federal statutes, to use a weapons of mass destruction. we also learned today new details about what investigators say he was doing in the months leading up to his trip to new york. they say he and others unnamed at this point went to several supply stores in the denver area looking to buy the chemicals that could be used to build a powerful explosive, the same kind of explosive that was used in the 2005 bomb attacks on subways and buses in london and the same kind of material that was hidden in the shoes of would-be airline bomber, richard reid. they say they bought these gallons of these chemicals. and that three times, najibullah zazi went to a denver area hotel room that had a stove in it and

was heating these chemicals up, aparentally to concentrate them, boil off the excess water. the charging documents don't say he ever succeeded in making the explosive they suggest that he didn't. they say the last time he was in the hotel room, he was urgently communicating with someone, trying to get the formula down right. and then he drove to new york and as far as we understand it, no explosives were found in the rented car that he had, but he was apparently, according to the federal authorities, looking around where he could buy similar supplies in the new york area. now, he will be back in court again tomorrow but as you say his father now has been released on bail and the judge in brooklyn has also allowed the new york area imam who was arrested at the same time as the zazis, that he will allow him out on bail as well. so it's clear now that the focus is on najibullah zazi. >> pete, thank you for bringing us up to date. coming up, home sales fall and a look at programs several states meant to help people facing foreclosure, how much good are they really doing? plus, michael jackson's

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we have some breaking news coming to us from the white house it appears vice president joe biden is going to georgia, going to get a first-hand look at some of that flood damage tomorrow. the president has declared parts of georgia a federal disaster area, in the pretty extreme death toll here from all of that rising water. all right. new numbers out today on the housing front. the national association of realtors says existing home sales fell 2.7% in august compared to 7.2% rise the month before. >> let's get more now from cnbc's diana olick. diana, what's behind the dropoff? >> reporter: the street was

really expecting a rise in existing home sales so it was a total u-turn to see that drop of 2.7%, although we were predicting perhaps a double-dip in housing -- existing home sales. that's because all of the action in the market right now is going on on the lower end of the market, that is in the zero to $250,000 home range. that end of the market is actually seeing much lower inventories, much fewer homes on the market because they have gotten answer the up so much in the last couple of months. when you get above that price range, the market's totally dead. so, what we are seeing now is low inventories on the low side, also, people think about that first time home buyer tax credit and worried they can't get in in time to make the november 30th deadline on it that might be dropping off, again, the realtors were hoping to see that bump up as people got in before the wire and they didn't and that is troubling. >> diana, stick with us for a moment, we want to get into another story that we have seen today there are all these states that have come out with guidelines and regulations telling banks that before they can foreclose on a property,

they have to go in and they have to negotiate with the homeowner. >> the banks lost interest. actually, a nonprofit national consumer law center analyzed programs in 14 states they can actually found such have failed help home owners avoid foreclosure. jeff walsh is a staff attorney at the national consumer law center and the author of the center's report on the foreclosure mediation program. thanks so much for joining us. isn't a lot of the problem and we are going to bring diana in on this as well, isn't a lot of the problem is that these homes respect worth what the mortgage is priced at, so people don't really necessarily want help paying the mortgage and staying in the house 'cause it is not worth what they paid for it? >> well, actually what we are seeing and what we have seen in the foreclosure mediation programs is that individuals who do want help, who go through the procedures that they are supposed to for many of these state and local mediation programs, appear and they are expecting to meet somebody

representing the hold other that have their mortgage who can negotiate some type of loan modification with them. what they are finding is that the servicers are sending attorneys who have no familiarity with the case at all, who try to make efforts to find somebody to negotiate with on behalf of mortgage holders and generally get put on hold or lost in phone trees, pretty much the same way that individuals do who are acting on their own. so, there are a lot of people participating in these programs who do want to save their homes and are finding that they are just not providing the type of teeth that they need to get a lot of the federal programs enforced that are out there for their benefit. >> diana, how do the banks that are in of these foreclosures respond to such accusations? >> reporter: well what the banks are telling me is they are out there trying to contact the borrowers, send out letters, making calls, even visiting the home when the person won't answer them and finding a very large percentage of borrowers

simply don't want to talk to them and also a very large percentage of the borrowers who are in trouble are gone. i talked to folks at freddie mack said the biggest issues, a quarter of the people they are trying to contact aren't there anymore, because of that negative equity issue. if someone is in a home they are never going to see any equity in, even over five to ten years then these modifications are essentially making them full-time renters and why should i rent a house that i have to pay the property taxes on and upkeep on when i could just go rent a house that i don't have to. >> interesting though, jeff, your group came out with the recommendations saying here is what banks should do to make the regulations more effective. number one, show what the cost of foreclosure is for the banks versus the cost of modifying the loans, you would think that need to be a no-brainer. need to show proof of who owns the loans. i understand that that is a big problem there should be enforcement on the regulations there is punishment if the bank don't do it and require banks to prove that they did consider alternatives to foreclosure. is anyone seriously going to

follow up on those suggestions? >> i think so. we -- first of all, backing to just to respond to the earlier comment about homeowners not appearing, again, i want to stress that what we see through the 14 -- in the 14 states and the 25 programs that have these types of foreclosure mediation programs in place there are substantial numbers of homeowners who are responding and do want to participate. what participants are finding though is the representatives of the mortgage companies simply respect familiar with these modification tools and they are based on the homeowner's income. they set a payment level that in just about all cases is going to reduce the monthly payments to 31% or less of the homeowner's income to make those payments affordable. >> right. >> and we are seeing some states, for example, the state of maine, the state of nevada,

have state statutes that went into effect in july that are actually requiring servicers to bring to the mediation sessions copies of these calculations of affordable loan modifications based on the income. >> we will see whether -- we will see whether this becomes more effective, given the suggestions that you have. jeff, thank you, diana, thank you pore sticking around. i appreciate that. coming up, five ways you can tell the economy is improving. plus, elementary school kids in a national political debate via youtube a controversy that could only happen in the internet age. we have the full story ahead on msnbc.

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from rehearsal footage of jackson before he died will be released. advanced screenings will be shown for 3,000 ticketholders on the 27th. tickets go on sale sunday, a full month early and you can start lining up in a few hours, 5 p.m. in los angeles for it. paul kirk, his appointment for the kennedy senate seat. he will be sworn in tomorrow afternoon. kirk gives the president the critical 60th vote he needs to pass health care reform and today, pledged to be a voice for kennedy's causes. he is the head of the jfk library in boston, a former chairman of the democratic national committee and had served on kennedy's senate staff. kirk will not seek re-election in january. the kennedy family released a statement staying is a wonderful day for massachusetts and that ted kennedy would be happy his friend was chose ton replace him. more than 200,000 viewers have clicked on a youtube video of a group of new jersey school kids singing the praises of the president.

>> well if this strikes you as the kind of view might see coming from north korea praising kim jong-il, you are not alone. beth frank lip writes on twitter, i'm all for teaching kids to respect the president but i found this disturbing. and another take, not appropriate. i'm an obama fan and i think this is out of line. this is just kids and this is almost propaganda-like. the burlington township superintendent responds "the activity took place during black history month in 2009, which is recognized each february to honor the contributions of african-americans to our country. our curriculum studies honors and recognizes those who serve our country. the recording and distribution of the class activity were unauthorized." that is, in fact, why we blurred out the kids' faces. but it is a long song and all the kids are there singing how

wonderful the president is, barack obama. i don't know. if would you like to share your thoughts with me, you can reach out on twitter, facebook or e-mail. and -- >> i like that photo. look how official you look. you are kind of angry, no? >> serious. >> yeah. >> by the way, want to get melissa, get her on twitter at melissa cnbc. >> glad that's obscured. >> quick break. >> we will be right back. f you s the cheap insurance company, then you're going to really be confused when you hear this: drivers who switched from geico to allstate... saved an average of $473 a year. confused? don't be. ♪

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welcome back, "it's the economy" on msnbc. protests are heating up at the g-20 in pittsburgh. look at the g-20 march, hundreds taking part in the event which began moments ago. >> organizers refused to apply for permit. they say it would make it a state-sanctioned event. john yang is at the park where the marchers gathered. are police taking notice here, john? >> reporter: police certainly are taking notice.

they have -- here in the area, although in the very area of the park, they are not very visible, only a small number of officers on the very, very far periphery have been -- have been spotted. they are about to leave, they are trying to leave the park. they are now moving from there, gathering at one side of the park, now moving over to another, it appears. they are also -- the goal is to march about 2 1/2 miles away from here to the convention center, where the summit is being held. now, each side says they are not interested in a confrontation. both the protesters and the police say they will not have any sort of confrontation, unless they are provoked by the other side but each side is also prepared. there have been police in wry gear. there -- protestors dressed in protective gear in case there is a confrontation and the police certainly have been out in force.the city of pittsburgh itself has only about 3900

officers but there are about 4,000 officers on the streets, 1200 state police, about 1,000 police from cities across the country, as far away as florida and arizona. as you can hear there are police helicopters overhead watching all of this, so, no one quite knows how this will end up but everyone is prepared or they say they are prepared for whatever might happen. contessa, melissa? >> john yang, thanks so much. makers of tylenol are recalling 20 types of children and infant's medications because of a possible bacteria con dam nation in one of the raw ingredients, an inactive ingredient. the company says the ingredient with the bacteria is not used in packaged tylenol products in stores but was manufactured at the same time, so, if you have tylenol products at home, might want to go to tylenol's website and see which ones are being recalled. an august surge in credit card defaults has experts worried the most is yet to come.

>> jumped to 11.49% last month, just over 10.5% in july. the first increase since march. a big shift at citigroup. they are changing course for a nationwide expansion of the retail banking business. "the wall street journal" reports citi will likely abandon or scale back in places like boston, philadelphia and texas. cities expected to instead focus on its sixth largest market in the u.s. banks are under a a lot of pressure to change their ways, chase and bank of america are reducing their overdraft fees and allowing customers to drop out of overdraft protection altogether. >> that is the tip of the iceberg. let's get real. cindy williamson joins us from houston. what is your story about your bank? >> well, basically, back in the summer of '07, i had attempted to sell my baby furniture and received a check from an individual on craigslist and at that point, i took to bank of america to make a deposit.

they confiscated the check and said it was a fraud check and that i would have to contact their fraud department. so, i did so and at that point, the fraud department said there's nothing we can do, your bank account has been closed and that was basically it. >> they closed your bank account if how come? what do they think you did? >> on my check systems report it says suspected fraud activity. and in further investigations, i found out for the next five years, i cannot open a bank account at all anywhere. >> sort of like a credit report then on the way you use checks, they think because you tried to deposit a fraudulent check that somehow you're the person to blame? >> exactly. >> is there any way for you to prove to us, to them, to anyone, that people really did come to your house and buy this baby furniture and someone else gave you this check as opposed to, you know, what the bank, i guess, believes that, you know, perhaps it was you that actually

made this up check? how do you prove that? >> well, actually what happened was they sent me the check, i was then going to ship to the person, but i wasn't going to do so until i made sure the money was real and in doing so, you know, obviously, the transaction didn't happen. >> you know, we checked with the national check fraud center about when a bad check gets passed, who's to blame, who is the guilty party if this is what the fraud center said. the guilty party of a fraudulent check is usually the person who signed the check but it could also be the person who fraudulently passed it on, or even a third party who endorsed and passed the check on to another. i'm curious, given the fact that is the rule did you go to the police, get the authorities involved in any way? >> you know, i threatened the individual online and let her know that you know, my bank account had been closed due to her fraudulent check. and in turn, she responded with, you know, i'm going to go to the police. so, at that point, i just

decided to move forward. >> hey, cindy. >> you know, but -- >> just for other people, like myself, on craigslist is there anything they told you about anyway you could tell in the future a check you got is not real? obviously if you had never taken it to the bank and torn it up on the spot, you wouldn't have this problem? >> you know, i didn't go that far. maybe i should have. i would love people of america just to know that this can happen and to be careful out there because apparently, the banks aren't taking care of their customers as they say they do. >> cindy, thank you so much for sharing your story. by the way we did reach out to bank of america for a response about this story and about this practice of holding the account owners responsible for trying to deposit a fraudulent check. they didn't get back to us. you know, we have really come a long way in one year. >> that is right. this time last year on this day a year ago, looking forward to president bush's prime time address where he urged a congress to pass a bailout bill

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welcome back to "it's the economy." some good news on the job front today, the number of newly laid off workers seeking unemployment benefits has fallen for the third straight week that is good. labor department says initial claim for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 537,000 workers last week, a lot of people, sympathy for them but 20,000 fewer claims than the previous week. so, we are looking at it as good news. economists on wall street expected claims to rise by 5 thousand. take a look at the markets now. you can see the dow jones industrials is down 56 points a lot of disappointed investors, the housing numbers, expecting to see existing home sales rising instead of dropping

somewhat. >> recession now, but still. so, fed chairman ben bernanke says the recession seems to be over. do you see a change? >> actually there are five real-life ways you can tell the economy is making a bit of a comeback. believe it or not, one way is by checking out guys' ties. vera gibbons joins us now to fill us -- you know, going to take the positive wherever we can find it. >> ties? >> here is the thing. when things are bad, we wear drab clothes, wear the dreary stuff, the newt tral, things get better, start wearing brighter stuff. and ties are a leading indicator of how people are feeling, confidence coming back. it's true. economists tell you that. >> instead of buying black ties? >> the bright colors, the fuchsia, yellows, the pinks. >> feel good. >> feel good. confidence coming back, men wearing brighter ties. >> what about denim sales? >> an interesting one, too, den him? a cheap indulgence, doesn't cost much, one of the first things economies buy when the economy

rebounds, they buy a nice pair of jeans, krothing sales down every other category, denim up 4%. >> even denim in department stores can be hundreds, $300 on jeans. >> the prices are slashed now dramatically, people are going out there and buying it, $8 billion industry and really the fashion industry's shining star. >> my favorite one, fewer first dates? >> interesting as well. here's -- contessa is rolling her eyes. >> i am not rolling, i'm skeptical this is my skeptical look. >> here is the thing, a bad economy is good for dating sites. a good economy, not so much. if you look at match.com, fourth quarter, 2008, they did very, very well, one of their busiest times. >> people are depressed? >> misery likes company, they want a date, they want to seek comfort. >> can't afford to drink at a bar, instead of going out and looking on people looking online. >> the comforts of their home no job. the other thing, too, when the dow hit a low back in november, five-year low, match.com had its busiest or second busiest weekend of all time.

when things are good, people are not online on msnbc. >> busy working. >> busy working. >> what about holiday booking sales? >> this is interesting, too, a lot of the companies havant been having parties, as you know, now seeing an uptick in the party bookings and some party planners are looking and booking right on through 2012, which is a positive indicator as well. the catering business, which has been, you know, in the toilet, is actually seeing a bit of a comeback as well. >> what is your big number five sign? >> big number five sign, well, this hasn't happened yet, we are seeing more couples actually staying together. once we start seeing them start to divorce, we will know that the economy is -- >> divorce is expensive? >> it is expensive. also another thing, too, we see cosmetic procedures start to go up again that would be an indicator as well and less antidepressant medication. $350 million on xanax. >> uplifting segment, not sure what. >> no, no -- >> bright ties.

>> uplifting. happy that everybody is wearing orange ties. >> inexpensive way to change things up. bright tie. >> a good story. >> thanks. nintendo is slashing the price of its wii interactive video game system for the first time. the $50 savings is meant to keep competitive with microsoft and sony who dropped prices on gaming systems. the price cut takes effect september 27th. >> any time watch people playing nintendo wii. >> do you play wii? >> i have before, yeah. very sore from the boxing. yeah, absolutely. former ohio congressman jim traficant is taking on the nation's lawmakers and leaders with harsh words for theism rs. he says he wants to kick them in the crotch. traficant made the headlines on msnbc with his rant to chris matthews about the bank bailout. >> we can give billions and billions of dollars to banks who wouldn't even lend to our people unless they have $3 in the bank for every $1 they borrow, i said why not take care of our own people? i'm tired of seeing this money

go all over the world, all that sometime muss run. stimulate this. that's what i'm saying. >> well. >> and that's not it he also apologized to all the hookers in america for once comparing lawmakers to prostitutes. well, now that traficant is a free man, he is taking advantage of free speech. sent seven years in prison for corruption charges, who knows, may run again. >> seems like he wants his own radio show or tv show. >> seems like a good audition, if you ask me. okay, the hammer still knows how to get the vote. >> ex-house leader tom delay booty shaking cha-cha char-cha enough points to be dancing on the stars next week. >> the next couple safe to dance next week is tom and cheryl. >> so stiff though. >> i actually thought he committed to the performance.

>> did he commit. i will give him that. >> which is more than some of the other contestants. and he has some weeks now to show he can improve his dance moves and compete with, you know, movie stars and tv stars and -- >> you this should be on that show. >> you are not the first one to suggest t. >> your mother also thinks it, right? that was too easy. sorry. all right. talking about big babies, i'm not saying she is a big -- i think that transition -- i didn't write that. >> 19 pounds of a new born here. this mom had to have a cesarean to deliver they are baby boy. >> i would say. >> the heaviest birth ever recorded in indonesia. the one on the right is the normal sized baby, the one on the left is the big baby. you know what al roker stayed this morning about that? he said the big baby looks at the little baby and says, mmm, burrito. >> they overcooked that, jest stating 18 months? >> thought maybe there was a medical issue with the mom, she had too much glucose.

>> make this serious while we are making fun of this? >> no you asked, i thought i would tell you. >> i was making a joke. maybe two babies you just can't see the other head is that possible? >> that is wrong. look, he has got a big appetite. >> i bet. >> and apparently, a very loud cry. i don't know why bigger babies would have louder cries. anyway. we are going to take a commercial break, we will be right back on "it's the economy." that's giant baby. pothole:h no...your tire's all flat and junk. oh, did i do that? here, let me get my cellular out - call ya a wrecker. ...oh shoot...i got no phone ...cuz i'm a pothole...so....k, bye! anncr: accidents are bad. anncr: but geico's good. with emergency road service. ding!

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>> they are here for the fifth ann ul clinton summit, tackling issues like poverty, energy problems, climate change, health and education. paul pierce is captain of the boston celtics, attending the summit to launch his campaign to promote active and healthy lifestyles for kids ages 10 to 14. why your specific focus on those ages? >> because, it's a major issue in america and i think those are the ages when you can go one way

or the other. that is the age when you are usually influenced and we can if we can attack those ages, i think we can solve a lot of problems that we have in america. >> what do you think is the biggest reason why kids are obese today? do you think it is the food? do you think it is video games? >> i think it is a combination of all those things, i think it's a combination of the parents, what they are feeding them in schools, video games, keeping them in the house. so i think all those things factor into why kids are obese and not eating the right foods. >> i know there is a big message for parents now, doing a a lot of talking about the problem of childhood obesity. are you trying to go right to the kids? are you going to the source? >> i'm going to the kids and i want to be an influence knowing that i have a certain influence on kids. i like to work with them. i'm starting my fit club 34, putting together to counsel kids, 34 kids to be leaders in their community to help encourage other kids about being obese and help encourage them. >> doing what? >> well, to eat better to

exercise more to get off the couch, to not play video games and just live more active life. >> the biggest problems it is much cheaper to eat fattening, unhealthy food, much cheaper to go to mcdonald's and get a happy meal than to buy fresh fruit. >> and easier, too. >> how do you tackle that? >> it's tough. that it's issue you have to think about, most of the community it is easier to go down the street and pay $3 or $4 get a quick bite of mcdonald's. >> not a lot of money. >> the thing is we have to educate these kids a lot more, educate them on the diseases, the heart diseases, the diabetes. >> do kids really care about heart disease? >> if they get the proper influence and the proper motivation, we can teach them, help them learn more and they just have to be influenced. and i think they will get it. >> do you see at this point your program taking off or other programs? we mentioned that you are part of the clinton global initiative. did you think that the response was encouraging? >> it was very encouraging, i

had a chance to go to the clinton initiative and, you know, we got a very good response, people around america who had -- who share the same ideas, so, it was a very productive week, just trying to get the message out there you know, we are trying to make this a global thing, but starting right here in boston, starting a flagship. and eventually growing. and that's our goal. >> i hope it works for you. >> yeah. it is a problem. it s thank you so much for coming in it's great cause we appreciate hearing from you. >> hey, thanks for having me. coming up this weekend, a "meet the press" exclusive, former president bill clinton-join moderator david gregory to talk about the clinton global initiative among other topics. s if the's sunday, it's "meet the press." that wraps up this edition of "it's the economy." >> i'm melissa francis that's contessa brewer. tamron hall and norah o'donnell next, the latest on the terror arrest in colorado what are federal voters uncover and more to be discovered? plus, they are cute, they are endangered but are they

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weapons of mass destruction charges, suspected terrorist indicted just today, accused of trying to make a bomb in hopes of detonating it in the state. the investigation is far from over. we have got the latest. pittsburgh's on alert. thousands of police, some in full riot gear have taken up strategic positions on almost every block, as president obama comes to town for the g-20 summit. a deadly mystery in kentucky. u.s. census worker found hanged from a tree in a cemetery. the word "fed" scrawled on his chest. now, the fbi wants to know if he was targeted because he worked for the government.

>> [ inaudible ]. >> and a song that raises a few highbrows. should the classroom really be used to teach children songs of praise for the president? it's our "making a case". plus, the panda worth saving? a controversial statement from a tv wildlife expert has some asking did he cross the line? it's all now on "the big picture." >> good afternoon, everyone, i'm tamron hall live in new york. >> and i'm norah o'donnell live in washington. david shuster has the day off. >> norah, the big picture right now, major developments today in what is being called one of the most serious terror plots in the united states since 9/11. the man at the center of the alleged al qaeda plot has now been indicted on terrorism charges. a grand jury in new york has charged 24-year-old najibullah zazi with conspireing to use weapons of mass destruction. authorities fear he and others were planning to detonate homemade bombs on the new york city commuter trains.

wnbc's jonathan bientz has been following the story from the beginning. jonathan, let's talk about these charges here. originally this man was charged with lying to the fbi. these are obviously very serious charges. piece together what we are learning here. >> well, they have been tracking this man since december last year where they say he traveled to pakistan to meet with al qaeda operatives. the new developments today, they say while he was in denver, he actually attempted to and did purchase chemicals that could be used to build a bomb and they allege that he rented a hotel room in the denver area and attempted to mix those chemicals to test, to see if he could build the bomb and say they have phone recordings showing he was unable to do that and that he continued to look for help from people in the denver area and in the new york area. >> jonathan, a report says some of the items were purchased at a beauty supply, which sounds so strange, but this is where some of the information is coming from. >> that's right. because the chemicals that can be used you can find in drug stores and hardware stores, in beauty supply shops and if you get -- ine